(Velasquez’s tattoos include an ’88′ on his back that’s brown-nationalist code for “Heil Homies”.)

In terms of sheer mass, UFC 146 (May 26th, Las Vegas) is shaping up to be the biggest card of the year. Already headlined by the heavyweight title fight between Junior Dos Santos and Alistair Overeem, and also featuring Big Country vs. Bigfoot and Gabriel Gonzaga vs. Shane Del Rosario, another pivotal large-man matchup has now been added to the event.

UFC president Dana White has confirmed that the rumored bout between former champions Cain Velasquez and Frank Mir has been verbally agreed to for UFC 146, and will officially be a #1 contender’s match in the heavyweight division. In other words, the winner of JDS vs. Overeem will know his next opponent that same night.

(The battle of the chins, ladies and gentlemen. One figurative, and the other literal. Which will reign supreme?) 

It looks like Mayor McCheese has granted Roy Nelson a temporary reprieve from his Facebook sponsored drop to light heavyweight, as it is being reported that the TUF 10 winner has been booked to square off against former EliteXC heavyweight champion Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva at UFC 146 in May.

Continuing the UFC’s ongoing trend of purging Strikeforce of any remaining talent, it was rumored a couple months ago that Silva would be facing Cain Velasquez for his UFC debut, which was tentatively set for April. Rumors quickly shifted to a possible Velasquez/Frank Mir matchup, and “Bigfoot” was all but forgotten about in the mix of things. After shocking the world by handing Fedor Emelianenko his first (T)KO loss since December of 2000 at last year’s Strikeforce: Fedor vs. Silva card, “Bigfoot” would find himself on the wrong end of a slightly less shocking KO loss to Daniel Cormier in the semifinals of Strikeforce’s long running heavyweight tournament in his last contest.

It is a little known fact that Jon Jones has a stipulation in his UFC contract that forbids him from appearing in any form of promotional media without viciously assaulting someone whilst doing so. That child innocently swinging at the playground? He’s getting the boots put to him. That co-worker complaining about shorter lunches? He’s getting choked the fuck out. Mr. Jones’ newest commercial is no different, but thankfully, no helpless bystanders were injured this time. In fact, the ad is nothing more than a slow-mo recap of his recent win over former UFC Light Heavyweight Champ Lyoto Machida. And it couldn’t be any cooler.

By Crooklyn

(“Hey Ryan. My wife saw a poster for your fight in the women’s bathroom at Macy’s. Cool, right”)

Ryan Couture is gearing up for the toughest fight of his career. When he meets Conor Heun in the cage on Saturday night, he’s almost assured a grueling brawl. Speaking this week with the son of UFC Hall-of-Famer Randy Couture, who is blazing his own trail in MMA as one of the sport’s top prospects, the veteran-like confidence and focus he displayed was immediately evident. The grounded 29-year-old  says he is not taking anything for granted in this fight, and that he has prepared himself to go the distance with a very formidable opponent.

Check out what the 3-1 well-rounded Strikeforce prospect had to say after the jump.

The UFC returns to Japan tonight for the first time in 11 years, and to commemorate the occasion we’re bringing you 11 photos of UFC 144′s guest Octagon Girl Azusa Nishigaki. Azusa is undoubtedly familiar to those of you who follow the Japanese MMA/Beauty Pageant circuits; she has strutted around the ring previously for Sengoku and was a finalist in the ‘Miss Japan’ competition.

Full photo gallery is after the jump, along with an interview of Ms. Nishigaki by Ariel Helwani.

(“Where’s your other fist and why do they call you ‘Master’ anyway?”)

Just a friendly reminder that the UFC is on Japanese time this weekend, so everything will be happening a bit later than usual.

Today’s weigh-ins are going down at 11:00 pm ET and we’ll have the live stream for you below.

Will the fighters play up to the Japanese crowd? Will young local girls cover their mouths and laugh when fighters disrobe? Will Akiyama cause mass hysteria and women to pass out? Will Dana be booed by the PRIDE faithful?

