(“Okay, bring in the giant banana-dong.” Photo courtesy of Brittney Palmer’s Facebook page.)

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…

- The Ten Most Interesting Octagon Offerings in the Next 100 Days (Five Ounces of Pain)

- Scott Jorgensen Welcomes Jeff Curran Back to Big Leagues at UFC 137 (5thRound)

- Former UFC Fighter Justin Wren Puts Career on Hold to Answer Divine Call (MMA Fighting)

- Cung Le Discusses His Fighting Future, Says if It’s Not With the UFC He’s Done (LowKick)

- The Top Ten Exhibitions of Denny’s Street MMA (MiddleEasy)

- Dan Henderson’s Greatest Hits (MMA Convert)

- All Balls Brawl: An MMAmania Interview Exclusive With Gesias Cavalcante (MMA Mania)

- Nate Marquardt and the Issue of Accepting Responsibility (FightOpinion)

- Fight Nerd Cinema: “Ip Man” Movie Review (TheFightNerd)

- The 20 Goofiest MMA Fighters Ever (BleacherReport.com/MMA)

- UFC to Air Cruz vs. Johnson on Versus (MMAPayout)

- ‘TUF 12′ Finalist Michael Johnson Faces the ‘Sassangle’ at UFC on Versus 6 (NBC Sports MMA)

(Props: Photobucket)

Dude. We almost don’t know what to say. Former “TUF 10” contestant and UFC washout Justin Wren apparently went on a “hunting trip” of sorts recently wherein he ripped out the heart of a wild pig with his bare hands (and a smallish knife) and feasted on it, then took a bunch of pictures of himself covered in the pig’s blood, *then* wrote a post on The Underground Forum basically calling Brock Lesnar a pussy and a “yuppy viking” for growing a shitty beard and killing deer with (of all things) a rifle. I mean, good God, what the fuck?

A 30-second look at Wren’s personal internet photo stream and/or his new website tells us he’s not kidding around about this Viking shit. There’s a picture of him on there in a helmet and animal pelts, carrying a warhammer and a battle axe and (possibly) wearing white jeans. White jeans, dude. Anyway, after the jump you can read Wren’s first-person account of slaying the pig. We have to warn you that it includes phrases like “waterfall of steaming hot blood” and “seeing it’s beating heart (and) stabbing it” so, you know, do so at your own risk.

(Justin Wren: The mohawk and tattoo say "badass." The leopard-print shorty-shorts say "barback at a gay nightclub." / Photo courtesy of the UFC TUF Finale: Weigh Ins set on CombatLifestyle.com.)

Spoilers after the jump…

(Nelson vs. Wren. Props: CreativeProjectTV)

With seven of his guys advanced to the quarterfinals, Coach Rashad decides that the fairest way to proceed is for him to take a hands-off approach. Everybody will train together, but there won’t be much coaching anymore. The guys are on their own.

Roy Nelson and Justin Wren are friends. Roy wants to get their fight over with so he can go back to giggling and shooting the crap with his homey, and he feels bad that he’ll have to take Justin’s dream away.

Matt Mitrione‘s brain hurts, even more than usual. He dry-heaves at the house, and can barely stay in a sitting position in the van. Wren thinks he’s milking it. Kimbo says "he already has sand in his vagina. He already pulled out by going to the hospital." If he can’t continue, Dana says he and the coaches will decide "who the alternate is who deserves to be in there." Deserving or not, we all know it would be Kimbo Slice. But nobody seems to mind the favoritism. Rampage is pulling for Kimbo to return because he’s improved so much during his time in the house. Kimbo says he’s a fight contractor, putting tools in his belt to build a solid fight foundation, and if he gets a chance to put his haymakers on you, you a done-dada.

