(I’ve got 25, 25, do I hear 26 for this authentic Cuban-born champion? I’ve got 25, do I hear 26? 26?! 26?!!! Sold at 25!) 

After battering and busting up Urijah Faber en route to his 29th straight victory, newly-crowned interim bantamweight champion Renan Barao proved to the world at UFC 149 that his win streak was the product of hard work and dedication, not the culmination of years spent crushing cans that seemed to be the case for a certain somebody making his long awaited debut just one fight before. This is not to say that Hector Lombard doesn’t push himself as a fighter — by all accounts he does the exact opposite, in fact — but to say that Lombard was the first fighter to come to the UFC on a huge win streak, only to have said streak invalidated almost immediately would be a bold faced lie (Jason Reinhardt, anyone? How about our buddy Sean McCorkle?).

But when guys who have spent years fighting below their level come up short on the big stage, it just makes it all the more impressive to see the Barao’s and Ryan Jimmo‘s of the world succeed in living up to their hype. Simply put, it’s no coincidence that most of the guys with the greatest win streaks in the sport are all champions, and the rest are either made up (I shall refer you to the infamous tale of Craig Rehage as my primary example) or busted as soon as the fighter faces some legit competition.

However, when trying to determine which champion has the most impressive win streak of them all, we surprisingly found ourselves at odds. Some of us went with the obvious choice in Anderson Silva, some of us thought that Jon Jones’ streak was more impressive, and ReX thought that Ronda Rousey’s run stood atop them all before snatching a copy of her ESPN magazine shoot and running off to our executive bathroom. He has yet to return.

So as is often the case when we are struggling to decide upon an issue, we will hand the power over to you, Potato Nation. After the jump, you will find a survey. The topic: “Which Current Champion Has the Greatest Win Streak in MMA?” You WILL vote on this poll, and you WILL leave us your convincing arguments in the comments section. Sound good?

(Yeah, baby. Get ready to see a whole lot of Tiequan Zhang.)

After talking about it for two years, the UFC has finally moved forward with plans to hold their first event in China. Promotion officials announced earlier this week that UFC on FUEL 6 will be held November 10th in Macau, at the 15,000-seat Venetian Macau Resort Hotel’s CotaiArena. Said Mark Fischer, UFC managing director of Asia:

“This event is a major step in the development of the UFC brand in this region of the world and China in particular. We are delighted by this opportunity to build on the media growth and attention we have received and to finally bring a live event in prime time to the millions of fans in this area.”

No bouts have been announced for the fall event yet, although one big name has already offered to step up, and will obviously be shot down:

Like a true champion, Junior Dos Santos has found an all-natural way to shrink his testicles. (Photo: paperlenses.wordpress.com)

Between irresponsible TRT use and baseless speculation concerning the recent injury epidemic, the use of performance enhancing drugs in MMA has cast the sport in a rather negative light of late. So it’s a breath of fresh air to have a fighter not only come out against PED use, but to express a willingness to take part in more comprehensive drug tests. And it’s even better when that fighter is the current UFC heavyweight champion. In a recent press conference, Junior Dos Santos stated that he advocated random blood testing for his future fights for both himself and his opponents.

“I am champion and never have used anything, and I am proud to say that. It is unfair to use substances. With or without authorization, it makes a difference. A fighter who can do this kind of treatment is not himself in the octagon and using tricks to improve [his] performance.”

This is significant for three reasons. First, because Junior Dos Santos said it. It’s unlikely that Dana White will read this and retort “I would rather watch flys [sic] fuck,” as he did when Ben Askren accused White of not doing enough to prevent the use of PEDs. If your heavyweight champion wants something, especially when that something will contribute to the legitimacy of your sport, you’d do well to accommodate him.

More on the need for increased testing after the jump…

(You mean to tell me that this man *isn’t* number one? UNBELIEVABLE.) 

Regardless of where you stand on the whole “pound for pound” rankings debate, FightMatrix recently released a list of what they referred to as ‘Division Dominance’ rankings, which rank fighters according to how impressively they’ve fared against the fellow members of their respective weight divisions. Where you’d think that Anderson Silva would be a the top of this list by about a million points, being that he has never lost a fight in the UFC, it might surprise you who topped him.

