(Be sure to pick up Georges St. Pierre’s new training video: "How to Use Your Unbelievable Explosiveness and Superior Genetics to Win Any Fight." PicProps: MMA Mania)

File this under: Must be nice. You know that dude Georges St. Pierre? Yeah, the guy so naturally athletically gifted that he’s managed to teach himself to be one of the best wrestlers in MMA, despite having no formal background in it whatsoever? The most dominant welterweight fighter on the planet today? Turns out that guy doesn’t really think that lifting weights and/or doing cardio will help you in a fight. 

"I don’t believe in strength and conditioning,” St. Pierre tells stand-up comedian/color commentator/MMA political action director Joe Rogan this week on the UFC’s “Ultimate Insider” show. “I never do strength and conditioning. I do not believe that running on a treadmill or doing I don’t know what … I don’t believe that’s going to help you have better cardio for a fight.”

Huh. We’re going to assume that what St. Pierre means to say is that he prefers sport-specific training like sparring and grappling drills in order to build his MMA skills and endurance. Still, not to over-simplify the message here, but this sounds suspiciously like Georges St. Pierre is saying the way to succeed in MMA is just to be Georges St. Pierre. Also, let us say for the record that lifting weights and doing conventional cardio probably will help you if you are, you know, a normal person. If you’re a mild-mannered French Canadian cyborg whose three great joys in life are kicking ass, finely tailored suits and pool parties, well, maybe the laws of science and nature just don’t apply to you.

("Come on Josh, don’t be pissed at me. I said you’re ‘HALF A DICK,’ not a full on dick.")

Veteran UFC welterweight Phil Baroni stopped by The Bum Rush Radio Show this week and while he was here he gave his thoughts on this weekend’s heavily-anticipated welterweight title bout between his American Kickboxing Academy teammate Josh Koscheck and dominant champion Georges St-Pierre.

Baroni took issue with Ben’s assessment that St-Pierre will be able to take Koscheck down at will en-route to a late submission victory.

"I disagree — not just because we’re friends. Koscheck’s the better wrestler. It’s not gonna come down to striking at all. I don’t think Koscheck needs to land a big shot to win the fight. Koscheck’s a better wrestler. He has a much better pedigree. GSP has a double-leg tackle — that’s about it," Baroni explained. "He’s more of a jiu-jitsu guy and I don’t see him getting on top. Koscheck’s gonna have to control where the fight goes and beat him in a wrestling match. If he does that, he’s gonna win the fight. GSP is mentally weak. He’s a great athlete, he’s got a huge gas tank, he’s strong, he’s fast, but between his ears, there’s a little bit of softness. I think if comes down to a gut-check, Koscheck will take care of him."

(Video courtesy BREAK/UFC.com)

If you missed the Countdown to UFC 124: St-Pierre vs. Koscheck show on Monday, we got you covered.

One of the most intriguing parts of the St-Pierre-Koscheck segment of the show came courtesy of Kos’ ex-college wrestling coach who said that the American Kickboxing Academy-trained fighter’s assholish persona is not an act. According to the coach, Koscheck who was not well-liked by his college teammates once nearly came to blows with a fellow wrestler in the change rooms and was known as a bit of a loner. He said that he didn’t bat an eye at the way his former charge was portrayed on The Ultimate Fighter, because he remembers him being a bit of a dick.

We’ll have more on Koscheck’s abrasive personality from his AKA teammate, Phil Baroni on tomorrow’s UFC 124 edition of The Bum Rush. 

It’s also worth noting from the countdown show that Koscheck, who was involved with Bobby Southworth in taunting that "fatherless bastard" Chris Leben on TUF 1 was raised very modestly by a single mother and seems very bitter as a result. Maybe Josh just needs a good hug to make him stop being such a prick. Too bad he says he’ll never fight Jon Fitch.

Check out the rest of the countdown videos after the jump.

