(Apparently after this loss, Max Holloway decided to change his nickname from “Lil’ Evil” to “Blessed,” likely because taking Jens Pulver’s nickname REALLY lets opponents know where your weakness lies.) 

Aside from bitterly dividing fans on what exactly constitutes a fight, UFC 143 left us with a lot of unanswered questions. Should Carlos Condit consider a nickname change?* Will Dustin Poirier get the next shot at Jose Aldo?** Is Nick Diaz really calling it quits?*** Though only time will truly calm our concerns, we’re going to make some bold predictions for Saturday’s winners and losers nonetheless, because that’s how we do things ’round here. Check out our matchmaking picks below, and let us know what you think in the comments section.

Nick Diaz: Perhaps the most impressive thing about Nick Diaz is that, despite his intellectual shortcomings, he maintains an ability to instill fear into whomever he fights. His cardio, striking attack, and Jiu Jitsu are second to none and just plain SCARY, but it is the man’s confidence, his willingness to relentlessly pursue and trade with anyone, that breaks even the strongest of competitors. Going into a fight with Diaz, you know you aren’t going to submit him, and you know it’s damn near impossible to knock the SOB out, so what the fuck are you supposed to do?

(“If you’re gonna tease me, at least let me shove this down your shorts, homie.”)

The Nevada State Athletic Commission today released the salaries for Saturday night’s UFC 143: Diaz vs. Condit event at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas.

The entire payroll for the show, which was attended by 10,040 fans and earned a reported live gate of $2.3 million, was $880,500.

Nick Diaz took home the biggest paycheck out of the night’s combatants with $200,000, not including discretionary back room bonuses which are rumored to have brought Diaz’s payday to the $1 million range. The next highest payout went to Josh Koscheck, who doubled up on his $73,000 base salary with his razor-close win over Mike Pierce, bringing him to $146,000. In third was Carlos Condit, who took home $110,000 for his win over Diaz including a $55,000 win bonus.

Fabricio Werdum’s UFC salary remained the same as his Strikeforce one as he netted his customary $100,000 flat rate for his win over Roy Nelson, who is still at the lower end of the pay scale of the UFC’s upper-echelon of fighters thanks to his TUF contract. To put it in perspective, Scott Jorgensen took home $500 more than “Big Country” for his loss to Renan Barao, while Mike Pierce matched salaries with the former heavyweight IFL champ.

(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.”

“Where I come from, people who lose close fights retire.” Props: UFC.com

While watching UFC 143 from the comfort of my favorite dive bar last night, I knew that MMA fans would be waging war on the internet over the fights that went the distance. Between the two point deduction that cost “Bruce Leroy” his fight against Edwin Figueroa and Josh Koscheck’s close fight with the “undeserving” Mike Pierce, I knew that I could expect a long-winded, philosophical debate over what constitutes a fight and what doesn’t- whether abstract concepts like “control” and “aggression” mean more than punches thrown, and whether takedowns earned and stuffed negate an inferior striking display. Naturally, this debate would include a lot of ad hominems and off topic ranting, because that’s just par for the course online.

And that was before the main event of the evening, which saw Carlos Condit earn a close decision over Nick Diaz. Carlos Condit used backward and lateral footwork while outstriking Nick Diaz, yet many fans felt that Nick Diaz should have won the fight. Before the fight even ended, the debate already began on whether “Octagon control” necessarily means “the guy moving forward”, and whether counter-punchers should automatically be considered less aggressive than their opponents. Judging from the comments sections of today’s articles, that debate won’t be ending any time soon.

Benjamin Disraeli once said that there are three types of lies: Lies, damned lies and statistics. For the time being, let’s move our arguments about last night’s fights past the first two. Let’s now turn our focus towards the statistics from last night’s close decisions. FightMetric’s breakdowns of Riddle vs. Martinez, Figueroa vs. Caceres, Koscheck vs. Pierce and, of course, Diaz vs. Condit have been published, and are available after the jump.

Two kicks + two mangled testes = two points? (Photo: UFC.com)

Controversial decisions weren’t limited to the feature bout at UFC 143, my friends. From scrotum to scorecard, there’s much to break down from the undercard action.