Here’s the description FightMatrix provided along with the list of criteria that led them to their conclusion:

The division point dominance list debuted on 3/16/08, and is comparable, but not identical to a pound-for-pound list.  While a pound-for-pound list factors in divisional tenure and the ability to transcend weight divisions while remaining successful, this list does not.  This list ranks fighters based on their point level superiority over those in the division in which they are currently ranked.

This is done by averaging the point level which encompasses the typical transition between the elites and top contenders of the division, then compares this average to the fighter’s current point level. The higher a fighter’s division dominance points, the more “dominant” they are over their divisional peers.

One important thing to note is that there are two important factors that comprise a fighter’s division dominance rating. The strength of the division’s top fighters and the fighter’s own current rating. A fluctuation in the fighter’s rating, division strength, and/or division assignment can all result in changes to a fighter’s division dominance rating.

As of 8/28/2011, we have added further requirements:
Fighter must have a win, draw, or quality performance in the previous 360 days (450 if currently in “inactive decay”).
Fighter must have at least two wins in their listed division within the past 900 days OR be ranked #1 in their division.

Check out the list after the jump and express your agreement or outrage in the comments section.

(CAAAANNN YOOOUUU DIG IT?!!) 

If you’ve ever found yourself entranced by a raspy, baritone voice calling out “We’re rollin!” from the locker rooms of a UFC event, then you are undoubtedly familiar with the UFC’s “babysitter to the stars,” Burt Watson. I will be the first to admit that in my infinite wisdom, I once failed to recognize one of the most crucial members of the sport’s highest promotion when he was caught on camera during one of Dana White’s infamous Danavlogs. It is to this date the biggest mindfart I have ever farted (which is saying something), but needless to say, without Watson shuffling fighters around, organizing them for press conferences, and getting them amped up for their fights, the UFC would be a shell of the “well-oiled machine” that it truly is.

Wanting to recognize the crucial role Watson plays in the UFC, Sportsnet recently dedicated a brief video to his greatness, reeling in such UFC stars as Georges. St Pierre (who does a hilarious Watson impression when prompted), Frank Mir, Junior dos Santos, and even the boss man himself to sing his praises. So check it out if you’ve got a couple extra minutes, and leave your own praises in the comments section.

(A stranglehold on the competition, or on the sport in general?) 

We don’t know about you, but as we were watching last weekend’s UFC on FX 3 event in our various states of drunken stupor, we couldn’t help but notice a few glaring observations. The first was that the term “dicknailed” will always be both appropriate and hilarious when describing knockouts like the one Mike Pyle delivered on Josh Neer in the first round of their welterweight affair. The second revelation, however, was much more disheartening. As we looked past the fighters and into the stands, it was pretty shocking to see how little of a crowd was actually in attendance. “What is this, a Super Fight League card?” we said to ourselves, then collectively tweeted to one another like a bunch of snickering high school girls. But the simple truth is, our Stalter and Waldorf attitudes were nothing more than a defense mechanism, a cover, if you will, for something we feared might be happening: The UFC is stretching themselves a little thin.

Sure, UFC on FX 3 was as under-promoted as it was lacking any sort of star power, so much so that I will personally admit to all but completely forgetting about its existence until BG reminded us why we should be stoked in the first place. And sure, as with this season of The Ultimate Fighter, the fact that the card was scheduled for a Friday night surely didn’t help gain any new viewers either (a move that should most certainly be retracted next season if TUF ever hopes to recover ratings wise). Be that as it may, the real problem with last weekend’s card was certainly not that of the fight quality (because they were all great fights), but rather part of the looming, aforementioned oversaturation problem the UFC may find themselves facing. And here’s why.

The seemingly inevitable rematch now has a date in place.

Immediately following UFC on FX 3, Dana White revealed his plan to have the heavyweight championship rematch headline UFC 152 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. As of right now, a welterweight bout between BJ Penn and Rory MacDonald is also scheduled for the event.

(R.I.P Geico Gecko. May your free soul never again be confused with a half-rate car insurance plan.) 

