(Props: UFC via CesarGracieJewJitsu)

As if the mutants at the ‘UFC on FOX’ press conference in Los Angeles weren’t scary enough, last month’s UFC 140: Jones vs. Machida presser at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto proved to be another example of why the fan-question portion of these things should probably be eliminated. First of all, it’s Keith Kizer, not Steve Kizer. And whether Kizer and Steve Mazzagatti are lovers is really nobody’s business except their own.

The next fan asks Dana if Jon Jones would be getting a superfight with Anderson Silva after he gets through Lyoto Machida — while Machida is right there in the room with him. Christ, just because Lyoto doesn’t speak English that well doesn’t mean he can’t hear it. Closing out the segment, the third question is about Steven Seagal, and the last one is a guy begging for an internship. And you know there was some goof in line for the mic who went home pissed off because he couldn’t ask Dana who he thought would win in a fight between Alistair Overeem and Grand Gigas Malus. Step it up, guys.

Previously: “I got every UFC fanboy’s wet dream here, the only thing that would make it better would be sitting in your lap right now.”

(Props: BushidoAristotle7 via MiddleEasy)

After the way Lyoto Machida finished Randy Couture in his last fight, the Daniel LaRusso references were inevitable. But this UFC 140/Karate Kid mashup is one of the greatest parody videos we’ve seen yet, thanks to all the amazing cameos. (LMAO @ Rashad Evans jumping into Machida’s arms at the 0:20-021 mark.) So, will life imitate YouTube on December 10th? Keep in mind that BushidoArtistotle7 is clearly biased against the champ, judging by the fact that his only other video also ends with Jon Jones getting beat up.

(Props: mmapain)

Once in a while, a singular talent will arise and utterly dominate this sport. He comes out of nowhere, immediately starts whipping top-ranked fighters with years’ more experience, and leaves both fans and his opponents in awe of his abilities. Jon Jones is that guy right now. And nobody knows how fleeting that moment is better than Lyoto Machida, whose invincible aura (and “era“) went up in smoke as quickly as it arrived.

That’s what gives Jon Jones vs. Lyoto Machida such a great storyline for their meeting on December 10th in Toronto. Besides Machida’s unorthodox style, which could be an effective counter to Bones’s own funky attacks, the Dragon stands as a living reminder that nobody is invincible — seriously, not even Jon Jones — and defeat is simply a matter of running into the wrong guy on the wrong night.

(The winner of the rematch: the fans)

Mauricio “Shogun” Rua walked out of the Octagon Saturday night feeling like he got ripped off for the second time in his past five bouts.

According to Rua, he feels that his UFC 139 bout with former Strikeforce light heavyweight champ Dan Henderson should have been declared a draw and says that he’d like a do-over.

“It certainly was a great fight. I do not know how the judges scored the final round. It should have been 10-8 for me. But that takes nothing away from Dan Henderson,” Rua told UOL after the bout. “He is a legend and one of those fighters who have created a legacy, but I want revenge. I think [a rematch] would be another great battle and the public wants to see it.”

Henderson, on the other hand, feels that he clearly took the fight and will be adding the judges who concur to his Christmas card list this year.

“I won four rounds.” he told Joe Rogan after the bout, noting that he felt one of the rounds could have been scored a 1-8 in his favor.

(Turn on captions for subtitles.) 

It appears former UFC light heavyweight champion Lyoto “The Dragon” Machida has pulled out all the stops to prepare for his upcoming championship bout at UFC 140 with Jon Jones. Check out the above video, which gives us an inside peek at Lyoto’s daily regimen, with the exception of one truly disgusting aspect that could easily pop up on this season of Fear Factor.

The show, which I am going to ignorantly label “Random Univision Program #113,” states that Lyoto has packed on an incredible 22 pounds of muscle, and man does it show. Along with bringing in a team of physiologists and physiotherapists, Lyoto has even shrank the size of the octagon in which he trains, from 9 meters in diameter to just 7.5, forcing him to be even more elusive than previously thought possible. No word yet on how exactly he plans on making his precision more…precise.

-Danga 

(Video courtesy of YouTube/StudioMMA)

Studio MMA’s Bobby Cavian was on hand at Friday’s UFC 138 Q&A with former UFC light heavyweight champ Rashad Evans and he was good enough to record the entire session for us.