Fabricio Werdum put on a striking clinic against the slightly less-hefty Roy Nelson. Werdum put together crisp, powerful combinations and launched a torrent of knees from the clinch to bloody “Big Country” up. It was a welcome rebound from his performance against Overeem and a promising re-introduction to the Octagon. Nelson has an incredibly tough chin—proven by the sheer number of bombs he takes fight after fight—and a heart as big as they come—what else could pump that much blood out of his face?–but that’s not enough to make it in the UFC’s heavyweight division. He’s served as a very game punching bag for much of his post-TUF career, and it’s not a good look. On the positive side, his refusal to die in the cage did help the duo score the evening’s $65k ‘Fight of the Night’ bonus.

(Don’t be a hero. Just throw your lunch money onto the stage with everybody else’s. / Photo courtesy of CombatLifestyle.com For more photos from this set, click here.)

Tonight, the UFC is putting an interim welterweight belt on the line, to be decided by two gamebred sons-of-bitches who go out to take scalps, not win points. If Nick Diaz vs. Carlos Condit isn’t a thrilling fight, I’ll eat my hat. Plus: Roy Nelson welcomes Fabricio Werdum back to the Octagon, Josh Koscheck slugs it out with his evil twin Mike Pierce, and Scott Jorgenson does his best to snap the 27-fight win streak of Renan Barao.

Handling play-by-play for tonight’s action is interim liveblog champion Aaron Mandel. Follow us after the jump for live results from the UFC 143 pay-per-view card, beginning at 10 p.m. ET / 7 p.m. PT. Refresh the page every few minutes for all the latest, and please use the comments section to let us know how we can better serve you.

Don’t blink- someone’s getting their ass motorboated tonight. (Video: YouTube/UFC)

Though reported to have gone down in Las Vegas, last night’s weigh-ins clearly took place in Bizarro World. How else could you explain a slim(mer) Roy Nelson, Josh Koscheck being the victim of bullying, and Nick Diaz comporting himself like a true gentleman?

We were denied a glimpse of “Big Medium Country” at the memorable UFC 137 weigh-ins back in October, but last night he tipped the scales some fourteen pounds lighter than he did when squaring off against Frank Mir last May. Could it be he’s serious about that drop to light heavyweight?

Koscheck hasn’t had much to say about his foe—aside from having to look him up after the fight was signed—but Mike Pierce provoked him further by donning a pretty accurate wig during their staredown. Considering that Pierce called him out in the first place, he either knows something we don’t or is setting himself up for a lesson in humility this evening.

And as for Diaz, there’s not much to say beyond how civilized he looked. No, he didn’t bro hug ‘Conduit‘ after the face-off, but the ruffian we know and love was nowhere to be seen. First a handshake at the presser, and now no mean mug? Could it be that the ‘Pride of Stockton’ has failed to muster up the hatred for his opponent that usually fuels his fights, and if so, does it even matter?

Full weigh-in results, and a closer look at the Diaz-Condit stare-down after the jump.

(“Hey, my eyes are up here, asshole.”)

Discussing MMA is a lot like discussing politics; what starts off as a friendly difference of opinion more than often spirals into an alcohol-fueled debate, rife with personal insults and name calling, before ending in a sloppy wrestling match that gets both parties banned from their boss’s wine tasting parties for life. Luckily, we have Doug “ReX13″ Richardson and Jared Jones here to dispute all things UFC 143, because frankly, we can’t make heads or tails outta this card.

Let’s kick things off how we normally do, with a completely offhand topic. Who wins the Super Bowl?

RX: Me, if the commercials are good and Bane blows up the stadium.  Let me guess, you’re a-

JJ: GO GIANTS!

RX: I hate you so hard, man.

JJ: First off, I’m not your buddy.

RX: But I never-

JJ: Eli Manning is to the Patriots what Dylan Klebold was to Columbine High School; he cannot be defeated, unless by that of his own doing. Giants 35-27.

RX: Wow…this has gotten off to a rough start. Can we just move on?

(Nick Diaz and Carlos Condit exchange a respectful handshake at Gladiator Man‘s funeral.)

Weigh-ins for tomorrow night’s UFC 143: Diaz vs. Condit event are scheduled to get rollin’ today at 7 p.m. ET / 4 p.m. PT in Las Vegas. You can watch the action right here on CagePotato.com, in the video player after the jump. Will Nick Diaz start talking shit during the staredown? What can Roy Nelson possibly do to top his last weigh-in appearance? And will the Fabricio Werdum smirk of insanity make its UFC debut? Keep your browser parked right here to find out, and be sure to come back tomorrow night at 10 p.m. ET / 7 p.m. PT for our liveblog of the UFC 143 main card.

