(Man, I just hope Ken’s HMO is going to cover this.)

Yesterday’s press conference for Elite XC: Heat provided all the requisite photo ops and pre-packaged quotes. We get to hear every fighter talk about what a great opportunity this is, how much they love Elite XC, etc. But what every good press conference has to have is a quote that just plain doesn’t make sense. Thankfully, Kimbo Slice obliged:

“Ken’s fighting in Florida, which is no place for an old man. I’m mentally prepared and ready to do it and represent the crib. It’s going to be ‘305’ (his area code) all day.”

Really? Florida’s no place for an old man? Perhaps what he meant to say was, Florida is the place for an old man. Senior citizens make up 16.8% of the population there (don’t say you never learn anything on Cage Potato). If anything, Florida is the perfect place for a fighter of advanced age such as Shamrock. He can catch an early bird dinner before the fight, then maybe enjoy some shuffleboard after the bout is over. When he finally comes to, that is.

Speaking of Shamrock, you didn’t think you were going to have a press conference without him putting his public speaking gifts into action, did you?

MMA Rated’s Ariel Helwani is live on the scene of Elite XC: Heat and managed to score interviews with some of the principle players in Saturday night’s event. Above, Kimbo Slice explains why he had to turn his phone off so he could fully focus on battering his senior citizen opponent.

Once more Kimbo makes his case as a populist fighter based on shopping at the same stores normal people shop at. Of course, he shops there with the hundreds of thousands of dollars he made for beating up substandard opponents, and he may or may not be wearing shoes with his picture on them. So there is that minor difference.

Ariel also spoke with Kelly Kobald — who very politely explains her desire to make Gina Carano the “broken, bruised, and bloody face of women’s MMA,” — as well as Gina Carano herself, who seems to genuinely like Ariel for some bizarre reason. Just proves she has poor taste in men. First Kit Cope, now Ariel Helwani? Gina, why do you do this to yourself?

Check it out after the jump.

(Props: MMA Scraps)

Things that you have to love about this Ken Shamrock video:

1) He doesn’t blame you for thinking he’s washed up based on his last few fights.
2) He continually refers to the sport as “the MMA,” just like your father might.
3) He apparently trains exclusively in slow motion with a piano tinkling in the background.

All kidding aside, this video makes me both excited and sad for Shamrock’s fight with Kimbo Slice on Saturday. The man’s will is still there but the flesh is, well, not. He’s doing a great job of crafting a narrative (around the 11:00 mark he starts talking about Kimbo, and at 14:15 he explains that Kimbo “is walking into my sport, and he hasn’t earned the right to be there.”), which has always been one of the things Shamrock does well.

But after what we’ve seen from him in recent years there’s just no reason to think he’s going to go out there and beat Kimbo. There is every reason to think that one of the sport’s pioneers is going to go out there and lose badly and it’s going to be a damn shame to see.

Who knows, though. He seems acutely aware of why Elite XC brought him in, and maybe he will indeed “completely blow up their party” on Saturday night. If he does I hope the CBS cameramen have the good sense to pan to Jared Shaw immediately afterwards. That look on his face? It will be the ‘That son of a bitch just blew up my party,’ look.

Oftentimes it’s easy, not to mention fun, to bash mainstream media coverage of MMA. They mispronounce oma plata or some such nonsense and the hardcore fans are all over them. But you have to hand it to ESPN, they did their homework on this Randy Couture-UFC situation. They don’t just give in to the media blitz for UFC 91, they hit Randy with his own words regarding his original gripe with the organization and go right after the real story: did anything get resolved between Couture and the UFC, or did he just cave?

Couture does the same delicate dance around this question that he did in yesterday’s media call, which is to say he makes vague assurances that his concerns have been addressed, while also insinuating that he just wants to fight again before he’s too old and poor from protracted legal battles.

Fair enough.

In this video interview with CBS, Rampage Jackson discusses some of the wacky goings-on in his mind around the time of his arrest, and does his best to explain it. You see, he didn’t think he was God. He thought he was a God. That is, until the police took the opportunity to be total jerks to him, thus reminding him that he was indeed mortal. Because a God wouldn’t have taken no lip off no cops.

It’s somewhat reassuring to see that there was a type of logical process at work in Rampage’s mind — God is his father, he is God’s son, so he must also, through hereditary processes, be a God himself. That actually makes some degree of sense in a Grecian myth kind of way. Think Zeus and Hercules and all that. And if Hercules were alive today, wouldn’t he be an MMA fighter? I’d like to think so.