You gotta love being a world famous sports figure, amirite? Every move examined under a magnifying glass, a legion of people claiming to hate you despite having never come within 100 miles of you before — it sounds fucking wonderful. Just ask Jon Jones. After he got a little tipsy behind the wheel with a couple of friends and wrecked his Bentley in the process, he no more than could check his pants for a bowl of chocolate pudding before said legions of the blind were ready and waiting to bash him anonymously or throw him their undying support.

Don’t be mistaken, Jones had some of the hate coming. The fact that he stated just one month before his brush up with the law that he would never, you know, have a brush up with the law or anything, made his fall from that high horse all the more painful. But so heavy lies the crown, in fact, that the guys over at Sportsnet called upon such UFC stars as Dominick Cruz, Junior dos Santos, and Frank Mir among other to help us cope with this devastating situation.

If you can’t tell by the sarcasm plastered across the last sentence, we are more willing to forgive Jones for his actions than most. The case seems to be the same with Mir, who was content to give the “we all make mistakes” response when questioned on the issue:

I get mad at people that are quick to judge him, you know, ‘How could you ever drink and drive?!’ And I’m not ever going to say it’s right; it’s wrong to drink and drive. But if you’re a person who drinks, and you’re going to tell me that you’ve never gotten behind the wheel when you’ve had more than one beer an hour, or one shot, or one glass of wine; you’ve drove when you shouldn’t have, and you made a mistake.

The difference is, is that he got bit on his bad mistake. The good thing that now, maybe he can learn from it now, and not continue to do that on, but we all fall down. The point is that you get back up and march forward, you acknowledge what you did…I want to meet the person that’s never screwed up.

Oh, Frank. Only you can have us questioning the legitimacy of your claims one day and in your corner the next.

Check out the video after the jump. 

(That awkward moment when fireballs fail to shoot out of your hands.)

The UFC paid out $1,513,000 in disclosed salaries and performance bonuses for last Saturday’s UFC 146: Dos Santos vs. Mir card, with Junior Dos Santos, Frank Mir, and Cain Velasquez‘s matching $200,000 checks eating up about 40% of the total. The full salary list is below via MMAJunkie. Keep in mind that these figures don’t include additional revenue from sponsorships, undisclosed “locker room bonuses,” or percentages of the pay-per-view revenue that are in some fighters’ contracts.

Junior Dos Santos: $200,000 (no win bonus)
def. Frank Mir: $200,000

Cain Velasquez: $200,000 (includes $100,000 win bonus)
def. Antonio Silva: $70,000

Roy Nelson: $110,000 (includes $20,00 win bonus and $70,000 Knockout of the Night bonus)
def. Dave Herman: $21,000

Stipe Miocic: $20,000 (includes $10,000 win bonus)
def. Shane Del Rosario: $20,000

By Elias Cepeda

Props: MMAFighting.com

Junior dos Santos is a walking, terrifying public relations smashing machine. Not only did he Babe Ruth it and fulfill his prediction of winning by 2nd round stoppage over former two-time champion Frank Mir Saturday night, but he also provided the best feel-good photo op of the year so far.

Junior trains out of Luis Carlos Dorea’s Champion Boxing gym in Brazil which, in addition to being headquarters for world-class fighters, is home to a vibrant youth boxing program. After training one day, the UFC Primetime cameras caught one of the little tikes hanging asking Junior to take him with him to the states for his title fight.

At the time, Junior said, “we’ll see.” But he ended up bringing the 9 year-old kid and his family to Vegas to watch him win. After beating Mir, he lifted the lucky young fighter onto his shoulders and posed for the cameras along with his coaches.

Dos Santos definitely appears to have the Wanderlei Silva nice guy/maniac fighter balance down pat. Try as I might, that image warms my cynical heart, and I don’t give a damn how orchestrated it may or may not have been. Who doesn’t like watching a kid’s dream come true before their eyes?

Nathan “The12ozCurls” Smith

As painful as the UFC post-fight press conferences are to sit though, you sure do learn (or at least get teased with) some vital information about the future of the organization. Stuff like: Dana White saying that he doesn’t want to deal with Alistair Overeem because “he sat in front of us . . . . Lied to us.” There is an entire horse meat story waiting to be written by Josh Hutchinson on that, but I am talking about good juicy TMZ’esque gossip shit. The Overeem issue is kind of news but it was overshadowed by another series of questions asked.

