(Renzo owns Maurice Smith in 50 seconds at the Rings King of Kings tourney in December 1999. Fight starts at the 1:35 mark.)

We should have seen this one coming as soon as Lorenzo Fertitta "popped his tweet hymen" by asking fans if they’d like to see Renzo Gracie in the UFC. Fertitta must have gotten more yays than nays, because according to Heavy.com, Gracie is being penciled in for a scrap against Matt Hughes at UFC 109 (February 6th, Las Vegas).

Though Renzo has had a long career in vale tudo and MMA, this would be the first time he competes in the venue that his family made famous. However, he hasn’t fought at all since his disqualification win against Frank Shamrock at EliteXC: Destiny in February 2007. By comparison, Matt Hughes’s last appearance was his unanimous decision over Matt Serra in May.

At 42 years old, Renzo nicely falls into that beatable aging legends category of opponent that Hughes is currently pursuing, at the expense of more meaningful fights against those AKA jokesters. We wouldn’t say Hughes vs. Gracie (Not That Gracie) is a bigger fight than Hughes vs. Swick, but it definitely gives Matt a better chance of retiring gracefully. And in the end, isn’t that what we all want?

Unless Jon Fitch is just screwing with us by purposely spreading false information, it seems like he will not be fighting Ricardo Almeida at UFC 106 on November 21.  Fitch announced via Twitter that Almeida had injured his knee and been forced to pull out of the bout, so Fitch will get “a bigger, better fight instead.”  If you’re wondering how the UFC got a big star to agree to face Fitch on a month’s notice, don’t.  Fitch says the bout has been moved to a later date, which flings the door open wide to allow almost any UFC welterweight to walk in.  So before we speculate wildly we must ask ourselves: who would Fitch’s fans have wanted to see him fight for a long time? 

(Photo courtesy of round5mma.com.)

Colorful Long Island resident Matt "The Terror" Serra — who has competed at a blistering pace of one fight per year since 2005 — may have already booked his 2010 UFC appearance. According to MMA Fanhouse, Serra has verbally agreed to a bout in Las Vegas on February 6th. Though Serra wouldn’t confirm who his opponent will be, Fanhouse says Frank Trigg is a strong possibility. Which makes sense, since they’re both in their mid-30s and coming off losses and not really factors in the division anymore. The loser of that fight would probably be retired by Joe Rogan in the post-fight interview, while the winner would pretty much have to take a rematch with Matt Hughes, considering that Hughes doesn’t have any better ideas.

(Whaddaya say, Royce. Wanna do it again?)

Matt Hughes may not know exactly what he wants to do with the new four-fight contract that he signed with the UFC, but he definitely knows what he doesn’t want to do.  Fights with young welterweight up-and-comers like Josh Koscheck and Mike Swick?  Not interested.  A third chance at getting his first victory over Denis Hallman?  No thanks.  How about simply completing the entire four-fight deal?  No guarantees there, either.  So what the hell does Hughes want to do with the remainder of his career?  I don’t know, you got any more washed-up legends laying around?

As far as who I fight next? You know, looking at these younger kids who are wanting to come in and be the next world champion or be the next contender, I don’t know what I’m going to do. I don’t know if I’ll take on those guys.  There are plenty of older guys out there with big names who can fight, too. I like to take fights where I’ve got something to win. If I take a fight against Mike Swick or Josh Kosheck, I’ve really got nothing to gain from that fight besides a paycheck and beating somebody up. They’ve got more to win than I do. Those aren’t the kinds of fights that interest me.

Royce Gracie was a big fight, you know? It was a huge name, a guy that had won the old tournaments in the beginning. Those are the fights I like, the ones I can really get revved up for and get motivated. Those are the kinds of fights that gets me into the gym ready to train and work.

(Paul Daley shows off a completely different kind of punch face.)

There was a time when fighting Matt Hughes meant signing up to get slammed through the mat before being mercilessly pounded on and dominated in a way that makes even tough guys want to go cry in the shower.  Now, instead of being a feared force in the UFC’s welterweight division, he’s the guy everyone wants to fight, preferably soon, before anyone else has a chance to put a beating on him and claim whatever is left of the Hughes luster.  It’s not enough of an indignity for a former champ to have every 170-pounder at AKA putting his name in the streets, now Paul Daley is doing it too:

“I want to fight Hughes, firstly because he’s a legend and second he’s former welterweight champion. He has a win over the current welterweight champion, and he has all the skills to exploit my weaknesses that the media and my ‘fans’ so often talk about. …I want Hughes, I don’t see why he wouldn’t want to fight me, unless he thinks he’s gonna lose.”