(We were going to make a joke about how we were not impressed by your pool party performance, but we can’t lie. Totally impressed. PicProps: The Dragon Zone)

As of this writing, Josh Koscheck is set to go off as a 3-1 underdog in the UFC 124 main event, according to most odds makers. Suffice it to say, the guy is not the popular pick among fans or media types to defeat Georges St. Pierre when they climb into the cage this Saturday. With good reason: We’ve already seen this fight once before at UFC 79. St. Pierre won in fairly dominant fashion and went on to amass a seven-fight win streak, erasing any doubt as to who is King Shit of Fuck Mountain at 170-pounds. We have no real reason to believe this bout will be any different. So why am I not 100 percent confident? Because I’m the kind of pessimistic son of a bitch who always fears worst, that’s why.

Also, there legitimately are some things that I find troubling just days before this fight. Here are five of them  …

(Video courtesy YouTube/Bosh4ffl)

Just a friendly reminder that we will have the feed of today’s UFC 124: St-Pierre vs. Koscheck press conference from Montreal which will go live starting at 1:00 pm ET.

Will Josh Koscheck stop being a dick long enough to show an ounce of due respect to his opponent prior to their fight?

Will GSP let his guard down and tell Josh to go f*ck himself with a bottle of maple syrup?

Will Sean McCorkle attain Chael Sonnen’s title of best smack talker in the UFC?

All of these question and more will be answered this afternoon.

As always, the UFC media player is after the jump.

This Saturday, after a season of TUF that saw Georges St. Pierre and Josh Koscheck grow to like each other even less than they already did, the two welterweight stars will square off in the main event of UFC 124. St. Pierre will be attempting to make his fifth-consecutive title defense; GSP has been involved in 10 title fights in his UFC career, but this is just the first for Koscheck.

As you’re probably aware, St. Pierre and Koscheck squared off once before, in the co-headlining match of UFC 74 back in August 2007. St. Pierre had just lost his belt to Matt Serra in a monumental upset. Koscheck was riding a five-fight win streak, and had out-pointed Diego Sanchez four months prior.

Since that night, George St. Pierre has been undefeated and untouchable in six contests, flawlessly sweeping out the 170-pound division. Koscheck has gone 6-2, taking out some tough opponents in impressive fashion, but getting smacked down by a couple of Brazilians. And now, St. Pierre and Koscheck are going at it again. Which means it’s time to re-watch their first fight and see if we can get any perspective on this thing. Let’s begin…

When Georges St-Pierre enlisted the help of revered boxing coach Freddie Roach, it demonstrated that the UFC welterweight champ is still continuing to work towards shoring up all of the weaknesses in his overall game. Having worked with Canadian Olympic boxers Otis and Howard Grant for most of his MMA career, most would assume that GSP had his boxing covered, but that’s why he’s a UFC champ any we’re all armchair fighters.

Roach, who revealed in the interview above with FightHubTV.com that St-Pierre asked him to be in his corner for his upcoming UFC 124 rematch with Josh Koscheck in Montreal but he had to decline due to commitments with other fighters, says that the French Canadian has all the tools to become a great pugilist.

"He told me that he thought he knew boxing until he met me. He’s improving all the time…His boxing ability is getting a lot better. He’s getting a lot looser. We tried to loosen him up. He’s not so tight like normal and he’s a great student. I show him something and next day, he’s got it pretty much down. I’d say, ‘Georges, how long did you practice that move in the mirror?’ and he’d look at me and say, ‘How did you know?’ ‘Come on,’ I said, ‘Nobody can improve that quickly.’ He’s a great student and a great guy; I wish him the best."

(Props: GollyIE)

…and just to get the taste of vomit out of your mouths, here’s the extended trailer for UFC 124: St. Pierre vs. Koscheck II (December 11th, Montreal). The supporting card looks very promising, but it’s sort of unfortunate that the other two fights being featured here are Thiago Alves vs. John Howard and Mac Danzig vs. Joe Stevenson — considering all four fighters are coming off losses. Meanwhile, UFC 124 will also host two fights featuring guys on the upswing: Jim Miller (five-fight win streak) vs. Charles Oliveira (undefeated wunderkind) and Sean McCorkle (mouthy Internet celebrity) vs. young veteran Stefan Struve, who he’s been beefing with for months.

Still, Thiago Alves gets the best line of the video: "When you’re fighting the Pitbull, it’s over. No afterparty for you." And GSP guarantees a stoppage victory. "Get in, get out, and leave," he says. "That’s what the crowd wanna see, and that’s what I wanna do."