(Be careful, Josh! If you eat all of those sour grapes too fast, you might choke!) 

It’s been a while since we’ve heard Josh Koscheck make an offhand remark that has in turn reminded us of his decreasing necessity amongst the welterweight division. Most of us assumed his recent quiescence was possibly linked to an inability to digest the five course serving of humble pie that Georges St. Pierre stuffed down his throat (and eye socket) back at UFC 124, and it appears we were correct. In a recent interview with Ariel Helwani, Koscheck discussed everything from his upcoming UFC 143 fight with Mike Pierce to his dislike for the media and his thoughts on GSP’s recent injuries. And wouldn’t you know it, Koscheck doesn’t want the man who beat him twice to ever come back. Here’s what he had to say:

I’m interested in the outcome of the Diaz vs. Condit fight on Saturday night. Should be a good fight. Hopefully Georges is out for more than 10 months and they can make that Interim titleholder fight twice. Hopefully he never comes back. ACL surgeries can take a lot out of you. They say you truly don’t recover after those. I’ve had friends who have had those and they say they’re not the same so hopefully it equals out the playing field and we can get another crack at Georges. 

Let’s get this straight, you don’t want St. Pierre to return, so you can fight for a future shot against him? To quote Ignignokt, “your logic is flawless.”

(Mike who? Well, if there’s an ass that needs motorboating, I’ll be there.) 

When Carlos Condit was called up to face Nick Diaz for an interim title shot at UFC 143 in the wake of Georges St. Pierre’s knee injury, one person who felt left out of the mix was none other than former title challenger Josh Koscheck, who was originally scheduled to face Condit at the same event. Kos later tweeted that he would indeed be fighting at UFC 143, possibly as a middleweight. But now it seems that the TUF 12 coach will be fighting back at welterweight against up-and-comer Mike Pierce, who recently announced the match-up via his Twitter.

Pierce is coming off an entertaining three round shellacking of Paul Bradley at UFC on FOX 1, and is perhaps best known for actually managing to mount some offense against Koscheck’s AKA teammate Jon Fitch in their battle back at UFC 107, a feat that has been deemed nearly impossible at this point in Fitch’s career. Pierce is 5-2 in his octagon run thus far, including the aforementioned loss to Fitch and a split decision loss to Johny Hendricks at UFC 133, as well as wins over Brock Larson, Amilcar Alves, and Kenny Robertson.

(“Master Seagal says that nobody can defend this kick if you do it with your tongue out.”)

In a series of tweets he posted today in response to the news today that his upcoming UFC 143 opponent Carlos Condit would be stepping in for an injured Georges St-Pierre against Nick Diaz on the card, Josh Koscheck proved he hasn’t lost his place as one of the UFC’s greatest heels.

The always outspoken American Kickboxing Academy fighter directed his first message on the subject at Condit, inferring that “The Natural Born Killer” dodged a bullet by not having to face him and, “get [his] ass beat.”

(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.

(Video props: Youtube/MMAHeat)

One of the sport’s most notorious heels, Josh Koscheck, joined Mike Goldberg in San Jose for the UFC’s latest Fighter Q&A session. There was little hate for the welterweight in his own backyard, and rather than fending off attacks from his legion of haters he weighed in on a variety of subjects including his previous battles with GSP and Paul Daley, his desire to fight Tito Ortiz and Chris Leben, and how Condit royally screwed himself.

The goods are after the jump.

“The Stoic Russian” is a hurtful stereotype, so we didn’t include it. The more you know…..

People complain about “pro-wrestling bullshit” invading MMA, but it’s been demonstrated over and over again: personality will get you places in the fight game. We’ve pointed this out before, like when we advised Jon Fitch on how to ensure a title shot. Some fighters are talked about incessantly on forums, at lunch tables, and in interviews because they’ve managed to capture the interest of fans, and many times it is because of things that they have done or said while not in the cage.

Come on in and let’s talk about archetypes, drama, and personality. Because there’s only so many technique videos out there.

With the recent allegations aimed at former Penn State defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky, the sports world has been thrown into a bit of chaos in the past few weeks. The story, which has undoubtedly tarnished the legacy of not only the college itself but also its legendary football coach Joe Paterno, is one of the most shocking and disturbing events to surface in the history of competitive sports.