All of these questions and more will be answered after the jump.

(“TRX is a workout thingy? I thought it was a rap group.”)

In spite of the fact that it was mostly made up of clips from this week’s pre-fight presser, Dana’s second UFC 144 vlog was pretty entertaining.

Check out the highlights and the video after the jump if your boss blocked YouTube at work. What is this, 1984?

Part 1

Part 2

(Props to Allfreefightvideos for the…uh…free fight videos.) 

The sixteenth of December in the year 2000 marked the last time the UFC made an appearance in the Land of the Rising Sun, and to celebrate, we’ve managed to pull some strings and dig up the entire pay-per-view event for your viewing pleasure. Because here at CP, we like to consider ourselves the cool step dads of the MMA blogosphere. Though we may not be around as much as we should, when we show up, you best believe we bring the nudie mags, cigarettes, and that funny smelling water that makes you all giggly and tired. Sure, your mom says it’s evil and thinks it killed your old dad, and sure, when you come to there’s change missing off the dresser, but at the end of the day, you’re just happy we brought you a gift, right?

(Separated at birth??)

The UFC’s May 26th stop in Las Vegas — which will hopefully be headlined by Junior Dos Santos vs. Alistair Overeem — continues to pick up manpower.

In the heavyweight division, undefeated former Strikeforce contender Shane Del Rosario will make his UFC debut against the suddenly-not-retired Gabriel Gonzaga. Del Rosario’s 11-0 record includes 10 wins by first-round stoppage, but he hasn’t competed since his submission of Lavar Johnson a year ago. Meanwhile, Gonzaga just picked up his first win in the UFC since 2009 when he choked out Ednaldo Oliveira at UFC 142. Gonzaga’s last three UFC victories have come against Octagon first-timers, which might be a bad omen for Del Rosario.

This Saturday will mark the UFC’s triumphant return to Japan for the first time in 11 years, and what a card we have in store. Aside from Frankie Edgar fighting someone not named B.J. Penn or Gray Maynard (not that we were complaining), UFC 144 also offers a light heayweight sure to be slugfest between Quinton “Rampage” Jackson and Ryan Bader, Yoshihiro Akiyama’s welterweight debut against Jake Shields, and Mark Hunt vs. Cheick Kongo.

The seven fight main card will be kicked off by a battle of top lightweight contenders when Joe Lauzon takes on Anthony Pettis, and the undercard features the the likes of Takanori Gomi and former K1 standout Norifumi “Kid” Yamamoto, each attempting to rebound from recent losses. It’s safe to say that we are in for a hell of a night, so let’s all go get Henna tattoos to celebrate this glorious milestone.

Check out the pre-fight press conference video above, which, aside from the occasional translation flub, goes off without a hitch. Just a warning: due to the fact that everything is being translated into Japanese as it is being said, it is difficult to understand the questions at hand every so often. But honestly, who gives a shit? THE UFC IS BACK IN JAPAN, BABY!!!

While we’re discussing how awesome Japan is, join us after the jump for the anime-style trailer for UFC 144, which is easily the coolest thing you will see all day, and possible ever.

(“There was the time… No. Wait, I remember once in second grade… No.  I guess I have always been sexy.”)

Our friends at TrauMMA Combat Apparel have generously provided us with three autographed Yoshihiro Akiyama UFC 144 walkout shirts so we could award them to three lucky winners using whatever criteria we saw fit to use to decide.

Since we’re all fans of Photoshop goodness, we figured why not do a Sexyama-themed PS contest?

(You think that’s funny? I just pissed in your Gatorade.)

It looks like the UFC’s light heavyweight division is about to get a much needed shake up, because it is being reported that hard hitting Shooto and WEC vet Glover Teixeira has finally signed with the promotion, and will debut at UFC 146 against an opponent that has yet to be determined.