("…and your breath smells like poutine and maple syrup.")

Sometimes it just seems like Josh Koscheck throws insults like darts at a dartboard hoping that one will hit its mark. 

In a recent interview with Fighters Only, the brash American Kickboxing Academy product lobbed another salvo at upcoming UFC 124 opponent, UFC welterweight champ Georges St-Pierre.

When asked by FightersOnly.com editor John Joe O’Regan about whether or not GSP is guilty of playing it safe like his much-maligned AKA teammate Jon Fitch has been criticized of doing for the majority of his fights, Koscheck said that he is and that the reason why is the same as what people have been pointing as being Brock Lesnar most glaring weakness: he doesn’t like getting hit.

"If you look at when little Matt Serra was on top of him pounding him, he tapped out. So I believe that Georges has quit in him and you just have to take him to that point," Koscheck explained. "Nobody has been able to do it since those two but I plan on doing it on December 11th.I believe he hasn’t been hit since Matt Serra. That was a good crack. His chin hasn’t been tested and I think Georges has quit in him. If you look at the first Matt Hughes fight where he arm barred him, he was tapping before it was even tight."

(We should all be that fired up, at least once in our lives. Props: UFC.com)

When BJ Penn knocked out Matt Hughes at UFC 123, one of the greatest rivalries in MMA history finally got its conclusion. And while not every two-fight series needs an immediate tie-breaker — the Internet has already informed Dana White what we think of Lesnar vs. Mir III — there’s something incredibly dramatic and satisfying about a good rubber-match. Off the top of our heads, here’s a few others we’d like to see…

Jason "Mayhem" Miller vs. Tim Kennedy

History: Kennedy def. Miller via decision @ Extreme Challenge 50 (2/23/03), Miller def. Kennedy via decision @ HDNet Fights: Reckless Abandon (12/15/07)
Why it needs to happen again: Look, I’m not going to hold my breath waiting for Jason Miller to agree to a catchweight fight with Nick Diaz under 185 pounds. Mayhem hasn’t even fought for Strikeforce since he squashed Tim Stout in April, and Kennedy is still without an opponent himself after dropping a decision to Jacare Souza in August — and he’s already mentioned that he wants another go-round with Mayhem. Strikeforce has two talented, unattached middleweights at their disposal with a storyline already in place. It doesn’t take rocket appliances to figure this out, guys.

(Kyle Watson, Michael Johnson, and John Danaher join host Stephan Bonnar to run down last night’s fights on the latest episode of "The Aftermath." Warning: Danaher drops a "retard" joke within the first 30 seconds of the interview. Anybody else getting a Lanny Poffo vibe from this guy?)

Michael Johnson is one of those dudes who can’t appreciate the sheer hilarity of being sprayed with water. When Sako (or was it Sevak? one of those guys) rigs the sink to blast the next person who uses it, MJ is on the losing end and freaks out. So immature, you guys! Michael is convinced that Alex Caceres is to blame, I guess because he saw Alex pull the same prank the day before. Their quarterfinal fight can’t come soon enough.

But first, Kyle Watson and Aaron Wilkinson will have to face off. GSP says Aaron is a better striker than Kyle, so Kyle needs to get the fight to the ground. Kyle’s plan is to take Aaron down from the clinch, rather than shooting in. Logically, Coach Koscheck advises "English" to keep the fight standing. After three fights in the house, Aaron’s right eye is looking rough. And it’s go-time already…

(There’s only one thing a male nurse hates worse than paperwork: Armenians. PicProps: MMAConvert)

Here’s one for all you morons who fire off those clever “If he doesn’t like it, he shouldn’t be a fighter!” message board posts every time a guy (or girl) utters a discontented word about payment, injury and/or the all-around shittiness of how MMA treats its athletes: “TUF 8” finalist Phillipe Nover is taking your advice. The kid Dana White once prematurely ejaculated all over by comparing him to Georges St. Pierre tells Sherdog this week that he’s taking a break from fighting in order to pursue the assumedly more lucrative, stable and less dangerous career as a technician in a cardiac lab at a hospital in New York.