In the nearly 60-minute question and answer period Rashad touched on a number of topics from how he broke his hand and where he is in his rehab to who he think s will win against Machida and his former teammate and current UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones. “Suga” also gives an update on his tumultuous relationships with his former nemesis Quinton “Rampage” Jackson and his former coach Greg Jackon.

Some spoilers are after the jump.

(Ah, 2007. A very fine year for gogoplatas. / Photo via Sherdog)

By Ben Goldstein

Over the last two decades, MMA has evolved so consistently that fighters are still finding new and unexpected ways to destroy their opponents — while causing fans to spit their beers in shock. We decided to take a lil’ spin through MMA history and identify the single most awe-inspiring technique from each year since the sport’s modern inception. We expect you to disagree with us; there’s a comments section just for that purpose. And away we go…

1993: Royce Gracie’s Rear-Naked Choke
vs. Ken Shamrock @ UFC 1, 11/12/93

(Fight starts at the 3:54 mark)

You have to remember that in the early ’90s, a well-placed roundhouse kick to the head was considered the pinnacle of martial arts. What Royce Gracie introduced to fight fans in his early UFC run was something much more practical, less flashy, and a little bit scary. Gracie’s submission of Ken Shamrock — and the similar hold he used to stop Gerard Gordeau in the finals — proved that skill beat size, and pajamas beat man-panties.

1994: Dan Severn’s Suplexes
vs. Anthony Macias @ UFC 4, 12/16/94

(Video courtesy of YouTube/yegoyan818)

The Brazilian kick, AKA crescent kick, AKA question mark kick is an effective move that could net positive results against an opponent who doesn’t close the distance and who pays close attention to your hip movement in an MMA or kickboxing bout. Adding it to your arsenal offers another option when an opponent is reluctant to engage or is tired or hurt and is dropping his (or her if you’re Brett Rogers) hands in the later rounds of a bout.

Guys like Lyoto Machida and Georges St-Pierre have incorporated the unexpected move into their stand-up bag of tricks

Here’s how to do it:

First, fake a front roundhouse kick by throwing your hip around with your shin drawn back. As your opponent reacts to the movement and braces for a leg or body kick, twist your hip and snap your shin up mid-movement so that it is now moving in the direction of your opponent’s unprotected head while snapping your lower leg back, pointing your heel towards your opponent. These moves must be performed in unison and will take a great deal of practice to put all of the movements together. Flexibility is key, so stretching will help prepare you for the move.

Joe Rogan explains the kick in more detail  and Glaube Feitosa demonstrates how to decapitate someone with it after the jump

(You can make fun of your opponent’s voice, and you can trash his fighting style. But mock a man’s sideburns, and you’re asking for the worst beating of your life.)

Start sharpening your razors, folks: We’re just eight days away from the official start of Movember! To help get you in the moustache-growing spirit, we’ve put together a photo gallery of our favorite facial hair arrangements in MMA history, which you can check out after the jump.

(“The Glimmer Man” trying to pretend that he knows what the f*ck his new boss is talking about)

Well, Steven Seagal finally fooled someone into taking him up on his offer of unsolicited help.

The 59-year-old actor, who claims he was a CIA operative in the 80s and whose most recent stint as a peace officer, which was documented on his A&E reality television series Steven Seagal: Lawman, ended abruptly when he was charged with sexual harassment of his female assistant, was sworn in this week as the Hudspeth County Sheriff’s Office’s newest deputy. Officials with the department say that his primary focus will be working full time to help secure the U.S.-Mexico border in Texas.

Seagal contacted Sheriff Arvin West two months ago to apply for work with the HCSO and according to him, he feels that his intentions were honorable.

“It became very clear to me that Mr. Seagal is not in this for the celebrity or the publicity,” Sheriff Arvin West told the San Antonio Express today. “He’s like the rest of us that live down here; he has a sincere passion for his country and he wants to do more to help.The television aspect of what we’re doing here is the last priority.The man has a pure motive in doing this. He knows what we’re up against here and he wants to help.”

