M-1 Challenge 26 was in Costa Mesa, California and on Showtime last night, but we forgot to mention it yesterday so you probably didn’t watch. That’s our bad; allow us to make it up to you. The promotion known chiefly for being the only negative thing most people can say about Fedor Ememlianenko has a roster full of names that are virtually unknown in the western hemisphere, but damn if they don’t produce some exciting fights.

The first video is a quick fight featuring Russian middleweight Arthur Guseinov versus American Team Quest product Tyson Jeffries. Things start out well for Jeffries; he easily takes the first ninety seconds of the fight. After that, Guseinov gets in touch with his inner Shlemenko for a second, AND IT’S AAAALLLLLL OVER!!1!!!!1!!one1!

Come on in past the jump and we’ll run down the rest of the broadcast; we’ve lined up the videos just like you like them.  Thanks to MrSfc16 for doing all the capture work.

Can we just call it even now?  We love you, Nation.

Even you, Sodak.

(Props: jcdvproductions via oxvaletudo)

This little gem comes to us from an X Series event in Knoxville, Tennessee on June 25th, where bantamweights Dre Milley and Jamie Norton made their pro debuts against each other. After a hard-fought first round — scroll back to 3:46 to see the fight from the beginning, or to 5:36 to see Milley toss Norton on his head in athletic, explosive fashion — Norton opened up the second frame throwing punches to set up a perfectly-timed face-kick. This Milley kid has potential, but for now, he joins Rashad Evans and epically knocked out Asian dude in the ranks of Worst Coma Faces in MMA History. Better luck next time.

(Wanderlei Silva: You couldn’t last five minutes in this man’s world.)

UFC 132: Cruz vs. Faber goes down Saturday night in Las Vegas, and in case you’re feeling some MMA fatigue after five consecutive weeks of events, let us remind you — this card has the potential to be a real son-of-a-bitch. Familiarize yourself with the lineup here, and get your juices flowing again by watching some career highlights from the fighters on the card. Enjoy…

(Ryan Bader vs. Keith Jardine, UFC 110, 2/21/10)

(Melvin Guillard vs. Dennis Siver, UFC 86, 7/5/08)

(Props: ESPN via MMAMania)

Greatest comeback knockout in UFC history? Last night‘s main event clash between Cheick Kongo and Pat Barry is certainly up there with previous shockers like Scott Smith vs. Pete Sell and Mike Russow vs. Todd Duffee, considering how close it came to being stopped. Kongo earned himself a $50,000 Knockout of the Night bonus for his efforts. The other performance bonuses went to Joe Lauzon, who picked up the Submission of the Night award for his first-round kimura over Curt Warburton, and Nik Lentz and Charles Oliveria, who were awarded the Fight of the Night despite the fact that an illegal knee from Oliveira near the end of the match may result in the fight being declared a no-contest.

After the jump: An excerpt from the night’s other epic battle — Rampage vs. Ariel.

(Barnett has his throat-slash. Roy Nelson has his belly-rub. Lorenz Larkin just stands there and poops in his diaper. Props: Strikeforce)

Tomorrow night, Strikeforce returns to the ShoWare Center in Kent, Washington for one of the most compelling ‘Challengers’ events in recent memory. “Fodor vs. Terry” kicks off on Showtime at 11 p.m. ET, and features a pack of exciting prospects. Here’s a quick rundown of the five-fight main card, plus videos of some of their recent performances…

Caros Fodor (10-3) vs. James Terry (10-2)
Fodor is a Washington native who trains under Matt Hume at AMC Pankration. Eight of his ten victories have come by way of submission, but he was able to score his first stoppage-via-strikes in his last fight, battering a worn-out David Douglas until he earned a standing TKO in the third frame. He’s a perfect 3-0 in the Strikeforce organization, and will be looking to move another rung up the lightweight ladder against Cung Le protege James Terry, who has won his last three fights, two by first-round knockout.

