(Props: YouTube.com/CagePotato)

In this interview with Elias Cepeda at Metamoris 2, UFC middleweight contender Mark Munoz defends the controversial performance of Brendan Schaub, opens up about how his last loss to Chris Weidman sent him into a depression — which he buried in food, at the expense of his health — and discusses how re-ordering his priorities and relying on the support of family and friends allowed him to focus on being a fighter again. Munoz will return to the Octagon at UFC 162 against Tim Boetsch on July 6th. Follow Mark on twitter @Mark_Munoz, and for more hard-hitting MMA interviews, subscribe to CagePotato on YouTube.

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(Using so-phisticated technology, Jurassic Park scientists were able to extract the preserved blood from Munoz’s bone spurs and BINGO! Dino DNA. Photo via Munoz’s Twitter.) 

Fact: Chris Weidman hits so hard that his victims often fail to quantify the force of his punches until weeks and sometimes months after they’ve been hit. Just ask middleweight contender Mark Munoz, who received such a vicious beating at the hands of Weidman last July that his bones began to disintegrate over the course of the year in an attempt to deal with the shock. Hell, even Weidman’s body cracked under the pressure of possessing two pipe bombs for hands. So it’s quite fitting that, almost a year to the day after their clash at UFC on FUEL 4, both Weidman and Munoz have been booked to return to action at UFC 162. 

While Weidman is already scheduled to face off against Anderson Silva for the middleweight title in the evening’s main event, Munoz will taking on the man Weidman was expected to face at UFC 155, Tim Boetsch.

If you recall, Weidman’s teammate, Costa Phillipou, quickly stepped in as a replacement against Boetsch at UFC 155 and managed to successfully cut “The Barbarian’s” title hopes right out from under him with a series of eye pokes and headbutts that were eventually declared a third round TKO. Prior to the loss, Boetsch had racked up 4 straight wins in the middleweight division over the likes of Hector Lombard and Yushin Okami among others. Will ring rust play a factor in Munoz’s return to the octagon, or will Boetsch launch himself right back into the short list of contenders at middleweight with a win here?

Munoz vs. Boetsch is just one of several exciting matchups to be announced within the past few hours, so join us after the jump to check out the chronologically-sorted list.

(I guess we could caption this, but wrestling has a way of sometimes looking funny enough on its own.)

#1 middleweight contender Middleweight Chris Weidman just can’t let Mark Munoz have his own moment. First, Weidman spoiled Munoz’ hopes of earning a title shot. Now, just days after we found out Munoz injured his foot and will be out for some time, and also that his elbow is still jacked up from nasty bone chips, Weidman decided that he needed elbow surgery to remove bone chips as well.

We suppose its possible that Weidman’s elbow surgery is unrelated to sticking it to Munoz. MMA Fighting has the report. “[Weidman] underwent surgery at the Sanford Surgical Tower on his left elbow to clean out bone chips that had developed over time.”

According to the report, Weidman had been dealing with elbow issues for over two years.

(Who ordered the mahi mahi?) 

You’ve gotta feel for Mark Munoz. In the past year, the dude has suffered not only one of the most disgusting elbow injuries on record (see above), but one of the most brutal, not to mention late stoppages of the year at the hands and elbows of Chris Weidman (see below). And he did the latter while rocking one of the goofiest haircuts in MMA history.

And just when you thought that Munoz might be headed down the path of recovery and redemption, it appears that he could be out of action for an entire year to deal with a foot injury he suffered in preparation for the ass kicking he would receive courtesy of Weidman.

Talk about adding injury to insult.

Full story after the jump. 

(A replay of the Munoz/Weidman ending in all its gory glory for those of you who missed it.) 

Right before he kinda sorta announced his pending retirement from the sport during the UFC on FOUEL TV post-fight show, Stephan Bonnar made the audacious claim that referee Josh Rosenthal should be fined and/or suspended for his late stoppage during the Mark Munoz/Chris Weidman fight. After Weidman landed some 12 or 13 unanswered shots on a helpless Munoz, I briefly thought that we were witnessing the first death in the promotion’s history, and my immediate reaction was almost that of agreement. Almost. 

