(Hopefully the judges can decide who won, not just who didn’t lose enough this time around.)

According to Mauricio Rua’s muay thai trainer, Andre "Dida" Amade, they are expecting Lyoto Machida to take the fight to the ground to avoid taking the amount of damage he took from Shogun the last time the two met.

In an interview with Sherdog, Amade, who imitated Machida’s karate style for sparring sessions with his fighter throughout his camp in Brazil, says he and the rest of Shogun’s coaches are betting the farm that Lyoto will rely heavily on his black belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu to ensure he retains his title.

“For Lyoto it is not very good to stay standing. He knows that his karate is not going to defeat muay Thai. In my coach’s opinion, he will want to work his jiu-jitsu with Shogun. I think he will not fight muay Thai because he saw that in the last fight he was badly hurt and was not effective. So I think he will want to work his jiu-jitsu. We already have the strategy to beat Machida. In [the last] fight, we used a strategy for Shogun to kill Machida’s game and our tactics worked,” Amade said. “We just had not counted on the judges. Shogun is hungry for this fight, and we are already feeling the taste of the belt. Shogun shows in each training session the desire to beat Machida. I do not want to be in Machida’s shoes because Shogun will take this belt with his kicks.” ”

(Video courtesy YouTube/MMAFighting.com)

Somebody needs to explain to Ed Soares how a bet works. Unless you’re Pete Rose, you never make a wager that favors the other team.

MMAFighting.com reporter Ariel Helwani challenged the MMA manager today drink a cup of his own urine if his fighter, Lyoto Machida, retains his belt Saturday night in Montreal against Mauricio "Shogun" Rua, which begs the question: Who is the winner in this bet?

("Trust me bro, you’ve never had piss until you’ve had it out of a coconut." Photo courtesy of Sherdog.)

After a disappointing performance at WEC 48, the Gambling Enabler is ready to do what it does best: Make even larger, more desperate bets in order to break even. We’ve got UFC 113 coming up this weekend, and you can’t win if you don’t play. As usual, we’ve compiled the most favorable betting lines courtesy of BestFightOdds.com. Confused about what the numbers mean? Then punch yourself in your stupid balls and read this first.

MAIN CARD
Lyoto Machida (-174) vs. Mauricio Rua (+160)
Josh Koscheck (-215) vs. Paul Daley (+218)
Sam Stout (-180) vs. Jeremy Stephens (+162)
Kimbo Slice (even) vs. Matt Mitrione (-102) 
Alan Belcher (-110) vs. Patrick Cote (+105)

PRELIMINARY CARD
Tom Lawlor (-475) vs. Joe Doerksen (+400)
Marcus Davis (-450) vs. Jonathan Goulet (+400)
Johny Hendricks (-450) vs. TJ Grant (+350)
Tim Hague (-205) vs. Joey Beltran (+200)
Yoshiyuki Yoshida (-240) vs. Mike Guymon (+235)
Jason MacDonald (-155) vs. John Salter (+135)

Who wants to make some money the easy way? (Or potentially lose it, because anything can happen in a fight?)

 
(Props: Nicole B.)

UFC 113 goes down this Saturday at the Bell Centre in Montreal, featuring the long-awaited light-heavyweight title rematch between Lyoto Machida and Mauricio Rua, and the potential #1 welterweight contender’s match between Josh Koscheck and Paul Daley. (Plus, Kimbo Slice and a whole lot of Canadians.) We’ll be liveblogging the pay-per-view broadcast starting at 10 p.m. ET; come early to ensure seating.

If you feel like testing your prediction skills against the Potato Nation this week, please head over to MMA Fightpicker by Friday, enter some pools, and make your educated guesses on how the card will play out. The full question list is after the jump…

Related: Become a FightPicker fan on Facebook!

(
(It’s likely a safe bet that this fight isn’t going to end in a submission.)

A light heavyweight tilt between Thiago Silva and Tim Boetsch has been greenlit for UFC 117 according to Sherdog.com. Although neither fighter has received bout agreements for the fight, both have verbally agreed to face one another at the August 7 show in Oakland, CA.

