(“Don’t worry, Mo, we’re pretty sure your belt just got lost in the mail.”)

On the heels of his first successful title defense over Rick Hawn at Bellator 85, Bellator lightweight champion Michael Chandler has officially been booked to take on his next challenger at Bellator 96, which goes down from the WinStar World Casino in Thackerville, Oklahoma on June 19th.

Chandler will face grappling savant Dave “The Fugitive” Jansen, a 19-2 (6-0 Bellator) product out of Oregon who earned his shot at Chandler with a unanimous decision victory over Marcin Held at Bellator 93 in March.

Undefeated in his mixed martial arts career, Chandler has won eight straight fights under the Bellator banner, including victories over Akihiro Gono, Patricky Freire, and a 4th round submission over Eddie Alvarez in an absolute war back in November of 2011 that secured him the title.

Also set for the June 19th card will be a clash between former Strikeforce light heavyweight champion Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal and UFC/EliteXC veteran Seth Petruzelli that will in no way draw comparisons to Petruzelli’s infamous knockout of Kimbo Slice, we assure you (ROCKY! ROCKY IS HERE!! THE MOST INCREDIBLE…VICTORY…IN THE HISTORY OF MIXED MARTIAL ARTS!).

And barring any arrests, War Machine will be there too. Should be fun.

-J. Jones

Maybe I’m just a sucker for slow motion and piano ballads (except for Coldplay. F*ck Coldplay.), but I must admit that the first advertisement for Bellator’s move to Spike TV in 2013 is a surprisingly well made and dare I say poignant bit of filmmaking coming from the network behind such subtle, highbrow programming as Manswers, 1000 Ways to Die, and those endless goddamn CSI reruns. I get it, Grissom, you’re f*cking smarter than everyone else and can figure out any mystery in twenty minutes, now please stop f*cking showboating SO I CAN TRY TO CATCH A GLIMPSE OF GAP TOOTH’S OR GINGER LADY’S TITS ALREADY!!

Anyway, back to the ad. Featuring such familiar faces as lightweight champion Michael Chandler, light heavyweight/TNA superstar King Mo Lawal, and former Strikeforce LHW champ Babalu Sobral among others, the 30 second clip succeeds in getting me amped up for a promotion I have literally been aware of for years now, so a kudos is in order to the gentlemen over at Spike.

I managed to catch up with Bellator CEO Bjorn Rebney after Bellator 69 at the L’Auberge du Lac Casino Resort in Lake Charles, Louisiana on Friday night. Bjorn touched on issues such as fighters who stuck out on the undercard, why the Asplund vs. Sparks fight didn’t happen, MMA in New York and much more. Come inside after the jump for the full interview, as well as fight videos from the fighters that Bjorn Rebney mentions.

In a disturbing instance of foreshadowing, Scott Coker waits way too long to intervene. Props: Five Ounces of Pain

We’ll be honest: It’s getting pretty hard to write Strikeforce aftermath articles anymore. With a Strikeforce event, you already know that the favorite is going to win. You already know that the champions have run out of legitimate challengers. Every aftermath piece we’ve written for a Strikeforce event since the UFC’s acquisition of the organization demonstrates this. Essentially, the organization is going through the motions, yet we have to find a way to write something original about it.

Heading into Rockhold vs. Jardine, it was pretty clear that the organization was giving Jardine a title shot out of convenience. He was healthy, available and had a name that fans recognized. Because Strikeforce isn’t planning on growing as an organization, those qualifications were enough to earn him a title shot against Middleweight Champion Luke Rockhold, despite never having competed at middleweight before. The fight didn’t come off as a legitimate title fight- it came off as a litmus test for Rockhold.

Keith Jardine gave us the same performance that we’ve come to expect from him. His awkward movement and looping punches seemed to confuse Rockhold at first, but once Luke Rockhold managed to figure out Jardine’s style he controlled the fight. While looking like a guy who hadn’t weighed 185 pounds since the ninth grade didn’t help Keith Jardine’s cause, it’s hard to imagine that a less fatigued Dean of Mean would have done significantly better. Luke Rockhold is the younger, more diverse fighter. Jardine is the same fighter that had been figured out years ago, except now he’s in the twilight of his career. A prospect that’s ready for the big leagues can beat an opponent like Keith Jardine, and that’s exactly what Rockhold did.