Because, although it is hard to deny that Rosenthal dropped the ball Wednesday night, the stoppage was likely considered even worse because it was a revered official like Rosenthal who made it. This wasn’t Steve Mazzagati calling an eye poke a TKO or Kim Winslow letting Jan Finney return from the dead only to be killed once more. This was Josh freakin’ Rosenthal, a man who had not only made our top five referees list a couple years ago, but had easily climbed up it a few spots in the time since. This was a man who had, as GritandMettle’s Darren Jensen put it, “reffed Shogun vs Hendo perfectly” — the same goes for his excellent job in the first round of Brock Lesnar and Shane Carwin’s UFC 116 heavyweight title fight. What we’re saying is, this isn’t an everyday occurrence for the guy. Hell, can anyone even remember an instance in recent memory that Rosenthal has even come close to screwing up (Faber/Mizugaki maybe)?

In retrospect, Bonnar’s assessment was a little harsh, but Rosenthal was still willing to admit that he shit the bed, so to speak, when he appeared on SiriusXM’s “Tapout Radio Show”.

Check out a few snippets from the interview after the jump.

(*dial tone* Alcohol affects the memory.) 

Newton’s third law of motion states that for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. Over the past few months, everyone from Tim Boetsch to Alan Belcher to Brian Stann have called out soft-spoken middleweight Michael Bisping, and we honestly can’t understand why. The man is a kind, yet misunderstood human being with great taste in music who has never come off as anything but respectful for as long as we’ve known him. As it goes in prison, they always seem to pick on the nice guy who doesn’t really belong there.

Recently, however, it appears that Bisping has had enough, and has turned the tables on the bullies that simply wont let him be, threatening to kick not only Stann’s ass, but calling out Hector Lombard (sort of), then Anderson Silva, and now Chris Weidman as well. Apparently fed up with all of the “respect” Weidman was receiving for “finishing” a fight against a “top” contender, Bisping took to Twitter to vent his frustrations:

Weidman looked great last night. But no1 contender? If that’s the case I want to fight him and prove I’m the number 1 contender. Let’s do it.

Now, we understand that Bisping may very well think that he’s the number one contender, despite the fact that his last win against a top or even upper-tier middleweight dates back to, you know, never, but this is getting a little redundant at this point, is it not?

(A replay of Weidman’s incredible standing elbow and the savage ground-and-pound finish, via fueltv.)

With so many contenders clogging up the upper echelon of the UFC middleweight division — all with their hands out for a title shot — Chris Weidman had to do something extra special to get noticed in his fight against Mark Munoz last night. Because let’s face it: Until now, his name wasn’t setting off alarm bells with many casual fans. Sure, the Serra-Longo-bred wrestler/grappler was 4-0 in the UFC, but his personality wasn’t “colorful” enough to create hype around his fights (à la master salesmen Sonnen, Bisping, Mayhem), and if your most impressive performance in the Octagon is a submission win over Tom Lawlor, you still have a long way to go, right?

So this is how you make your name in the UFC. Step 1) Utterly dominate an opponent who was himself thought to be one of the next challengers to the middleweight title. Step 2) Finish the fight in a way that immediately clinches a spot on future “Best Knockouts of 2012″ lists, both for its technical brilliance (the Spider-esque timing of that standing elbow!) and for its hard-to-watch brutality (uh, you gonna stop this one any time soon, Josh?). Step 3) Call out Anderson Silva after the fight — hell, go ahead and say you can submit him — just four days after Silva re-cemented himself as the most untouchable 185′er in MMA history.

And so, a main event that was not officially a #1 contender’s match might turn out to be one after all. Sure, there are bigger names than Weidman in the title hunt — and maybe he’ll have to fight somebody like Alan Belcher or the Lombard/Boetsch winner before he gets the opportunity — but no matter what the future holds for him, Chris Weidman is a star now. In one fight, he went from being a semi-anonymous contender to the name on every UFC fan’s lips.