The fact that it took the cops being assholes to him for Rampage to realize how crazy this all was is probably the strangest aspect of the story. He seems to have been genuinely affected by that. It’s got to be the first time in history that the cops did something good by mocking people in a vulnerable state who were in their custody. Also probably the last time.

Here’s the rambling, bizarre CBS interview, where Rampage details more potential mistreatment at the hands of the police and talks about what led to his eventual breakdown. He claims the police were calling their friends on their cell phones to brag that they had him in the car, while also “chastising” him for trying to preach to them. He also admits that he doesn’t completely remember what he was saying, and sounds at times like he might not be all the way back from his bout with delirium.

Former UFC light heavyweight champ Quinton “Rampage” Jackson must really be feeling better. Apparently not content to have his name in the news just for felony charges and rumors of his November return to the Octagon, now he’s revisiting the topic of his loss to Forrest Griffin. Maybe he felt that his clash with “delirium” after the fight robbed him of the opportunity to talk about it, but he’s making up for lost time with this visit from the Ghost of Shit-Talking Past in a recent interview with the UK’s Fighter’s Only Magazine:

“I just want my fans to know, I was at my worst and Forrest was at his best – and I still beat him. …A man is not a man if he can’t ‘fess up to when he gets his ass kicked. See me, if I get my ass kicked I am like ‘yeah, I got my ass kicked’.

However, Jackson says that when he said those exact words at the end of the fight in July, “I was being sarcastic, because I really could not believe that it went the way it did”.

“I’m not a sore loser, shit happens. But I was hoping that Forrest would be a man and come out and say ‘You know what, I didn’t win that fight’, especially after he watched it.

“I wasn’t really sure, right at the end of the fight… I know he hurt me and punched me in the face a couple of times but I was bobbing and weaving and making him miss, stuff like that. I was hoping that he would come out later after he saw the fight and say ‘yeah, I saw the fight and I lost that fight.”

Daaaaaamn! First of all, Rampage really expected Griffin to come out after the fight and voluntarily say that he did not deserve to win the title? Has Rampage ever met any pro fighters? That’s just not their style. Especially with a fight that close, it’s standard operating procedure for both guys to claim they won and for both to go to their graves truly believing it. So basically Rampage wants Griffin to do what no other fighter, including him, would do in this situation.

(Trump Jr.: Voted most likely to buy and sell jerks like you.)

In an interview with MMA Rated Radio today Donald Trump Jr. discusses the Trump involvement in Affliction, along with related topics. The interview as a whole is definitely worth listening to, if for no other reason than to hear the occasional Thurston Howell III-type inflection come into Trump Jr’s voice, but things really get interesting when they start talking Tito Ortiz.

As we’ve all heard by now, the talks aren’t going well, which is par for the Tito course. But to hear Trump Jr. tell it, Ortiz’s sense of his own worth is even more out of control than we thought:

“It was a bit of a shock to us…I can’t make it a one man show or the Tito Ortiz show giving him more than a guy like Fedor who is coming in here with a winning record…I was (disappointed). I was shocked. It was almost like don’t even bother calling back because there is no point in making a deal here…it was aggressive.”

“There’s nothing concrete as of yet. If we can come to something, great. If not, so be it.”

“I think Tito’s obviously a good draw and he’d be good to have for a show. To say anything else would be stupid. However, that draw comes with an expense. In the cost-benefit analysis the question is, is it worth it? The answer is, at those numbers, definitely not.”

Trump Jr. also said that he was not surprised to hear the reports that Ortiz was once more negotiating with Zuffa, saying he expected him to “try and play both sides,” but given the acrimonious relationship with Dana White he thinks Ortiz will eventually end up signing with Affliction.

If it doesn’t go down that way, I doubt the Trump’s will be crying into their martinis. At Ariel Helwani’s prodding, Trump Jr. seemed to admit that the early negotiations with Ortiz have made him wonder if the guy isn’t more trouble than he’s worth, regardless of the price. Like the magic eight ball says, ‘All signs point to yes.’

(The stuff you find under Tommy Speer’s mattress.)

