It came as a bit of a surprise to the MMA world when TUF 1 alum and former welterweight number one contender Josh Koscheck announced that he would be departing from long time training camp American Kickboxing Academy in the wake of his narrow split decision win over Mike Pierce at UFC 143. A member of the gym since 2006, Koscheck had widely credited the facility for the improved striking he displayed in his devastating knockout wins over Dustin Hazelett, Yoshiyuki Yoshida, and Frank Trigg. The tight unity between AKA members became a well known facet of the gym, so much so that training partners often refused to fight one another no matter what the repercussions, or benefits for that matter, would be as a result.

And though Koscheck still holds to the claim that he would rather retire than fight former training partner John Fitch, he has taken a 180 in terms of giving his former gym its due credit. If we didn’t know any better, it almost seems as if Koscheck is, dare we say, a little bitter about the whole thing. When asked about the situation by Ariel Helwani, and specifically his feelings towards AKA head trainer Javier Mendez, here’s what he had to say:

For the record, he was never my coach. He tagged along here and there, but I think I’m in a better place now…I think Bob Cook will always be the man over there…it’s good to be around real coaches that care and real coaches that put time in and real coaches that will put the effort to make your fighter the best, and I have that now. 

Of course [Javier] worked with me, but did I learn anything? Meh. It is what it is. I’m done with that chapter of my life and I prefer not to talk about it. I prefer to talk about Dethrone Base Camp in Fresno. That’s where it’s happening right now. 

Join us after the jump for the entire video interview, complements of MMAFighting, along with a few more Koscheckian excerpts.

Demian Maia is a tough fighter to wrap your head around. One day, the onetime middleweight contender is choking out Chael Sonnen and handling a guy like Jorge Santiago the next he’s being dominated by Mark Munoz and Chris Weidman. The one thing the Brazilian jiu-jitsu standout, who is 9-4 in the Octagon has lacked in his career is consistency, which explains why he’s ready perhaps to make a change.

Maia, who admits he sometimes struggles to maintain his 198-pound walking around weight, told Tatame recently that he’s been thinking  about dropping down a weight class to fight at 170 pounds.

(Trust fall: You’re doing it wrong.)

If anything, UFC on Fox 3 is looking like it has the potential to surpass that of its first two cards in terms of excitement. Dana White announced via his Twitter last night that a battle between top welterweight contenders Josh Koscheck and Johny Hendricks has just been booked for the UFC’s third go-around on Fox, which is already set to feature a lightweight clash between Jim Miller and Nate Diaz, as well as a heavyweight sure to be slugfest pitting Pat Barry against Lavar Johnson. Yes, it’s looking like there is little stopping this card *cough* Jon Jones’ commentary *cough* from finally delivering a good lineup to the masses. The first Fox card had the fights, but failed to showcase enough of them, whereas the second card was simply too underwhelming to reel in any new fans, but the addition of Hendricks/Koscheck to this card will surely push it over the top.

Hendricks is coming off a 12 second knockout over former #1 contender Jon Fitch, which snapped a 5-0-1 streak Fitch had put together since dropping a unanimous decision to Georges St. Pierre back at UFC 87. Koscheck, however, is fresh off a controversial split decision victory over Mike Pierce at UFC 143. Despite being outsruck for the majority of three rounds, Koscheck was able to secure the decision by converting on two of his three takedown attempts, because that’s apparently all it takes these days.

(When I open my eyes, I want to see that sign say ‘NOT an AKA affiliate.’”

If you were wondering why American Kickboxing Academy co-founder and head coach Javier Mendez wasn’t in Josh Koscheck’s corner Saturday night, it wasn’t because he had Super Bowl tickets.

Kos dropped a bombshell at the post-fight press conference that he has split from the San Jose-based camp and that he will now prepare for his future bouts in his Fresno AKA location – though he isn’t sure that he’ll keep the affiliation of the gym the same. He clarified with MMAWeekly that the decision to leave the gym was a result of a handful of slights Mendez made towards him and his teammates following losses the fighters incurred.