Meanwhile, Mark Munoz drops down the ladder where hungry middleweight up-and-comers like Constantinos Philippou and Francis Carmont are on their own heat-seeking paths to contendership. In other words, the UFC middleweight division has never been deeper and more exciting — which makes it the worst possible time to take a high-profile loss, especially one in which you weren’t competitive for a single moment of the fight. We haven’t seen the last of the Filipino Wrecking Machine by any means, but it’s going to take him a long time to claw his way back to where he was before Wednesday night.

In other news…

Sure, UFC 148 had countless hours of commercials and press conferences, but did you get a look at this poster?!? (Photo: UFC.com)

It’s been four days and two hundred Chael posts since we last took you for a guided tour of the Octagon, but by god we’re ready to do it again, brother. At your service this eve is weekend foreman Chris Colemon. Treat him well, kids.

All ten fighters made weight last night, though three had to pull a Rousey just to hit the mark. In the evening’s main event, Mark Munoz will look to rebound from stomach-turning elbow surgery as he takes on Chris Weidman. Munoz has flirted with a title shot before, but can he get through the highly-regarded, undefeated Weidman to get back on track?

Riding shotgun on the card are Joey Beltran and James Te Huna. The Mexicutioner picked up a victory and a tapeworm while away from the UFC; he returns tonight as a light heavyweight to slug it out with the heavy-handed Kiwi. Someone’s getting concussed.

All of the cool kids are inside talking about the fights. If you’re cool, you’ll join us too.

(TICKLE FIGHT!! Photo via MMAMania.)

Though it lacked the shoulder-checking excitement of the UFC 148 weigh-ins, last night’s UFC on FUEL 4 weigh-ins were not without their fair share of close calls. Mainly, that of Rafael Natal, Francis Carmont, and Alex Caceres, who all had to drop trou in order to make weight for their scheduled contests with Andrew Craig, Karlos Vemola, and Damacio Page, respectively. Caceres went au naturale right off the get-go to make 136, whereas Natal and Carmont managed to shed a pound following the aforementioned removal of their trousers, which must have been lined with a paper thin piece of iron or had a ham sandwich in the back pocket. Mark Munoz, on the other hand, squeaked in at the 186 pound limit for his main event matchup with fellow wrestling standout Chris Wediman.

And speaking of ham sandwiches/UFC 148, Subway aficionado Jay Glazer sat down alongside Ariel Helwani and recently dispatched middleweight contender Chael Sonnen to break down tonight’s main event, as well as discuss Sonnen’s UFC 148 loss and his future in the sport after the weigh-ins had concluded. We gotta give props to Glazer, who came right out and asked Sonnen, “What the hell were you thinking with that spinning elbow?” to which Sonnen responded in good humor, “I wish I could tell you…but I fell down like a doofus and I gotta live with it.” That you do, Chael. That you do.

Check out both of those videos and the full weigh-in results after the jump, and make sure to swing by CagePotato at 7 p.m. EST, where we will be liveblogging all the action in between heated games of Battleshots.

(Munoz pays tribute to his favorite terrible fighter, Emmanuel Yarborough, by squashing a scrawny ginger less than 1/3rd his size.) 

By Elias Cepeda

At first, what he said kind of passed by unnoticed, but when I caught it, I was forced to ask him to clarify. We were talking to UFC middleweight contender Mark Munoz about training camp for his UFC on FUEL 4 main event scrap tonight against Chris Weidman and thought to ask how things were going with the gym he owns, Reign Training Center.

Munoz opened up the Southern California fight gym a couple years ago and since that time it has grown to house not just 9-5ers seeking workouts, but some of the best fighters in the world as well. Munoz said the business was going swimmingly, spoke about some of the challenges of starting up and managing a gym and, almost in passing, mentioned that he led training for the guys.

Well, certainly not while he was in camp, right? Wrong, Munoz corrected. The fighter has, in fact, been his own head coach and trainer for all the fighters at Reign as he has readied to fight Weidman.