(Caros Fodor’s TKO of David Douglas, 4/1/11)

(James Terry’s KO of Josh Thornburg, 4/1/11)

(Duffee vs. Overeem at Dynamite!! 2010. Match starts around the 5:15 mark. Props: sidiro55)

Bulky UFC vet Todd Duffee has been a ghost since getting stormed by Alistair Overeem last New Year’s Eve in Saitama. But he finally has his next fight booked, and once again it’ll be in front of a Japanese audience. According to Nightmare of Battle, Duffee will compete on the Dream.17 card against undefeated KOTC standout Nick “Afrozilla” Gaston, who had to have been signed at least partly for his nickname.

(For those of you who were just struck by a weird feeling of deja-vu, let us clarify: Dream.17 is the event coming up on July 16th at the Ariake Coliseum in Tokyo. The Dream event that happened on May 29th was known alternately as “Fight for Japan!” and “Japan GP – 2011 Bantamweight Japan Tournament,” even though many people, including ourselves, referred to it as Dream.17. Anyway, we’re back to the numbers now, which are always easier to deal with.)

(Props: SuperiorCageCombat)

Two Saturdays ago at Superior Cage Combat 1 in Las Vegas, lightweight UFC veteran Justin Buchholz became the third person since February to score a front-kick knockout in an MMA fight, which came in the closing minute of his headlining bout against Steve Lopez. In a bizarre and tragic coincidence, Lopez happens to be a member of the Xtreme Couture camp, just like Randy Couture and Vitor Belfort, who previously fell victim to the suddenly-hip technique in the UFC. Damn, those guys have to be spooked right now.

2011: Year of the Front Kick. Don’t try to fight it.

(Props: YouTube.com/BellatorMMA)

The last event of Bellator’s fourth season went down last night in Lake Charles, Louisiana, featuring the finals of the light-heavyweight and featherweight tournaments. Christian M’Pumbu earned his way to the LHW finals by knocking out Chris Davis and Tim Carpenter, and it was business as usual against co-finalist Richard Hale. M’Pumbu dropped Hale once in the first round, but was unable to finish him with a D’arce choke. The Congolese-French standout didn’t make the same mistake twice; after scoring another knockdown in the third, M’Pumbu threw down leather until the ref was forced to stop the fight, picking up a $100,000 check and the title of Bellator’s first-ever light-heavyweight champion.

In the featherweight final, Patricio Freire edged out Daniel Straus to a unanimous decision, earning a rematch with champion Joe Warren, who he lost a split decision to last June. Full Bellator 45 results are after the jump…

(The UFC Fighter Summit has a storybook ending. Congrats, Janitor.)

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…

- BJ Penn and Jake Shields Want to Fight Each Other (LowKick)

- Shane Carwin’s Cardio Under Microscope at UFC 131 (NBC Sports MMA)

- Rashad Evans Explains His Nightclub Altercation With Jon Jones; Insists ‘Bones’ Ducked Him (MMA Mania)

- Mac Danzig Out of Next Month’s Anticipated Clash With Donald Cerrone, Vagner Rocha to Replace (Five Ounces of Pain)

- Matt Mitrione: If Ortiz Is Still Upset After Confrontation, ‘Then We Can Scrap’ (MMA Fighting)

- Your Favorite Hooters Girl to Serve Ring Cards at ‘UFC 132: Cruz vs. Faber II’ (5thRound)

- This Will Be the Strangest Seven-Second Knockout You Will See This Year (MiddleEasy)

- Mark Coleman ‘Would Drop Everything’ To Fight Herschel Walker (MMA Convert)

- Video: Hector Lombard Gets Pissed at Reporter After Bellator 44 (TheFightNerd)

- Going Medieval: MMA’s 20 Worst Beatdowns (BleacherReport.com/MMA)

(Props: BellatorMMA)

Unfortunately, ReX was unable to provide us with one of his famous Bellator reports this week, so you’ll have to settle for this quick-n-dirty recap of Bellator 44, which went down Saturday night in Atlantic City. First, we’ll direct you to the video above: Hector Lombard earned his 18th-straight victory (!) in a non-title bout against Falaniko Vitale, crushing Niko to the mat with a right hook in the third frame after a surprisingly dull first two rounds. Lombard’s latest performance follows such previous classics as “Six Second Prison Rape” and “A Corpse Named ‘Whisper’.”