Because there was not a camera pointed at the media members, I am not certain it was Ariel Helwani – but I am pretty damn positive – who asked the most intriguing questions of the night. I AM sure that there are not a lot of guys that (sound like a baritone-polite-Mogwai and) have the stones to ask the necessary questions – but big props to Helwani if it was in fact him.

(A helpful little video-primer, via YouTube.com/UFC)

By Ryan Sarr

What better way to kick off the summer this Memorial Day weekend than with the star-studded, all-heavyweight UFC 146: Dos Santos vs. Mir. Though Alistair Overeem’s drug test dodging/excuse-making skills weren’t enough to save the original UFC 146 main event, we’re still in for a spectacular heavyweight title tilt with JDS and Frank Mir.

Dos Santos made his UFC debut almost four years ago at UFC 90, and three days before the fight Dana White posted footage of JDS hitting mits on his online video blog. Dos Santos’s hands looked incredible, and suddenly money came pouring in on the heavy underdog to beat Fabricio Werdum, which he did in devastating fashion. Since then, Dos Santos has put together the best resume in UFC Heavyweight history, destroying everyone in his path. So, is Mir going to be just another notch on JDS’s belt, or will JDS have an appointment with the orthopedic surgeon Sunday morning? Join me as I break down each fight on UFC 146′s main card, and don’t forget to come back to CagePotato tomorrow night for our liveblog of the event.

Junior Dos Santos (14-1, 8-0 UFC) vs. Frank Mir (16-5, 14-5 UFC)

They say that styles make fights, and Saturday night’s heavyweight championship is going to be a clash between two men who are the best in the division at their chosen styles. Junior Dos Santos is so confident in his boxing skills that he says he could hang with the Klitschko brothers with three months’ training, and Frank Mir’s jiu-jitsu is so good that he broke Minotauro Nogueira’s arm after Nogueira had Mir teetering on unconsciousness. Both of these men have a wealth of Octagon experience, but neither man has ever fought into the championship rounds of a fight. That shouldn’t be an issue Saturday night, however, for this fight will probably end well before the final bell.

For Dos Santos, the game plan is simple: keep this fight on the feet. Dos Santos’ belief in his hands has to be at an all-time high, as he’s coming off his knockout of previously undefeated former champion Cain Velasquez in 64 seconds. If JDS can control the Octagon against Mir and use his superb counter-punching, I can see him finishing Mir early. Dos Santos has very quick hands for a heavyweight, and his uppercut is devastating. Just one counter hook or uppercut, and it could be lights out for Mir.

(Word has it JDS hits so hard that Frank Mir fainted shortly after this photo was snapped.)

Just a reminder, Potato Nation, that the weigh-ins for tomorrow’s UFC 146 card are going down tonight starting at 7 p.m. ET. Because we “love” you the way a man “loves” the prostitute he just kicked out of his hotel room, we’ll be hosting a live stream of the event below. At least one of us will be trolling the comment section and looking for a fight, so be sure to join us if you’re into that sort of thing.

Will Roy Nelson don some sort of hilarious costume/facial hair combination? Will Jamie Varner go back into retirement and no-show for his fight against Edson Barboza out of fear for his life? Will Junior dos Santos break out his patented victory dance upon making weight?

All of these questions will be answered, via a few intense staredowns, in just a few short hours. 

(How awesome was the retro promo that preceded the conference? Finally, the UFC’s marketing department is making an effort.) 

We’re not going to insult anyone’s intelligence; you all know what’s going down this Saturday at UFC 146. There may have been endless change ups, Twitter campaigns, and even change ups involving members of the aforementioned Twitter campaigns, but this weekend promises to be an, excuse the overused term, epic night of fights based on body mass alone.

Unfortunately, last Tuesday’s UFC on FUEL: Zombie vs. Poirier card all but completely derailed our recent run of luck with the Gambling Enabler (aside from the decision to purchase some Bud Light Platinums to celebrate another beautiful McKenzietine bet), but hopefully this weekend’s UFC 146 event, which features an all heavyweight main card for the first time in UFC history will help get things back on track. So without further adieu, may we present to you the tasty betting lines, brought to you courtesy of BestFightOdds, along with our brilliant/equally insane advice below.