“I actually lead the training along with training myself,” Munoz said. “I’ve been coaching for awhile now and for me, I love running practices. I think about how to run practices and how to be able to breakdown technique and to be able to help the whole group. I’ve been doing it for over 10 years when it comes to Division I wrestling. Love to teach and to coach and get a good workout in the process. The guys love it too. They see the workouts and feel that they are catered to them. I’m glad I can accomplish both coach and competing. I’ve always wanted to do both but with wrestling you can’t really do it.”

Simultaneously fighting and coaching? That’s some Bill Russell and Pete Rose stuff right there.

(Fun fact: Nogueira’s body is composed mainly of replacement parts from grave-robbed corpses.)

UFC 149 (July 21st, Calgary) is picking up some heavyweight muscle in the form of Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira vs. Cheick Kongo. The Calgary Sun first reported the matchup, adding that the event will likely be headlined by the Jon Jones vs. Dan Henderson light-heavyweight title fight.

Big Nog is coming off his gruesome kimura loss to Frank Mir at UFC 140 in December, a defeat that had many fans and pundits pleading for the legend’s retirement. Following that fight, Nogueira said he expected to return within nine months. Just seven months later, he’ll be taking one more kick at the cat against a tough striker in Kongo, who ate a first-round TKO loss against Mark Hunt in his last outing. Still, you can’t count either of these guys out (see: Nog vs. Schaub, Kongo vs. Barry). Are you happy to see Nogueira back in the Octagon? And who do you think will be left standing?

In other booking news…

(Etim and Lauzon, seen here demonstrating the Tomax and Xamot effect.) 

Two lightweights will be looking to bounce back from horrific, nightmare-inducing losses and vie for the love of their malnourished alien overlord when Joe Lauzon takes on Terry Etim at UFC on Fox 4, which goes down on August 4th from the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California.

The last time we saw Etim in action, he fell victim to, and in fact helped spawn the idea behind, the “Falling Tree” knockout, when he was leveled via a spinning heel-kick compliments of Edson Barboza at UFC 142. The fight was only Etim’s second in as many years, as he spent most of the 2010-2011 season nursing a rib injury that forced him out of a match with, you guessed it, Joe Lauzon, at UFC 118. He was replaced by Gabe Rudiger for that event, and we all know how that ended up. Etim finally made his return at UFC 138 in England, where he submitted Edward Faaloloto with a guillotine in just 16 seconds. The victory earned Etim his fourth “Submission of the Night” award in his ten fight career under the Zuffa banner.

Lauzon is also coming off a devastating head kick KO loss– his coming against top lightweight contender Anthony Pettis in their main card scrap at UFC 144. Prior to that, Lauzon had put together a two fight win streak over Kurt Warburton (via kimura) at UFC Live: Kongo vs. Barry and Melvin Guillard (via rear-naked choke) at UFC 136. Lauzon has never lost two in a row in his UFC career, and Etim hasn’t since dropping back-to-back contests to Gleison Tibau and Rich Clementi at UFC 75 and 84, respectively.

I feel compelled to reiterate that the similarities between these two is nothing short of suspect. Both are coming off head kick knockout losses, both are SOTN savants, and both look like the offspring of Christopher Walken and a hairless Aye-Aye. Could it be that these two were separated at birth, destined to fight for the right to rule all of mankind somewhere down the road? Or are these mere coincidences? I suppose it all really depends on which type of person you are.

While you take a moment to reconsider everything your futile religion taught you to believe, join us after the jump for more fight booking news…

(If anyone can explain what is going on in this photo, we’ll give you Carmen Valentina’s digits.) 

After Edson Barboza’s spinning heel kick KO over Terry Etim gave birth to the phrase “falling tree” knockout here on CP, we got to thinking, what other classifications of devastation existed in the MMA highlight-o-sphere? Debates got heated, egos got crushed, and limbs got mangled, but we were eventually able to agree that the next category of KO’s in need of appreciation was that of the “lawn chair.”

What is a “lawn chair” knockout, you ask? Well, it’s that special kind of knockout, perhaps the complete opposite of a “falling tree,” in which the victim’s legs give out from underneath them almost instantaneously after the lethal blow is delivered, often forcing their body to collapse into itself like that of a common lawn chair. And to add insult to injury, the poor son of a bitch often receives an unnecessary strike courtesy of his own knee on the way down. Here are nine of the finest examples, in no particular order.