The owner of a 14-2 record, Silva’s only losses have come against current and former UFC champions. His first blemish came at UFC 94 in the form of a knockout at the heavy hands of Lyoto Machida, who repeated the feat to take the title from Rashad Evans four months later at UFC 98. After knocking out Evans’ Team Jackson teammate, Keith Jardine at UFC 102 Thiago dropped a unanimous decision to Evans at UFC 108.

Boetsch, who compiled a 2-2 record in the Octagon with wins over Michael Patt and David Heath before being dropped by the promotion in 2009, has kept busy since his departure, racking up three straight wins outside of the UFC. You might remember him as the fighter Matt Hammill decided to demonstrate his newly acquired boxing skills on.

(Video courtesy YouTube/UFC.com)

When it comes to trash talking, fighters typically fall under one of three categories: those who rely on their pre-fight banter to make up for their inferior skill set, those who don’t necessarily need to talk smack, but do because they have the skills to back up their mouths and those who should stick to fighting and leave the posturing to the pros.

Set to lock horns at UFC 113 May 8 in Montreal are two of the sport’s smack talking idiot savants, Josh Koscheck and Paul Daley. Both definitely can sell fights without saying a word, but the entertainment value of hearing the two of them go at it verbally before either throws a punch, is nearly as good as the fight itself will likely prove to be.

(Props: MMAVIDS10)

The UFC’s next pay-per-view card goes down May 8th in Montreal, featuring the light-heavyweight title rematch between Lyoto Machida and Mauricio "Shogun" Rua — both of whom haven’t competed since their first fight last October. This extended preview acknowledges the controversy about the decision, which Shogun lost despite the fact that he clearly landed more strikes. Following two fantastic knockout victories over Thiago Silva and Rashad Evans, Machida’s title reign was immediately put in question after the Shogun fight, and the long layoff hasn’t helped his stock. Once again, he’ll need to convince fans of his merits. And once again, Dana White sells a fight as a matchup between two guys who "don’t like to go to the ground." Well that’s a relief. I wouldn’t want any of that grappling stuff to distract from the kickboxing match I’m paying for.

In the co-main event, top welterweight contenders Josh Koscheck and Paul Daley do battle in what could turn out to be a #1 contender’s match. In fact, there’s a rumor floating around that the winner of this fight will coach opposite Georges St. Pierre on TUF 12. If Koscheck employs his superior wrestling against "Semtex," he’ll dictate the fight. If he lets his ego force him into a striking war with Paul Daley, he could get his fraggle-lookin’ head knocked off. Any predictions on UFC 113′s headlining fights? And what about the TUF 10 castmates match between Kimbo Slice and Matt "Meathead" Mitrione?

Who said the readers of this website are talentless, unmotivated hacks? Without further ado, we’d like to crown Olieng P. the winner of our Six Deuce MMA poster design contest. Olieng’s Mortal Kombat-esque UFC 113 poster brought in a whopping 20% of the popular vote, and earns him the grand prize training pack, which includes red satin MMA fight/board shorts, the Glorious Sweater of Absolute Victory t-shirt, high-quality leather Muay Thai training gloves, black hand wraps, Muay Thai ankle supports and a leather speed bag. Use it well, Olieng, and good luck on your new career as a professional fighter.

After the jump: The three runners-up who will be receiving Six Deuce MMA shorts of their choice. If you’re one of the winners, please e-mail feedback@cagepotato.com with your real name, address, and size(s), and we’ll get you hooked up ASAP. Thanks to everyone who entered (and to 62gear.com), and if you have ideas for future photoshop/design contests, let us know in the comments section!

    
      
(Keep your eyes on the grand prize. Images courtesy of 62Gear.com)

After two weeks of furious photoshopping, we have nominated 15 artists as finalists for our Six Deuce MMA poster design contest. Please spend the rest of your afternoon considering the posters after the jump, then vote for your favorite in the poll over on the right. (It’s a little ways down the page, under the "Most Recent Comments" box and the UFC Fan Expo ad.) Get your votes in by Sunday night at midnight ET. We’ll announce the winners on Monday. Many thanks to everybody who entered, and please show Six Deuce some love for making this happen!