“This goes back from quite a bit, and history repeats itself. Whenever you have a guy for example whenever I had the loss against [Thiago] Alves and I took the fight on short notice with him, and after the fight I had a lot of friends come up to me and calling me saying ‘have you read this interview with Javier Mendez?’ and talking about me and my game plan. So I went online and I read this interview and I started to notice after all my teammates lost, it was the same thing,” Koscheck recalled. “[He'd say things like], ‘They didn’t listen to the game plan,’ — that he deferred it away from himself, and he threw us under the bus basically, saying that we didn’t listen to him and he tries to make himself look good, so it doesn’t reflect on him us losing. I’ve lost a lot of respect for Javier Mendez as a coach, as a person, because if you go back and listen to the history of the interviews of him after AKA guys have lost, the interviews he does, go back and look at the Cain Velasquez [fight], go back and look at the Josh Koscheck [fight], the other guys on that team, and see if you can find interviews where he refers to, ‘Oh I did my job,’ to make himself look good and they didn’t do theirs. That’s not a coach.”

(I’m still convinced that ‘Reem ate one of those Pit Fighter power-pills before the match.)

MMA Weekly passes along the news that 19 of the 20 fighters who competed on December 30th’s UFC 141: Lesnar vs. Overeem card were tested for drugs of abuse and performance enhancing substances by the Nevada State Athletic Commission, with all 19 testing clean. (Congrats, guys; way to not fuck it up like some people we know.) That includes new UFC heavyweight #1 contender Alistair Overeem, who continues to prove the legitimacy of his beast-like physique. Still, Overeem has to pass two more random drug tests over the next six months to satisfy the conditions of his conditional license.

Only Jon Fitch managed to avoid a post-fight drug test at UFC 141. The only explanation that NSAC executive director Keith Kizer gave for this omission was that “he lost” Which begs the question — why were those nine other losers tested, then? Do you think Brock Lesnar and Nam Phan felt like pissing into cups after the beatings they took?

(I bet if that cameraman had been The Undertaker, Lesnar would have just let him do his job. Video props via MiddleEasy.)

OK, so maybe the above video was taken in the aftermath of Brock Lesnar’s first round TKO loss to Alistair Overeem, but we imagine he had a similar reaction when informed by the Nevada State Athletic Commission that he must have an abdominal injury cleared by a doctor before he can compete in any physical activity for the next 6 months. Remember, given his recent retirement, the “physical activity” that Lesnar would be limited from would be his two favorite things, illegally tag-and-bagging mule deer and “getting on top of his wife.” Livestrong, Mr. Lesnar. BTW, that was kind of a dick move, shoving a poor cameraman like that. Way to go out with class.

But Lesnar was not the only fighter who walked out of UFC 141 facing a possible 6 month suspension. Nate Diaz, who, after out landing Donald Cerrone by over 150 strikes, somehow faces a longer suspension than that of “The Cowboy” — Diaz must have his right eye cleared by an ophthalmologist or will also be out of action until June 28th.

Join us after the jump for the full list. 

(Come on, Fitch wasn’t out. He was just resting his arms.)

On Friday night, Alistair Overeem successfully gut-shotted his way to a title shot against reigning UFC heavyweight champ Junior Dos Santos — and his larger-than-life opponent Brock Lesnar will likely never set foot inside of an Octagon again. But the fates of the other winners and losers from UFC 141 are still up in the air. So let’s put on our Joe Silva skin-suit and see if we can make some thoughtful matchmaking suggestions for these guys, shall we?

Nate Diaz: As ferocious as he looked against Donald Cerrone, part of me thinks that Nate is going to get rudely decisioned as soon as he goes back to facing wrestlers; guys like Clay Guida, Joe Stevenson, and Gray Maynard have already proved that putting Diaz on his back is his kryptonite. But I don’t want to see that happen, at least not right away. Next month’s UFC 144 event provides two compelling options for Nate’s next opponent — either the winner of the Anthony Pettis vs. Joe Lauzon scrap, or Ben Henderson if he loses his title challenge to Frankie Edgar. Either matchup would give Diaz an ideal dance partner for another guaranteed Fight of the Night.

Donald Cerrone: Not to steal the thunder from Diaz’s masterful performance, but Cerrone looked like shit on Friday. Sorry, it needed to be said. The highly technical fight-finisher that we’ve come to know and love was M.I.A., replaced by an outgunned cowpoke who was as sloppy as he was tentative. Cerrone needs a rebound fight to find his mojo again. Setting him up against fast-rising Ultimate Fighter 13 winner Tony Ferguson would be a great test for both fighters. Either Cowboy gets back on track against a solid opponent, or Ferguson continues to prove that he’s more than just a TUF-guy.