First of all, Daley’s two reasons for wanting a fight with Hughes are really one reason: Matt Hughes has a big name.  But he does have a point when he says that Hughes has the tools to help us find out if Daley’s ground game is truly as weak as advertised.  At least, the old Hughes had those tools. 

(King of the world.)

While a concussion sustained in training cost him a chance to fight Martin Kampmann to determine the UFC’s top welterweight contender, Mike Swick didn’t have to wait long for another fight offer to come his way.  The AKA product has agreed to face Dan Hardy at UFC 105 in Manchester, England on November 14,  and the winner will likely get the next shot at Georges St. Pierre’s title.  We called up Swick to discuss the news, and to ask him some other pressing questions, like, what’s up with AKA fighters and their fixation on calling out Matt Hughes?  As usual, Swick did not disappoint.

So you and Dan Hardy at UFC 105.  Is this official, bout agreements signed and everything?

Yeah, I signed it right when it came in.

What did you think when they offered you Hardy?

I was excited just to get the opportunity.  I actually agreed before I knew who it was.  The UFC just called me and asked if I’d like to fight on November 14 and I said yes.  Then later my manager called as well and said that there was an injury and they needed a replacement, and I told him to tell the UFC that whoever it was they had in mind, I’d fight him.  So the UFC came back and said it’s Dan Hardy, or if for some reason Dan Hardy can’t make the fight it could be someone else, and I said yeah, let’s do it.  I’m just excited to get back in there.  I didn’t want to have to wait until January.

(The Hallman/Hughes story. Could Matt Hughes be getting one more shot at revenge before he retires?)

— Anderson Silva‘s manager Ed Soares has debunked a report by Yahoo! Sports in which he was quoted as saying Silva wanted to give up his middleweight title to compete as a light-heavyweight permanently. As Soares told MMA Weekly: “It’s not true. I never said that to Dana. I have said to Dana that he’d like to fight again at 205 (but not permanently)…he wants the biggest fights possible, whether it’s at 205 or 185.” Silva and Soares still aren’t psyched about an impending rematch with Dan Henderson: "I feel a true number one (middleweight contender) would be if Henderson fought the winner of Nate Marquardt and Damian Maia…we could take another fight at 205 or a catchweight fight (in the meantime).”

— For the fourth time in his career, Dennis "Superman" Hallman has signed a contract to fight in the UFC. He expects to make his next UFC appearance sometime this fall. Hallman is best known for two lightning-quick submission victories over Matt Hughes, the second of which came at Hallman’s Octagon debut at UFC 29 in December 2000. The 33-year-old fighter lost subsequent UFC fights to Jens Pulver, Frank Trigg, and Jorge Rivera, and is currently on a four-fight win streak, with two of those fights taking place in Strikeforce.

If it wasn’t for bad luck, Strikeforce’s upcoming “Carano vs. Cyborg” card wouldn’t have any luck at all. Despite the best intentions, some MMA events are destined to be magnets for injuries, unwelcome surprises, and other bizarre occurrences. But which events have been screwed by fate the hardest? Knock on wood, grab your crotch, and read on…

*****
#10: UFC 67: All Or Nothing, 2/3/07

The aptly-titled “All or Nothing” event was the first UFC pay-per-view in nearly a year to lack a title fight by the time it finally took place.  That’s all the more disappointing when you consider that it had two a couple months out from the event, pitting TUF “Comeback” winners Matt Serra and Travis Lutter against the champions in their respective weight classes.

The first title fight went down the drain when Georges St. Pierre injured his knee during training and had to put off the fight with Serra (and we all remember how that went when it finally happened).  Fortunately they still had Anderson Silva vs. Travis Lutter to fall back on…right?  Only Lutter failed to make weight for his title shot, downgrading his “Rocky” storyline to a “Bad News Bears” one.  Instead they just had themselves a normal old three-rounder, with Lutter holding his own in the first round before getting triangled/elbowed to death in the second. What fun.