Former UFC welterweight champ Matt Hughes has been taking some heat for his remarks about the Georges St. Pierre-Jon Fitch bout, which he admitted to walking out on during UFC 87. But in a rare response to the media and the fans, Hughes updated his blog to address the criticism and set the record straight. Kind of:

I usually don’t do this, but I’m going to break my rule this time. There’s been so much talk about my last blog entry that it’s amazing. Some of it is legitimate thinking, some of it is just from idiots. I never said the GSP fight was boring, the reason I walked out was because I wanted to beat the crowd. I didn’t think Fitch was going to get back in the match and the fight wasn’t as exciting as I thought it would be. If you want, you can go look at my last blog entry and see that this is basically what I said. So people criticized me for leaving the fight early and said that was disrespectful to GSP, I disagree, I just wanted to get out of there.

Hughes also responded to a Yahoo! Sports blog entry by Steve Cofield that interpreted his ‘GSP-looked-small’ remarks to mean that Hughes was implying St. Pierre had been on steroids for previous bouts. While that might have been a little bit of a stretch, and Cofield admits as much, Hughes’ attempts at backtracking on his ‘boring’ remarks are hindered by the wonders of modern technology.

His exact words to interviewers with PWB Podcast: “I gotta be real honest though, I was kinda bored with the match.”

Woop. There it is.

If there’s one thing I love in fighter interviews it’s passive-aggressive remarks. Anybody can go out there and talk smack about an opponent or openly question his heart and his skills. But subtlety is a lost art in this business, and it can go a long way. For a great example, check out “Sugar” Rashad Evans’ remark about Liddell’s torn hamstring in this ESPN video. Says Evans, “at his age, injuries like that become harder to heal.”

Then he follows that up by saying he doesn’t expect it to be a big deal in the fight because Liddell is such a great fighter. I just really wish he would have added, “because, you know, Chuck’s sooooo experienced and has been fighting for soooo long, he can hobble his way through a fight with the best of them.”

After the jump check out Rich Franklin’s breakdown of his upcoming fight with Matt Hamill. Does he expect to be able to avoid Hamill’s takedowns all night? He does not. At least he’s being realistic.

In this video from RawVegas.tv, Russian stoic philosopher Fedor Emelianenko drops some knowledge regarding the issues of the day, including his thoughts on Randy Couture and his somewhat surprising admission that he is impressed by Brock Lesnar. My personal favorite is when he responds to Dana White’s earlier criticism of him by remarking that the UFC president’s comments are on his own conscience and he’s the one who will have to live with them. These are the moments that make me wonder if Fedor isn’t some being sent from another world in order to teach us all to be kinder to one another. Then I rewatch his bout with Tim Sylvia and I am forced to abandon that theory.

Jon Fitch is well aware of his underdog status going into tomorrow night’s title fight with Georges St. Pierre. He knows not many people are expecting him to win, but he doesn’t seem to care. In this exclusive interview he talks about what it’s going to take to beat GSP and why he feels he still isn’t getting the respect he deserves from fans and “self-proclaimed experts.”

CagePotato.com: Hey Jon, thanks for taking the time to talk with us. Now that we’re so close to the fight, how are you feeling?

Great. Training went really well. Had a great camp, a lot of people have been helping me out. I feel really confident. I feel really great right now.

Who did you have working with you to help you get ready for GSP?

The usual guys like Josh Koscheck and Mike Swick, everybody at AKA. And then Jake Shields was coming in for three weeks or so, helping me out. Even Brock Larson, who was a former opponent of mine, was in town helping me out for a couple of weeks. So I had really great guys working with me.

Was Koscheck able to give you any special insight about GSP based on his fight with him?

Yeah, he helped me with little things, like what GSP’s strength is like, what his speed is like, stuff like that. Just knowing that he’s fast and strong is one thing, but knowing how fast and how strong is another. Knowing how I compare to him in those departments, those kinds of things really helped.

I heard you say before that Koscheck didn’t really work his wrestling before his fight with GSP. Is that true? I’d imagine you’re not making the same mistake in your training.

(The Bodog Girls: “ridiculously gorgeous.”)

Though he’s only thirty years old, Eric Nicholl calls the shots as matchmaker for BodogFIGHT‘s Vancouver-based operation. It’s a job that demands his attention 24/7 — Nicholl has to juggle phone calls, e-mails, meetings, fighters’ demands, contracts, and a host of other details on a daily basis — but he makes it look easy. Fresh off of a well-deserved vacation, Eric took a moment to chat with us about matchmaking, Bodog’s much-jeered payouts, Matt Lindland‘s gripe, and who his choice is to play him on the big screen.