Amidst the scandal coach Paterno had announced that he planned to retire at the end of the season, but it turns out Penn State had other, more immediate plans in mind. And though Sandusky’s fate has yet to be determined, we can only hope that it involves Pinhead levels of torture. Unfortunately the sad fact is, it often takes a wrongdoing such as Sandusky’s in order to open our collective eyes to the world around us and take action to try and ensure that it never happens again. It is with this in mind that we bring you ten of the biggest skeletons in MMA’s closet.

Whether or not we’ll actually try to do anything but mock them is yet to be determined.

Check out ten of the dirty little not-so-secrets of MMA’s past after the jump.

(Yeah…whatever happened to that guy, anyway?)

Carlos Condit is going to have to re-earn his title shot the hard way. After his slated fight against George St. Pierre went up in smoke as quickly as it was handed to him, Condit is now likely to return at UFC 143: St. Pierre vs. Diaz (February 4th, Las Vegas) against perennial welterweight contender Josh Koscheck. UFC president Dana White discussed the matchup at the Leben vs. Munoz post-event press conference:

“Right now, Carlos wants to fight. He wants to fight on the same card as GSP and Diaz, so we’ll see what happens. Koscheck has been offered (the fight).”

In the early days of The Ultimate Fighter, simply spraying water on a sleeping person was considered a brilliant prank. But after 14 seasons, the bar has been steadily raised for in-house trickery, to the point where even the coaches are now gleefully stripping cars of their tires. We thought we’d pay tribute to the TUF prank tradition by running down the most infamous pranks of the show’s history. Enjoy, and let us know if we’ve left out any of your favorites…

The Pink Room (Season 10)

See, this is what I’m talking about. Any moron can piss on a bed — but it takes a man to spend all afternoon painting walls pink and arranging stuffed animals in vaguely sexual poses. The best moment is at the very end, when Rashad Evans comes to the realization that the pacifier he’d been sucking on had definitely been up Tiki’s ass at some point.

See also: The Chickenmobile, The Team Portrait

DW’s infamous vlog’s are back ladies and gentlemen, and it seems his aforementioned pattern of showing loads of footage from the previous UFC event is holding true, this time with UFC 135. It’s hard to even call these Danavlog’s anymore because besides his introduction, The Baldfather doesn’t even make an appearance until 7 minutes into the video. Though I must admit, it is pretty interesting to see the post fight medical examinations, especially Aaron Riley’s, who, after spitting up as much blood as he can manage, declares he’d rather not have his jaw wired shut again. As a fan of solid food, I can’t really blame the guy.

If you’re too busy to watch the entire video, come check out a few of our notes after the jump:

(Mess with a bull and you’ll get the horns; mess with a Diaz and you’ll get a Stockton Slap.)

By Jason Moles

It’s time once again to examine your portfolio now that UFC 135 is in the books. Take this opportunity to maximize your ROI by heeding the advice below. Keep reading to find out if you’re sitting on a gold mine or if you need to take that dog to a nice farm where he can roam. You can’t make an omelet without breaking a few eggs so lets play another game of Buy, Sell, Hold.

Jon “Bones” Jones: Buy! Buy! Buy!

Last night Jonny “Bones” Jones did what no fighter has done since 2007 — successfully defend the UFC light heavyweight championship. (I don’t care what you say, Shogun won that fight!) I know I’m supposed to tell you to “Buy low, sell high”, and Jones is at an all-time high right now. Just know that the champ’s stock is as low as it will ever be for at least the next ten or so years. Crisp, unorthodox striking combined with superb, tactical grappling contained inside a combat vessel in its prime — need I say more?

Eat a dick, Steven Seagal. Props: MMAFighting.

Nate Diaz was clearly in a win or go home situation heading into UFC 135. Winning only three times in your past eight fights won’t exactly get you on Dana White’s good side. Especially when your brother is Nick Diaz. Fortunately for Nate, he easily locked in a fight ending armbar in the first round against Takanori Gomi. The 75 grand he pocketed for Submission of the Night honors? Just icing on the cake where he’s from, homie.

The only other fight on the card to end in submission, Jon Jones’ rear naked choke against of Quinton “Rampage” Jackson, took home Fight of the Night honors. There really isn’t much else to say about this one, save for a sarcastic comment about how Rothwell vs. Hunt was far more deserving of FOTN honors. But you guys have higher expectations of us than that. Also, Josh Koscheck’s first round knockout over “K1 Hughes” earned him Knockout of the Night honors. This fight marks the fifth time in Koscheck’s career that he’s taken an end of the night bonus from the UFC, and also the second time he’s taken home KOTN honors. He also won Knockout of the Night for his performance against Yoshiyuki Yoshida back at UFC: Fight for the Troops in 2008.