#9: UFC 98: Evans vs. Machida, 5/23/09

The event that famously launched “the Machida Era” only included Lyoto as a last resort. Originally, the card was to be headlined by the heavyweight title scrap between Brock Lesnar and Frank Mir, until Mir informed the UFC that he was still recovering from knee surgery. The main event was then changed to a light-heavyweight title fight between Rashad Evans and Quinton “Rampage” Jackson, but Jackson — who had just gone the distance with Keith Jardine two months earlier — bowed out due to lingering hand and jaw injuries. And so, the UFC decided to give a well-deserved light-heavyweight title shot to that weird Brazilian guy with the unibrow.

If you’re Rashad Evans, that would be enough to make this one of the unluckiest fight cards ever. But UFC 98’s string of setbacks extended to the supporting cast as well. Josh Koscheck pulled out of the event due to a broken toe and was replaced by Brock Larson; Koscheck’s scheduled opponent, Chris Wilson, missed the show because of incomplete paperwork. James “Born Under a Bad Sign” Irvin suffered one of his many knee injuries and was replaced by Xavier Foupa-Pokam. Yushin Okami also went down with a dodgy knee and was replaced by Chael Sonnen. And finally, hard-luck-case Houston Alexander broke his hand during training and was replaced by Krzysztof Soszynski. Later, it was discovered that the MGM Grand Garden Arena had been built on an Indian burial ground.

If you missed Part 1, click here.

The Kazushi Sakuraba Era: April ‘99 – March ‘01

Despite the country’s rich martial arts history, Japan didn’t have an MMA star to call its own until the arrival of a brilliant submission artist who would eventually be known as The Gracie Hunter. Kazushi Sakuraba originally toiled as a professional wrestler in the early ‘90s, picking up catch wrestling from Billy Robinson. As a publicity stunt for their employers at Kingdom Pro Wrestling, Sakuraba and Yoji Anjoh entered the four-man heavyweight tournament at UFC Japan, and despite being severely outweighed, Sakuraba was the last man standing.

Sakuraba immediately found success in the PRIDE organization, scoring submission wins over Vernon White and Carlos Newton (in one of the greatest MMA grappling exhibitions of all time, by the way), but it was his upset decision win over Vitor Belfort at PRIDE 5 that established him as Japan’s official fighting hero. Saku represented all that was great about the Japanese fighting mentality — he was smaller than most of his opponents, but smarter and more inventive, not to mention absolutely fearless. Following the Belfort fight, Sakuraba would go on to win eight of his next nine PRIDE bouts, including victories over Royler Gracie, Royce Gracie (in a 90-minute battle of attrition at the 2000 Open Weight GP), Renzo Gracie, and Ryan Gracie. Though other Brazilian fighters like Wanderlei Silva and Ricardo Arona would later avenge their country’s reputation in brutal fashion, Sakuraba’s colorful personality and inspiring in-ring performances have made him one of the true legends of the sport.

(Props: YouTube.com/TRIGGZINC via TheGarv)

When it was announced that Triggonomics brand-manager Frank Trigg was returning to the UFC after a four-year absence, we had a lot of questions — like who his first opponent would be, and when exactly he’d be fighting, and had he picked out his next weigh-in outfit yet. Well, we still don’t have specifics, but in this enlightening video blog recorded Sunday, Twinkle Toes tells us the following:

— He’d rather crash and burn against top-ranked opponents then face lesser-known guys, and he decided to return to the UFC because every top welterweight other than Jake Shields fights there.

(When Frank Trigg finds himself in a jam, he just asks that suave son of a bitch in the mirror what to do. And he always knows just what to say)

Like it or not, Frank “Twinkle Toes” Trigg is headed back to the UFC Octagon for another go ‘round.  He’s thirty-seven years old and yet just signed a four-fight deal to compete in the UFC’s welterweight division, despite having competed intermittently as a middleweight recently.  Either the UFC felt his current four-fight winning streak or his 7-2 record since leaving the organization was good enough to justify another shot at the big time, or else they’re in desperate need of someone for Matt Hughes to fight.  Because oh no, Country Breakfast isn’t ready to hang it up just yet.

(When you’ve got a championship belt on your shoulder and 200k in your pocket, all the ladies want a piece of you — even the old and busted ones. That’s your mom @ 0:37-1:01. Props to TATAMETV.)

