(Video courtesy of YouTube/MMAHeat)

Not sure how we missed this video when it went up last week, but our homegirl Karyn Bryant from MMA H.E.A.T. caught up with Diego Sanchez and talked to the eccentric UFC welterweight about a variety of topics including his upcoming UFC 135 fight with Matt Hughes in September and his return to Team Jackson.

FYI, Sanchez recently turned down our request for another interview because our logo is “the damn devil sign,” but that’s fine since Karyn always seems to ask the questions we want to have answered.

Your loss, Diego, you know what I mean?

A few highlights after the jump:

(Pokrajac chokes out James Irvin at UFC on Versus 2, but contracts the Sandman Curse in the process. Props: Francis Specker)

UFC 131 was never going to be remembered as the most stacked event of the year, but it did have a lot of crowd-pleasing names on it. Then, Brock Lesnar fell ill with a flare-up of diverticulitis, TUF 11 winner Court McGee tweaked his knee in training, and Mac Danzig’s chest injury snubbed out a compelling bang-up with Donald Cerrone. Throw in injury withdrawals from supporting players Anthony Perosh and Rani Yahya, and you’re left with a ghost-ship of a card that’s making Joe Silva work double-shifts.

Now, just days before the third UFC event in three weeks, the card continues to lose bodies. Due to an undisclosed injury*, Croatian light-heavyweight Igor Pokrajac has been forced to withdraw from his fight against Krzysztof Soszynski, and will be replaced on short notice by Mike Massenzio. (Pokrajac was already an injury replacement for Anthony Perosh, which means that this UFC 131 injury curse has affected K-Sos as much as anybody.)

(The worst part of dropping to 170? Not being able to eat what you want.)

As promised, Nate Marquardt will be dropping to welterweight for his next fight. The longtime UFC middleweight contender — who’s coming off a decision victory over Dan Miller at UFC 128 — makes his next appearance at UFC on Versus 4 (June 26th, Pittsburgh), where he’ll be facing Anthony “Rumble” Johnson in the main event. Johnson returned to the win column three weeks ago with a unanimous decision over Dan Hardy at UFC Fight Night 24. Note to Nate: If Rumble promises to stand and bang with you, don’t believe him.

The Pittsburgh card will also feature a welterweight meeting between Martin Kampmann and John Howard — the guy who Anthony Johnson called out after his win over Hardy. Kampmann will be trying to right the ship after two very disheartening decision losses to Jake Shields and Diego Sanchez. John Howard is also on a two-fight skid, coming off losses to Jake Ellenberger (via TKO) and Thiago Alves (via decision).

(Video courtesy of YouTube/UFC)

It’s UFC fight week, which means Dana White is back with another video blog giving us mortal men a small behind-the-scenes glimpse of his life as a multi-millionaire jet-setter.

(Hey Diego! A Japanese Macaque called! He wants his distinctive coloring and eerily human-like appearance back! Ah-ha-ha-ha-ha!” Photo courtesy of Tracy Lee/CageWriter)

Whether it was out of true admiration for a fantastic fight or guilt about the controversial decision, Dana White and the UFC made sure that Diego Sanchez and Martin Kampmann were well compensated for their main event performance last night at UFC on Versus 3, which ended in a unanimous 29-28 decision for Sanchez after three gory, action-packed rounds. While the event’s other bonus-winners — Shane Roller (Knockout of the Night) and Brian Bowles (Submission of the Night) — took home $40,000 bumps, Sanchez and Kampmann were first told that their Fight of the Night bonuses would be $60,000, before DW reportedly added another $100,000 each to their checks. So that’s $400,000 in total end-of-night bonuses, for an event that only collected $471,450 in gate receipts. Sometimes you just do it for the love, I guess.

As for that decision, which was troubling to many (myself not included), FightMetric did the math and decided that Kampmann should have won the fight 29-28 due to number of strikes landed and overall effectiveness. Of course, the criteria that computerized scoring systems use is often much different from the ones used by human judges, for better or worse.