“No, your breath does not smell like doodoo. Don’t say that, Quinton”. (Photo: UFC.com)

There are some folks who believe that you’re not really a champion until you successfully defend your belt. For those of you who agree, meet Jon Jones, UFC Light Heavyweight Champion.

“Bones” did whatever he wanted from the opening bell, starting the fight crouched in a Bloodsport-inspired fighting stance (and yes, Steven Seagal is a little butthurt over that). From that moment his unorthodoxy never waned. Spinning elbows and kicks are common weapons in his arsenal, and he seemed as comfortable throwing them as ever. Jones shows no fear of what his damage his opponent might do should he miss or leave himself open, and at this point it looks like we may never find out. According to FightMetric, Rampage failed to land a single power shot to the head. We’re all eager to laud Jones as the future of his division and the man to bring stability to 205lbs, and with good reason, but dammit I still want to see him get popped in the jaw a few times before we weld that belt around his waist.

(At first I was like…)

(…but then I LOL’d. / Photos courtesy of CombatLifestyle.com. For more photos from this set, click here.)

Tonight’s kind of a big deal, you guys. UFC light-heavyweight champion Jon Jones has a chance to establish his legacy by defending his belt against former champ Quinton “Rampage” Jackson. And when you look at the supporting card, you’ll notice a similar theme: Between Matt Hughes vs. Josh Koscheck, Takanori Gomi vs. Nate Diaz, and Mark Hunt vs. Ben Rothwell, UFC 135 is all about the old guard making one last stand against the scrappers who came up behind them. Do the old dogs still have some fight left, or will tonight represent a brutal changing of the guard?

Handling play-by-play for CagePotato.com once again is Matt Kaplan, who will be delivering updates on the “Jones vs. Rampage” pay-per-view main card beginning at 9 p.m. ET. Join the party after the jump, and refresh your page every few minutes for all the latest.

(Video: Zee2tehPee)

Throughout their co-appearance media blitz, Quinton Jackson and Jon Jones looked angry, annoyed, and eager to punch each other in the face. Now with their fight just around the corner, the two appear at peace, joyful, and eager to punch each other in the face. Jones opted to forgo his usual ‘staring off into the sunset‘ routine for the obvious reason. Even though Koscheck suppressed his inner smug and Nate Diaz kept the safety on his double-barrel “Hey Buddy”, more than one person left the weigh-ins with the feeling that his personal space had been violated.

Join us after the jump for a highlight of the proceedings and the full results from the scales.

(Rampage cutting the the last few ounces with Cheick Kongo.)

Just a friendly reminder that we will be showing the weigh-ins at 6:00 pm ET tonight for tomorrow night’s UFC 135 event at the Pepsi Center in Denver, Colorado.

Will Rampage give us more GIF fodder?

Will Jon Jones continue to lose fans for being cocky?

Will Josh Koscheck be the first opponent of Matt Hughes’ that the fans root against?

Will “Big” Ben Rothwell’s nickname be changed to “Medium” Ben Rothwell?

Will Nick Diaz show up to support his brother?

These questions and more will be answered after the jump.

(Simon Cowell said they sucked. L.A. Reid said they sucked. Nicole Scherzinger said they sucked. Paula Abdul said they should keep practicing and never give up their dreams. / Props: jessektabor2)

UFC 135 goes down tomorrow night in Denver, and as always, it’s incredibly important that you hear our opinions about it. Fresh off his controversial split-decision victory over Seth Falvo, CagePotato staff writer Jared Jones returns for another head-to-head column against founding editor Ben Goldstein. Can Rampage pull off an upset? Is Matt Hughes on his way to retirement? Whose new screen-name will be more humiliating? Read on and get yourself educated…

Is there a part of you that wants to see Rampage get his belt back? How likely is that to happen?

JJ: There will always be a small part of me that wants to see Page with a belt again, if only so I never have to watch that same clip of Rampage exclaiming just how much he wants it back in every pre-fight commercial he’s been in since losing it. On the other hand, I fear for the lives of Southern California if he does win the belt and then loses it again.