Main Card
Frank Mir (+425) vs. Junior dos Santos (-550)
Cain Velasquez (-400) vs. Antonio Silva (+325)
Roy Nelson (-225) vs. Dave Herman (+185)
Shane del Rosario (+135) vs. Stipe Miocic (-155)
Lavar Johnson (+105) vs. Stefan Struve (-125)

Preliminary Card (FX)
Diego Brandao (-265) vs. Darren Elkins (+205)
Edson Barboza (-550) vs. Jamie Varner (+425)
Jason Miller (-145) vs. C.B. Dollaway (+115)
Dan Hardy (-130) vs. Duane Ludwig (+100)

Preliminary Card (Facebook)
Paul Sass (+170) vs. Jacob Volkmann (-215)
Glover Teixeira (-240) vs. Kyle Kingsbury (+180)
Mike Brown (-160) vs. Daniel Pineda (+130)

Thoughts…

In advance of this weekend’s UFC 146 headlining match between Junior Dos Santos and Frank Mir, FuelTV has released video of JDS’s Octagon debut at UFC 90 in October 2008. At the time, Dos Santos was 6-1 prospect, completely unknown outside of Brazil, facing a seasoned grappling expert and PRIDE/UFC vet whose list of victims included Alistair Overeem, Alexander Emelianenko, Gabriel Gonzaga (twice) and Brandon Vera, all of whom Werdum beat by stoppage. We gave Junior zero chance to win — and he shocked us all with a earth-shaking uppercut that permanently altered the power-balance in the UFC’s heavyweight division.

Following the fight, the UFC cut Werdum after he refused to re-sign for less money, and JDS went on the greatest contender run in UFC history, culminating in a 64-second knockout of champion Cain Velasquez. Watch the video above to see how it all started, two and a half years ago.

MMAFighting’s Ariel Helwani recently took some time away from interviewing mentally handicapped freakshows to get back to his roots as MMA’s top correspondent, questioning UFC 146′s headliners, Frank Mir and Junior dos Santos, on everything from Nick Diaz’s recent suspension to whether or not Daniel Cormier should be the man to face the winner of their Saturday night title fight.

When asked his opinion on the NSAC’s aforementioned ruling in the case of Mr. Diaz, Mir seemed to side with the “what kind of bullshit is this?” crowd, stating that “…obviously just having metabolites in his system means that he was not under the influence of marijuana in contest the night they tested him, but I guess that’s why they wear suits and I wear no shirt when I go to work.” I hear you there, bro. Mir also discussed his plans for dos Santos, mainly, that he will pull guard on the champ if need be, because shooting on “Cigano” will likely not be a viable option.

Join us after the jump for Helwani’s interview with dos Santos, who makes some pretty ballsy claims to say the least. 

(Video: YouTube/420FriendlyMMAFan)

We’ve still got a week to go before our heavyweight title fight at UFC 146, but all of the excitement already has people losing their damn minds. Frank Mir and Junior Dos Santos will clash to determine who is the ‘baddest man on the planet’…at least for another 3-4 months until he inevitably loses the title to the next challenger. Enough dilly-dallying, let’s get to this week’s installment of UFC Primetime.

“Frank was very self-destructive. Drugs, alcohol. I think Frank was pretty much intoxicated for a whole year-and-a-half of his life. It was depression and then falling into a deeper spiral.” Mir’s wife, describing his life after the motorcycle wreck that nearly ended his fighting career, which sounds uncannily like the life of most CagePotato contributors.

More highlights after the jump.

(Let’s be honest, you’d pay to watch these three knuckleheads do *anything*.)

As Danga pointed out yesterday, injuries and surprise drug tests have led to all five of UFC 146‘s main card bouts being altered since they were first announced, which puts “Dos Santos vs. Mir” right up there with MMA’s most cursed events of all time. But let’s be fair — the UFC originally promised us ten aggressive heavyweights bashing the hell out of each other, and they’re still giving us just that. So is UFC 146 a rag-tag bunch of scab-fights, or a compelling lineup in itself? Let’s break it down…

Original main event: Junior dos Santos vs. Alistair Overeem
Current main event: Junior dos Santos vs. Frank Mir
Advantage: Even. Luckily, our schizophrenic contributor Josh Hutchinson has already presented both sides of this issue, and I’m leaning towards the idea that Mir as a main-event replacement isn’t a total disaster. At first, we had the two best heavyweight strikers in MMA slugging it out for supremacy. Now, we have…well, who knows? Mir’s brilliant ground game opens up a whole new set of outcomes for this one. And isn’t MMA at its best when it’s chaotic and unpredictable? (I know, some of you just watch for the big muscles, but I’m a true fan, okay bro?)