Headlining the card, Xtreme Couture’s Michael Chandler scored an upset decision win over the highly-touted Patricky Freire in the Season Four Lightweight Tournament final, outworking the Pitbull in all three rounds; Chandler was docked a point in the third for groin-kicks. The victory netted him a $100,00 check and a future shot at Eddie Alvarez’s belt. In non-tournament action, Alexander Shlemenko spun circles around Brett Cooper, picking up his own UD victory, while Giedrius Karavackas battled back from an early ass-kicking to submit Sam Oropeza by scarf-hold armlock. Full results and video of the Karavackas/Oropeza stoppage are after the jump.

Huge MMA Knockout – Watch more Sports

I’m gonna be honest — I have no idea who these people are or when this fight took place. But you can tell it’s an educated audience by the way they openly laugh at that jacked-up teep kick and standing hammer-fist at the 0:07 mark. After that, the dude just hangs out with his hands down, and the Neil Grove-lookalike kicks his head into last month. Concussions, man. Always entertaining.

(Fedor Emelianenko: Huge fan of Johnny Cage.)

Before there was the UFC, there was Mortal Kombat. First released in arcades back in October ’92, the addictively gory video-game franchise sought to answer the eternal question: Who would win in a fight between a kung-fu expert and a paddy-hatted immortal who can shoot lightning out of his hands?

The most memorable of aspect of the MK series has always been the trademark “Fatalities” — which have gotten progressively more over-the-top in the last 19 years. Of course, the sport of mixed martial arts often gives us similar moments of decisive ultra-violence. So in honor of the ninth installment of the game, which hits stores tomorrow, we decided to count down our favorite finishing moves in MMA. They may not be as dramatic as a spine being ripped out of your opponent’s body, but in the real world, this is as nasty as it gets…

#10: The Elbow Storm

A barrage of elbows to the head of a helpless fighter will make even hardened fans of the sport wince in sympathy — even if we’ve been watching this scene play out dozens of times since 1994. But there’s no questioning the raw efficiency of a “hellbow” assault from the top, which has the power to turn cocky contenders into broken shells.

(Paul Daley vs. Scott Smith, 12/4/10)

With 81.5% of his victories coming by way of strikes, Paul Daley has reason to be confident in his chances against Nick Diaz this Saturday. Semtex has gone 4-0 since his notorious loss to Josh Koscheck at UFC 113, and is currently riding back-to-back first-round knockouts of Scott Smith and Yuya Shirai. Of course, Diaz deserves to be a 2-1 favorite, but Daley is always one punch away from producing another devastating knockout. Here are nine of his best moments. (All videos cued up near the good stuff.)

(Paul Daley vs. Junior Barata, 4/18/09)

(Props: WunWunTwo)

Back in March 2009, we referred to the above clip as “the greatest KO ever.” We never bothered to find out who the fighters were, but we got a strange flash of deja vu during UFC 127 on Saturday night when Brian Ebersole launched two separate cartwheel kicks at Chris Lytle. Now, MiddleEasy confirms that the dude in the famous cartwheel kick knockout video is Brian Ebersole. The fight went down at XFC: Return of the Hulk in Perth, Australia on 3/14/09, and the unlucky victim was Shannon Forrester. Now give that crazy manscaped goof his due respect. After the jump: Gifs of Ebersole’s failed cartwheel kick attempts against Lytle, courtesy of IronForgesIron.com.

(Props: nigelboatmast via KickYoNuts on the UG)

Bros, you thought Lina Kvokov put in the saddest performance in women’s MMA history? Well, maybe you’re right. But this one is at least equally bad. In February 2007, notable ladykiller Tonya Evinger faced off against Brittany Pullen at the first Fatal Femmes Fighting event in Los Angeles. Even though Tonya only had a few amateur fights under her belt, her skills were in another league compared to Pullen’s, who had maybe — maybe — watched a cardio kickboxing class before stepping into the cage that night.