(Props: Brion S.)

We’ve reached the mid-way point in our massive MMA event poster design contest, and we’ve already gotten some amazing submissions. To inspire the rest of y’all into getting your asses in gear, we’ve decided to post some of our current favorites, which continue after the jump. Please send your poster entries to feedback@cagepotato.com by next Tuesday. We’ll pick some finalists for voting a week from today; the top vote-getter will score a big ass prize-package from Six Deuce, which includes MMA fight shorts, a Glorious Sweater of Absolute Victory t-shirt, Muay Thai training gloves, hand wraps, ankle supports, and a leather speed bag. Three runners up will score the shorts — a prize worth $45, just for losing. Please swing by 62gear.com and let ‘em know you care!

(Props: Brian R.)

(Props: Steve W.)

At the beginning of every year there are always nuggets of conventional wisdom that seem absolutely unassailable in January and are laughable by December. This has always been the case, and not just in the world of MMA. For instance, in January of 1941 Pearl Harbor was a nice, calm, wonderfully exotic place for U.S. servicemen to be stationed. By December it was fodder for a horrible Michael Bay movie. Just goes to show that we never know as much as we think we do, though it doesn’t stop us from making definitive statements that will later seem totally ridiculous. Here now are some of the MMA truths that became lies in 2009…

Lyoto Machida is the most boring fighter in the UFC

At the start of 2009 Machida had finished just two of his last seven fights (one of them a TKO due to exhaustion), and had cemented his reputation as the fighter who was too "elusive" to be interesting. The UFC seemed intent on keeping him away from a title shot, but inked him for a showdown of undefeated Brazilians against Thiago Silva at UFC 94. That’s when "The Dragon" showed his fangs or claws or whatever it is that dragons have, and after knocking out Rashad Evans to claim the light heavyweight title in similarly ferocious fashion a few months later, we were forced to abandon our belief that Machida would forever be MMA’s version of Ambien. Too bad that our revised position didn’t fare much better…

Lyoto Machida is damn near unbeatable

The “Machida Era” was supposed to be a reign as dominant and prolific as that of middleweight champ Anderson Silva, which left many of us scratching our heads when “Shogun” Rua got the nod as his first challenger. Rua was 2-1 in the UFC at that point and he hadn’t beaten anyone even near their prime since leaving Pride. Despite coming in as a heavy underdog, Rua gave Machida all he could handle for five rounds and seemed to be on his way to a decision victory before the judges decided to discount leg kicks altogether. Machida survived with the belt, but not with his aura of invincibility.

(Props: YouTube.com/K1 via MMA Fighting)

K-1 recently uploaded some choice highlights from their MMA library onto their YouTube page, featuring early fights from current superstars like Brock Lesnar, BJ Penn, and Lyoto Machida. Above is Lesnar’s pro MMA debut against Min Soo Kim, which went down at Dynamite!! USA in June ’07. Odds are, you’ve watched this fight before — though it’s still worth a look if you’ve never seen the head-clashing faceoff and the fight’s aftermath, in which Lesnar triumphantly stalked around the cage while Kim was slowly brought back to life.

After the jump: Kazushi Sakuraba‘s rematch with Royce Gracie at Dynamite!! USA, BJ Penn’s grudge match with Renzo Gracie at the K-1 World Grand Prix 2005 in Hawaii, and Lyoto Machida’s fourth pro fight against Michael McDonald at K-1 Beast 2004.

(Bisping, Arlovski, Griffin, and Swanson: Four of the year’s most unfortunate victims.)

#25: Vitor Belfort sends Matt Lindland into convulsions at Affliction: Day of Reckoning (1/24/09).

#24. Gegard Mousasi makes his presence known in America by pounding Renato Sobral flat at Strikeforce: Carano vs. Cyborg (8/15/09).