It seems Nover – who at just 26 comes off as far, far too reasonable for the MMA industry here – would rather enjoy the perks of health insurance, a pension plan, a steady paycheck and the protection of his labor union than toil on the independent circuit after being cut from the UFC following his loss to Rob “The Lord of South County” Emerson at UFC 109. We know, what a pussy, right?

Compared to TUF 12 good-guy Georges St. Pierre, Josh Koscheck certainly comes off as an asshole bully with the maturity of a fourth-grader. But as with all reality shows, there’s some creative editing involved to make the villain look even worse than he (or she) really is. What we saw on Wednesday night’s episode of The Ultimate Fighter was Koscheck physically assaulting Brad Tate, then making snarky comments instead of actually apologizing. It turns out that a lot of important footage landed on the cutting room floor.

In the video above, we see that Brad Tate wasn’t just taunting Kos — he was also mocking the accents of the yellow-team Armenians. The fact that Tate was attacking his guys was what really set Josh off. Koscheck actually does make a heartfelt one-on-one apology to Brad, which ends with their beef getting thoroughly squashed. Before that even happens, Kos advises his team not to start any more trouble with Tate: "When you see him tomorrow, don’t say one word. Kill ‘em with kindness. Let me stand up for you guys. Let me look like the bad guy." It’s a moment that would have swayed sympathy toward Koscheck if it were included in the episode — unfortunately, it wouldn’t have fit into the show’s perfect Kos-as-heel narrative.

Cain Velasquez on CP24 BreakfastTV – Watch more Funny Videos

While in Toronto for a media tour Thursday, UFC heavyweight champ Cain Velasquez made some interesting and revealing roundabout comments regarding his American Kickboxing Academy teammate Josh Koscheck’s chances against the promotion’s welterweight kingpin Georges St-Pierre next month when the pair meet for the second time at UFC 124 in Montreal.

"[GSP is] one of the best out there. His style of fighting is strong and I think he is going to be the champion for a long time," Velasquez told the hosts of CP24 Breakfast. "But guys are always coming after him."

In Cain’s defense, he likely didn’t think Kos would see the show considering the interview took place at 4:00 am California time and it was aired by a local station in Ontario that doesn’t broadcast to the U.S.

Or maybe he’s been watching Josh crank the heel volume up to 11 on this season of TUF and is rooting for the French Canadian to teach his brash teammate some humility.

(Josh Koscheck and Marc Stevens run down last night’s episode with host Stephan Bonnar in the latest installment of "The Aftermath." Warning: The editor forgot to bleep out Koscheck’s numerous F-bombs. Props: UltimateFighter.com)

The official title of this episode is "KOS in a Commotion." There’s nothing funny about rape-choking a male nurse, but we’ve always appreciated a good pun.

Dane Sayers is bummed that he was robbed of a wild card spot. After all, he lasted two rounds against Sako Chivitchian, and Marc Stevens didn’t even last 20 seconds against Cody McKenzie. As Jonathan Brookins explains, "It’s supposed to be reserved for the guy that put on the best performance…some people like the cucumber better then the pickle, I don’t know." But Stevens is the "obvious pick" according to Dana, I guess because he knocked some dude out in the elimination round. We’ll see how far that gets him. Coach Koscheck thinks Marc has a lot of "po-tential" that he didn’t get to show, because he got submitted "kind of early." Kind of!

Alex Caceres tweaked his back during his round-of-14 fight against Jeff Lentz, and is unable to train as hard as the other guys. Michael Johnson just thinks he’s lazy. They argue about it at the house, and Caceres explains that he needs to save his body for his next fights, and promises that when it’s time for him to fight MJ, he’ll be training, believe that. The gauntlet has been dropped, son.

OK, maybe it isn’t the singer from Gnarls Barkley, but it looks just like him.

In any case, Spike TV teased this clip a few weeks ago and tonight the altercation between Kos and the male nurse, who is presumably the cageside medic will finally be aired.

Josh seemed kind of pissed off and, for once, was at a loss for words when the dude started on him about being a stinking injury faker.

Fess up, which one of you guys is a murse from Las Vegas?