CagePotato: How did you get the Bodog job?
Eric Nicholl: It’s kind of a unique situation. The company that really does all the marketing and advertising is Riptown Media, and I had transitioned from operations about 3 ½ years ago into marketing/PR for BodogFIGHT. So I was basically the initial person that was going through doing the media interviews. And it kind of developed from there. With mixed martial arts, I’ve got seven years of kickboxing underneath my belt and I wrestled in high school. And I also attended university on a full football scholarship. Contact sports and hand-to-hand combat has always been a passion for me. Basically, BodogFIGHT totally evolved. I kind of got to come along with it. I got to work alongside some really key people in the industry, like Miguel Iturrate, our original matchmaker. I studied under him since the beginning of August, 2006.

Describe what you do, in a nutshell.
Not only do I focus on matchmaking, but I also look at fighter relations. I look at scouting, single fight, multi-fight contracts, purse negotiations. I look at sponsorship proposals. My day, I come in, I’ll fire up my computer and I’ll just scan through the list of guys getting a hold of my e-mail and they want to be fighters. ‘What do I have to do?’ I’ve kind of taken the approach that I’m going to reply to every single one of these guys. If they reply back, fantastic. If they actually fill out the bio stuff that I need, if they have some amateur fights, I want to see video of it. I want to see what their style is, how finely tuned their skills are. I want to see what they look like in a ring, on a canvas. I’d say out of about a hundred people that actually reply back to me, I’ll get five or six that will actually complete the bio form that I need from them. Once it gets to there, I’d say maybe two out of a hundred will actually make it to the cut, where I can say, “Okay, great, you’re an up-and-comer, I can match you against another up-and-comer and let’s see if you guys can make the cut.” It’s a swift process.

Tape is critical. Typically what I’ll do (everyday), I’ll catch up on my e-mail, I’ll go through the forums, all the message boards, all the sites, just to see what’s going on to stay up on all the news as I possibly can. If there’s nothing super important, typically I’ll have meetings — planning for different events, who we want to work with. The people we want to work with — the different organizations — is a key factor. It’s a small niche industry and I want to surround myself with the most positive people.

Do you interact with other organizations’ matchmakers a lot?
All the time. The bigger camps all around the world…Brazil, the UK…again, these are like promoters/matchmakers, they kind of do everything. I also work very tightly with our commissioner and that’s Jeff Osbourne. I don’t think his word is gospel, but I certainly have a tremendous amount of respect for what he has to say. There are different philosophies that I find amongst these other matchmakers — some people are sport purists, other people are all entertainment value. I find that the right mix of personality of someone that can see the value of the sport as a sport — because it is — but also the value of the sport as an entertainment outlet. At the end of the day, you need to have people watching the show.

What happens when, say, an injury or something leaves you without a fighter just days from an event? Where do you look for a replacement?
Again, that has a lot to do with networking. If someone goes down, I will rely on a local promoter that I’ve made contacts with. And there are certain groups in various regions that have guys who train very hard. A specific example is Eben Oroz — I called him when we did our TV shoot in Vancouver in August of this past summer and it was to fight “DJ.taiki” (Daiki Hata). On four days notice. Daiki is a phenomenal fighter, he’s world-renowned and he (Eben) took the fight last minute. And he stepped in and won a great fight and an incredible upset.

It’s really setting up your network as to who you draw from — and at the end of the day, depending on the level of the fighter, I have probably a thousand bios of fighters all set up by the weight class and I’ll look at them. If there’s a guy that maybe deserves a shot, that’s on the cusp, let’s get him in the ring, let’s give him a shot.

The hours you keep must be crazy.
I have my Blackberry. I work 24 hours a day, every day of the week. One of the reasons for that is I’ve got people in Russia, I have people in Brazil, the U.K., we have fighters in Australia, Japan, so my phone rings all hours of the day…and I’ll answer it.

Though he’s currently riding a wave of success in the IFL, Matt Horwich’s story hasn’t always been filled with good news. Before he made it as a mixed martial artist, Horwich battled a drug and alcohol addiction that spiraled out of control. After a period of time spent squatting in abandoned houses and searching for ways to support his habit, Horwich recognized he had hit bottom and started fighting his way back.

He turned to spirituality and adopted a Zen-like quality that is equal-parts hippie, monk, and surfer dude. He credits his faith in God and the fighters at Team Quest for pulling him out of the quagmire his life was in and setting him on his current track. That track includes his first defense of his recently acquired IFL middleweight title, which will go down February 29th in Las Vegas – the day before his wedding. We recently chatted with Matt Horwich, where he discussed his favorite training partners, his array of nicknames, his love of the IFL, and his rockstar aspirations.