Sneak Peek: Team Rashad Prepares For The Quarterfinals

Tonight’s episode of TUF 10 will feature the season’s first quarterfinal matchup, in which polar-bearish grapplers Justin Wren and Roy Nelson — arguably the two strongest fighters in the house — go toe-to-toe in a Youth vs. Experience matchup. Because they practice on the same team, each dude always has one eye on the other, though the vibe between them is generally respectful. Rashad feels uncomfortable with the prospect of training his guys against each other, because he doesn’t want to look like he’s playing favorites — though that ruse won’t last long considering Schaub and McSweeney obviously are his favorites. Check out the episode tonight and come back tomorrow morning for group discussion…

(Props: CagePotato reader Pete V.R.)

Now that TUF 10‘s round-of-16 is in the books, we all have a better sense of who these guys are and how far they’ll go in the competition. So, it’s time to rank the Elite 8 based on their performances. Going from valedictorian to dunce…

JUSTIN WREN

Wren put an MMA veteran to sleep, took zero damage in the fight, and made it look easy. You couldn’t ask for a more successful first match than that. Few people knew who this guy was when he came into the house, but suddenly he’s a front-runner. Grade: A

ROY NELSON

Like Wren, Nelson used a methodical grappling attack to take his opponent completely out of the game. The only difference is, Wren finished his fight, while Nelson was content to pile on pitty-pat punches until the ref stopped it for him. Not taking any undue risks is a smart strategy when you’re looking at three fights in six weeks, but hopefully he’ll show some killer instinct in his next fights. Grade: A-

Justin Wren vs. Wes Sims – Watch more Funny Videos
(The sad ending of Wren vs. Sims.)

Last night’s episode of The Ultimate Fighter began with Matt Mitrione tweaking his shoulder while rolling with Titties. Back in his football days, he would just take a cortisone shot and get right back into action. But Rashad tells Matt that he ain’t getting no damn cortisone shot, because of the damage it’ll do in the long run. He’s just going to have to suck it up and deal.

Marcus Jones is itching to fight next, and asks Rashad — who still has control of the picks — to give him a match. Rashad keeps it mysterious, telling Big Baby he very well might be fighting next; who can say, really? Jones interprets it as a promise, and gets hyped up: "It was like I was cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs, you know what I’m sayin’?"

Rampage is understandably bummed out by the fact that his team still hasn’t won a fight. Losing messes with Rampage’s sex life, which doesn’t need any more setbacks. The team practices aren’t doing much to encourage him, either. Zak Jensen is unable to perform a drill where he has to shimmy to the cage with a guy on top of him. He’s a good wrestler, apparently, but shuts down when he’s on his back; even Kimbo controls him from top position. Scott Junk says that Zak talked himself up so much when he first arrived at the house, but he’s just a "turd" at practice. Rampage won’t get his hopes up if Zak is picked to fight.

TEAM RASHAD’s remaining fighters:

Justin Wren (Rashad’s #3 pick), Darrill Schoonover (#6), Matt Mitrione (#7), Mike Wessel (#8)

TEAM RAMPAGE’s remaining fighters:

Wes Sims (Rampage’s #4 pick), Scott Junk (#5), Marcus Jones (#7), Zak Jensen (#8)

Thanks to a couple of boneheaded fight picks by Quinton Jackson, followed by a couple of spot-on matchups by Rashad Evans, Team Rashad has gone up 4-0 on this season of The Ultimate Fighter. We’ve seen this kind of thing happen before on TUF, where one side takes an early lead and has the other team playing catchup. But this feels different. Rampage started off as an inept coach, and last night’s episode showed that he’s basically stopped trying. His team is absolutely rudderless. The psychological advantages that Rashad’s guys have over Rampage’s are profound. Could Team Rashad actually sweep the first round of fights, 8-0?

Strictly based on talent, it’ll be a close race from here on out. Obviously, the order in which the fighters were picked by their coaches isn’t a direct correlation to their talent levels — otherwise Roy Nelson would have been picked second overall and Kimbo Slice would have been picked ninth, not the other way around — but for the last four preliminary fights, each team is now left with one top-eight pick, and three bottom-eight picks. If Rashad is smart (and he absolutely is), he’ll do the following…