("Thank you for your opening statement, Mr. Miller. Mr. Diaz and Mr. Shields now have 30 seconds to present their rebuttal." PicProps: BuzzHollywood.com)

Even after a panel of world renowned experts weighed in last week to unanimously declare that Jake Shields still needs to prove himself worthy in the UFC’s 170-pound division, the company is not wavering in its plans to shoehorn him into a title shot against the winner of next month’s Georges St. Pierre vs. Josh Koscheck scrap. Shields now even says he’ll be cageside at UFC 124 in Montreal, pretty much ensuring that the UFC will tempt fate by having the Cesar Gracie jiu jitsu fighter enter the Octagon to confront the victor.

We all know what happened the last time the former Strikeforce middleweight champ was involved in a postfight altercation inside a cage. Bad things, man. Fortunately, if Shields decides to engage in a company-sponsored mean-mug competition after UFC 124 it will at least be at an event run by professionals, so the possibility of an encore performance of “Strikeforce: Nashville” is pretty slim. Especially since all parties involved will no doubt get a stern “Be cool, motherfuckers,” speech from Dana White prior to the show. Still, Shields was already teasing a heel turn during his recent interview with MMA Weekly …

(If you ain’t cheatin’, you ain’t trying…)

The problem with GSP picking favorable matchups all season is that he’s eventually going to be stuck with one that isn’t so favorable. For the last match in the round-of-14, his #7 draft Dane Sayers will automatically be fed to Sako "Psycho" Chivitchian, a crazy Armenian with world-class judo skills. St. Pierre says he wanted Dane to fight last so they’d have more time to work with him. A few weeks might not be enough; Sayers snuck through the elimination round thanks to his heart, but didn’t show a whole lot of skills.

Two lucky losers will soon be getting picked for the wild card fight, and everybody’s jockeying for it, except for Spencer Paige, who’s out of action for three months with a broken hand. Bummer, brah. Aaron Wilkinson is all banged up from his war with Michael Johnson, but he still wants it, and he’s clearly the most deserving. Wilkinson doesn’t think Jeff "Waster" Lentz should get a second chance, since he’s just been sitting around drinking and chewing tobacco. Jeff vows to piss on Aaron’s bed.

Our hero J.C. Skarbowsky returns to advise Dane, "Good is not enough, you have to be perfect." Everybody is calling Dane "Red Horse" this episode. Red Horse is his Indian name; he’s part Blackfoot and Chippewa. (On his mother’s side, we would assume.) Says Skarbowsky: "Koscheck’s not from the States, [Dane's] from the States. Koscheck needs your permission to come here."

("We have ways to make the infidels…er…fighters agree to our demands.")

It looks like a GSP vs. Anderson Silva match-up might be closer than anticipated.

Dana White brushed off the potential blockbuster bout this summer as being something that likely won’t happen for a while, but according to his partner, UFC CEO Lorenzo Fertitta, the fight may happen as early as next summer if both fighters continue to dominate in their respective divisions.

"I want to see that fight," Fertitta said during a Q&A session in London ahead of UFC 120. "That’s probably the one fight I really want to see the most."

For that to happen, Silva will have to get by former UFC light heavyweight champion Vitor Belfort in February and St-Pierre faces fellow TUF 12 coach and MMA superheel Josh Koscheck in December. White has also held steadfast to his assertion that Jake Shields will face the winner of that bout, so it may still be a while off if he gets his way.

(The Stevens vs. McKenzie "fight," if you can call it that. Props: TheMMAResource)

Still giddy from his squad’s first victory, Josh Koscheck starts picking on Team GSP’s Michael Johnson, telling him he looks heavy, he gassed out in his fight against Aaron Wilkinson, and he would have lost if not for that beast-like surge at the end. Kos’s entire team is equally assholish, continuing their celebration into the night, screaming in the house like complete jackasses. Koscheck shows up with burgers and Johnson asks him why he has to be such a dick. Josh denies he’s a dick; he just loves yellow. You can’t really fault a man for that.