Chuck Liddell v. Guy Mezger

Ricardo Lamas v. Bendy Casimir

Check out seven more beautiful examples of this phenomena after the jump.

(“So that’s where all of my remote controls went.”)

Mark Munoz underwent surgery yesterday to repair damage he thought he sustained in training for his upcoming UFC on Fox 2 fight with Chael Sonnen, but it turned out the pain he was feeling in his elbow was caused by a combination of bone spurs on and bone chips he’s had floating around in the joint for a while. Munoz’s surgeon removed a total of 24 combined spurs and chips. Luckily for all of us sick bastards who’ve watched “Two Girls One Cup” or spent countless hours on PopThatZit.com, Mark posted some disgusting photos of the shrapnel that resemble artifacts found during an archaeological dig.

For the rest of you Nancies, don’t travel past the jump, lest you might throw up on your keyboards, which is a real bitch to clean up. Trust us.

(Pillow-fists > Toilet-brush-hair.) 

Here you have it, folks, incontrovertible proof that The Great UFC Title Curse of 2011 has satiated its thirst for champions and is now moving on to any viable contender within sight. Dana White (via his Twitter) broke the news just a few minutes ago that Mark Munoz has suffered an unknown injury which has forced him to withdraw from his number one contender bout with Chael Sonnen, which was set to go down at the second UFC on FOX event in just 11 days. Taking his place will be none other than TUF 14 coach Michael Bisping.

Bisping, who most recently dominated opposing TUF 14 coach Jason “Mayhem” Miller back at the TUF 14 Finale in December, was originally scheduled to face Demian Maia at the same event, but has now catapulted himself into a marquee match-up against Sonnen for a crack at middleweight champ Anderson Silva. Maia has been left without an opponent as a result. Since dropping a unanimous decision to Wanderlei Silva at UFC 110, Bisping has collected four straight victories, including the aforementioned win over Jason Miller, a second round TKO of Jorge Rivera, and a pair of unanimous decisions over Dan Miller and Yoshihiro Akiyama.

Who you guys got for this one? Hint: Sonnen.

-Danga 

(Unfortunately, rehab for”The Spider” consisted mainly of wearing a Power Balance bracelet and eating Whoppers.)

It looks like Anderson Silva is not nearly as bionic as we thought.

TATAME is reporting that the UFC middleweight champ has sustained *another* injury and his return to training and competition will likely be pushed back as a result, meaning the winner of the UFC on Fox 2 bout on January 28 between Chael Sonnen and Mark Munoz may have to wait a while before getting a title shot.

(Video courtesy of YouTube/TUF)

Sure Anderson Silva has a date with Chael Sonnen the winner of Chael Sonnen and Mark Munoz this summer, but when you think about it, there really aren’t many fights left for the dominant UFC middleweight champion at 185, so why not have him move up?

Anderson has a plethora of reasons why he likely won’t fight at 205 and most of them concern loyalty to friends like Lil’ Nog and Jon Jones, but from a fan’s perspective, a move up in weight is the only one that makes sense for “The Spider.”

Look at how he toyed with Ryan Bader in the TUF sparring session, basically letting him punch him in the chin as hard as he wanted to. Granted, Bader has improved from his technique of charging forward with arm punches, but I really don’t see a match-up between the two going any differently now. Silva made one former UFC light heavyweight champ look stupid and he would likely do the same to most of the division’s top contenders, so why not have him step up?

We’ll tell you why.

(The question is, whose wife cooked him the steak?)

If you were busy getting hammered off of rum and egg nog and exchanging token gifts with annoying relatives you thankfully only have to see once a year, you may have missed Chael Sonnen’s second appearance on TSN’s “Off the Record” show Friday night.

Don’t worry though, we’ve got you covered after the jump, homies.

(Props: YouTube.com/UFC)

Got an hour to spare? Then check out the full video of yesterday’s UFC on FOX 2 press conference, which was held at the United Center in Chicago and featured all six fighters that would be headlining the show. Here are some of the highlights, most of which belonged to the Gangster From West Linn:

Chael Sonnen on his checkered past: “I actually held public office, and I left the only way a person should — in handcuffs.”