(Okay, maybe Bob had a point. / Photo courtesy of the UFC on Versus 3 gallery on CombatLifestyle.com)

For one night only, the KFC Yum! Center (actual venue name) will be replacing their Double Downs with a steady barrage of KNUCKLE SANDWICHES!!! SEE WHAT I DID THERE? OH SHIT, FORGOT TO TURN OFF CAPS LOCK. Round-by-round results from the Versus broadcast will be accumulating after the jump beginning at 9 p.m. ET / 6 p.m. PT — right after a quick recap of the Facebook.com/UFC prelims. From Sanchez vs. Kampmann and Dollaway vs. Munoz to Bowles vs. Page  and Stevenson vs. Castillo, it’s gonna be a solid night of free fights, so refresh the page every few minutes for all the latest, and drop your two cents in the comments section.

UFC Live: Sanchez vs. Kampmann goes down tonight at the KFC Yum! Center in Louisville, KY, and we’ll be posting round-by-round results from the Versus main card starting at 9 p.m. ET / 6 p.m. PT. In the main event, Diego Sanchez will try to build on his momentum after his Fight of the Night-earning victory over Paulo Thiago in October, while Martin Kampmann looks to rebound from his split-decision loss to Jake Shields. The main card will also feature a middleweight scrap between CB Dollaway and Mark Munoz, and the return of former bantamweight champ Brian Bowles in a rematch against Damacio Page.

Facebook.com/UFC will be hosting two preliminary card fights beginning at 8 p.m. ET / 5 p.m. PT: Joe Stevenson’s must-win fight against Danny Castillo, and a light-heavyweight meeting between Steve Cantwell and Cyrille Diabate. The ‘Sanchez vs. Kampmann’ fight lineup and weigh-in results are after the jump, courtesy of Versus.com…

(Live tomorrow night from the KFC Yum! Center. *facepalm*)

If you’re looking for a way to kill a few hours this hump day, remember to check out UFC heavyweight Pat Barry’s UFC Fight Club Q&A session at 2:00 pm ET followed by the weigh-ins for tomorrow night’s UFC on Versus 3: Kampmann vs. Sanchez event. “HD” is always good for a laugh and usually has some interesting stories to tell and you can bet Diego “The Fighter formerly Known as The Nighmare” will bring his “yes” mantra and crazy face with him for the weigh-ins, so they’re worth a look.

As always, the media player is after the jump.

(Ryan Jimmo‘s epic victory-robot from Friday night. Props: Card)

Some selected highlights from our friends around the MMA blogosphere. E-mail feedback@cagepotato.com for details on how your site can join the MMA Link Club…

- Tongue Wrestling: The 25 Greatest Trash-Talking Affairs in MMA History (BleacherReport.com/MMA)

- Kampmann Looks to Correct Mistakes of the Past at UFC Live (Versus MMA Beat)

- Compustrike: UFC 127 by the Numbers (LowKick)

- Chris Lytle to Consider Retirement After Secret Surgery, UFC 127 Loss (MMA Fighting)

- Now You Can Train MMA — Inside Your Local Wal-Mart (MiddleEasy)

- Michael Bisping’s Camp Points Finger At Jorge Rivera’s Boxing Coach For UFC 127 Incidents (MMA Convert)

- Gracie Breakdown: BJ Penn vs. Jon Fitch (MMA-Scraps)

- Strikeforce Title Contender Liz Carmouche: “Jitters Aren’t Something That You Can Have When You’re Out in Iraq With Your Weapon.” (Five Ounces of Pain)

- Dana White: “Fedor Emelianenko Looks Old and It’s Over” (5thRound)

- FIGHT! RANKINGS: Penn Proves Ranking Correct, Siver & Bisping Enter Top 10 (FightMagazine)

(One man’s “rock bottom” is another man’s awesome Saturday night. Pic: MMA Mania)

Diego Sanchez sort of unexpectedly dominated the action on Tuesday during the official media conference call for the Versus Network’s upcoming UFC Live broadcast. The newly nickname-free fighter talked openly about the hard times he suffered in the midst of back-to-back losses to BJ Penn and John Hathaway, said a return to lightweight is currently impossible (owing to a new weightlifting regimen courtesy of Olympic-wrestler-turned-Team-Jackson-middleweight Willie Parks) and explained why he recently decided to ditch his longtime moniker as “The Nightmare.” Turns out, it just wasn’t positive enough for him.