Koscheck also loves being in the power-position for the first time in the season. He finally has control of the matchups, and during a team discussion, the idea of Marc Stevens (his #1 pick) vs. Cody McKenzie (GSP’s #6 pick) is floated. They figure that as long as they stay away from Cody’s famous guillotine choke, it’s a good matchup for them. Since this is one of those two-fight episodes, we know that whatever happens, it’s not gonna last long.

Kos announces Stevens vs. McKenzie as his match selection, and the two lightweights face off for the first time. "You don’t have to puff your chest out like that," Stevens says to McKenzie. "Exhale…it’s not very friendly." Cody mean-mugs Stevens, but then grins and chin-checks Koscheck again before walking off, just like he did last episode. Koscheck has to be reminded that this should piss him off. "Cut his fingers off the next time he does that to you," Sako says. "We can’t even understand you," Cody deadpans to the Armenian. It’s personal now. Yellow doesn’t like Cody McKenzie, no sir.

(Hick-Jitsu is no match for Drunken French Muay Thai.)

Alex Caceres has gone full heel. For some reason, he decides to put bleach in Nam Phan‘s fabric softener. Michael Johnson borrows it to do a load of delicates, and freaks out when he learns the truth. "Why would you run the risk of fuckin’ up someone’s whole wardrobe like that?" he asks. Caceres explains that it was meant for Nam, which begs the question — what the hell did Nam Phan ever do to you, bro? "I got a love/hate personality," Caceres says later. "That’s why I don’t have many friends." 

As Team GSP rides to practice, Cody McKenzie spits dip-juice into an empty Red Bull can. It’s the most country thing I’ve ever seen in my life.

GSP brings in another special guest for his guys. Very special. Jean Charles Skarbowsky is a French kickboxing savant who sleeps three hours a night and gets drunk before every practice. Georges advises the guys that if you respect him, he’ll respect you; if you go hard to prove a point, he’ll kill you. "Please be careful, he had a long ride from Paris to get here," GSP says. Hmm, he doesn’t look like much. But there he is, tossing around the entire team and dropping everybody with liver shots. "You cannot have the same lifestyle as Jean Charles and be an MMA fighter. In Thailand they smoke and drink and fight every day." And let’s not even get into the transsexual thing…

(Where’s a loaded musket when you need one? Props: Fighters Only)

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…

– Josh Koscheck, Georges St-Pierre Get UFC 124 Hype Officially Underway at Press Conference in Montreal (MMA Fighting)

– Diaz, Thomson Top 211K Fighter Payroll For Diaz vs. Noons II (Heavy.com/MMA)

– SB Nation Exclusive: UFC 120′s Mike Pyle Reflects on His Career in MMA (Watch Kalib Run)

– Why Dan Hardy vs Carlos Condit Should Be the Headline Fight at UFC 120 (Five Ounces of Pain)

– Joseph Benavidez vs. Wagnney Fabiano Booked for WEC 52 (Versus MMA Beat)

- Nick Diaz: How Do These Guys Expect to Beat Me? [VIDEO](FightMagazine)

– Comeback "Gracie Style": Exclusive interview with Daniel Gracie (LowKick)

– Antonio Silva vs. Valentijn Overeem Official For Strikeforce ‘Henderson vs. Babalu’ (MMA Convert)

– Classic Fight: Royler Gracie vs. Genki Sudo @ K-1 MMA Romanex 2004 (MMA Scraps)

– Marloes Coenen Gets a Hero’s Welcome in Amsterdam (MiddleEasy)

(Video courtesy YouTube/MMANews.com)

If Jon Fitch has any clout left with the UFC since being fired and re-hired by the organization because of a dispute over signing over his likeness rights to the UFC Undisputed video game franchise, the American Kickboxing Academy fighter may get the winner of the UFC 121 welterweight tilt between Martin Kampmann and Jake Shields.

"The next time a title shot is coming around is probably going to be a while, so I’m kinda thinking I might wanna fight again before the title shot. The winner of Kampmann-Shields would be a perfect match-up. I’ve known Jake [Shields] for a long time. He’s a good friend of mine. I’m all about fighting the best guys in the world and we’ve known for a long time that this day would probably come where we’d have to fight. So be it."

If you recall, Fitch was supposed to get next dibs at the winner of the UFC 124 Kos-GSP showdown, but after his lacklustre win over Thiago Alves at UFC 117, Dana White reneged on giving him the next title shot, saying, "We’ll see," when pressed about it at the post-fight press conference.