Sonnen on his illegal kneebar during a college wrestling match with Mark Munoz: “Mark’s explanation of ‘heat of the moment’, I appreciate that but I can assure you it was a calculated and premeditated event, and I offer no apology. And secondly, I don’t even remember college. I’m driving around in a car with no insurance, a pocket with no money and the biggest thing on my mind was which kid to sit next to on exam day, so as far as a wrestling match, that was about the fourth thing on my mind. I assure you on January 28th, I will be ready. It will be one more in the win column, one more above the mantle, and one more for the bad guy.”

(“For my next trick, I’m going to saw these women in half, then bury them in my backyard and steal their disability checks.” / Photo via Zimbio)

While Michael Bisping’s dominant win over Jason Miller this weekend put the Count even deeper “in the mix” at middleweight, he still won’t be next in line for a title shot. The UFC confirmed yesterday afternoon that despite conflicting reports, Chael Sonnen and Mark Munoz will indeed be facing off at UFC on FOX 2 (January 28th, Chicago), with the winner earning a shot at Anderson Silva’s coveted 185-pound belt.

(Video courtesy of YouTube/FightHub)

FightHubTv.com caught up with Chael Sonnen last night in Las Vegas where he hosted the Fighters Only World MMA Awards and the uncharacteristically reserved and noticeably glassy-eyed UFC middleweight sort of cleared up recent speculation about whom he will fight next.

According to “The Gangster from America,” contrary to popular belief, he will not be squaring off with Mark Munoz at the planned UFC on Fox 2 broadcast. Although he wouldn’t say when his next fight is, Sonnen did infer that his opponent will be decided this weekend.

(Video courtesy of YouTube/FightHubTV)

When Mark Munoz politely mentioned that he wouldn’t be opposed to fighting his friend and sometimes training partner, UFC middleweight champ Anderson Silva Saturday following his impressive win over Chris Leben in Birmingham, England, many of us were surprised, given the fact that the majority of fighters in the UFC seem reluctant to fight their pals.

Then he recanted and said that, actually he’d like to fight Michael Bisping instead, which made a lot more sense considering that a few fights ago Yushin Okami made us forget that Munoz was a top-tier wrestler.

Well, he’s back at it again.

In an interview “The Filipino Wrecking Machine” did with FightHubTV.com’s Marcos Villegas yesterday, the dangerous UFC middleweight touched on a number of topics, including why he’d take the fight, what it would mean to his friendship with Silva and why he doesn’t think Chael Sonnen deserves the next crack at the belt.

Brass tacks after the jump.

(“I WAS ONLY KIDDING! RAAAAAWWWRRRR!!!!” Photo via UFC.com)

Mark Munoz‘s post-fight call-out of middleweight champion Anderson Silva at UFC 138 was so unnecessarily beside-the-point that Spike TV didn’t even include it in their tape-delayed broadcast. And you can’t really fault them for that editing decision. Munoz is behind at least two guys on the contender ladder — Chael Sonnen and Michael Bisping, provided that the Count can get past Jason Miller in December — and if you’re not going to start your call-out with a memorable line like “Anderson Silva, you absolutely suck,” you’re not going to gain much traction with fans.

So, the Filipino Wrecking Machine has set his sights on smaller, more manageable prey — namely, the aforementioned British heel, Michael Bisping. As Munoz told ESPN:

(Leben gets his cut checked out by forensics investigator Vince Masuka. Gif via IronForgesIron)

We knew something was up. After the first five minutes of his UFC 138 main event battle with Mark Munoz on Saturday, Chris Leben already looked like he was heading into the championship rounds — sucking deep breaths, his body drifting towards a Pudzianowski-esque shade of crimson. And according to a Fighters Only report, it wasn’t just trans-Atlantic jet lag or a post-Halloween candy hangover:

Chris Leben cut nearly 21 pounds in 24 hours to make weight for his fight with Mark Munoz, Fighters Only was told ahead of last night’s bout. The 31-year old middleweight had “a terrible weight cut” and was in such bad shape before the weigh ins that medical staff were keeping a very close eye on him.