As far as the likelihood of Page being the champ again, I’d say it’s better than those bookies would have you believe, but not much. Let’s face it, Rampage earned this title shot with a razor thin decision over Lyoto Machida and an unimpressive decision over a now retired Matt Hamill. Yes, he seems incredibly focused and in shape and yes, Bones’ chin has yet to be tested, but Jones is simply too quick, diverse, and smart to get caught by a straight boxer like Rampage.

BG: First off, no, I don’t want to see Rampage get his belt back. Not even a little. Dude gives me a headache sometimes. Like Nick Diaz, he’s a paranoid weirdo with a persecution complex — everybody’s cocky, everybody’s fake. Look, if you’re one of the hordes of eCritics that have emerged since Jones beat up Shogun, I’m sure you have your reasons. But to me, Jon Jones represents the latest step in MMA’s evolution, and it would feel like a regression if he were unseated by a guy who pretty much just throws hands these days.

The odds on this fight are so inflated because as loud as Rampage’s supporters can be sometimes, nobody’s actually betting money on him. Why would they? Jones has an 11.5-inch reach advantage, he’s far more athletic, and he’s unpredictable. Bones might beat up Rampage standing just to prove a point. After Saturday, we can stop calling Jones the “future of MMA.” He’ll officially be the present — a defending champion. Now what will that make Rampage?

(The old dude at the top who hasn’t figured out the fist pose just wandered out from the sauna and got in the photo. Thankfully, he put his clothes on before he did. -photo courtesy of Matt-Hughes.com)

Matt Hughes has apparently gone back to his roots training with longtime coach Pat Miletich for his upcoming UFC 135 bout with Josh Koscheck.

The former UFC welterweight champ, whose three-fight winning streak was snapped by a knockout at the hands of BJ Penn in his last fight also flew “The Prodigy” into Hillsboro, Illinois to help him get ready for the fight, which speaks to how seriously he’s taking his training.

Check out an excerpt from the blog after the jump.

(…and THAT’S what the Kos has cookin’.”

When Josh Koscheck mentioned back in July that he was interested in taking at least one fight at 185, speculation ran rampant about who the American Kickboxing Academy fighter wanted to face. We reported that there were early discussions with the UFC and Chris Leben’s camp for the two The Ultimate Fighter nemeses to square off at UFC 138 in San Jose, but the fight never materialized for various reasons and now Koscheck is slated to face former UFC welterweight champ Matt Hughes at UFC 135 on September 24 as a last-minute replacement for Diego Sanchez.

According to Kos, he asked for either Leben, Rich Franklin or Wanderlei Silva for his first bout back since losing to Georges St-Pierre at UFC 124. A broken orbital bone he suffered in the opening minutes of the bout required surgery and left him sidelined for the better part of the past year. The reason for the jump back up to middleweight — the class he competed in on The Ultimate Fighter — he says was because anyone of relevance in his own weight class was already tied up.

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.

(“I’ve always wanted your autograph.” Alistair Overeem signs his new UFC contract in Lorenzo Fertitta’s office. Props: bawzzzz)

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…

- Alistair Overeem Was Offered Immediate Title Shot Before Accepting Brock Lesnar Fight (MMA Fighting)

- UFC 135: Matt Hughes vs Josh Koscheck official for Sept. 24 in Denver (MMA Mania)

- Top 10 Worked Shoot-Fights in Japanese Pro Wrestling (TheFightNerd)

- MMA Comedy Gold: Interviewer ‘Skippy’ (AKA Ed Bassmaster) Discusses UFC 133 Experience, Shouts Out CagePotato (BleacherReport.com/MMA)

- American Top Team Offering a Year of All-Expenses-Paid Training for Middleweights and Above (Five Ounces of Pain)

- Norifumi “Kid” Yamamoto Meets Octagon Newbie Darren Uyenoyama at UFC on FOX 1 (5thRound)

- WWE Network coming in 2012 (MMA Payout)

- Dan Henderson Wants Jones vs. Rampage Winner, Says Rashad Evans Can Wait (LowKick)

- Your Cubicle Desperately Needs a Foot-Tall ‘MMA Alien’ Collectible (MiddleEasy)

- Lorenzo Fertitta on UFC Fighter Salaries: “All These Keyboard Warriors Have no Idea What They’re Talking About” (FightOpinion)

- Book Review: Stitch Duran’s ‘From the Fields to the Garden’ (MMA Convert)

- Ariel Helwani’s Official MMA Rankings (NBC Sports MMA)