On this day three years ago, this epic first meeting between Kazuo Misaki and Jorge Santiago took place at Sengoku no Ran 2009 at the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan.

The-back-and-forth battle that saw Santiago win the Sengoku middleweight strap after catching Misaki with a rear naked choke at 3:26 of the fifth round would set up arguably one of the top five MMA bouts of all time when the pair met again 19 months later at Sengoku Raiden Championships 14.

King Mo, during the UFC application process post-fight interview. Props: Showtime Sports

Last night, the real story behind “Barnet vs. Kharitonov had nothing to do with the heavyweight grand prix. It had nothing to do with the middleweight championship of a sinking organization. Last night, as with every other Strikeforce show since the promotion was purchased by Zuffa, was little more than an audition. It was about who will get a UFC contract when Strikeforce goes under, and who will have to go through TUF. The fans knew it, the announcers knew it, going as far as confirming the Belfort vs. Le rumor, and the fighters definitely knew it.

Despite Strikeforce’s best efforts to hype Josh Barnett vs. Sergei Kharitonov as a potentially close fight, we all knew what to expect: A repeat of Kharitonov vs. Monson, except with a far superior version of Jeff Monson. Because of this, it’s hard to be impressed with anything that Josh Barnett does at this point. The tournament’s biggest names and most intriguing matchups for Barnett- Fedor, Werdum and Overeem- were all removed well before last night. Barnett has become such an overwhelming favorite to win that when he wins, he’s simply living up to expectations. He was paired up against an opponent with weak grappling credentials, knew he would dominate the fight once Kharitonov was on the ground, and fought accordingly. At least the tournament was set up so that he would get to face a competent grappler in the finals.

(Video courtesy of YouTube/NewzFirst)

Former WWE wrestler Shad Gaspard is claiming racial profiling in an incident that occurred just hours prior to Saturday night’s Strikeforce show in Columbus, Ohio. Gaspard was crossing the street with Strikeforce heavyweight Josh Barnett and another friend when an altercation with a motorist prompted police on foot patrol to swoop in to  tackle and handcuff the 6’8″ 300-pound Brooklyn, New York native who now lives in Houston, Texas.

UFC fighter and former Cage Potato guest blogger Gerald Harris is the kind of guy who can appreciate a good joke. He’s also the kind of guy who can appreciate a joke even more when it is perpetrated against colleagues. That’s why while Pat Barry and “King Mo” Lawal were guests on MMA Scraps Radio recently, Harris pulled out his best ignorant redneck voice to play a little prank on the K-1 kickboxer turned MMA fighter by insisting that all this leg kicking nonsense is just not what real fighting is about.

The best moment is when Barry gets frustrated enough to float the idea of kicking this caller in the leg hard enough to make him think he got punched in the face. That’s when Harris, with perfect comedic timing, responds: “You must not be very educated because my leg and my face are very far apart.”

Gerald Harris, we don’t hand these out frivolously, but you, my friend, have earned yourself an official Cage Potato Attaboy.

It’s not often that anyone in the MMA media gets to do a video interview that resembles a WWE promo, but this is probably the closest Ariel Helwani is ever going to get to feeling like Mean Gene Okerlund while on the job. Especially once Paul Daley comes on the scene, all Helwani is missing is a tuxedo and a sweet mustache, as well as perhaps a charmingly befuddled expression. Say what you will about “King Mo” Lawal and his chances against Gegard Mousasi, but the man is an entertainer. Anybody who spends that much time and energy thinking about and studying entrances is okay by us.

The only thing we could really do without is his fixation on his own “haters.” Maybe it’s his weak attempt to paint himself as a pro wrestling-style heel, but talking about how many people hate you is a little like going on a first date and talking about how many psycho exes you have. It doesn’t take long before that becomes an annoying personality trait, and one that doesn’t really achieve the desired end. 

