(Brazilian boy can’t get no love? / Props: enlapelea.com)

Fabio Maldonado should have learned his lesson in his fight against Kyle Kingsbury last June — if the judges refuse to count body punches as “effective damage,” you might as well just start head-hunting and grunting and hope for the best. Once again, the Brazilian light-heavyweight put on a body-shot clinic in his bout against Igor Pokrajac at last night’s UFC event, and once again he wound up with a unanimous decision loss, with one judge inexplicably handing all three rounds to the Croatian. Many observers called this one a robbery, and you can understand why if you look a little closer at the striking totals. According to FightMetric…

- Round 1: Maldonado out-landed Pokrajac 36-6 in significant strikes, 47-16 overall.

- Round 2: Maldonado out-landed Pokrajac 26-13 in significant strikes, 60-18 overall.

- Round 3: Maldonado out-landed Pokrajac 36-17 in significant strikes, 59-30 overall.

- Overall: Maldonado’s success-rate for significant strikes was 72% (98 of 137), compared to 45% for Pokrajac (36 of 80). The final overall striking total was 166-64 in Maldonado’s favor.

(Struve channels his inner Keanu Reeves during his UFC 130 bout against Travis Browne.) 

In a fight that is all but guaranteed to end in a decisive, if not brutally violent fashion, it appears that heavyweight contenders Stefan “Skyscraper” Struve and Mark “Mark” Hunt are set to collide at UFC 146, which now features an all heavyweight lineup as its main card for the first time in UFC history. Thank God it’s not being held at a high altitude.

We know what you’re thinking: WHY IS TIM SYLVIA NOT ON THIS CARD?!!!

Hunt has had perhaps the most startling career resurgence in recent memory, scoring three straight octagon victories over Chris Tuchscherer, Ben Rothwell, and most recently Cheick Kongo, with two of those victories coming by way of destructive KO. This was made even more shocking due to the fact that Hunt was only picked up by the UFC in order to fulfill a contract he had signed back in his PRIDE days before the organization was absorbed by Zuffa.

Struve, on the other hand, will be looking to add another three fight win streak to his current 7-3 octagon record come May 26th. We last saw him at UFC on FUEL: Sanchez vs. Ellenberger, when he dispatched Manbearpig Dave Herman via second round TKO. Prior to that, Struve choked out our boy Pat Barry in the first round of their UFC Live 6 co-headliner bout.

UFC 146 transpires at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas and features a main event title clash between Junior Dos Santos and Alistair Overeem.

In other fight booking news…

(Fun fight between two hungry 205′ers.)

Our friends at StudioMMA broke the news minutes ago that Antonio Rogerio Nogueira sustained an injury training for his upcoming UFC on Fuel 2 bout with fast-rising light heavyweight Alexander Gustafsson and that stepping in for Lil’ Nog will be fellow Brazilian Thiago Silva.

Silva, who is returning from a one-year suspension for submitting artificial urine to the California State Athletic Commission  in an attempt to mask steroid use ahead of his UFC 125 win over Brandon Vera, was originally slated to rematch “The Truth” at UFC on Fuel 3 on May 15 before a training injury forced his opponent out of the bout. Igor Pokrajac stepped up to replace Vera, but it looks like the UFC will now have to find a replacement for the Croation.

(Are you there God? It’s me, Cowboy…)

A lot of fight booking action today, Potato Nation.

Before dropping a unanimous decision to Nate Diaz at UFC 141, Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone had arguably the best 2011 of any fighter out there, scoring victories over Paul Kelly, Vagner Rocha, Charles Oliveira, and Dennis Siver, three of which came by way of stoppage. And although he ended the year on a loss, Cerrone will be looking to start off 2012 with a big win when he takes on 60 fight veteran Yves Edwards at UFC on FX 3, which goes down at the Patriot Center in Fairfax, Virginia on May 15th.