#23: Matt Hamill unleashes his inner Cro Cop against Mark Munoz at UFC 96 (3/7/09).

IF YOU MISSED KNOCKOUTS #25-13, CLICK HERE.

#12: Fedor Emelianenko adds Brett Rogers to his vast collection of scalps at Strikeforce: Fedor vs. Rogers (11/7/09).

#11: Brian Bowles shocks the world, earns the WEC’s bantamweight title, and breaks Miguel Torres‘s 17-fight win streak at WEC 42 (8/9/09).

#10: Lyoto Machida makes Rashad Evans do the stanky leg at UFC 98. (5/23/09)

#9: Dan Hornbuckle starches Akihiro Gono with a kick to the face at Sengoku 9 — then takes a moment to think about what he’s done (8/2/09).

#8: Scott Smith pulls off the greatest comeback knockout of the year against Cung Le at Strikeforce: Evolution (12/19/09).

#7: Dan Henderson shuts Michael Bisping‘s big spotted-dick-eating mouth at UFC 100 (7/11/09).

#6 (tie): Marius Zaromskis high-kicks Hayato Sakurai into a living death at the DREAM welterweight GP semi-finals; later that same night, Marius Zaromskis does the same exact thing to Jason High (7/20/09). Congrats, Jason, you’re on the wrong end of this list twice.

#5: Yahir Reyes cracks Estevan Payan with what might be the nastiest spinning-backfist in MMA history at Bellator 6. (5/8/09)

#4: Jose Aldo needs just 8 seconds and a well-timed flying knee to wreck Cub Swanson — and earn a title shot — at WEC 41 (6/7/09).

#3: Anderson Silva shows Forrest Griffin the true power of a Jedi at UFC 101 (8/8/09).

#2: Fedor Emelianenko shoots Andrei Arlovski out of the air at Affliction: Day of Reckoning (1/24/09).

Fedor vs. Arlovski – Watch more Funny Videos

#1: Marcus "Lelo" Aurelio proves that Capoeira is MMA’s most effective style — at least for one night — against Keegan Marshall at North American Challenge 24 (4/4/09).

(Well, clearly Machida is controlling where the post-fight celebrations are taking place.)

Following the UFC 104 title scrap between Lyoto Machida and Mauricio Rua, we were fairly shocked when the scores came back unanimously for Machida. Wasn’t Shogun the aggressor during the majority of the fight? Didn’t he land more strikes? When it came time for the judges to explain themselves, we learned that leg kicks don’t end fights, so you might as well not count them at all. But at least one judge from that night is having a crisis of conscience. From Yahoo! Sports (via Fightlinker):

Besides the addition of TV monitors, Hamilton is also in favor of tweaking the 10-point-must scoring system:

So, two things…

Let’s just hope nothing amazing happens in the next two weeks. Major props to AllElbows, Sherdog, and The Las Vegas Sun.

#14. Frank Shamrock and Nick Diaz display their vastly different personal styles at a Strikeforce: Shamrock vs. Diaz press conference.

#13: The final resting place of BJJ godfather Helio Gracie.

#12: "Stop trying to hit me and hit me!" Anderson Silva stays juuuuust out of reach against Forrest Griffin at UFC 101.

(Enjoy your long winter breaks, boys.  Try to lay off the Christmas chocolates.)

According to Dan Wetzel of Yahoo! Sports, the UFC is spreading the word that May 1 will bring the much-anticipated and very necessary rematch between UFC light heavyweight champ Lyoto Machida and Mauricio "Shogun" Rua in Montreal.  That also happens to be May Day, so maybe Machida and Rua will celebrate by leading their fellow UFC workers in a bloody revolution against the bourgeoisie oppressors in the Zuffa front office.  More likely though, they’ll just fight each other for a whole lot of money in front of a packed audience of Quebecois.  