As Pullen swings her little arms and falls on the mat for no reason, you just know it’s not going to end well for her. And it doesn’t. Fifteen seconds into the fight, Evinger fires off a 1-2 that would make Wanderlei Silva proud, and Pullen is dead to the world. The commentators make references to bags of peat moss. Brittany never competed again, thank God.

Vicious upkick KO – Watch more Funny Videos

This went down last Sunday at ProFC Union Nation Cup 13 in the Ukraine. Byakhtiyar Abbasov tries to set up a leg-lock off a scramble, and Igor Sliusarchuk axe-kicks him in the jaw not once, but twice. Even while unconscious, Abbasov refuses to let go of that mouthpiece. Sliusarchuck now joins the MMA Upkick Hall of Fame, alongside Renzo Gracie, Gegard Mousasi, and Anderson Silva.

(Valentijn Overeem vs. Tengiz Tedoradze @ Pancrase Fighting Championship 2, 4/17/10)

You’ll be seeing all these guys on tomorrow night’s Showtime broadcast of “Strikeforce: Fedor vs. Silva” — and maybe subbing in for one of the main competitors later if they should fall victim to broken hands or licensing issues. So give ‘em a look and enjoy…

(Ray Sefo K-1 knockout highlight.)

(Oh man. 1:00-1:10 is just too much. Props: ix3623vault)

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…

– Manager: “Chael Sonnen’s Career is Far From Over” (5thRound. Welcome to the club, guys!)

– UFC to Announce Formal Intent to Bring Event to New York (MMA Fighting)

– MMA Hot List: Fights Booked, Careers Put on Hold (Versus MMA Beat)

– Watch Nam Phan’s Guide to Judging in MMA (MiddleEasy)

– Jacob Volkmann on Fox News. You Figure Out the Rest. (the all-new MMA-Scraps.com)

– Bellator Signs Top 50 Middleweight Joe Riggs (FightMagazine)

– Dan Henderson In Talks For Title Shot Against Rafael Feijao On March 5 (MMA Convert)

– Jon Jones: I Would Definitely Take a "Right Fight" at Heavyweight (LowKick)

– Chad Griggs Taking on Regional Prospect in Final Strikeforce Grand Prix Reserve Bout (Five Ounces of Pain)

– UFC And Strikeforce Situations Make Heavyweight The Division To Watch In 2011 (SBNation.com/MMA)

(Taisuke Okuno vs. Ryo Chonan. Fight starts at the 1:30 mark. Props: DJSexStyle via MiddleEasy)

Some highlights from today’s stoppage-heavy Sengoku show. Above, Ryo Chonan gets put to bed in just 19 seconds. After the jump: The brief but ferocious slugfest between Yoshiro Maeda and Masanori Kanehara, which ended in an unfortunate early stoppage, and the welterweight GP final match between Keita Nakamura and Yasubey Enomoto.

(Props: MMAConvert)

The full video of Eddie Wineland‘s WEC 53 preliminary card fight against Ken Stone is still nowhere to be found — and yet, we now have a gif of Wineland’s Knockout of the Night-winning slam, which means that someone must have seen the fight at some point. Stone had to leave the cage on a stretcher, but was reportedly moving around under his own power later that night. I know, the gif ain’t much. Which is why we’ve included another slam-knockout after the jump — this one of the belly-to-belly suplex variety, from an M-1 Challenge event in August 2009. (Thanks to MiddleEasy for the tip.) 

EMBED-3 seconds head kick knockout – Watch more free videos

Usually we only see knockouts this fast when one of the competitors fakes the glove tap or rushes in like an animal/moron. During a bout at last week’s Desert Force Championship 1 — the first MMA event held in Amman, Jordan — the fighters come out normally, touch gloves, and then the knockout victim just kind of hangs out in concussion-range with his hands down. The sound of the impact is just ridiculous. Great show of respect from the winning fighter, who comes back to…kiss the loser’s ankle? Hmm. Well, it’s a different culture and we must not judge.