When we mentioned earlier that Mark Munoz had perhaps jumped the gun when he called out Anderson Silva in his post-fight interview, we had no idea how much the execs at Spike TV agreed with us. Turns out, most of you probably never even knew this had happened, because despite the amount of time Spike had to compose the event following it’s actual occurrence, Munoz’s call out of “The Spider” was cut off before we even had the time to process how ridiculous it was. Perhaps this is one of the many reasons that Dana White & Co. are no longer putting up with Spike TV’s bullshit.

But where the geniuses behind such programs as Manswers, 1000 Ways to Die, and Blue Mountain State *shudder* failed, ZombieProphet and our buddies over at IronForgesIron succeeded.

In the above video, Munoz states that “I’ve paid my dues in this weight class” and that “I consider [Anderson] a friend, but right now I’d love to get a title shot.” Apparently Munoz believes that if threatening the champ’s wife with sexual harassment and calling him a coward doesn’t work, then maybe a little ass kissing will. And at this point, it’s hard telling what you have to do to get a fight with A. Silva.

So what do you guys think? Is Munoz drinking the wrong Kool-Aid or does he have a point here?

Speaking of Munoz, join us after the jump to see how Leben congratulated “The Filipino Wrecking Machine” on his victory:

(2 rounds…10 minutes…600 seconds…that is when this fight will end.)

The UFC’s first ever 5 round non-title affair started off on a rather eerie note last night, as Chris Leben crept toward the octagon accompanied by the song that did for Donnie Darko what “Lux Aeterna” did for Requiem for a Dream. And perhaps the haunting ballad was a sign of things to come, as it took just 2 rounds for Mark Munoz to make Leben hide his head and drown his sorrow like there was no tomorrow, no tomorrow. We can only hope now that Leben doesn’t decide to go joyriding after drowning said sorrows.

Leading up to the fight, many pundits out there believed that Munoz’s wrestling and clinch game would be a deciding factor, but for most of the first round, Early 90′s Scott Weiland was able to keep Munoz at bay, even managing to secure a couple takedowns of his own. But as the second round got under way, it was clear that Leben was much worse for the wear, throwing increasingly slower and sloppier combinations and allowing “The Filipino Wrecking” Machine to unleash some of the vicious ground-and-pound that has become his M.O. And then, in perhaps the most shocking turn of events in Leben’s career, he quit. Think about that for a second. A man who has earned his reputation from absorbing near Noguerian levels of punishment (I said near) decided that he had had enough. A mad world indeed.

Who has two thumbs and can’t wait for our liveblog? This guy! Props: MMAJunkie.com

It’s time for UFC 138 on Spike TV, and we’re here because we’re here. Get it, that works because…you know what, just Google it if you don’t get it. We can’t give you all of the answers, after all. Weekend editor Seth Falvo is handling tonight’s liveblog duties, so let’s just get it started. Hit “refresh” early and often.

Sticking with the low key feel of UFC 138, the event’s pre-fight press conference skipped the flashy fighter introductions, swapped Dana White with Marshall Zelaznik, and got right to business. Zelaznik informs us that UFC 138 is a couple hundred seats shy of selling out and has already broken the all-time revenue record for the LG Arena in Birmingham, England. Pretty crazy considering that this is a place that has hosted the likes of Queen, Iron Maiden, David Bowie, and most importantly The Spice Girls. Remember to stop by tomorrow night and check in on our liveblog of the event, and of course thank us for filling up your pockets like they were laundry bags. And have a good weekend, Potato Nation.

-Danga 

Before we’ve even had time to clear out the cobwebs from UFC 137, this Saturday already promises to bring us more bone crushing action with UFC 138, featuring a showdown between middleweight sluggers Chris Leben and Mark Munoz. And since we will be treated to a free card this weekend, why not turn that extra cash…into more extra cash? Check out the betting lines below, courtesy of BestFightOdds, along with our advice, which should have already netted you some extra dough this month.