If you really want to be a villain, do it the old-fashioned way.  Try talking some smack about the local sports teams in every city you visit, maybe disrespect a national icon or two.  Or, if you’re short on time, just manhandle Helwani during the interview, calling him a pencil-necked geek and threatening to show his wife what a real man looks like.  Trust me, Ariel has watched enough pro wrestling in his life to know exactly how to play along.

As you probably guessed, “King Mo” Lawal did not react kindly to the news that he’d been fined by the California State Athletic Commission for spilling an energy drink all over the mat after his victory over Mike Whitehead at Strikeforce: Evolution. He doesn’t think it’s fair that you can’t celebrate by tossing a sticky, sugary, artificial substance all over the mat, and, naturally, he chalks the fine up to all the “haters” who don’t want him to have any fun. Perhaps the most baffling part about his post-fight Rockstar bath, however, is that, according to Lawal, he did that whole thing pro bono:

"I’m not sponsored by Rockstar. The thing is, I couldn’t have any other beverage in the ring. If I could have, I would have had Pepsi. But Rockstar is cool, they are the sponsor for Strikeforce, I have a lot of respect for Strikeforce so I just did it. Why not? I was just out there having fun.”

This is where we are forced to wonder why pouring an artificially-flavored beverage all down his face and, at one point, on top of his head, is so inextricably linked to “fun” in Lawal’s mind. When we thought it was an unsubtle attempt to get his sponsor some love, it made a lot more sense. But just for fun? We’re starting to get a better idea of why Mo is no longer allowed in most upscale establishments. There’s just too much to clean up once he starts having a good time.

(Time to fill out those work visa applications, girls.)

Give Strikeforce credit, now that they’ve become a major player in the MMA scene they’re busy filling the holes in their roster as quickly as they pop up.  Their most recent addition is All-American wrestler and flamboyant Sengoku terror, Muhammad “King Mo” Lawal.  Strikeforce has reportedly signed Lawal on to compete in their 205-pound division – also known as the weight class Gegard Mousasi is currently dominating – but he’ll also be able to keep fighting in Japan.  Does this mean Strikeforce is inviting another Alistair Overeem scenario, should Lawal some day become light heavyweight champ?  We’re going to go ahead and say no, based purely on the unfounded assumption that, as an attention-hungry American, King Mo would probably rather hold it down on the domestic scene than run off on a study abroad hiatus for two years. 

No word yet on who Lawal might face in his Strikeforce debut, but he could be ready to fight by December.  Maybe “Babalu” Sobral will be recovered from his own nightmare scenario at the hands of “The Dreamcatcher” by then?

(James Thompson vs. Jim York.  Props: MMA Videos)

Say this for James Thompson, dude is dependable.  You can always count on him to come charging out of his corner at the sound of the bell, then become quickly exhausted, and finally get dropped by a punch that doesn’t look all that hard.  In a sport where consistent performers are hard to come by, it’s refreshing to know exactly what you’re going to get when "The Colossus" is in the ring.

After the jump, more videos from Sengoku’s "Seventh Battle" that are actually athletically meaningful.

(Let’s hurry this up. Gomi has to get back to slinging dope in the park. Photo courtesy of Sengoku.)

Everyone made weight for this weekend’s World Victory Road Sengoku event in Japan, which means it’s all systems go for Antonio Silva to officially give the finger to the California State Athletic Commission by fighting overseas while under suspension back in the states.  Silva will have a good thirty-five pounds on Yoshihiro “Kiss” Nakao when they step in the ring, though most of that weight is located in his chin.

Also of note, Takanori Gomi attempts to put his recent decision loss behind him (see video) as he takes on Satoru Kitaoka for the Sengoku lightweight title.  Meanwhile, the guy who beat Gomi, Sergey Golyaev, gets stuck on the undercard.  Real nice. 

In what might be the best fight of the night, Jorge Santiago squares off with Kazuo Misaki for the middleweight strap.  Dave “Pee Wee” Herman and Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal are also both on the card, and don’t worry, King Mo is prepared for inclement weather.

Full weigh-in results after the jump.