(Former UFC Octagon Girl Brittney Palmer shows off her work, shares her plans for an “art empire.” Props: MMA30tv)

Some selected highlights from our friends around the MMA blogosphere…

- Dana White: If Victorious Over BJ Penn, Nick Diaz Will Get a Title Shot (LowKick)
“I expect nothing from him (at the press conferences). I expect him to be sitting right here in this chair. He doesn’t have to answer one question if he doesn’t want to. I just want him to sit there and then get up and do the (staredown). Just show up man. He’s probably going to flip everybody off and do all this other stuff – its Nick Diaz. I don’t want him to not be Nick Diaz, I just need him to show up.”

- 10 MMA Rematches That Should Have Never Happened (BleacherReport/MMA)
“Chael Sonnen vs. Anderson Silva and the recently concluded Gray Maynard vs. Frankie Edgar trilogy are both examples of what a warranted do-over should look like…Then, there are other bouts where a decisive ending merits no speedy return for the two fighters to be joined together again inside the cage.”

- ‘King’ Mo Lawal Talks ‘Rampage’ Jackson: We’re Going to Fight Eventually (MMA Fighting)
“This fool Rampage calls me out, and then people get mad when I respond? He’s a b—h in my eyes, because he didn’t respond. Maybe he’ll respond later, but the word is he wants to fight [Mauricio] ‘Shogun’ [Rua]. That’s whatever.”

During today’s UFC 140 press conference in Toronto, Dana White was asked about a potential superfight between UFC light heavyweight champ Jon Jones and middleweight kingpin Anderson Silva, “once Jones goes through Machida and Evans” and the UFC president revealed that one of the variables that stands in the way of the bout happening is a likely second meeting between “The Spider” and Chael Sonnen.

“[Jones] just whispered, ‘You can’t look past these guys.’ He’s got two tough fights ahead of him and then Anderson’s gonna continue to fight. He’ll probably end up fighting Chael Sonnen [next]. They’ve got a lot of tough guys in front of them.”

(Video courtesy of YouTube/UFC)

Just a friendly reminder that the UFC will be holding a press conference in Toronto today at the Air Canada — the site of UFC 140 in December — and we will have the live feed for you right here starting at 1:00 pm ET.

(“It is what it is…or somethin’ like that.”)

Seemingly perpetual number one UFC light heavyweight contender Rashad Evans took the diplomatic approach today when addressing the news that Lyoto Machida will be leapfrogging him to a shot at the promotion’s current 205-pound champion, Jon Jones at UFC 140 in December. In a statement released by his management group, Authentic Sports Management, Evans explained that that the injured thumb he incurred in his UFC 133 bout with Tito Ortiz back in August will likely require an additional three weeks of rehab before he can resume training, meaning his camp would only be six-and-a-half weeks, leaving him without sufficient time to prepare for such an important bout.

“After my last fight against Tito Ortiz, I dislocated my right thumb, which required it to be set back in place and held with pins. 24 hours ago, my physician removed the pins,” Evans explained. “At that time, I learned that it would require another three weeks of rehabilitation before engaging in any exercise or training that would require the use of my hand.”

(Now Lyoto’s the swagger jacker)

Well, we were right in our prediction that the hand injury Rashad Evans incurred in his UFC 133 win over Tito Ortiz in August would likely lead to him being screwed out of another title shot.

UFC president Dana White announced today via Twitter that UFC light heavyweight champ Jon Jones will defend his title for the second time on December 10 in the main event of UFC 140 at the at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto when he takes on Lyoto Machida.

(“Look at me damn it.  I said I’m sorry. I even sent you a brownie basket.”)

Somebody should have warned Lyoto Machida that playing hardball with Dana White never ends well.

Now, either the UFC is teaching him a lesson for wanting “Anderson Silva Money” for stepping in on short notice to face Rashad Evans at UFC 133 or they want to save the Japanese-Brazilian fighter for its February 26 return to Japan. Either way, Lyoto, who only fought once in 2011 at UFC 129 in April, won’t even be making Strikeforce Challengers money the rest of the year. Lucky for him he has the Knockout of the Night bonus he got for retiring Randy Couture and knocking out his tooth.

(Video courtesy of Jim Rome)

When Jon Jones called bullshit on Steven Seagal’s claim that he was slated to meet with the UFC light heavyweight champ just prior to him making the walk to the Octagon to face Quinton Jackson last weekend at UFC 135, most of us chalked it up to “The Glimmer Man” being a raving lunatic or a senile old man.