After suffering one of the most brutal knockout losses of 2011 at the hands of Sam Stout, Edwards has gone 1-1 in the UFC, picking up a second round TKO over Rafaello Oliveira at UFC Live 6 before being outpointed by TUF 13 winner Tony Ferguson at the TUF 14 Finale in December. Edwards will likely be a considerable underdog going into this one, so Yves, for the sake of the Thugjitsu nation, lay off the KC Masterpiece.

And in other UFC on FX news…

Now that we’ve all officially finished binge-eating/drinking our way through Christmas, our good pal DW is back and with a late gift of his own – the gift of heartbreak. In typical fashion, this week’s Danavlog focuses on the aftermath of UFC 140, giving us a behind the scenes look at the pre and post-fight moments of Tito Ortiz, Jon Jones, and perhaps most importantly, Krzystof Soszynski, who, after suffering a 35 second knockout at the hands of Igor Pokrajac, informs us that he has fought his last MMA contest. Whether he is just pulling a BJ Penn on us or is truly sincere about his decision remains to be seen, but if we really have witnessed the last of “The Polish Experiment,” we here at CP would just like to thank him for all the great fights and wish him the best of luck in his future endeavors.

Join us after the jump for the rest of the highlights.

There’s a time for fightin’, and a time for dancin’! Nog breaks out “The Robot“, Mir shows off the “Smooth Criminal“. (Photo: UFC.com)

I’m not sure what sort of pre-fight pep talk was given to the fighters in their locker rooms last night, but I hope somebody recorded it to play at all future events. “Never leave it in the hands of the judges” doesn’t begin to capture the sentiment that most of the fighters carried with them to the Octagon. Last night’s finishes were emphatic and extraordinary. Knocking your opponent out wouldn’t do—it would have to tie for the quickest KO in UFC history. Subbing the previously untapped wasn’t enough—you had to break them or render them unconcious.

We’ve already broken down the Jones-Machida bout, so we’ll just say the champion definitely gave us something to Skype about. Now, onto the rest of the card.

(Video courtesy of YouTube/FightersOnly)

- 25 Hottest European Female Athletes  of All Time (Complex)

- Is Bane’s Dialogue Completely Unintelligible in ‘The Dark Knight Rises?’ (FilmDrunk)

- Work Out Like Overeem (MuscleProdigy)

- The Three Stooges Looks Terrible, But Holy Shit Kate Upton as a Nun (WithLeather)

- 7 Badass Ginger Rockstars (With Souls) (Clutch.MTV)

- 4 Ways to Impress Men in Conversation (AskMen)

- 6 Reasons This Christmas Will Be the Most Depressing Ever (TheRugged)

- CBS Gives You a Sneak Peek at !Rob! (TuVez)

- 8 Signs You’re ‘That Guy’ At the Gym (Guyism)

- 7 Spy Movies That Make Espionage Boring (ScreenJunkies)

- How to Freshen Your Breath, Naturally (MadeMan)

- UFC Exploring Security for Silva-Sonnen II in Brazil (BleacherReport)

- FYI: You Can Be Arrested for Going on a Planking Spree (HolyTaco)

- Cro Cop Details Surgery; Still Wants to Fight (FightersOnly)

- Freddie Roach Talks GSP’s Injury, Calls Anderson Silva the Best ‘Pure Boxer’ in MMA (LowKick)

- The Chris Paul Fiasco Gives NBA a Black Eye (ScoresReport)

- Video: Igor Pokrajac Spars With Babalu Sobral Ahead of His UFC 140 Bout With Krzysztof Soszynski (YouTube)

(Pokrajac chokes out James Irvin at UFC on Versus 2, but contracts the Sandman Curse in the process. Props: Francis Specker)

UFC 131 was never going to be remembered as the most stacked event of the year, but it did have a lot of crowd-pleasing names on it. Then, Brock Lesnar fell ill with a flare-up of diverticulitis, TUF 11 winner Court McGee tweaked his knee in training, and Mac Danzig’s chest injury snubbed out a compelling bang-up with Donald Cerrone. Throw in injury withdrawals from supporting players Anthony Perosh and Rani Yahya, and you’re left with a ghost-ship of a card that’s making Joe Silva work double-shifts.