(Props: Gofightlive via Fightlinker)

Since nobody likes to get right back to work after a four-day weekend, we figured we’d ease you back into your time-wasting routine with a few ridiculous MMA videos. First up, a three-second KO at an Evolution AMMA event that’s notable for what happens after the knockout. The losing fighter is so dazed that not only does he grab onto the referee in confusion, he manages to successfully score mount. Early stoppage, if you ask me.

After the jump: During a 2007 bout in Brazil, new UFC acquisition Maiquel Falcao continues to beat on his opponent long after the fight is stopped. Could this be a bad omen for his UFC career? (And where was that intensity at UFC 123?) Also, video of Bob Sapp‘s latest sad kickboxing match, Saturday night in Sweden, in which the Beast takes a dive at the absolute earliest opportunity.

Sometimes a fighter connects with his opponent so perfectly that he can confidently peace out to collect his check before the ref even stops the fight. It’s called a walk-off knockout, and it’s what all other knockouts aspire to be. Here, presented with limited commentary, are our favorites.

#8: Brad Kohler vs. Steve Judson @ UFC 22 (9/24/99)

(Bryan Caraway and Miesha Tate as Dexter and some chick who’s about to get murdered. For more MMA fighter Halloween costume photos, hit up FiveOuncesofPain.)

– The Korean Zombie Vows Never To Fight ‘Zombie Style’ Again (MMA Convert)

– Must-See: Front Kick to the Chin Knockout (MMA Scraps)

– Faber The Key To Bantamweight Success In The UFC (Heavy.com/MMA)

– Manny Gamburyan: ‘WEC Fighters Deserve To Be In The UFC’ (SBNation.com/MMA)

– Scott Coker: Melendez vs. Aoki 2 in Works for New Years Eve in Japan (LowKick)

– The Top Ten Audience Reactions in MMA, Vol. 2 (MiddleEasy)

– Mike Brown Campaigning for WEC 53 Fight (Versus MMA Beat)

– The Method to Our Madness: FIGHT! Rankings Explained (FightMagazine)

– Keith Jardine’s Next Fight Postponed by Tropical Storm Tomas (MMA Fighting)

(Props: swift1125 via MiddleEasy. Don’t worry, the camera flips around at the 0:20 mark.)

So, the dude in the black trunks is an 18-year-old kid by the name of Charlie Ontiveros, who picked up East Texas MMA‘s highly-coveted amateur welterweight championship on October 16th by starching his hapless opponent with a single punch. As for the goofball in the camo board-shorts, well, we don’t have a name for him yet. But from the moment the fight starts, you just know something bad’s going to happen. See, it’s not enough to just "keep your hands up." You also have to keep them in the general area of your chin. Poor guy must have been out sick when they taught that lesson at his MMA gym…

(Props: barochoc)

While cruising YouTube for Muay Thai knockout videos last night — hey, it’s my life and I can waste it any way I want — I came across this gem, filmed in Thailand a couple years ago. When you keep up a pace like that, it’s only a matter of time before one guy catches a bad one. Watch as Mr. Red Shorts lands one of the nastiest cobra punches ever recorded, then knocks Blue out again with a head kick as soon as the poor bastard gets to his feet. Two questions: 1) Did that referee graduate from the Yves Lavigne School of Letting Fighters Suffer Multiple Concussions? and 2) Who would be watching soccer at a time like this? Anyway, good morning everybody…

(Coulda been worse, I guess…)

Just two months after bouncing out of the UFC following his third-straight loss at UFC Live: Jones vs. Matyushenko, notoriously cursed striker James Irvin began his climb back to the big leagues at a Rebel Fights event in Roseville, California, on Saturday. As you’ll see in the video after the jump, it must have been a humbling experience from the get-go. Instead of a deafening, appropriately lit arena, Irvin squared off with a dude named Angel DeAnda for the entertainment of a couple hundred folks in a cinder-blocked space that was as small as it was bright.