(Hey Mario, is that some Jacks Links in your pocket, or are you just happy to see me?)

By Jason Moles

When we next see Brock Lesnar, will it be in the Octagon or the squared circle? What did “Cowboy” Cerrone do with the beanie Nate Diaz handed him? Where in the world did this Jimy Hettes guy come from? None of these questions will be answered in this forum. Instead, you’ll learn which UFC 141 fighters’ stock to buy more of, sell off, or hold. Even if you’re still too hung over to remember what happened Friday night, you’ll still need to make a few fiscal moves to stay ahead of the curve. Remember, money never sleeps, kid. Now go make yourself a Bloody Mary then keep reading to kick off the New Year with sage advice about the MMA stock market.

Alistair Overeem – Buy it like they’re giving it away for free

It makes no difference whether you think “The Reem” is completely unstoppable or flat out overrated — when he fights, people watch. Casual fans will be enamored with Alistair Overeem because he looks good with his shirt off (at least that’s why I think Arianny make that face) and the hype that can be drummed up by Zuffa thanks to his Strikeforce, DREAM, and K1 titles. For the next few years, as long as he doesn’t piss hot for some tainted horsemeat, the “Demolition Man” will be a main event attraction that will only make him more valuable with time.

So it’s official: horse meat > beef jerky. (Photo: UFC.com)

There was a time when the UFC had trouble drumming up any interest at all in their heavyweight division—can you say ‘Arlovski vs. Buentello for the title!!!’?—but those days are long gone. One could point to the growth of the sport attracting big men from other sports, or credit training camps for churning out well-rounded fighters, but much of the interest in the revitalized division has been carried by the broad, skull-tatted shoulders of one man.

Brock Lesnar’s 2008 debut in the Octagon brought interest, intrigue, and—most importantly—eyeballs. Lots of them. Speculation over whether the big man could survive against a real fighter was rampant, but before long we were asking if anyone could survive in a real fight against him. He quickly smashed his way to the top of the 265 lb. heap, but his skid down that mountain was just as fast. Following two brutal, first-round losses to Cain Velasquez and Alistair Overeem, Brock is ready to hang up the gloves. Looking back at his brief career, if it is truly over, one thing becomes painfully clear: Brock Lesnar doesn’t love fighting; Brock Lesnar loves beating people up. While those two interests often intertwine, they quickly diverge when you start getting tagged. For all of the debates over Brock’s questionable chin and concerns for vegetable-rejecting body, the real downfall of his MMA career was his heart. He doesn’t love this fighting game, and MMA is a cruel mistress. If you can’t fully commit to her, you can expect to find a pile of shredded “Clutch Gear” shirts on the doorstep when you get home from the bar. Brock seems to have gotten that message and is packing his things and moving on with his life.

(Upon encountering the crazed polar bear, Alistair stretches his arms out, hoping to make himself appear larger. / Photos courtesy of CombatLifestyle.com. For more from this set, click here.)

529 pounds of mean son-of-a-bitch will be colliding tonight in Las Vegas as former UFC heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar takes on Strikeforce/DREAM/K-1 champion Alistair Overeem in the main event of UFC 141. Plus, Nate Diaz and Donald Cerrone settle their beef in the lightweight division, and Jon Fitch goes for his tenth-straight decision against Johny Hendricks. But first, the final Spike TV prelims broadcast ever, featuring a TUF winner and a pair of WEC standouts. Not a bad way to kick off New Year’s weekend.

Round-by-round results from UFC 141: Lesnar vs. Overeem will be piling up after the jump beginning at 9 p.m. ET / 6 p.m. PT; refresh the page every few minutes for all the latest. And while you’re waiting, feel free to share your New Year’s resolutions in the comments section.

(The Interweb never lies.)

Ariel Helwani caught up with Dana White ahead of tonight’s UFC 141 event and he asked the UFC president where about the growing opinion that Jon Fitch is being overlooked in the UFC welterweight title picture. According to White, who says he’s in the mix, regardless of Fitch’s current streak and the fact that he only has one loss and one draw in his past 20 fights, unless he makes some drastic changes to his game, he likely won’t main event on a pay-per-view let alone fight for the welterweight strap any time soon.