Undefeated since March of 2005, when he dropped a unanimous decision to resurgent TUF 3 alum Ed Herman, Teixeira has reeled off 15 straight, with only one going the distance and only three making it out of the first round. Most recently, the Ruas Vale Tudo product ran through former UFC Heavyweight Champion Ricco Rodriguez, forcing him to submit to strikes in under 2 minutes. The Brazilian slugger also holds notable victories over UFC vets Marvin Eastman, Antonio Mendes, and Rameau Thierry Sokoudoju.

To familiarize you all with some of Mr. Teixeira’s handiwork, check out the Rodriguez scrap along with a highlight video after the jump.

(The toothpick, the facial stubble, the long hair — I think it’s obvious what look Bendo is going for here.)

UFC 144‘s lightweight title headliner between Frankie Edgar and Ben Henderson smells like an instant classic — the kind of bell-to-bell, all-over-the-cage firefight that has made both men into stars. So who’s going home with the belt on Saturday night? Check out some of our favorite animated GIFs featuring both fighters, and let us know what you think…

(We know Dan, he watches over us all.) 

It looks like Dan Hardy won’t be getting that fight against Matt Hughes he was angling for. And thank God, because we hear Hughes’ country breakfasts consist of Ovaltine and Total these days (we kind, we kid; they consist of grilled bobcat).  

After going 0-4 through 2010 and 2011, Hardy has been matched up with a perfect opponent to kickstart 2012, when he takes on UFC veteran Duane “Bang” Ludwig at UFC 146. Hardy, who has not fought since falling to a third round guillotine choke in Chris Lytle’s retirement bout in August of 2011, took some time off to refocus, train, and get pestered by drunken fans. Ludwig also saw his last fight end by way of guillotine, only he chose to adhere to the “tapping is for bitches” rule when he was choked out by Josh Neer at UFC on FX. The loss snapped a two fight win streak for Ludwig, his first since 2008, which included wins over Nick Osipczak and Amir Sadollah.

Although this wasn’t the match Hardy wanted, you gotta imagine he’ll be stoked knowing he’s taking on a fellow slugger with a limited ground game. But it will be interesting to see if Hardy follows a more subdued gameplan here. Like we said, the man’s dropped 4 straight, and another loss could mean his Zuffa career. Then again, the only reason that he is still in the UFC is thanks to his consistently exciting performances, so a snoozer against Ludwig seems unlikely. Let’s just sit back and enjoy what is sure to be a war, ladies and gentlemen.

In other UFC 146 news…

(Video courtesy of Sapo/IronForgesIron)

If your cable provider doesn’t offer Fuel and you missed the UFC 144 countdown show last night, not to worry, we got you covered again.

It’s been a quiet week media-wise for the event, mostly because the majority of the fighters on the card and the few reporters planning on attending the show have been travelling to Japan. It seems like more focus of MMA news this week has been on the upcoming Strikeforce card, which is curious considering Saturday night’s event is a decent one.

Enjoy it. After this event and UFC: Alves vs. Kampmann on March 2, there won’t be another show until UFC: Sweden on April 14. That’s a six week stretch without a UFC show. At least our wives will be happy.

Anyway, this countdown show was a decent one. It’s interesting to hear guys like ‘Rampage’ and Akiyama talk about the difference between the North American and Japanese crowds, especially when it was like comparing apples to oranges between PRIDE and the UFC. Now we’ll finally get to see the disparity first hand.

I think I was most impressed with the level of respect Akiyama showed his opponent, Jake Shields, whom he praised for his skill level and fight smarts. It’s rare to see that in a pre-fight interview. He even found a way to make boring and conservative sound better by saying that Jake “isn’t explosive.” ’Sexyama’ could sell a Kia to a BMW enthusiast.

Check out part two after the jump.

You know the deal by now, Potato Nation. Dana White’s first video blog for UFC 144 takes a look back at the aftermath of UFC 143, as has become the norm. So we’re going to skip the fancy introduction and get right into it.