It would have been especially depressing if Irvin lost — and he was a ball-hair away of doing just that. DeAnda starts the fight bombing out on Irvin with left hooks, but is floored by a patented Sandman Superman Punch. DeAnda pops back up, quickly scores a knockdown of his own, and starts pouring on the pain from the top. Check the vid’s 1:35 mark to see just how close Josh Rosenthal was to stopping the fight; he basically changes his mind at the last possible moment, which allows Irvin to get his bearings, work his way up, and put the stamp on DeAnda. 

Going into his UFC 118 title rematch against Frankie Edgar, BJ Penn is carrying a title that he hasn’t had since before UFC 80 — former champion. We’re willing to believe that the Prodigy had an off night in Abu Dhabi, but if he wants his belt back he’ll have to relocate the kind of violent aggression that got him to the top in the first place. With that in mind, let’s take a look back at four of Penn’s early fights that set him up as a star in the UFC, and laid the groundwork for the legend that was to come…

BJ Penn vs. Joey Gilbert, UFC 31, 5/4/01

As the first non-Brazilian to win the black belt division at the Mundials, Penn entered the UFC with a reputation to uphold. But he wasn’t looking to become the next Royce Gracie. Even from the beginning, the Prodigy was a true hybrid fighter, whose grappling and striking worked in tandem. His Octagon debut was against another UFC newbie, Joey Gilbert (1-1 MMA record at the time), and though Gilbert showed impressive ground defense in neutralizing Penn’s attacks and positions, Penn was finally able to flatten Gilbert out on his stomach and whale him in the head until the ref stopped the fight with three seconds left of the first round. It looked like there might be something to this BJ Penn kid after all.

BJ Penn vs. Din Thomas, UFC 32, 6/29/01

Penn returned to action just eight weeks later to take on another fighter who was making his UFC debut. But even though Din Thomas was new to the Octagon, he’d already been around the block, compiling a 12-1 record with all victories by stoppage and a notable win over future champ Jens Pulver. Penn plays guard for a while (and shows off his famous leg flexibility at the vid’s 2:13 mark), but once Thomas starts to threaten with ground-and-pound, Penn escapes to his feet and turns Din off with a perfectly-placed knee to the jaw. The Prodigy was no fluke, and the UFC’s fledgling lightweight division was officially on notice.

(Fight starts at the 5:50 mark. Props: MMAVideosPL)

Polish Anderson Silva? Not quite yet, but Maciej Jewtuszko is well on his way to making his name in the U.S. Closing out the preliminary portion of WEC 50 against Anthony Njokuani, things started out shaky the WEC newcomer. Jewtuszko got punched out of the air and onto his ass when Njokuani caught and countered his double-kick attempt. Njokuani made Jewtuszko pay with some hard punches from the top, but eventually decided to let Maciej to his feet. It was a decision that Njokuani would immediately regret.

Watch as Jewtuszko finds the right moment to land a spinning backfist/elbow to Njokuani’s chin. The follow-up guillotine choke attempt doesn’t pan out, but the finishing uppercuts certainly do. The win netted Jewtuszko his eighth consecutive stoppage victory, and his first WEC knockout bonus. Expect to see this guy again in the near future.

Related: Njokuani’s nickname on Wikipedia is currently listed as "The Nigerian Money Offer."

ix3623 is a ridiculously prolific editor of MMA/sports videos that are unmatched in their ability to waste large blocks of your time. While checking out ix’s new two-part "compilation of interesting mix martial arts facts" series today, we noticed the above tribute to sick knockouts at local shows, and it might be his most important work yet. First, a point of clarification: "amateur" here means "shot with a shitty camera." (We definitely recognized a few smaller pro leagues in the mix.) But that’s just a minor detail, because my goodness is this stuff hardcore. These are not TKO stoppages. This is nine and a half minutes of guys getting knocked dead-asleep in horrible fashion. Enjoy! We also recommend ix3623′s unsportsmanlike behavior megamix, the 30-part (!) funniest moments in MMA series, and this unrelated but compelling highlight reel.