“You hear the same thing from everybody about Jon Fitch: ‘If I want to get to sleep and I can’t get to sleep at night, I’ll put in a Jon Fitch fight.’ Whatever you think, Jon Fitch is one of the best 170-pounders in the world. And yes, he’s in the hunt for a title again, but everybody… find one person that will tell you they love a Jon Fitch fight, it’s the most exciting thing they’ve ever seen and they just get so excited for it. So when you say that you have a fight like Cerrone and Diaz on the card and a guy with a record like his is on and people aren’t jumping out of their seats for that fight, I think Jon needs to have a little bit of a… he’s got to be a little honest with himself and have a little bit of a reality check when he talks about stuff like [fighters talking their way into title fights.”

(Two words: Cultivating mass.)

Oh my God, you guys. We are just two days away from a match so epic that it threatens to implode our entire universe and send it spiraling down a black hole quicker than a Duane Ludwig knockout. And since most of us are still trying to financially recover from Christmas (only to spend nearly as much on New Year’s Eve, ironically), why not place some bets with us and end this sumbitch on a bang instead of a whimper? Check out the betting lines, courtesy of BestFightOdds, along with our Negrodamus-esque advice below.

Main Card
Brock Lesnar (+110) vs. Alistair Overeem (-130)
Nate Diaz (+240) vs. Donald Cerrone (-280)
Jon Fitch (-230) vs. Johny Hendricks (+190)
Vladimir Matyushenko (+285) vs. Alexander Gustafsson (-345)
Nam Phan (-230) vs. Jimy Hettes (+190)

Preliminary card (televised on Spike)
Ross Pearson (-300) vs. Junior Assunçao (+250)
Anthony Njokuani (+155) vs. Danny Castillo (-175)

Preliminary card (Facebook)
Dong Hyun Kim (-360) vs. Sean Pierson (+300)
Jacob Volkmann (-260) vs. Efrain Escudero (+220)
Matt Riddle (-115) vs. Luis Ramos (-105)
Manvel Gamburyan (+200) vs. Diego Nunes (-240)

Thoughts…

(And now, two useless MMA commentators miss a fantastic standing heel-hook finish while trying to figure out how to pronounce “Vovchanchyn.” Props: EliteMMA)

Some selected highlights from our friends around the MMA blogosphere…

- UFC 145: Brendan Schaub vs. Ben Rothwell Booked for March 24 in Montreal (MMA Mania)

- Frank Mir Says Alistair Overeem’s Cardio Will “Suck” Against Brock Lesnar (BleacherReport.com/MMA)

- Top 10 Worst New Year’s Eve MMA Fights in Japan (The Fight Nerd)

- Nate Diaz Denies October Run-In With Donald Cerrone (5th Round)

- The $8.18 UFC 141 Parlay That Will Literally Make You a Millionaire (MiddleEasy)

- As He Reflects on Loss to Michael Bisping, ‘Mayhem’ Miller Focuses on Uncertain Future (MMA Fighting)

- NYE Storylines: Who Retires First After a Loss, Fedor or Lesnar? (Fight Opinion)

- Moving Past ‘Worst Time Ever,’ Karo Parisyan Rediscovering Fire To Compete (FightLine)

- Gabriel Gonzaga: ‘The UFC Is My Home’ (Five Ounces of Pain)

- Countdown to UFC 141 Attracts Just 15,000 Viewers on FUEL (MMA Payout)

- Inside MMA: The 2011 Bazzie Awards (MMA Convert)

- Jon Fitch Says He Should Fight the Winner of Condit-Diaz if Victorious Against Johny Hendricks (Lowkick.Blitzcorner.com)

(Smiling in the presence of a woman? Automatic one-point deduction. / Photo via Sherdog)

As sort-of hazily defined by Nick Diaz back in January 2010, the Unified Rules of Stockton is an alternate MMA scoring system in which the winner of the fight is the guy who would have won if the match had continued indefinitely, and the loser is the guy who looks more fucked up afterwards. Under Stockton Rules, only the final round is scored, and holding onto top position without doing damage actually counts for negative points.

The more commonly used ten-point-must system keeps things nice and uniform, and doesn’t require judges to predict the future. But as we’ve seen time and time again, the fighter who has more points on the scorecards isn’t always who you would call the “winner.” So which notable UFC fights would have different results if the scoring system was a little more gangster? Let’s get an obvious one out of the way first…

DAN HENDERSON vs. MAURICIO “SHOGUN” RUA
UFC 139, 11/19/11

(A PSP, a Marmaduke book, and fistful of dollars… Man, this cat really knows how to get down!)