Original co-main event: Cain Velasquez vs. Frank Mir
Current co-main event: Cain Velasquez vs. Antonio Silva
Advantage: Original. And I only say that because Velasquez vs. Mir felt like less of a squash match. Bigfoot really could have used a softer landing in the Octagon; making his UFC debut in a pay-per-view co-main event against a juggernaut ex-champ like Velasquez smells like serious trouble for the Brazilian, who already failed a chin-test against Daniel Cormier in September.

(Video via IronForgesIron.com)

It’s not the match we were promised, but it’s the one we’re going to watch. We’re only weeks away from UFC 146 and the heavyweight title bout between Junior Dos Santos and Frank Mir. In addition to the twelve pounds of gold at stake, we are witnessing a former champion’s quest to return to the top of his division and the familiar story arc of redemption and payback for a fallen master. There’s also a shooting range and lots of big guns. Whichever strikes your fancy, this Primetime comes correct.

Things open up with Junior Dos Santos’ mentor, Big Nog, showing up at his gym in Salvador, Brazil. The surprise appearance provides an emotional boost to the young champion.

“It wasn’t pain. I was very disappointed.” – Big Nog, on having his arm snapped by Frank Mir. It’s easy to write this off as a mistranslation, but English or Portuguese, it doesn’t matter; Minotauro doesn’t know the definition of pain in any language.

More highlights after the jump.

A young champion that has dominated every opponent in the Octagon with his boxing vs. a veteran ex-champ whose ground-wizardry has carried him to his second career comeback. Sure, it would have been nice to see JDS vs. Overeem, but we’re staying positive here, and you couldn’t write a better storyline for this May 26th heavyweight title fight. Also featured in the new hype video for UFC 146 is the return of heavyweight phenom Cain Velasquez, who promises a victory against promotional newcomer Antonio Silva — a gigantic opportunity for both men. Can Bigfoot make a splash in the UFC, or is he just a speed-bump on the way to Cain’s next title shot?

(In defense of Dana’s flip flop, who could say no to that face?)

By Josh Hutchinson

As some of you may remember, I recently attempted to make a case for why Alistair Overeem vs. Junior Dos Santos had to happen at UFC 146, testosterone-levels be damned. And though that fight didn’t quite pan out, we’ll instead be treated to an even better fight that evening in Frank Mir vs. Junior Dos Santos (assuming that no other weird shit happens beforehand). That’s right, I said even better. “But you just tried telling us why the UFC needs to keep Overeem vs. Dos Santos,” I hear you screaming. To that extent I have two retorts. The first being that apparently my hypocrisy knows no bounds. The second being that a quick look at Frank Mir vs. any of the other potential replacements makes the case loud and clear. Take for instance the man that Mir is officially replacing…

Alistair Overeem

Yes, Overeem and Dos Santos would have been an epic slugfest, with a near-guarantee of someone being knocked stupid, but if you look at the quality of opponents the two men have faced in recent years, the nod clearly goes to Mir. Since moving up to heavyweight full time, Overeem has compiled a record of 12-1-1, which while sounding impressive, is actually rather deceiving. The majority of the fighters he beat in those twelve wins resemble less of a contender list, and more of a “MMA Fighters: Where Are They Now?” list. I of course am talking about guys like Paul Buentello, Tony Sylvester, James Thompson, Brett Rogers, you get the point. Frank Mir on the other hand, has been wading through the UFC’s heavyweight elites since UFC 34 back in 2001, picking up big name wins like Tim Sylvia (before he was a joke), Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira (2x), Cheick Kongo, and others. Besides there is still a great chance of seeing someone get knocked the hell out. We all know Dos Santos likes to do it, and if you ask guys like Cro Cop and the aforementioned Nogueria, Mir likes to dabble as well.