“I let the ‘Nightmare’ go,” Sanchez told reporters. “A nightmare is something that is negative and kind of evil. I don’t want to represent that. I want to represent positivity and I want to represent the good. I look back on my whole career (as) the ‘Nightmare’ (and) the nightmare was myself. I was my own nightmare. All the times I fell off track and got into drinking, got into smoking weed, the things that brought me down, the partying. That was my nightmare. I was my own nightmare. I’m grown up (now). I’m going to let that name go … I thought about changing it to ‘The Dream’ but I thought that would be a little bit out there, so I’m just going to stick with Diego Sanchez.”

Oddly, Sanchez also made vague mention of getting swindled out of $175,000 during that dark period he spent training away from Greg Jackson’s team. Details, such as they are, after the jump.

(Someone is coming out of this fight with new war wounds.)

It looks like Diego Sanchez broke his promise and will be staying at welterweight, at least for the time being.

Sanchez will take on Martin Kampmann in the main event on March 3 on the next UFC on Versus card. CagePotato.com was able to confirm the initial report with sources close to the fight who indicated that bout agreements have been received and they are in the process of signing.

Coming off of a decisive unanimous decision victory over Paulo Thiago at UFC 121 in October, Sanchez, who alongside Forrest Griffin was one of the two winners of the first season of The Ultimate Fighter as a middleweight, dropped down to lightweight in 2009. After running through the division and securing a title shot against then-champion, BJ Penn, Sanchez was dominated for five rounds by "The Prodigy" before being stopped via a cut at the midway point of the final frame.

After the bout, Sanchez decided that a move up to welterweight would likely be a more expedient route to a second shot at UFC gold considering the lineup forming behind Penn, so he took a tune-up fight against up-and-coming undefeated Brit, John Hathaway. The fight proved to be tougher than Sanchez anticipated as he was handed a loss by "The Hitman" who threw a wrench into his welterweight plans.

Now "The Nightmare" will have to avoid the crosshairs of another "Hitman" looking to climb the welterweight ranks by beating him.

(“They said this *was* the biggest hat they had.” PicProps: Sherdog)

Man, Jake Shields either possesses an unbelievable knack for stating the obvious or he just has an incredibly dry sense of humor. Either way, we dare you to read the following quote without having some variation of the expression “No shit, Sherlock,” flash through your mind. On the topic of his underwhelming performance against Martin Kampmann at UFC 121, Shields tells MMA Weekly: “If I was fighting GSP that night I don’t think I would have won, to be honest. I just don’t see myself beating GSP being the way I felt that night, but I also don’t feel that’s me. I feel like I can go out there and beat him still.”

Actually, there are a lot of people who don’t even think Shields beat Kampmann. The former Strikeforce middleweight champ showed up in the Octagon with a boatload of hype and – as is the fashion for big-name signees these days – came within an iffy split decision of fumbling his UFC debut. Then he went to the post-fight presser and said some shit about how he had cut 20 pounds in one day in order to make the 170-pound limit for the first time since 2008. UFC President Dana White called that “ridiculous” and “stupid,” but for some reason appears firm in his plans to have Shields next challenge for the welterweight title. Just goes to show, you never can tell what’s going to make the big man fly into one of his rages these days and what he’s just going to shrug off …

(Worst ‘America’s Got Talent’ audition ever. Photo courtesy of UFC.com)

Cain Velasquez has a date with Junior Dos Santos, and Jake Shields — God help us — is still likely to face the winner of GSP vs. Koscheck. But the fates of UFC 121‘s other winners and losers are yet to be determined. As usual, we have some brilliant suggestions…