Don’t forget to check out the feed for today’s UFC 124 press conference live from Montreal here at 1:00 pm ET.

Scheduled to be in attendance are UFC welterweight champ, Georges St-Pierre, number one welterweight contender, Josh Koscheck, UFC Director of Canadian Operations, Tom Wright,  and UFC president, Dana White.

They will likely be announcing the remainder of the card that is rumored for the December 11 show.

UFC 124
December 11, 2010 7:00 pm ET
Bell Centre – Montreal, Quebec

Welterweight Championship Bout
Georges St-Pierre vs. Josh Koscheck

Thiago Alves vs. John Howard
Jim Miller vs. Charles Oliveira
Dan Miller vs. Joe Doerksen
Ricardo Almeida vs. TJ Grant
Mark Bocek vs. Dustin Hazelett
Jason MacDonald vs. Rafael Natal
Stefan Struve vs. Sean McCorkle
Matt Riddle vs. Anthony Waldburger

UFC media player is after the jump.

(…Only I didn’t say "fudge." I said the word. The big one. The queen mother of dirty words. The f-dash-dash-dash word…) 

Team GSP is basking in Michael Johnson’s victory, and Mike Tyson is in a reflective mood. Iron Mike says the fight game is about who’s smarter. "Confidence breeds success, and success breeds confidence…confidence applied properly surpasses genius." Also, how you conduct yourself in the cage reflects on how you conduct yourself in life. Between him, Greg Jackson, and John Danaher, the team is stacked with philosophers.

After two losses, Team Koscheck is fired up to get revenge on Team GSP. "The harder you work now, the later you get rewarded," Josh Koscheck says, probably meaning to say "the more you get rewarded later." He also pronounces "especially" as "ekspecially" at one point. We’ll see if these Titoisms become a trend. 

During the Johnson/Wilkinson fight, Alex "Bruce Leroy" Caceres was a little too supportive in the bleachers, screaming "Beat the shit out of him! Fuck him up!" to MJ. Some of the guys don’t like how Caceres seemed to wish harm upon one of his housemates. I mean, they’re all in this together, right? They all came to the house to make friends? Anyway, the guys have a little shit-talking session about it. "That’s disrespectful, bro," says Sevak "The Armenian Stereotype" Magakian. "He’s a stupid, ignorant kid," Jeff Lentz says, bitterly.

(The beginning of the Johnson/Wilkinson battle from last night. You can watch the rest here. Props: SignofBelief)

Alex "Bruce Leroy" Caceres may have impressed us in last week’s fight, but he’s making no friends in the house by bragging about his victory non-stop. While hanging out with the defeated Jeff Lentz, he says that Jeff may have been "underesterating my talents and skills," and claims that every head kick bounced off his afro. Lentz manages to avoid strangling the bastard, but the other TUF guys are quickly losing patience.

GSP brings in wrestling world champion Guivi "Gia" Sissaouri, to work with his squad. Homeboy is sick on the mat. It’s a great little master-class for the guys, but Georges has another visitor coming in later that will make Gia look like small potatoes. (Hint: Face tattoos, tigers.)

Down 0-1, Koscheck is playing catch-up. His fighters already seem to be breaking down, physically and emotionally, so Kos makes it clear that they need to toughen up and quit ass-dragging in practice. Training seems to improve after that.

It’s fight announcement time, and since Team GSP won last week, they retain control of the picks. St. Pierre selects Michael Johnson (his craftily-obtained #1 draft pick) against Aaron Wilkinson (Koscheck’s #6 pick??). GSP is obviously looking to take Koscheck’s heart with a brutal victory, but is it a wise strategy to waste your ace on the other team’s weakest link? (Keep in mind that Jeff Lentz was Team Koscheck’s #7 pick.) Still, a badass wrestler vs. a British guy. This seems gift-wrapped for the red team.