By Elias Cepeda

Following a hearing held earlier today, the Nevada State Athletic Commission denied UFC #1 heavyweight contender Alistair Overeem‘s request to be licensed to compete in the state. Overeem will not be allowed to reapply for a license in Nevada for nine months.

Because most states respect one another’s rulings and licenses — and because the UFC has a working practice of not circumventing U.S. athletic commission decisions by placing unlicensed or suspended fighters on foreign cards — Overeem will likely not be able to make a living fighting for the next nine months. He already lost out on his chance to challenge champion Junior Dos Santos May 26th because of his recent drug test, in which he came up positive for an dramatically elevated testosterone-to-epitestosterone level.

Overeem was represented at his hearing by well-known attorney David Chesnoff. Chesnoff attempted to make the case that Overeem’s elevated levels were the result not of an attempt to enhance Overeem’s performance but rather of anti-inflammatory injections administered and prescribed by a Dallas-area doctor to help Overeem heal from injuries incurred in training and re-aggravated while fighting that the fighter was not told also contained testosterone.

Why yes, I do like Huey Lewis and The News… Props: Las Vegas Sun

The speculation has officially ended. After ruling out Frank Mir, Cain Velasquez and Mark Hunt as potential replacements for Alistair Overeem to fight heavyweight champion Junior Dos Santos at UFC 146, Dana White has officially announced his pick. Late last night, Dana White sent out a tweet confirming that Overeem’s replacement will be none other than…Frank Mir.

Huh. How about that?

While we’re all sure that there’s a reasonable explanation for Alistair Overeem’s suspiciously high 14:1 testosterone-to-epitestosterone ratio, the UFC aren’t taking any chances. Rather than waiting for Overeem to meet with the Nevada State Athletic Commission on Tuesday, “The Demolition Man” has been removed from the card entirely. Draw your own conclusions.

By Elias Cepeda

(Photo via Esther Lin & MMAFighting )

A week before he will appear before the Nevada State Athletic Commission for a hearing regarding his failed March drug test and to request a license to fight Junior Dos Santos at UFC 146, the NSAC’s Executive Director Keith Kizer says that Alistair Overeem’s legal team has yet to request additional sample tests or to indicate that they will apply for a therapeutic use exemption for testosterone replacement therapy.

“They’ve asked for no additional testing ,” Kizer told CagePotato.com. “I have talked with Overeem’s attorney and that issue has not been raised.”

“He has not indicated what [Overeem’s] defense will be, but he has not said to me, as I’m sure he would have if he was using it, that [Overeem] is on TRT,” Kizer continued. “That is not to say that they could not still make that case and ask for a therapeutic use exemption for TRT, but if they do, I’d be as shocked as the next person. We’ll all see what they do when April 24^th comes around.”

When Overeem’s hearing does take place in one week, Kizer anticipates that the fighter will not have an easy road to getting licensed again. “It is going to be a very tough hearing for Mr. Overeem, to say the least,” Kizer said.

(Come on, would we let you down?)

So #1 UFC heavyweight title contender Alistair Overeem failed a late March surprise drug test administered by the Nevada State Athletic Commission (NSAC) for having a testosterone to epitestosterone ratio level higher than five men of Krypton and is now scheduled to appear before the commission in one week to ask for a license to face champ Junior Dos Santos May 26th. But not to worry, Reem fans: Alistair’s manager assures that his fighter will have a “reasonable explanation” for his unreasonable levels, according to Inside MMA‘s Ron Kruck, via CagedInsider.

“I spoke with Glenn Robinson, manager of Overeem and he says he is very respectful and is hopeful that he will be granted his license and the entire team is very confident that he will be facing Junior dos Santos come May 26th,” Kruck said.

“Now Robinson wanted to make it very clear that despite other reports, Overeem did not test high for testosterone, but rather his testosterone to epitestosterone was off and he has a reasonable explanation to why that is, which he will present to the commission next Tuesday.”

It’s still real to us, damn it. Props to @ZeusJupiterMMAO

Pay attention, Tim Sylvia: It turns out that a Twitter campaign, no matter how popular, is not the best way to manipulate Dana White.