Brock Lesnar: Assuming that nobody really wants to see a Lesnar vs. Mir rubber match, there are a surprising lack of options for the new ex-champ. If Roy Nelson beats Shane Carwin at UFC 125, Lesnar vs. Big Country would make perfect sense. (Lesnar vs. Carwin II is also an option for down the road, considering Carwin never felt like Brock beat him fair and square.) But at the moment, the best available opponent for Lesnar is Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, who’s coming off his own nasty loss to Velasquez. The fading Big Nog would likely take a beating, but the UFC needs to re-build their most bankable star against a credible name, and letting Lesnar whale on a legend is an effective way to do it.

Martin Kampmann: The first name that comes to mind is Dan Hardy, though the UFC probably wants to avoid the possibility of one of their British stars dropping three straight. So how ’bout this: Nate Diaz. The TUF 5 winner and moneyweight contender is facing Dong Hyun Kim at UFC 125. If Diaz wins, Diaz vs. Kampmann is a great matchup between two guys who are on the same upper-middle region of the welterweight ladder. If Diaz gets outgrappled by DHK, then Kampmann gets a rebound against an "easier" opponent. Either way, it’s a scrap.

(Your Brazilian SWAT training is no match for the power of positive thinking, Paulo. PicProps: UFC.com)

Mostly by virtue of the hype surrounding the main event, UFC 121 succeeded in preserving the aura of a big time fight show despite the fact that many of the bouts were … what’s the nice way to say this … terribly boring. Even still, a bunch of stuff happened that we need to mention: Jake Shields pretty much proved that it’s physically fucking impossible for top fighters from other organizations to look good in their UFC debuts.  Diego Sanchez defeated Paulo Thiago using the sheer supremacy of his personality. Gabriel Gonzaga showed that he’d be better off climbing to the top of a half-finished construction site and tossing barrels down at his opponents than try to strike with them. Tito Ortiz looked done like dinner, thus taking the next ironic step in his journey toward becoming – as we suggested on last week’s Bum Rush – the new Ken Shamrock.

Was it thrilling? Nah, but the ultimate crumbling of Casa de Lesnar made up for all of it. Shoot, it even reduced Dave Camarillo to tears. What more do you want?

(Above: "Look, everybody in Minnesota grows a beard in the winter, and most of us use deer urine to keep it soft and shiny. I’m sorry if the smell is unfamiliar to you." Below: It’s nice to see that someone else appreciates the long and brave career of Dana Delany. / Photos courtesy of CombatLifestyle.com)

With Brock Lesnar gunning for a historic third-consecutive heavyweight title defense against Mexican-American upstart Cain Velasquez, belt-collector Jake Shields making his first appearance in the Octagon, and Tito Ortiz possibly making his last appearance in the Octagon, there’s a lot on the line tonight in Anaheim. Round-by-round results from UFC 121 can be found after the jump, starting with the Spike prelims at 9 p.m. ET / 6 p.m. PT. Refresh the page every few minutes for all latest, and please let your voice be heard in the comments section.

(Video courtesy Fight!Magazine)

If a reporter were to ask Dana White who he was picking to win from an upcoming Strikeforce card, the UFC president would likely answer with something to the effect of, "Are you retarded? I don’t fucking watch Strikeforce. That show is garbage," before walking away in disgust.

It’s sad when pride and despising the competition gets in the way of being a fan of decent match-ups and it becomes the norm for reporters to pretend that other competing organizations don’t exist when talking to promoters.

Fight! Magazine’s Danny Acosta defied convention at the release party for the EA Sports MMA game this week and asked Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker, commentator Frank Shamrock and fighters Dan Henderson and Fedor Emelianenko for their picks for UFC 121 on Saturday night.

Shamrock came off like his usual arrogant self, proclaiming that he won’t watch Jake Shields’ UFC debut and that he hopes Kampmann kills him, but the rest of the Strikeforce crew give thoughtful insight into which fighters and why they will win the main and co-main events of the card.