(Damn. As if the "Having to Fight GSP" curse wasn’t bad enough… / Image courtesy of fightmagazine.com)

By Jim "jimbonics" Isaacs

So there I was, minding my own business, creating a masterpiece through MSPaint in honor of ReX13’s first Bellator article for the ‘Tater. Later that afternoon, after a WILD week in the comments section across all articles, I was honored with a “Comment of the Week” award and subsequently a subscription to FIGHT! Magazine. Sweet! It was the first thing I had won since a pinball contest in Nineteen Dickety-Two.

After a month of salivating and daily mailbox-checking, I had received no magazine. I was convinced I would not actually receive a prize, as hundreds of comments at CP over the past year alluded to. Then it happened. My mailbox was stuffed with bills I would never open, offers I would never respond to, and an extremely thick and glossy FIGHT! Magazine.

There is King Mo, in all his glory bling, staring at me. The first thought in my head was how he got his ass thoroughly beaten by Mousasi yet still won the belt based solely on takedowns. (Though he snared 11 of his 14 takedown attempts, if there was ever a fight to argue against the weight of takedowns in MMA scoring, it was that fight, but I digress). The second thought in my head was that he wouldn’t hold the belt very long, especially with the ultra-quick striker and BJJ black belt Feijão looming. I’m not saying, I’m just saying.

A month later the next magazine had wrestling specialist Kenny Florian on it. He went on to get Gray Maynarded. This got the wheels turning, and I decided to do a little investigating: Does the long-rumored FIGHT! Magazine Cover Curse actually exist?

Let’s start at the beginning, shall we?

(Crappy, TV-shot video of the Alex Caceres vs. Jeff Lentz fight, courtesy of TheMMAResource.)

After last week’s trial by fire, it’s time for the 14 UFC hopefuls to move into the house and get comfy. And boy is the new TUF house classy. The dining room has a chandelier in it and everything.

Alex "Bruce Leroy" Caceres and Jeff Lentz down some shots right away. They’re both characters. Jeff’s a chain-smoker from Jersey with a dye-job, and says he’ll never tap, not even to an armbar. (Pay attention! This will be important later!) The guys are apprehensive about the cigs and booze that Lentz is constantly consuming, but Jeff says he’s just playing with them, and he actually has gas for days. I mean, he’s clearly a nicotine addict and probably has a drinking problem on top of that, but it’s all just a persona, y’know? As for Alex, he can play the harmonica, he once killed a gator with his bare hands, and he nearly murdered a deer, too. But as they say, man is the most dangerous game.

In advance of the team selections, Coach Josh Koscheck has every guy in the house ranked, 1-14. He’s got Michael Johnson at #1, Marc Stevens at #2, Sako "Psycho" Chivitchian and Sevak Magakian at 3 and 4. Koscheck loves those Armenians, bro.

Greg Jackson has been here before with Rashad Evans on TUF 10, and now he’s Georges St. Pierre‘s consigliere. He advises Georges to go after the first matchup rather than the first fighter, if possible. GSP knows that Koscheck likes Michael Johnson, so he gets an idea to try a little gamesmanship. "We’ll see if he’s smart," GSP says. Koscheck, as it turns out, is not smart.

(Photo courtesy UFC Magazine)

If you can bet past the fact that she is 90 percent man-made, that she likely had wrinkly sex with Hugh Hefner and that she is rumored to have had sex with Josh Koscheck, then "Girl Next Door," Holly Madison’s photo spread in the latest issue of the UFC Magazine will likely appeal to you. 

(Video courtesy YouTube/218DeShawn)
If you pay attention to the small details in life, chances are you noticed the clip at the end of last night’s premiere of The Ultimate Fighter 12 that showed a brief glimpse of Josh Koscheck being his endearing self as he appears to grab a Team St-Pierre member by the throat before a scuffle ensues.

Middleeasy made a slowed-down gif of the video above and it turns out that the dude Kos rape chokes is either a somewhat rotund crew member or a random guy who wandered in off the street wearing a TapouT shirt in GSP’s team colors. Whatever the case is, it’s likely just another instance of a set-up scenario or creative editing to make JK look like the bad guy. It all seems very "WWE" to me. He nearly crack a smile as he confront the Biz Markie lookalike who likely hasn’t been a lightweight since junior high.

Check it out after the jump and judge for yourself whether or not the fracas seems staged.