(1:43) -  Matt Riddle has to be one of the nicest guys in the UFC, bar none. Talk about a guy that loves his job. And a metaphorical fist bump is due to Henry Martinez for putting on a hell of a fight on such short notice. DW states that he originally thought this match-up was “the worst mismatch in UFC History.” How quickly we all forgot Silva/Leites.

(2:36) - Poor Edwin Figueroa‘s testicles.

(2:44) - Apparently Bruce Leroy kicked Figueroa so hard in the balls that he forgot how many times he kicked Figueroa in the balls. Irony? Either way, we agree that a two point deduction seemed a little harsh. Then again, Caceres likely destroyed any of Figueroa’s future plans to have children, so we’ll call it even.

(Video courtesy of YouTube.com/UFC)

This weekend, the UFC returns to Japan with a lightweight title fight, the homecoming of a gaijin PRIDE legend, and a whole lot of local talent. In the main event, Frankie Edgar follows up his astounding comeback win over Gray Maynard at UFC 136 with his latest title defense against former WEC champ Benson Henderson, whose rebirth in the UFC has included decision wins over top-ranked lightweights Jim Miller and Clay Guida.

Plus, Rampage Jackson looks to put on another great show for his Japanese fans against Ryan Bader, despite the fact that the Japanese used to poison his food. Meanwhile, a loss to Rampage would put Bader in a position where “his entire mixed martial arts career is in jeopardy,” according to Joe Rogan, who might be exaggerating a little bit.

UFC 144 will feature seven fights on the main pay-per-view card, following a four-fight prelims broadcast on FX. The full lineup is after the jump in case you need it; be sure to come back to CagePotato.com on Saturday evening for our play-by-play coverage of the whole shebang.

(In Brazil, it’s customary to destroy your own cornermen with flying knees after an impressive victory.)

With a flawless 10-0 record, three Fight of the Night awards, and a legendary spinning wheel-kick knockout of Terry Etim in his last performance, Brazilian lightweight Edson Barboza is arguably the greatest undefeated prospect on the UFC’s roster. And he’ll be going for his fifth win in the Octagon on May 26th, when he faces Evan Dunham at UFC 146 in Las Vegas. UFC president Dana White confirmed the pairing yesterday via Twitter.

Dunham, who was a much-hyped undefeated prospect himself at one time, is back on the upswing after compiling back-to-back victories against Shamar Bailey and Nik Lentz, which snapped a two-fight losing streak. Dunham’s biggest advantage against Barboza should be on the mat, but if he can’t get the fight there, he’ll be in for a long, painful night, full of feet flying at his face and shins slamming into his thighs. Anybody think Evan can derail the Edson Barboza hype-train?

Related: Mayhem to Be Given Another Shot Against C.B. Dollaway at UFC 146

Men who duckface get what’s coming to them. Props: @MayhemMiller

Following his embarrassing loss to Michael Bisping at The Ultimate Fighter 14 Finale, no one was sure what would become of Jason “Mayhem” Miller. There was speculation that his performance during his first appearance with the promotion since 2005, when he dropped a lopsided decision to Georges St. Pierre, was poor enough to get him fired. Immediately after the event, Dana White was hesitant to comment on Mayhem’s future with the UFC.

However, it appears that Dana has decided to give Mayhem Miller one more chance. Last night, the UFC confirmed that the charismatic middleweight has been booked to fight against C.B. Dollaway at UFC 146, which takes place on May 26 in Las Vegas.

We didn’t have C.B. Dollaway in mind when we wrote that Mayhem deserved a fight against a middleweight gatekeeper, but “The Doberman” certainly fits the description. After losing to Amir Sadollah during The Ultimate Fighter 7 Finale, Dollaway has gone 5-3 in the UFC. He is currently riding a two fight losing streak after being knocked out by Mark Munoz and Jared Hamman.

(Didn’t Hobert Downey Junior tell you JDS? Never go full hetard.) 