By Jason Moles

While our wives and girlfriends are busy maxing out our credit cards in hopes of finding the perfect gift for everyone she knows, we should be reminded that money can’t buy everything — especially in the world of mixed martial arts. Follow us after the jump to discover the irony of the MMA Black Friday. I promise it will be better than the turkey sandwich and leftover pumpkin pie you’ll have for lunch.

1.) Resurrection

In June, Cheick Kongo did what no man has done since the Messiah some 2,000+ years ago — he defeated death. Alright, so maybe I’ve had a few too many turkey day cocktails and that’s not exactly how it went down, but you get the jist. Kongo was knocked unconscious not once but twice in his fight against fellow heavyweight Pat Barry and he still managed to win the fight! By KO nonetheless. No amount of Earthly money could ever buy a second (or third) chance to live again. If it were that easy, Steve Jobs would’ve made certain you increase your credit limit.

(Plan “B”: Boy band — PicProps: MMATKO)

Gil Martinez appeared on Mauro Ranallo’s “The MMA Show“ radio program today and the head boxing trainer and coach at Xtreme Couture dropped a bombshell about one of his highest profile students.

According to Martinez, he’s pretty sure that  former number one UFC lightweight contender Gray Maynard has decided to cut ties with the Vegas gym and is planning a move to the San Francisco Bay area where he will train American Kickboxing Academy moving forward. There, Maynard will join a top-tier team that includes notables like Jon Fitch, Josh Koscheck, Mike Swick, Cain Velasquez, Daniel Cormier, Josh Thomson and Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal.

By Jonathan Shrager

Unless you’ve been locked in a closet for the last week with no internet reception, you’re probably aware that the UFC’s inaugural event on network television transpires this weekend, headlined by a gargantuan heavyweight showdown between Cain Velasquez and Junior Dos Santos.

A convincing argument could be made for JDS boasting the single most remarkable contender streak in UFC history. If you’ve failed to be impressed by Junior’s seven consecutive triumphs since entering the UFC back in October 2008 — and the level of competition they came against — then you’re evidently not a very excitable person. In fact, it’s likely that you possess the same stoicism characterised by “Cigano’s” adversary this weekend, Señor Velasquez.

You see, unbeaten runs aren’t common in the UFC. This isn’t the world of boxing, where fighters are fed 20 journeymen before they get thrown to the lions. And that’s precisely why the MMA community purrs over such immaculate resumes. So which UFC fighters built up the most impressive win streaks en route to their first title shot? These five come to mind…

(We’re all going to ARBYS!!!!)

Well, at least we can say he’s consistent. In what has been the most detrimental factor in Thiago Alves‘ career, the former welterweight title challenger once again showed up to a weigh-in overweight, just barely tipping the scales yesterday at 172 pounds, or a pound over the limit. Though not nearly as bad as his previous entries, the fact of the matter remains that this marks the third time in Alves’ last seven fights that he has initially failed to make weight. Aside from showing up heavy to his fights with Matt Hughes and Jon Fitch at UFC 85 and 117, respectively, Alves was also busted for using a banned diuretic to make weight for his match against Tony DeSouza back at UFC 66. MRuss would not approve.

“The Pitbull” was given an hour to drop the pound, and did so successfully.

Join us after the jump for the full weigh-in results and the intense Leben/Munoz and Alves/Abedi stare-downs:

(Look into my crystal ball Kenny, and ye shall see thine future.) 

There is a lot on the line at UFC 136. Not just the two titles and the future title match implications, but a chance for two men to finally capture the gold that has long eluded them. I’m speaking of Kenny Florian and Gray Maynard of course, who’ve both been chasing UFC gold for the better part of their careers, only to fall inches short of the finish line. For Gray, who many people felt deserved a title shot over current champion Frankie Edgar in the first place, it was the resilience of the champ that proved to be his undoing. And for Florian, it was just a terribly unlucky spell when it came to title fights. But come Saturday, both men will have a chance to erase our doubts and finally move up to that deluxe apartment in the sky.

Unfortunately, Florian and Maynard are not the only men who have felt the repercussions of looking directly into the belt. There are a few guys out there who just seem destined to be number 2 in a company that loves to fuck with the number 2. Anyway, we thought we would awkwardly point out six of them, excluding “Kenflo” and “The Bully,” from across the room for your reading pleasure. And we’re going by Brock Lesnar rules here, so interim belts don’t count. Enjoy.