Now, just days before the third UFC event in three weeks, the card continues to lose bodies. Due to an undisclosed injury*, Croatian light-heavyweight Igor Pokrajac has been forced to withdraw from his fight against Krzysztof Soszynski, and will be replaced on short notice by Mike Massenzio. (Pokrajac was already an injury replacement for Anthony Perosh, which means that this UFC 131 injury curse has affected K-Sos as much as anybody.)

(Props: MMA Weekly)

Can’t exactly blame Stephan Bonnar for showing up at the postfight press conference of the “TUF 12” finale this weekend looking like the cat that ate the balding, 6-foot-tall Croatian canary. Something tells me Bonnar isn’t great with secrets, but leading up to his co-main event bout with Igor Pokrajac he did a pretty good job keeping a lid on the fact he wasn’t going to go out there and fight like the same, old swing-for-the-fences “American Psycho” we’ve all come to know, love and worry about. Nope, Bonnar looked every bit the smart and savvy vet in there on Saturday and the result was a unanimous decision win. Weird, huh?

“Everyone expected me to brawl,” says a half proud, half sheepish Bonnar in the above vid. “I knew what I was going to do, but I kind of let on that I was going to brawl. I feel sneaky, I feel surreptitious. It feels good, though. I felt a little guilty out there for not going toe-to-toe but hey, I got the win.”

Indeed. Also, someone should tell Bonnar that it’s not “sneaky” to analyze your opponent’s strengths and weaknesses in order to devise a strategy you think gives you the best chance to win. That’s just called, you know, professional fighting.

(Above: "Remember, remember, the fourth of December, the Gunpowder Treason and plot. I know of no reason why the Gunpowder Treason should ever be forgot, brah." 
Below: You know what to do, honey. / Photos courtesy of UFC.com)

Welcome, fight fans, to the first leg of a liveblog double-header on CagePotato.com. The TUF 12 Finale gets rolling on Spike at 9 p.m. ET, with Team GSP lightweight finalists Jonathan Brookins and Michael Johnson battling for the highly coveted glassware, Stephan Bonnar trying to build a winning streak against Igor Pokrajac, and Demian Maia tangling with rangy TUF 3 winner Kendall Grove. Plus, five other TUF 12 vets will do their best to hang on to their UFC contracts, including Nam Phan, who clashes with hardy slugger Leonard Garcia in the UFC’s first-ever televised 145-pound feature. (Yes, the UFC has featherweights now!)

Round-by-round results await you after the jump; refresh the page every few minutes to get all the latest. Please toss in your two cents in the comments section, and don’t forget to check in at our viewing party at PlayPhilo.com for a chance to win a UFC: Ultimate 100 Greatest Fights DVD set. 

(Stephan Bonnar: He will stand there all day like that.)

The finale show for The Ultimate Fighter: Team GSP vs. Team Koscheck — slated for December 4th at the Palms in Las Vegas — just picked up its first two official matchups. According to a press release sent out by Spike this morning, the event will feature a middleweight contest between former title contender Demian Maia and TUF 3 winner Kendall Grove. Maia most recently outpointed Mario Miranda at UFC 118 in Boston, while Grove is coming off a split-decision win over Goran Reljic at UFC 116.

Also on the card, Stephan Bonnar will try to follow up his TKO victory/Fight of the Night against Krzysztof Soszynski (also at UFC 116) when he meets Igor Pokrajac, the man responsible for choking James Irvin out of the UFC. With his 1-2 Octagon record, Pokrajac isn’t exactly a step up in competition for Bonnar after the K-Sos fight. But it’s a fight that Bonnar can win, and if you don’t like seeing Bonnar win fights, we have one question for you: Why do you hate America so much?

Related: According to an MMAJunkie report, the TUF 12 Finale will also host a welterweight battle between Johny Hendricks (9-0, 4-0 UFC) and Rick Story (11-3, 4-1 UFC).