Lorenzo Fertitta tweeted last night that the highly anticipated heavyweight clash between newly crowned UFC Heavyweight champion Junior Dos Santos and former Strikeforce and DREAM Heavyweight champ Alistair Overeem is in the works for UFC 146, which is scheduled to go down on May 26th at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.

Dos Santos has spent the last few months recovering from a torn meniscus in his knee that he suffered in preparation for his eventual title earning win over Cain Velasquez at the inaugural UFC on Fox back in November.

Overeem, on the other hand, is coming off a first round TKO via Uberkick of Brock Lesnar at UFC 141. We’ve added a gif of the liver kick from hell below. Why, you ask? BECAUSE WE CAN.

Fun Fact: Both men have not lost a fight since 2007. Dos Santos has scored nine straight with six coming by way of TKO, and Overeem has notched eleven in a row, with only one of those making it out of the first round.

What do you think Potato Nation, will JDS be able to fend off the overwhelming machismo of Alistair, or will the heavyweight title change hands yet again? Also, Rhode Island, neither a road nor an island. DISCUSS.

-J. Jones.

“Where I come from, people who lose close fights retire.” Props: UFC.com

While watching UFC 143 from the comfort of my favorite dive bar last night, I knew that MMA fans would be waging war on the internet over the fights that went the distance. Between the two point deduction that cost “Bruce Leroy” his fight against Edwin Figueroa and Josh Koscheck’s close fight with the “undeserving” Mike Pierce, I knew that I could expect a long-winded, philosophical debate over what constitutes a fight and what doesn’t- whether abstract concepts like “control” and “aggression” mean more than punches thrown, and whether takedowns earned and stuffed negate an inferior striking display. Naturally, this debate would include a lot of ad hominems and off topic ranting, because that’s just par for the course online.

And that was before the main event of the evening, which saw Carlos Condit earn a close decision over Nick Diaz. Carlos Condit used backward and lateral footwork while outstriking Nick Diaz, yet many fans felt that Nick Diaz should have won the fight. Before the fight even ended, the debate already began on whether “Octagon control” necessarily means “the guy moving forward”, and whether counter-punchers should automatically be considered less aggressive than their opponents. Judging from the comments sections of today’s articles, that debate won’t be ending any time soon.

Benjamin Disraeli once said that there are three types of lies: Lies, damned lies and statistics. For the time being, let’s move our arguments about last night’s fights past the first two. Let’s now turn our focus towards the statistics from last night’s close decisions. FightMetric’s breakdowns of Riddle vs. Martinez, Figueroa vs. Caceres, Koscheck vs. Pierce and, of course, Diaz vs. Condit have been published, and are available after the jump.

Two kicks + two mangled testes = two points? (Photo: UFC.com)

Controversial decisions weren’t limited to the feature bout at UFC 143, my friends. From scrotum to scorecard, there’s much to break down from the undercard action.

Fabricio Werdum put on a striking clinic against the slightly less-hefty Roy Nelson. Werdum put together crisp, powerful combinations and launched a torrent of knees from the clinch to bloody “Big Country” up. It was a welcome rebound from his performance against Overeem and a promising re-introduction to the Octagon. Nelson has an incredibly tough chin—proven by the sheer number of bombs he takes fight after fight—and a heart as big as they come—what else could pump that much blood out of his face?–but that’s not enough to make it in the UFC’s heavyweight division. He’s served as a very game punching bag for much of his post-TUF career, and it’s not a good look. On the positive side, his refusal to die in the cage did help the duo score the evening’s $65k ‘Fight of the Night’ bonus.