CagePotato: What are your thoughts on your title defense against Ryan McGivern?
Matt Horwich: I know a lot about Ryan, more than Tim Kennedy, because I fought him before and I’ve seen him fight quite a bit. He’s way awesome – it’s an honor to fight him again. Sometimes I think he forgets how good he is, like in the (Joe) Doerksen fight. I hope this will be one of the nights he forgets how good he is.

Have you been working on anything new to prepare for this fight?
I’ve been working on a lot of counter punches and takedown defense. Getting back up. I don’t want him to win a decision from taking me down again and not getting submitted. I’m not letting him pass guard this time.

You’ve skipped around to different camps and trained in different places. What’s been your favorite place to train?
My favorite place is my team, Team Quest. It’s a blessing that they have such a great group of guys to work with so I can be well prepared. As far as venturing out and training in other places, my favorite place has been Legends in Hollywood. I’m good friends with Eddie Bravo and he showed me a lot of good rubber guard stuff. And Chris Riley, the stand-up coach there, is my favorite kickboxing coach. I’d like to do some training with Bas Rutten again – he’s pretty close to there.

Your official nickname is “Sauve”, but you’ve also been called “The Fighting Hippy.” Two names with two very different vibes – which do you prefer?
I like them both alright. It’s cool to have more than one name. I like “Sauve” because it’s like relaxed and flowing and I like “Fighting Hippy” because it’s original. It’s good to be close to earth – it’s a beautiful universe and awesome things are always happening, all the awesome potential to do great things and make our dreams come true, and affect others positively.

Not many people know how to brand their name like Frank Shamrock. Frank followed in his adoptive brother Ken’s MMA footsteps and built a legendary career for himself, winning titles in the UFC, Pancrase, WEC, and Strikeforce, and knocking off some of the greatest fighters of all-time along the way. After stepping away from the sport for a while earlier this decade, Frank has returned with impressive wins, and since 1997 has suffered only one loss by disqualification.

Shamrock’s next fight will be against Cung Le on March 29th where he will defend his Strikeforce middleweight title against the former kickboxing champion and fan favorite. And of course, his “Blood Brothers” fight with Ken is still on the horizon. CagePotato recently chatted with Frank about the bad blood between him and his brother, the UFC’s exploitative business tactics, exactly when he’ll retire, and what makes him so damn weird.

CagePotato: How long has the fight with Cung Le been in the works?
Frank Shamrock: We really got serious about it three or four months ago. But it’s kind of been on my horizon for a while now.

Le’s a fantastic striker. How do you feel you match-up with him?
I’m hoping to stand up with him. I think MMA striking is a little bit different than traditional striking. And I don’t think he’s ready for the type of strength I can put on him. He’s going to be a good test for me.

Dana White has been quoted as calling you “a weird guy,” and you’ve had more than one public feud. Are you weird or just misunderstood at times?
I’m sure I’m weird in his book because I’m a damn good fighter who believes in my brand and won’t sell my brand to [the UFC]. To him, that’s weird.

The UFC has been losing big-name fighters lately for one reason or another. Where do you see the sport going as far as organizations, marketing, and free agents in the near future?
The truth is just catching up to the UFC. They’ve been the big business that’s been taking advantage of the fighters for a long time. Now everyone’s sort of figuring it out. Unfortunately, they have a big monopoly on the industry at this point, so it’s going to be difficult for other fighters to make it and get recognition elsewhere.

Photo by Paul Demko

Nick Thompson was so inexperienced when he first started fighting that he would get knocked out on a regular basis, and fall asleep like a strange breed of goat that faints when it gets scared. When the welterweight found his groove, “The Fainting Goat” started turning the tables on his opponents and his nom de guerre became simply “The Goat.” Now, Thompson is the current Bodog Fight welterweight champion, and is set to do battle against John Troyer on February 1st in Las Vegas.

Those who have followed The Goat’s career know what a unique character he is — and that he has the tools to be one of the top ten welterweights in the world. He’s currently riding a nine-fight win streak and is 17-1 in his last 18 fights. A tireless athlete, Thompson once fought 27 fights in two years. Like many other up-and-coming fighters, Thompson needed to fight monthly in order to pay the bills, but as his profile has risen, he’s been able to take the time to properly train and recover when he fights.

We recently had an e-mail exchange with The Goat, who gave us his thoughts on Bodog Fight, Eddie Alvarez calling him ugly, lighting up before a match, and law school.