Even though we here at Cagepotato have known this to be true for a while, we still couldn’t help but get behind #RallyForMarkHunt. The online campaign to have “Super Samoan” fill in for Overeem at UFC 146 quickly took off among tech-savvy MMA fans, and even gained the approval of UFC color commentator Joe Rogan. For a second there, it looked as though the unlikely challenger would actually be getting a shot at ‘Cigano’; especially when Dana White announced that former champions Frank Mir and Cain Velasquez were not being considered but was silent about Mark Hunt.

Well, you can now officially stop getting your hopes up. At the post-event press conference for UFC on FUEL 2, Dana White issued the following statement about the online rally (as transcribed by BJPenn.com):

(Overeem likes his pecs like his K-1 trophies: abnormally large.) 

On a recent episode of Inside MMA, commentators Joe Rogan and Michael Schiavello sat down alongside Josh Barnett to discuss the topic that has thrown the MMA world into chaos over the past few days: Alistair Overeem’s positive drug test. Barnett wisely chose to remain silent for the duration of the conversation, likely because his last positive test was responsible for destroying the Afflicition promotion before it could spend itself into its own grave.

But it was Schiavello, a long time friend of Overeem, who took an interesting stance on the issue, basically saying that, if a fighter pisses hot anytime other than fight week, why should they be held accountable? Here’s what he said:

You know, while we’re talking about the subject, Kenny, I just wanna chime in here on a couple things that have been playing on my mind, the last week or so, since the news of Alistair (Overeem) broke. Alistair doesn’t have a license with the Nevada State Athletic Commission (NSAC), so how are they testing him in the first place when he doesn’t have a license with them? By what jurisdiction are they testing him? And ‘B,’ everyone seems to be hanging Alistair out to dry. They’ve been nailing him to the cross and crucifying him, but it’s still two months away from his fight. You know, he hasn’t technically cheated. Because, unless he pisses hot on the fight night, how could he possibly have cheated? There’s still an opportunity he can get from the 14:1 down to the allowed 6:1 level by fight time. But we’re calling him out as a cheat, two months out from a fight?

Yes, Michael, we are calling him a cheat. Probably because he fucking cheated.

Check out the video, along with Mark Hunt’s reaction to the news, after the jump.

(We know, Joe, this fight would blow our minds too.) 

Now that Alistair Overeem’s botched drug test has officially thrown UFC 146 and the heavyweight division into a state of anarchy, everyone from Frank Mir to, believe it or not, Fedor Emelianenko, have been rumored as The Reem’s potential replacements for the May 26th showdown with current champion Junior Dos Santos. But one campaign that would have made 90 percent of the MMA world piss their pants with laughter as little as a year ago is really starting to gain some steam. We’re talking, of course, about #RallyforMarkHunt.

Yes, it seems the iron jawed, soft spoken “Super Samoan” has captured the hearts of MMA fans around the world, who have in turn organized a Twitter campaign to have Hunt fill in for Overeem despite already being booked to take on Stefan Struve at the same event. Perhaps it is our love for a good old fashioned Cinderella story that has been the driving force behind a movement rivaling Occupy Wall Street in terms of actual demands met, or perhaps it is simply Hunt’s legendary status with the hardcore (re: true) fans of combat sports. In either case, UFC color commentator Joe Rogan has officially drank the Kool-Aid, posting the following message on The UG:

There are some wise people on this board, and I support this movement.

Style wise that might be the most exciting match up. Either way, even if Hunt doesn’t replace the reem I would still love to see this matchup down the road, especially considering how good Hunt looked against Kongo.

Has anyone started a twitter bomb campaign for this?

By Elias Cepeda

(Come on NSAC, can’t we talk this out?)

Alistair Overeem may have failed his recent surprise drug test, but it appears that he isn’t giving up on challenging heavyweight champion Junior Dos Santos at UFC 146 on May 26th. He has requested a hearing with the Nevada State Athletic Commission (NSAC) and has been given a hearing date of April 24th, little more than a month before he hopes to still vie for the UFC belt.

After testing positive for elevated testosterone levels in late March in Nevada, Overeem had the option of asking the state’s athletic commission to test the second sample they took from him during their test, as well as the option of deciding to apply for a license in the state at a hearing.

More on Overeem’s options and the UFC’s plans after the jump.