“Come on, Nick. Tell us how you *really* feel.” (Video: ZombieProphet)

Though he fought in a cage only ten yards wide, Nick Diaz must have felt like he was fighting on a football field last night. For five rounds he stalked Carlos Condit but was unable able to pin him in any of the Octagon’s eight corners. In true Stockton fashion, he never stopped pressing forward and was always the aggressor, but did he exhibit ‘Octagon Control’? As we generally define the term, yes. As it’s actually defined, no. Diaz didn’t want to keep circling and chasing Condit; he wanted to trap him against the cage and unload merciless combinations–basically, to fight him in a phone booth. The reason he didn’t was because Condit executed his game plan perfectly and dictated the flow of the fight. Even if that wasn’t the case and Diaz was in full control of the bout, let’s not start pretending that we love nothing more than a fight full of ‘Octagon Control’. As fans we value effective striking and grappling above position and pace. So too should the judges.

(Don’t be a hero. Just throw your lunch money onto the stage with everybody else’s. / Photo courtesy of CombatLifestyle.com For more photos from this set, click here.)

Tonight, the UFC is putting an interim welterweight belt on the line, to be decided by two gamebred sons-of-bitches who go out to take scalps, not win points. If Nick Diaz vs. Carlos Condit isn’t a thrilling fight, I’ll eat my hat. Plus: Roy Nelson welcomes Fabricio Werdum back to the Octagon, Josh Koscheck slugs it out with his evil twin Mike Pierce, and Scott Jorgenson does his best to snap the 27-fight win streak of Renan Barao.

Handling play-by-play for tonight’s action is interim liveblog champion Aaron Mandel. Follow us after the jump for live results from the UFC 143 pay-per-view card, beginning at 10 p.m. ET / 7 p.m. PT. Refresh the page every few minutes for all the latest, and please use the comments section to let us know how we can better serve you.

Props: Youtube.com/UFC

With only a few hours until the main card of UFC 142, and only one day until Super Bowl XLVI, we’re killing two birds with one stone with this video of current (and former) NFL players making their predictions for tonight’s main event. In yet another example of how far our sport has come towards gaining mainstream acceptance, the seven players interviewed genuinely seem to be fans of mixed martial arts as they pick Nick Diaz over Carlos Condit, five votes to two.

Obviously, FOX Football Analyst Michael Strahan seems to deliver the most informed, thought out opinion on the fight as he explains his reasoning behind picking Nick Diaz to win. However, the rest of those interviewed aren’t too far behind him. Well, maybe not Eli Manning- though his stoic, soft spoken personality makes him hard to figure out.

(“Hey, my eyes are up here, asshole.”)

Discussing MMA is a lot like discussing politics; what starts off as a friendly difference of opinion more than often spirals into an alcohol-fueled debate, rife with personal insults and name calling, before ending in a sloppy wrestling match that gets both parties banned from their boss’s wine tasting parties for life. Luckily, we have Doug “ReX13″ Richardson and Jared Jones here to dispute all things UFC 143, because frankly, we can’t make heads or tails outta this card.

Let’s kick things off how we normally do, with a completely offhand topic. Who wins the Super Bowl?

RX: Me, if the commercials are good and Bane blows up the stadium.  Let me guess, you’re a-

JJ: GO GIANTS!

RX: I hate you so hard, man.

JJ: First off, I’m not your buddy.

RX: But I never-

JJ: Eli Manning is to the Patriots what Dylan Klebold was to Columbine High School; he cannot be defeated, unless by that of his own doing. Giants 35-27.

RX: Wow…this has gotten off to a rough start. Can we just move on?

(Video courtesy of FightArtsFandom)

If you need a reminder how Saturday night’s main event between Carlos Condit and Nick Diaz came to be, “FightArtsFandom” AKA, Will Banh has crafted this succinct little animated video to refresh your memory.

After the jump, he gives us a glimpse of who, besides the Nevada penal system, might stand a chance against Alistair Overeem.

By Mike Russell

If you didn’t know any better, you would assume by looking at the odds for Saturday night’s UFC 143 main event interim welterweight title fight between Nick Diaz and Carlos Condit that betting on Diaz would earn you some easy money.

Fortunately this isn’t pro-wrestling and bout outcomes aren’t pre-determined, because Condit hasn’t followed the scripts written for him by the bookies for most of his fights and he doesn’t plan on starting at this point of his career.