(Indeed. Props: ahura)

Last night I had the misfortune of seeing about 30 seconds of the CW reality show H8R. (That’s pronounced “hater,” grandpa.) In this particular episode, Girls Gone Wild creator Joe Francis tried to convince some chick that he wasn’t in fact the greatest douchebag of our generation. His primary defense was that the girl didn’t know him personally, and was judging him based only on the “character” she knows from GGW — you know, the character he created. Awful. Just awful. And yet, I’d love to see an episode of that show starring UFC light-heavyweight champion Jon Jones.

As soon as Jones won his belt, he immediately went from a widely beloved underdog story (“he learned his striking from YouTube videos, you guys!”) to a lightning rod for message-board criticism. Exactly why some fans seem to passionately dislike Bones is a topic that we’ll discuss more in depth on tomorrow’s episode of The Bum Rush. In the meantime, I decided to revive an old CagePotato feature — “What Your Favorite Fighter Says About You” and its sequel — and twist it to reflect today’s hate-crazed MMA climate. So, for example, if your least-favorite fighter is…

JON FITCH

I did it at least nine times. How else would I inherit his empire?

By Jason Moles

Last week MMA Fighting reported that Paul Levesque, better known as Triple H, real life son-in-law of WWE Chairman and CEO Vince McMahon, said he thought the UFC should evolve like the pro wrestling juggernaut has, “because quite frankly sometimes the fights are long and boring, guys lying around and sometimes the fights are fast and over in five seconds.”

Is “The Game” right? Does it matter? Before we pass judgment on his comments, let’s take a quick look at a few specific examples he gave for his opinion, then weigh the pros and cons of leaning too far towards Entertainment or Winning.

Click on the image for full sized picture

I’ll be honest: I don’t know the complete back-story to this photograph that was posted on Luke Rockhold’s Facebook page. I’m assuming it is from one of the AKA weddings that took place earlier this year (Both Cain Velasquez and Josh Thomson got married this summer), but I may be wrong. It’s really not that important.

What is important is that, from this picture, I can gather two things. Number one, Jon Fitch is clearly the life of the party. Why fans consider the man boring I’ll never fully understand. And number two, Chuck Liddell is just high on life. It’s nice to see that despite retiring from MMA, Chuck Liddell still has that look in his eyes that made him a legend in the sport. If this man weren’t still getting tested by someone, I’d probably draw slightly different conclusions about the whole “high on _____” thing. But when you’re as rich and successful as Chuck Liddell, life can be one helluva drug.

(“You’re shitting me, I get to leapfrog the line to a fight with Fitch?”)

Jon Fitch wanted a title shot. Instead, the 23-3-1 (1 NC) UFC welterweight fighter will get another “lose-lose situation” bout against Johny Hendricks (11-1). The news of the bout, which is said to be verbally agreed to by both sides for UFC 141 on Friday December 30 in Las Vegas, was first reported by ESPN.

Should Fitch lose the bout, there’s a pretty good chance his long-awaited second title shot would likely be put on hold much longer than the two years he’s already waited thus far. If he beats Hendricks, who is 2-1 in his last three outings, he likely won’t move up in the rankings, but at least he’ll be keeping busy, I guess.

UFC heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez was interviewed recently by Full Contact Fighter and the UFC heavyweight champion dropped an interesting nugget about a hypothetical fighting situation that could happen one day.

Velasquez says that if push came to shove and he was matched up with his American Kickboxing Academy teammate Daniel Cormier in the future, he would fight him, but only if there were ranking or title implications on the line and that the sentiment is a mutual one he’s spoken about with the wrestling standout.

(Is there any greater rivalry in world history than .com people vs. .net people?)

Man, I feel bad for Jon Fitch. Fans shit on him for not finishing, the UFC has stopped giving him marquee fights — a public shaming from BJ Penn is really the last thing he needs right now.

Fitch was cleared to resume training last month following his shoulder surgery, which didn’t leave him with enough time to replace Diego Sanchez against Matt Hughes at UFC 135 later this month. However, he claims that he’ll be healthy enough to come in as BJ Penn’s replacement opponent at UFC 137 in October, or as Nick Diaz’s new opponent, whenever Diaz gets out of the doghouse.