(They were polar opposites with hearts of gold and a weakness for terrible chest tattoos.)

If you didn’t catch today’s UFC 121 press conference, you didn’t miss a whole hell of a lot more than the usual answers to the usual questions, but there were a few interesting tidbits revealed by UFC president Dana White including that he will be travelling to New York tomorrow to discuss some movement in the sanctioning of MMA in the hold-out state and the fact that he considered giving Jake Shields a title shot in his first UFC fight based on his record and accomplishments outside the Octagon.

Reflecting off of another, "Do you see MMA in the Olympics in the future?" question he was lobbed at the presser, White explained that things in New York are "moving faster than [he] could have imagined" and that he will be meeting with some unnamed individuals in that regard on Thursday.

As is tradition during UFC fight week, the major players of UFC 121 are about to assemble for a public press conference at the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles. Beginning at 5 p.m. ET / 2 p.m. PT, Brock Lesnar, Cain Velasquez, Jake Shields, Martin Kampmann, Tito Ortiz, Matt Hamill, and Dana White will be fielding questions from the media. You can watch the proceedings in the UFC’s media player, which is waiting for you after the jump. And if you need any more help in getting hyped up for this event, be advised that Spike TV will be airing UFC 116: Lesnar vs. Carwin tonight at 7 p.m., followed by the third and final episode of UFC Primetime: Lesnar vs. Velasquez at 9:30 p.m. 

(Martin Kampmann: Even when he grooms his eyebrows it’s intense.)

In the lead up to Saturday’s UFC 121: Lesnar vs. Velsasquez show in Anaheim, a major talking point has been Jake Shields‘s highly anticipated UFC debut. Lost in all the hype and Jake-centric media coverage is Shields’s opponent Martin Kampmann, who has taken out names like Paulo Thiago, Carlos Condit, and Thales Leites during his 10-fight run in the Octagon.

Martin was a guest on the latest episode of The Bum Rush Radio Show, where he discussed being underestimated by fans, and agreed with the widespread opinion that Jake Shields is boring a fighter. For the benefit of you lazy bastards who haven’t subscribed to our show yet, we’ve reprinted an excerpt below…

CAGEPOTATO.COM: It seems like all the media attention in this fight is on your opponent. You have Dana White saying Jake Shields will likely get a title shot if he beats you…do you feel overlooked or disrespected in any way by how this fight is being promoted, or presented in the media?
MARTIN KAMPMANN: He’s getting a lot of hype, and I feel sometimes people underestimate me. People underestimated me for my last fight too, they were counting me out then as well, but I proved everybody wrong, and I plan to prove everybody wrong in this fight as well…I’m in the UFC to achieve my goals, and Jake’s just another guy in the way.

If Jake Shields is being offered a title shot if he beats you, do you think the same offer should extend to you? If you beat Shields, are you worthy of the next shot?
Yeah, I definitely think so. If he can earn a title shot coming in from Strikeforce with his first fight in the UFC…this is my 11th fight in the UFC, so I think I’ve paid my dues. Of course it’s up to the UFC who gets the title shot, but I definitely think that it’ll put me up in #1 contender status with a win.

 
(This wouldn’t be the last time Ben and Dana’s paths would cross…)

Chances are, if you’re an MMA media type like Ben, Chad or myself and you get a mid-afternoon call from Dana White on a Saturday, it’s not because he’s inviting you out for Pinkberry.

I won’t give away the surprise, but I will say, if nothing else, although I recommend you check out Ben’s interview with UFC welterweight contender Martin Kampmann, I suggest you listen to the first five minutes of the show to hear what "The Baldfather" had to say to our fearless leader.

All of the usual inane banter, terribly inaccurate predictions and somewhat expert analysis are all still included free of charge.

Instead of waiting with bated breath for us to post the latest episode of the show every other week, make your complicated lives easier by subscribing to The Bum Rush on iTunes HERE.