“I’m probably the underdog as far as the betting lines go, but that’s where I’ve been my whole career,” he explains with a shrug. “I’m excited for this fight. I know I have all of the tools to come out on top. I’m motivated and am in shape. I’ve been training since July for this fight. I had some cancellations and some change-ups, but I stayed focus on making sure I’m ready.”

(We should have known that Harold Howard would be snubbed. It’s politics, man. It’s all politics.)

This Saturday at UFC 143, the UFC will unveil the broadcast intro that has replaced our fallen gladiator. Known as “Evolution,” the 60-second clip will “pay tribute to all the guys who have helped build this company and helped build this sport over the last 10 years during the Zuffa era,” as Dana White put it. Basically, it’s the most elaborate, big-budget MMA highlight reel ever produced. Read on, and you won’t be shocked when you see it tomorrow…

1) With the exception of Royce Gracie vs. Ken Shamrock at UFC 1, “Evolution” doesn’t include anything before UFC 30.
Here’s a list of the 18 fights featured in the intro, via MMAFighting: Royce Gracie vs. Ken Shamrock (UFC 1), Tito Ortiz vs. Evan Tanner (UFC 30), Matt Hughes vs. Frank Trigg (UFC 52), Chuck Liddell vs. Tito Ortiz (UFC 47), BJ Penn vs. Sean Sherk (UFC 84), Georges St-Pierre vs. Matt Hughes (UFC 65), Randy Couture vs. Tim Sylvia (UFC 68), Quinton Jackson vs. Wanderlei Silva (UFC 92), Brock Lesnar vs. Heath Herring (UFC 87), Rich Franklin vs. Nate Quarry (UFC 56), Junior dos Santos vs. Gilbert Yvel (UFC 108), Dominick Cruz vs. Demetrious Johnson (UFC on VS 6), Forrest Griffin vs. Stephan Bonnar (TUF 1 Finale), Cain Velasquez vs. Brock Lesnar (UFC 121), Frankie Edgar vs. Gray Maynard (UFC 125), Jose Aldo vs. Mark Hominick (UFC 129), Jon Jones vs. Stephan Bonnar (UFC 94), Anderson Silva vs. Vitor Belfort (UFC 126).

The UFC made a point to include all seven current UFC champions, as well as “the guys, almost in chronological order, who have helped us get here,” White said. Of course, the UFC’s SEG-era champions and stars are conspicuously absent. No Frank Shamrock, no Pat Miletich, no Tank Abbott.

2) The intro cost “an obscene amount of money,” and was delayed because of Rich Franklin.

(Be careful, Josh! If you eat all of those sour grapes too fast, you might choke!) 

It’s been a while since we’ve heard Josh Koscheck make an offhand remark that has in turn reminded us of his decreasing necessity amongst the welterweight division. Most of us assumed his recent quiescence was possibly linked to an inability to digest the five course serving of humble pie that Georges St. Pierre stuffed down his throat (and eye socket) back at UFC 124, and it appears we were correct. In a recent interview with Ariel Helwani, Koscheck discussed everything from his upcoming UFC 143 fight with Mike Pierce to his dislike for the media and his thoughts on GSP’s recent injuries. And wouldn’t you know it, Koscheck doesn’t want the man who beat him twice to ever come back. Here’s what he had to say:

I’m interested in the outcome of the Diaz vs. Condit fight on Saturday night. Should be a good fight. Hopefully Georges is out for more than 10 months and they can make that Interim titleholder fight twice. Hopefully he never comes back. ACL surgeries can take a lot out of you. They say you truly don’t recover after those. I’ve had friends who have had those and they say they’re not the same so hopefully it equals out the playing field and we can get another crack at Georges. 

Let’s get this straight, you don’t want St. Pierre to return, so you can fight for a future shot against him? To quote Ignignokt, “your logic is flawless.”