Sure, May is kind of a long time to wait for this rematch, and by then we may have forgotten how heated we were about the controversy surrounding the decision, but after going five hard rounds these guys need some time off before they begin another training camp.  Plus, if the UFC waits long enough, maybe the light heavyweight division will sort itself out and an obvious challenger will appear.  Or maybe by then "Rampage" Jackson will be filming an "A-Team" sequel, Rashad Evans will have joined the cast of "The Real World," and Tito Ortiz will be directing porn movies under the name Rod Poundington.  The way the UFC’s luck has been lately, it’s not really that far-fetched. 

(Well, at least you’re both winners in *our* book. Photo courtesy of Sherdog.)

The "immediate rematch" between Lyoto Machida and Mauricio "Shogun" Rua just got a lot less immediate. Following the controversial outcome of their title fight at UFC 104, Dana White wanted to set up a re-do as soon as possible, hoping for UFC 108 on January 2nd. Unfortunately, Yahoo! is reporting that Machida needs surgery on one of his hands, and won’t be ready to return in two months. As of now, it’s unclear when Machida vs. Rua II will actually happen.

The postponement is just the latest in a unbelievably cursed stretch for the UFC that’s seen a number of headlining fights go down due to acting aspirations, injuries, and illnesses. Speaking of which, don’t expect to see Anderson Silva defend his middleweight belt against Vitor Belfort any time soon either. According to Silva’s manager Ed Soares, the Spider is still recovering from elbow surgery, and won’t be ready to compete in time for UFC 108. As with Machida, Silva’s return date is uncertain. Said Soares: "At the end of the day, it’s going to be a great fight [against Belfort]. Like I said before, I don’t think he deserves a title shot, but that’s over with now. It is what it is."

(Cain Velasquez works hard for his money, so you better treat him right.  Seriously, you better.  Photo courtesy of Fight Magazine’s UFC 104 gallery.)

The official reported salary figures for UFC 104 are in, and as usual they don’t necessarily reflect a final accounting of what each fighter took home, but they provide us with a good idea.  The event itself pulled 14,892 fans into the Staples Center (though one look at Dana White’s video blogs tells us that they weren’t all paying customers) for a net gate of $1,762,549.  As for how that was distributed among the fighters they came to see, well, check it out:

Lyoto Machida: $200,000 (no win bonus)
Mauricio "Shogun" Rua: $155,000
Cain Velasquez: $70,000 (includes $35,000 win bonus)
Ben Rothwell: $50,000
Gleison Tibau: $38,000 (includes $19,000 win bonus)
Josh Neer: $14,000
Joe Stevenson: $94,000 (includes $47,000 win bonus)
Spencer Fisher: $26,000
Anthony Johnson: $30,0000 (includes $15,000 win bonus)
Yoshiyuki Yoshida: $12,000
Ryan Bader: $30,000 (includes $15,000 win bonus)
Eric Schafer: $13,000
Pat Barry: $14,000 (includes $7,000 win bonus)
Antoni Hardonk: $16,000
Chael Sonnen: $54,000 (includes $27,000 win bonus)
Yushin Okami: $18,000
Jorge Rivera: $36,000 (includes $18,000 win bonus)
Rob Kimmons: $9,000
Kyle Kingsbury: $16,000 (includes $8,000 win bonus)
Razak Al-Hassan: $3,000
Stefan Struve: $14,000 (includes $7,000 win bonus)
Chase Gormley: $10,000

Some thoughts and addendums…
 

("…I, on the other hand, look like a very intelligent and compassionate person." Photo via joblo.com.)

Most longtime fans have gone through some variation of the following experience: You spend months trying to convince your co-workers that MMA is the baddest sport ever invented, and they need to give it a chance. So they come over to your place one night to watch a UFC event, and what they see instead is sloppy brawling, boring ground-hugging, and inexplicable judges’ decisions. "It’s usually a lot better than this," you say desperately as they slowly file out the door. But it’s too late; they’re gone, they won’t be back, and you’ll be eating most of your lunches alone from now on. It’s a humiliating feeling. Now imagine if those co-workers were Oscar-nominated actor Liam Neeson and The Hangover‘s Bradley Cooper, and you’ll have an idea of what Quinton "Rampage" Jackson had to endure on Saturday. Sour grape warning begins now:

(Pat Barry vs. Dan Evensen @ UFC 92. Somehow Barry skates by on those useless leg kicks.)