According to former UFC welterweight champion Matt Hughes he has accepted the challenge of Josh Koscheck to face him in the place of his original UFC 135 opponent Diego Sanchez, who pulled out of the bout due to a broken hand. The only problem is, the UFC brass haven’t decided whether they want to see “Country Breakfast” possibly have his lights and his career turned out by Kos or have Bob Arum telling Dana, “I told you so!” until the day he dies (some time soon by the looks of it) thanks to a potential 15-minute wrestlefuck session with Jon Fitch.

Either way, Hughes is fighting on September 24, so at least there’s that.

(Sometimes winning and heart aren’t enough. Just ask Vince McMahon.)

During an appearance on Steve Cofield and Kevin Iole’s ESPNRadio1100/98.9 FM’s “The MMA Insiders” show on Friday, UFC president Dana White made it clear that in spite of the fact that Jon Fitch has not lost since dropping a decision to Georges St-Pierre three years ago, the American Kickboxing Academy captain won’t likely get a title shot anytime soon because the fight is a tough one to sell.

“Everybody is saying ‘Jon Fitch is one of the best in the world, when is he fighting GSP?’ The problem is he went in and fought GSP and got destroyed,” White explained like it happened a month ago. “I mean GSP completely dominated him from the first round to the fifth round and beat him up and dropped him and everything else…”

It’s funny, Kenny Florian keeps getting title shots and the UFC has been trying to put together a rematch between Lyoto Machida and Rashad Evans despite how the last ones went.

But we digress.

Instead of scratching our heads over the UFC’s double standards when it comes to earning a title shot, we’ve come up with five suggestions for Fitch to get what he has coming to him since winning doesn’t seem to be enough.

Check out the gallery after the jump.

(Deja vu all over again all over again: Frankie and Gray strike a familiar pose at the UFC 136 press conference. Photo via MMAMania)

Some selected highlights from our friends around the MMA blogosphere. E-mail feedback@cagepotato.com for details on how your site can join the MMA Link Club…

- Nate Marquardt Calls BJ Penn a Cry Baby Idiot Pothead (BleacherReport.com/MMA)

- ‘UFC 136: Edgar vs Maynard 3′ Conference Call Highlights (MMA Mania)

- Shawn Tompkins’ Sudden Death Leaves ‘Huge Void’ in Las Vegas Fight Scene (MMA Fighting)

- ‘UFC Undisputed 3′ Gameplay Trailer (LowKick)

- Fight Nerd Cinema: South Korea’s ‘Champion’ Movie Review (TheFightNerd)

- Underrated Joseph Benavidez Awaits Another Shot (NBC Sports MMA)

- Dana White: Yushin Okami is Best Fighter to Ever Come From Japan (5thRound)

- Start This Morning Off by Watching Skinny Kids Get Beat up by Alistair Overeem (MiddleEasy)

- Jon Fitch Cleared for Competition, UFC 139 Match Against Hendricks Rumored (Five Ounces of Pain)

- David Williams: A Statistical Look at Fedor Emelianenko’s Place in MMA History (FightOpinion)

- Brazilian Reporter Gifts Chael Sonnen a Brazilian Flag (MMA Convert)

- CNN to Air Replays of ‘Mayweather-Ortiz 24/7′ (MMA Payout)

(Video courtesy of YouTube/IronChefKenichiSakai)

UFC 87: Seek and Destroy went down three years ago at the Target Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Why it Matters:

(Video courtesy of YouTube/SemtexRumble617)

• Jon Jones made his UFC debut on the card, defeating fellow undefeated fighter Andre Gusmao by unanimous decision. Jones would go on to win five of his next six fights in dominating fashion against some of the promotion’s best fighters including Vladimir Matyushenko, Brandon Vera and Mauricio “Shogun” Rua at UFC 128 to win the UFC light heavyweight strap in a little more than two-and-a-half years since he first competed in the Octagon. Analysts predict that he will go down as one of the sport’s best fighters. Time will tell.

(“…and then, we’ll have events every hour of every day…”)

In a recent interview he did with Sports Illustrated, UFC president Dana White touched on several hot button topics including his organization’s pay-per-view aspirations, the future of the Strikeforce brand, the fact that Paul Daley will still never be invited back to the UFC, Fedor being a sub-top ten heavyweight, his feelings about fighters like Jon Fitch and much, much more.

Check out what The Baldfather had to say after the jump.