CagePotato: You’ve got quite a win streak going right now. Has the UFC or any other organizations made offers to lure you away from Bodog Fight?
Nick Thompson: I’ve spoken to several organizations. February 1st is the last fight on my exclusive contract with Bodog. They’ve made me a nice offer, but the UFC, HCF, and World Victory Road have all made intriguing offers as well.

Do you feel like you’ve accomplished everything there is to accomplish in Bodog?
If they don’t get some more talent, yes.

(We know what you’re thinking, and yes, Marcus is standing on a box.)

Known as the “Bonus Kid” for the way he pulls down Knockout/Submission/Fight of the Night bonuses, UFC welterweight Marcus “The Irish Hand Grenade” Davis will face Jess Liaudin at Saturday’s “Rapid Fire” event, where he’ll try to extend his 10-fight win streak to 11. Besides the fact that he’s been undefeated since losing to Melvin Guillard on the TUF 2 finale in November 2005, and the fact that he’s Irish, we don’t know too much about the guy — luckily, MMA Madness’s new interview with Davis sheds light on the rising star, revealing him to be a humble but entertaining dude. (Kind of like the anti-Guillard.) Some highlights…

On not being a spoiled bitch:

MMA Madness: Being undefeated in UFC competition, how many fights do you think it’ll take before you earn title consideration?
Marcus Davis: I’m patient so I don’t really care (laughs). I fight to fight. I’m 5 [UFC] wins in a row, about to be 6, so if I get up to 25 wins, at some point, I’ll get a title shot. If I don’t get one during my career, I’m not gonna look back and say I should have had one. I’ll just say “geez, I had a great time doing that.” I won’t have any regrets and I’m in no rush.

On his (and Tim Sylvia’s) origin story:

It was 1995 and Tim and I were doormen together at a bar. I became the GM of the bar and so I had all the doormen going to a boxing and MMA school inside a Gold’s Gym. I made it mandatory that the doormen go there to train. Tim was a real big guy, about 235 pounds and playing semi pro football, but he needed to learn how to throw some hands. So I started working with Tim and he said he wanted to try the Pancrase stuff. He did three or four of those, ended up meeting Pat Miletich, and that’s how it all started…after Tim left, I was still training boxing. I wanted to do some MMA stuff too so I went out, trained with Tim, met Miletich, and decided that I wanted to do this.

On his last UFC win against Paul Taylor:

I’m a much better grappler than the guys he’s fought and the guys he trains with. All the UK grapplers are way behind the ones in the United States. It’s like going to Japan and they’re still wearing Wrangler Jeans and listening to disco. That’s where they are when it comes to the ground game.

By the way, Jess Liaudin’s nickname is “The Joker.” With that in mind, we have to give the fight to the Irish Fucking Hand Grenade. (Unless, of course, Liaudin catches him in the jumping guillotine…)

The stylishly urban fight fans at Complex just put up a particularly kick-ass interview with Georges St. Pierre, in which the welterweight contender talks about training for his upcoming throw-down with Matt Hughes, the best strip clubs in Montreal, his former life as a club bouncer, and the emotional pain of being called “Freakin’ Frenchy.” Among the highlights:

— (On his last fight against Matt Serra): “I’m a human being and I’m gonna lose some of my fights. That’s what I told my fans. I cannot promise my fans I will never lose again. Nobody can do it. Nobody is invincible. But what I can promise my fans is that I will never show up in a fight where I’m not 100% mentally and physically and where my head is somewhere else. It will never, never happen again.”

— (On emulating Patrick Swayze in Road House): “In the street you can be as strong as you want, but nobody’s faster than a bullet. Being a bouncer, according to me, it’s more being able to talk and being able to use words instead of your arms to do the job. One time I had a problem with somebody and I was like ‘Hey come outside. I need to talk you. The music is too loud.’ And once we were outside, ‘Sorry my friend. You hit on every girl, you make trouble, you grab the girls’ asses. Tonight you’re finished. You can come back tomorrow, I don’t mind. It’s nothing personal, but tonight is over.’ (imitating club-goer) ‘Oh you have no right to kick me out you motherfucker!’ and I just said, ‘Bye-bye, have a good night.’”

Anyway, go read it.

Jarry Park posted a 14-minute interview with Georges St. Pierre last night, covering hockey, stardom, and his upcoming fight with Matt Hughes. Sure, GSP’s colorful accent may be hard for Americans to keep up with, but the interview is worth checking out just to hear him stammer when Ariel brings up Sean Sherk’s steroid conviction. Comment ça se dit “Nandrolone,” mon ami?