According to Jones, although he’s a strange cat, he doesn’t think Seagal is as crazy as he leads people to believe and as he revealed during an appearance on Jim Rome’s radio show yesterday, he may have had ulterior motives for the meeting.

Jones worried that the Aikido 7th Dan might have been sent to spy on him by Lyoto Machida’s camp since a meeting with “The Dragon” is a likely inevitability.

(“Get a clue, Rashad. It’s not happening.”)

Within an hour today UFC president Dana White announced and then promptly recanted the news that Lyoto Machida would be squaring off with Phil Davis at UFC 140 in Toronto in December. According to White, the announcement was premature since, unbeknownst to him, Davis is still recuperating from knee surgery to fix the injury that forced him out out of his scheduled UFC 133 bout with Rashad Evans.

Luckily for Dana and UFC matchmaker Joe Silva, we have three viable replacements lined up for Machida and we won’t even charge our usual finder’s fee.

Agree or disagree with our line-up after the jump.

Well, Steven Seagal made it out to the festivities Saturday night in Denver and it’s beginning to seem like either he’s some kind of mixed martial arts guru or he’s a senile old man who is way out of touch with reality. My bet’s on the latter.

Our friends Karyn Bryant from MMA H.E.A.T. and Ariel Helwani from MMAFighting caught up with Sensei Seagal before and after the event, respectively, and let’s just say old cockpuncher had a few yarns to spin.

Check out the videos and the bullet points of the world according to The Glimmer Man after the jump.

Can crushing: You’re both doing it wrong.

With Jon Jones fighting Quinton Jackson at UFC 135, and the winner of that fight more than likely fighting Rashad Evans, the light-heavyweight title is not without challengers. Based on a report being passed along by MMAMania.com, the winner of Jones/Jackson vs. Evans may already have a challenger in line as well. Rumor has it that Lyoto Machida vs. Phil Davis is in the works for a future card.

As you may remember, when Phil Davis was forced to withdraw from his fight with Rashad Evans at UFC 133 due to a knee injury, Lyoto Machida was originally set to replace him. However, Machida felt he was worth that “Anderson Silva money” and declined the bout. So having the two potential Rashad Evans opponents fight each other for the right to potentially fight Rashad Evans sort of makes sense, I guess.

(Video courtesy of YouTube/HeavyMMA)

You would think that, considering the way that their last fight ended, that Rashad Evans wouldn’t be very excited to face Lyoto Machida any time soon.

Well it looks like Rashad either has short-term memory or that he’s ready to face his fears, considering that judging by the video above, he seemed to genuinely want to fight Machida when the fight was all but a done deal. Then when “Suga” heard that Lyoto pulled out of the bout due to a “lack of Anderson Silva money” being offered to him for the fight, he really seemed to be crushed.

(You can’t fake that kind of hate. Video courtesy of YouTube/tifosi8500)

Zuffa held an impromptu conference call today with  Dana White in which the UFC president discussed the announcement yesterday that Tito Ortiz will be stepping in for injured Phil Davis to face Rashad Evans at UFC 133 next month.

Check out the highlights of the call after the jump.

(A pretty solid metaphor for their respective careers right now.)

With the UFC still in the lurch after Phil Davis’s injury wrecked yet another UFC main event, Tito Ortiz has done the unthinkable — he’s decided to become a team player. After initially refusing to step up as Rashad Evans‘s replacement opponent at UFC 133, Ortiz has now agreed to take the fight, which will come just five weeks after his shock upset of Ryan Bader at UFC 132. Oddly enough, Tito’s change-of-heart came after Lyoto Machida accepted the fight, then lost the opportunity during negotiations. We’ll let Dana White tell the story, via MMAJunkie:

“Machida accepted the fight. We knew for a couple days this was going down, and Machida accepted the fight. Then when we called back and said, ‘OK, we’re going to make this fight,’ Machida’s people came back and said, ‘We’ll tell you what. You pay us what you pay Anderson Silva, and we’ll take the fight.’ This was after they had already agreed to take the fight.

I said, ‘Are you [expletive] kidding me? I’ll tell you what. You tell Machida he achieves what [expletive] Anderson Silva has achieved, then maybe he’ll make Anderson Silva money. Have a nice day.’…

Yep, this is really happening. Mad props to Steampunk for putting this together…

Update: By the way, another source says Machida is not taking the fight, so, you know, whatever.