Everyone’s favorite maverick judge, Cecil Peoples, supposedly explained the rationale behind his scoring of the Machida/Rua fight at UFC 104 in a talk with CageReport.net.  He begins with the usual defense, pointing out that he has a different perspective on the fight than the fans do, and then launches into an explanation of why Machida’s strikes counted for more than Rua’s:

“Mauricio Rua was being aggressive but it wasn’t effective aggressiveness which is what we as the judges look for when scoring a fight. The way I saw it, Lyoto was landing the more cleaner and damaging strikes throughout the fight – if you take a look at the judging criteria clean strikes are valued more-so than the quantity of strikes landed. Although Rua threw a lot of low kicks they were not as damaging as Lyotos diverse attack in the earlier rounds which is why I scored the first three rounds for Machida. You have to keep in mind we always the favour the fighter who is trying to finish the fight, and leg kicks certainly don’t do that."

Of course, sometimes leg kicks do end fights.  It just doesn’t happen all that often.  And even when leg kicks don’t serve as the knockout blow, they still damn well hurt and frequently end up making the difference in a fight.

Cage Potato reader B.J. sent us this screenshot of ESPN.com shortly after the main event at UFC 104 concluded.  Either they didn’t wait to hear the official decision before writing their headline, or else their overpowering sense of justice simply would not allow them to believe it at first.  I admit that I have some sympathy, because I almost made the same mistake myself when I was writing our liveblog.

In the light of the events of Saturday night, some of you have asked us if we’re going to apologize to "Shogun" Rua for insisting that he had no chance against Lyoto Machida.  Our answer to that is, if we apologized every time we made fight predictions that didn’t pan out, where would we find the time to do anything else, like making fun of fighters’ tattoo choices or ogling ring girls?  Okay, so Rua surprised us.  He very nearly surprised the oddsmakers, too.  He came in with a great gameplan, he stuck to it, and in fair universe he’d be the champ right now.  But as that unanimous decision and the fame of Tila Tequila have both proved, ours is not a fair universe at all.   That’s why the gods of pro fighting invented rematches.

(Dana White discusses the impending Machida/Rua rematch, and UFC 104′s other fighters weigh-in on last night’s controversial decision. Also, Steve Mazzagatti shouldn’t be allowed to even *watch* MMA. Props to MMA Fanhouse.) 

- Don’t ask us how two of the three judges who presided over last night’s main event gave the first three rounds to the champion. Just take comfort in the fact that there will be an immediate rematch between Lyoto Machida and Mauricio Rua. Dana White announced the news at yesterday’s post-fight press conference, saying "They won’t make the same mistakes next time. Each one will try to win decisively." For the record, DW thought Shogun won the fight.

- Anthony Johnson was basically fined $10,000 per pound for missing weight. After tipping the scales at 176 on Friday, Rumble scored a ferocious TKO victory over Yoshiyuki Yoshida in just 39 seconds. But because he came in heavy, he was ineligible for UFC 104′s $60,000 Knockout of the Night bonus, which instead went to Pat Barry. (Barry picked up a second $60,000 award for Fight of the Night; his opponent Antoni Hardonk got a check for the same amount, while beanpole submission artist Stefan Struve was awarded the Submission of the Night bonus for his triangle choke of Chase Gormley.) Johnson was already giving up 20% of his purse. When asked about the botched weight-cut, AJ had this to say:

(Let’s all take one last look at Shogun and then call it a day. Photo courtesy of UFC.com)

So you missed Dana White by ten minutes when he was giving away tickets at the mall, and now you’re desperate for UFC 104 results coupled with pithy commentary?  We’ve got you covered.  From Lyoto Machida and "Shogun" Rua squaring off to determine which Brazilian guy with poor English skills is on the top of the 205-pound heap, to Ben Rothwell and Cain Velasquez‘s heavyweight tilt and maybe even the Yushin Okami/Chael Sonnen bout that the UFC is intent on protecting us from, we’ll be rolling right along and typing about what we see.  Won’t you join us and accuse one another of being gay, newbs, or both in the comments section?