(Back from the grave: James Irvin yesterday [left], and in March [right]. Photos courtesy of CombatLifestyle)

Spoilers after the jump…

(Well, he certainly has his mother‘s cheekbones. Photo courtesy of CombatLifestyle.)

Adding to the long list of horrible stuff that has happened to him in his career, James Irvin‘s last fight at UFC of Versus: Vera vs. Jones was an utter disaster. The Sandman looked painfully emaciated in his first attempt at middleweight, and crumpled to the mat after taking an eye-punch from Alessio Sakara. It was the fourth time in his last five appearances that Irvin has ended a fight on the mat writhing in pain or otherwise immobilized. (See also: Anderson Silva slicing him up, his blown out ACL/MCL against Thiago Silva, and the DQ victory via illegal knee he endured against Luis Cane.) Truly, the Octagon has become a dangerous place for James Irvin. Unfortunately, quitting doesn’t seem to be an option.

Despite the fact that he hasn’t won a fight in over two years, MMA Weekly is reporting that Irvin will get one last shot to redeem himself at UFC on Versus 2 (August 1st, Salt Lake City). Irvin will be heading back up to 205 — thank God — to face Igor Pokrajac, the Cro Cop disciple who has gone 0-2 in the Octagon, dropping fights to Vladimir Matyushenko and James "Hey, Tuna" Te-Huna. Obviously, it’s a must-win for both guys, though if Irvin can make it through the fight without any serious injuries, you have to consider that a victory in itself.

Related: UFC on Versus 2 will also host a middleweight contest between Yushin Okami and Mark Munoz. Rebounding from his UFC 104 loss to Chael Sonnen, Okami turned in one of the most impressive performances of his career when he beat down Lucio Linhares at "Florian vs. Gomi" in March. Munoz is a perfect 3-0 at middleweight, and most recently scored a TKO over Kendall Grove in UFC 112′s Fight of the Night.

(Props: Esther Lin)

With a full 13 bouts scheduled for UFC 103, fight fans are going to get their money’s worth tomorrow night in Dallas. Six fighters will be stepping into the Octagon for the first time, most of them trying to make the transition from hometown hero to big-time player. Read on to get acquainted with all the new faces, from Semtex to Tractor to Carny...

PAUL DALEY (WW)
Experience: 21-8-2 record, with 16 wins by KO/TKO. Was the former welterweight champion of Cage Rage. Holds stoppage victories over Duane Ludwig, John Alessio, Jess Liaudin, and Xavier Foupa-Pokam.
Will be facing: Martin Kampmann (15-2, 6-1 UFC)
Lowdown: You should already know about this guy. He knocks dudes out, and has never been knocked out himself. Still, if Kampmann can get this one to the ground, it’s a wrap. UFC.com tries to put a positive spin on the reality of the situation: "Chances are, when Paul ‘Semtex’ Daley is around, you’ll either witness a Knockout of the Night or Submission of the Night."

STEVE LOPEZ (LW)
Experience: 12-1 record, primarily in Midwestern regional leagues. Holds a submission-via-strikes victory over The Gooch. Last competed in October 2008, when he scored a decision win over Alejandro Villalobos.
Will be facing: Jim Miller (13-2, 3-1 UFC)
?Lowdown: A South Bend native and member of the Bulldog Fight Team, Lopez comes to this fight as a replacement for Thiago Tavares. The UFC first noticed Lopez when he tried out for TUF 9 — and injured his shoulder in the process. The former wrestler was inspired to try MMA when he saw The Smashing Machine, and made his pro debut in February 2007 at a four-man tournament, which he won via two consecutive knockouts. He just wants to get in there and scrap: “Win or lose, I hope the fans say ‘man, this kid’s tough – he’s got heart and he don’t back down.’ And this fight is the type of fight I’m looking for – Jim Miller, Roger Huerta, Tyson Griffin – I’m looking for grinders. Those just have Fight of The Night written all over them. I’m not afraid to stand and bang, and I can take a whuppin’. We throw down hard in practice, I’ve never been knocked down, and these are the fights that interest me.”