(Video courtesy YouTube/MMANews.com)

If Jon Fitch has any clout left with the UFC since being fired and re-hired by the organization because of a dispute over signing over his likeness rights to the UFC Undisputed video game franchise, the American Kickboxing Academy fighter may get the winner of the UFC 121 welterweight tilt between Martin Kampmann and Jake Shields.

"The next time a title shot is coming around is probably going to be a while, so I’m kinda thinking I might wanna fight again before the title shot. The winner of Kampmann-Shields would be a perfect match-up. I’ve known Jake [Shields] for a long time. He’s a good friend of mine. I’m all about fighting the best guys in the world and we’ve known for a long time that this day would probably come where we’d have to fight. So be it."

If you recall, Fitch was supposed to get next dibs at the winner of the UFC 124 Kos-GSP showdown, but after his lacklustre win over Thiago Alves at UFC 117, Dana White reneged on giving him the next title shot, saying, "We’ll see," when pressed about it at the post-fight press conference.

(Video courtesy TheMMAFix)

It looks like Dana White wasn’t thrilled with Jon Fitch’s less than enthralling performance in his win over Thiago Alves at UFC 118 last month, since the UFC president has now rescinded an earlier assertion that the winner of the bout would be next in line for a title shot at the winner of December’s Georges St-Pierre-Josh Koscheck showdown.

During an appearance on Comcast Sportsnet Washington’s The MMA Fix, White said the welterweight title picture is a bit murkier than it seemed a few weeks ago, which may be partially a result of Fitch’s conservative stall and brawl tactics he employed to decision Alves.

"I want to wait for Koscheck and St-Perre to happen and we’ll figure out who gets the next shot," White explained noncommittally.  "By then Jake Shields will have fought…Kampmann…you know…we’ll see what happens. A lot of it is timing too."

("I am the greatest.")

Well, it looks like Jake Shields has been brainwashed by Strikeforce’s whimsical title-shot contention decisions.

In an appearance on MMAWeekly Radio this week, the former Strikeforce middleweight champ says that he wouldn’t be surprised if his UFC 121 bout with Martin Kampmann will decide who gets the next shot at current welterweight kingpin Georges St-Pierre.

"Obviously if I’m close to getting a title shot it’s a huge factor [in my decision to go back to 170]," Shields said. "I’m not really sure if this is going to be a number one contender’s fight or not, it hasn’t been mentioned to me, but there’s a good chance if I go out there and look really good doing it, it’s definitely a possibility."

(Corn’s in season? YES! YES! YES!)

According to  a report by pennyjomma.com, Diego Sanchez will remain at welterweight and will square off against dangerous Brazilian Paulo Thiago at UFC 121 October 23 in Anaheim, California.

Sanchez confirmed the fight with the website via text message:

"Lol it’s top secret jk !!! all you girls need to know is I’m fighting Paulo thiago oct 23 at 121. I am giving everything I have in the training camp this time around, I will show my fans and ufc that that last fight I was only performing at 70 % with no one to blame but myself. I have found my focus again I am excpecting [sic] a war. Luv you two awesome fans!"

(Look at you with your exciting style and appropriately fitting nickname. You make me sick.)

Jake Shields confirmed via his Twitter account today that he has officially signed with the UFC and said that he will indeed face Martin Kampmann in his Octagon debut at UFC 121, October 23 in his home state of California.

"UFC contract officially signed. Fighting Kampmann in CA in a few months. Thanks to @danawhite and everyone for their support," the former Strikeforce middleweight champion tweeted this afternoon.

(Jake initially felt some trepidations about it, but Dana assured him that everyone who signs a UFC contract takes pictures like this. PicProps: Sherdog, obviously.)

It must add a certain amount of insult to injury for Strikeforce that the UFC is taking its sweet time signing Jake Shields. It’s almost like Dana White wants to remind Scott Coker (and everybody else) that the MMA world starts and stops at his convenience, not theirs. Yeah, just as soon as he rolls out of bed around 11 o’clock this morning, hits the gym, lunches at Delmonico’s, spends the requisite few minutes berating Marty Cordova and swings by Pinkberry for his snack, he might – if nothing else comes up – get around to locking down the excommunicated Strikeforce champ. Why be so leisurely about it? Because he can, motherfucker. Where else is Shields really going to go?