The action gets underway at 6 pm PST/9 pm EST.  Remember to hit refresh often.

(The suit may make your opponent feel like a bum, but we’ll see who’s laughing when the sponsorship money gets tallied up. Photo courtesy of Sherdog.)

With our technical problems now solved (for the moment), we bring you the UFC 104 edition of Ben vs. Ben in its entirety.  There will be no further interruptions.  We hope.

Realistically, what chance do you give Shogun Rua to pull off a major upset at UFC 104 this Saturday?  If you had to bet on him, what odds would it take before it seemed like a good idea?

BF: Here’s the problem with Shogun – when he was at his best in Pride’s twilight years, he was beating people thanks largely to his aggression and constant pressure.  He was like a Wanderlei Silva who threw straighter punches and didn’t have a flash chin.  But against Machida, being hyper-aggressive on the feet just means getting knocked out faster.  If you aren’t technically superior (and Rua isn’t), the only option left is to put him on his back and try to wear him out on the mat, which isn’t exactly Rua’s forte.  No two ways about it, he’s getting knocked out.  Whether it happens early or late-ish is up to him.

— Shogun‘s trainer thinks that the fact that Rua has never been knocked out will somehow protect him from getting knocked out by Machida.

(Weird, that’s the face I make when I even consider drinking urine.)

While you can usually find odds on the full fight card for a UFC event – even the dark matches that some ticketholders don’t bother to show up for – most online bookies seem to be trimming back their activity for UFC 104.  Is that a statement on the undercard itself?  An indicator that they’ve realized the futility of trying to lay odds on guys who most people know almost nothing about?  A freak occurrence?  We have no idea.  All it means to us is that we’ll have to scratch Stefan Struve over Chase Gormley from our parlay.  Bummer.

The best lines on the internet come courtesy of BestFightOdds.com:

Lyoto Machida (-405) vs. Shogun Rua (+353)
Cain Velasquez (-290) vs. Ben Rothwell (+280)
Joe Stevenson (-225) vs. Spencer Fisher (+205)
Anthony Johnson (-300) vs. Yoshiyuki Yoshida (+300)
Ryan Bader (-412) vs. Eric Schafer (+355)
Antoni Hardonk (-115) vs. Pat Barry (+115)
Yushin Okami (-215) vs. Chael Sonnen (+200)

The breakdown…

(Lyoto and his father Yoshizo share a warm moment at their home base in Belem, Brazil. Photos courtesy of this set on Sherdog.)

If you have a dream — go ahead, it is possible! And if you have a glass of urine — pass that shit, son! Apologies if you’re seeing this during lunch, but here’s photographic proof that Lyoto Machida’s urine-drinking regimen is for real, and not something he made up to get inside the head of Rashad Evans. Yes, we’ve already debunked this quaint bit of folk-medicine as B.S., but the Machida clan stands by it. (And check out how healthy and happy they look!) As Machida patriarch Yoshizo explained to Sherdog:

Well, they’re back.  UFC president Dana White may say that he’s done doing video blogs from time to time, but who’s he kidding, the siren’s song of talking into a camera is impossible to resist for very long.  In this edition, DW travels to Mesquite, Nevada to watch his cousin lose a fight (though we don’t get to see exactly how he loses, which is weird).  After that he heads to Los Angeles to give away some UFC 104 tickets with the help of Twitter, which, to hear Dana tell it, is the most magical invention of the last fifty years.  Don’t get us wrong, we use it too, but does he realize that it’s basically just Facebook status updates without any of the other perks?

After the jump, a preview of the UFC 104 "Countdown" show, including Lyoto Machida‘s hero’s welcome in Brazil after winning the light heavyweight strap.  What do you want to bet that Rashad Evans did not get the same response when he won it?