(“My knee should be OK next week. I’ll take Tito when they match Rashad up with Lyoto.”)

According to MMAFighting, Phil Davis suffered a knee injury and as such has been forced to pull out of his UFC 133 main event bout with Rashad Evans. Although no replacement opponent has been named, sources say the UFC will be announcing Davis injury and Evans’ new opponent for the August 6 event soon.

Two prime candidates would be Lyoto Machida and Tito Ortiz — both of whom Evans has faced before. He lost in his very first title defense against Machida by second-round KO at UFC 98, five months after TKO’ing Forrest Griffin at UFC 92 to win the strap. Evans battled to a draw with Tito Ortiz at UFC 73, but would have likely lost the bout had “The Huntington Beach Bad Boy” not been deducted a point for grabbing the fence.

Machida is on the sidelines awaiting word of his next bout and Ortiz could likely be ready in time to fight on the card.

(How the hell could a Michael Jai White joint go straight to DVD?)

The world will have to wait a little longer for the big screen debuts of Todd Duffee, Lyoto Machida, Eddie Bravo and Scott Epstein.

Apparently the production company for Never Back Down 2, Baumgarten Management and Productions were unable to secure the backing of a major studio and as a result the sequel to the 2008 MMA-themed movie that grossed just south of $24,000,000 will be released straight to DVD September 13.

“…and that’s why I’m the true UFC middleweight champ. Next question.”

Well this is interesting: reports from MMAJunkie and HeavyMMA are indicating that Chael Sonnen will not be getting that bout with Lyoto Machida that he’s been bucking for, and instead will meet middleweight Brian Stann at UFC 136 in October.

Sonnen, who will no doubt make our “P4P Most Entertaining Fighters Outside the Cage” list (if we ever get around to actually compiling it), has been lobbing barbs at anyone with a connection to middleweight king Anderson Silva for about a year now, including the Nogueira brothers and Machida. Rumors over the past week had hinted that Sonnen may be briefly visiting the light heavyweight division for a fight with the Dragon, which would have undoubtedly led to smack talk of a magnitude that the MMA world was unprepared for.

(“Ay Handy, what did the five toes say to the face?” Props: MMAWeekly)

UPDATE: The fight looks like it might actually happen; Fighters Only says it’s slated for UFC 136 (October 8th in Houston), while BloodyElbow says it might take place this winter.

“I don’t know what the future holds, there’s plenty of guys out there to fight. There’s a karate guy at 205 pounds, I might stop there on my way back to 185 for a tune-up fight and take out Machida, but we’ll see, we’ll see where it goes.” — Chael Sonnen to MMAFighting at UFC 132

“I think that’s great, I’m excited to do that. He’s coming back now, wants to fight, and I really think it’s a good fight for me. If Sonnen really wants this fight, I’ll sign it immediately, no problem at all.” — Lyoto Machida responding to Tatame

It shouldn’t come as a big surprise that Sonnen wants to ease back into the UFC as a light-heavyweight, considering he’s a gigantic son-of-a-bitch these days. Plus, Machida’s persona as a pee-drinking Brazilian Seagal-student has already given Uncle Chael a lot of material to tweet with.

(This dude’s Marked for Death…)

Count Ricco Rodriguez as one of the growing number of fighters under the hypnotizing spell of Steven Seagal.

In a recent interview the beleaguered former UFC heavyweight champion did with Bleacher Report, Rodriguez detailed his first meeting with the “Hard to Kill” 7th Dan Aikido master.

“I’ve always been a fan of Steven Seagal’s. I’ve always admired his acting skills and even as I got older and started chasing some of my own personal goals. Because when I was a kid, I watched the Bruce Lee movies and going to Japan, living in Japan and training at the Takada dojo, traveling to Brazil, there was somewhat a similar situation to me and Seagal. So, getting to meet a person such as him, if I can explain to you how phenomenal his energy was, I can’t explain it unless you were because you just feel how motivating he is and how presentable he is. He’s a phenomenal person and a great guy.”

(Video courtesy of YouTube/Videosemgeral1)

Here we thought that it was going to take a guy with a solid wrestling base who could put Anderson on his back to grind out a decision win over “The Spider.” Apparently all it takes to beat Silva is a solid Hadouken.