Despite reports this week from Shields’ own team that he’d finally slapped his John Hancock on one of the UFC’s notoriously draconian legal agreements, the company itself continues to deny it has formally come to terms with the Cesar Gracie Jiu Jitsu product. According to an MMA Fighting.com story published late Friday night however, Shields’ signing actually is looming and once it goes down, he could be looking at facing Martin Kampmann at welterweight in his promotional debut.

Buncha savages in this town. Props to MMA TKO and MiddleEasy.

("See? I am friend. Now get in van, please." Photo courtesy of Sherdog.)

Four months after he put Mike Swick to sleep at UFC 109 — thereby going up 2-1 in his one-man assault on the American Kickboxing Academy — welterweight rising star Paulo Thiago will step into the cage at UFC 115 (June 12th, tentatively in Vancouver) against highly regarded contender Martin Kampmann. "The Hitman" is coming off a first-round submission victory over Jacob Volkmann in January, and was slated to take on Ben Saunders at UFC 111, but lost a large piece of his face during training. Coincidentally, Thiago also holds a win over Volkmann, who has been absolutely thrown to the wolves during his brief time with the UFC. (FYI, "Christmas" Volkmann will have his win-or-GTFO match against Ronnys Torres at UFC Fight Night: Florian vs. Gomi on March 31st.)

UFC 115 will be headlined by Chuck Liddell vs. Tito Ortiz, and is expected to feature Mirko Cro Cop vs. Pat Barry, Ben Rothwell vs. Gilbert Yvel, Tyson Griffin vs. Evan Dunham, and Mac Danzig continuing his slow road back to contendership against Matt Wiman.

(Photo courtesy of twitter.com/martinkampmann)

The poor bastard you see in the picture above is UFC welterweight contender Martin Kampmann, who had to pull out of his UFC 111 fight against Ben Saunders on Tuesday due to a stomach-turning gash over his right eye, which he suffered in training. (Damn, those Xtreme Couture guys need to take it easy with the broken-glass kickboxing matches.) Kampmann hopes to return to the cage in May. Saunders, who’s coming off his first-round knockout of Marcus Davis at UFC 106, will now take on Jake Ellenberger, who’s fresh off his TKO victory over Mike Pyle. In other UFC matchup news…

— According to a report on MMA Weekly, TUF 7 winner/Master Tweeter Amir Sadollah will compete next against undefeated Judo specialist Dong Hyun Kim at UFC 114 (May 29th, Las Vegas). Sadollah is riding back-to-back unanimous decision wins against Phil Baroni and Brad Blackburn; due to injury, Kim hasn’t competed since his decision win over TJ Grant at UFC 100 last July.

(Ben Saunders’s clinch: Not where you want to be. Photo courtesy of ESPN.)

According to MMA Weekly, welterweight contenders Martin Kampmann and Ben Saunders have agreed to meet at UFC 111 (March 27th, Newark). Both fighters recently bounced back to the win column after suffering knockouts in previous fights: Kampmann scored a first-round submission over Jacob Volkmann earlier this month after getting smoked by Paul Daley at UFC 103, while Saunders is coming off his first-round knockout of Marcus Davis at UFC 106, after being on the wrong end of a TKO against Mike Swick in June. UFC 111 will be headlined by the championship doubleheader of Georges St. Pierre vs. Dan Hardy and Frank Mir vs. Shane Carwin. In other UFC fight-booking news…

— Speaking of Marcus Davis, the Irish Hand Grenade will look to snap his two-fight losing streak at UFC 113 (May 1st, Montreal) against Canadian welterweight Jonathan Goulet, who returns to the Octagon for the first time since his 33-second knockout loss to Mike Swick at Fight for the Troops in December 2008.