The fighters who did battle at UFC 98 took home $1,196,000 in disclosed salaries and bonuses, according to figures released today by the Nevada State Athletic Commission. Though Rashad Evans came into Saturday’s event with the highest to-show salary in the building ($200,000), Lyoto Machida tied his purse when bonuses were added in, and Matt Hughes actually surpassed both of them thanks to his bumps. The numbers — which don’t include any undisclosed backstage palm-greasing — are below…

Matt Hughes — $260,000 (includes $100,000 win bonus and $60,000 Fight of the Night bonus)
Lyoto Machida — $200,000 (includes $70,000 win bonus and $60,000 Knockout of the Night bonus)
Rashad Evans — $200,000
Matt Serra — $135,000 (includes $60,000 Fight of the Night bonus)
Brock Larson — $102,000 (includes $21,000 win bonus and $60,000 Submission of the Night bonus)

(Photo courtesy of SI.com)

There’s nothing like a title changing hands, a hatchet being buried, and an upset or two to give the arbitrary numerical rankings system of the Potato Index something to talk about.  Let’s see who’s up and who’s down after UFC 98.

Lyoto Machida +316
He came into this fight as the favorite to win a boring decision.  Less than ten minutes later people were talking about The Machida Era as if it were the Ming Dynasty and lamenting the fate of whatever poor bastard had to face him next.  He proved you can be an elusive, complicated martial artist and still kick serious ass.  Dawning of a new age in MMA, or just a beautiful anomaly?

Rashad Evans -127
Becomes another 205-pound champ to lose his first title defense, and barely lands a punch in the process.  Keeping your back against the cage and trying to counter those whirlwind attacks can probably be ruled out as the strategy to beat Machida, but Evans had to try something.  Back to the middle of the pack.

(Just after this photo was taken, Rashad respectfully grabbed his nuts and blew Lyoto a kiss. Props to Combat Lifestyle.)

It got Koscheck. It got Okami. It got Alexander and Irvin and Wilson. But by God, the UFC 98 curse will not rob us of seeing Sean Sherk and Frankie Edgar fight to an inevitable decision, or Dan Miller submit Chael Sonnen in the first round, or Rashad Evans and Lyoto Machida counter-counter-punch for the light-heavyweight title — unless the arena collapses within the next few minutes, which is always a possibility. Live round-by-round updates from tonight’s pay-per-view broadcast are after the jump; refresh the page regularly to see all the latest. Let’s get ready to EVAAAAAAAAAAADE!!!

(Props: GenghisCon)

Just as he did with Rashad Evans, Genghis Con has put together a short profile video of Lyoto Machida in advance of UFC 98′s light-heavyweight title fight. It’s a huge file, so get the video loading, then go make yourself a sandwich, then eat the sandwich, then come back and watch this thing. And set your DVRs for UFC 98′s Countdown show on Spike, which airs tonight at 11 p.m. ET/PT. Apparently, it makes Hughes look significantly more likable than Serra.

After the jump: Steve Cofield raps with Rashad about poor fighter hygiene and Lyoto’s pee-drinking habit. Evans kind of suggests that they should test Lyoto’s urine for urine; he also admits that he manscapes. Also: An uncomfortable shirtless interview with Matt Hughes.

(‘I come only to drink my own urine and win decisions. And I am all out of urine for at least the next hour.’)

It’s….time!  Here we go again, arguing over UFC 98′s most compelling, pre-packaged storylines and making oblique reference to awesome internet videos we’ve wasted our time watching lately.  Just so you know what you’re in for.  And so it begins…

When Mike Tyson spoke of impetuous style and impregnable defense, he might as well have been describing Lyoto Machida. How can Rashad Evans beat him on Saturday?

BG: According to Jackson camp trainer Mike Winklejohn, Evans’s gameplan will involve countering Machida’s counters. But come on — do you really think Machida hasn’t been working on countering counters to his counters? (Don’t read that sentence while standing between two mirrors or your head will explode.) To be honest, we don’t know what works against Machida. We know what results in utter failure, and that’s trying to strike with him; if Evans is seriously planning on beating Machida in a point-karate match, he’s fucked.

Because of his elusiveness and competent takedown defense, Lyoto Machida hasn’t spent much time on his back during his career. But don’t forget, Evans is a fearsome wrestler. And as much as I hate watching this strategy in action, a boring lay-n-pray decision is Rashad’s best shot at keeping his belt. He just needs to borrow Clay Guida’s “Energizer Blanket” approach — shoot and get stuffed, shoot and get stuffed, shoot and score the takedown, lay on top until Machida escapes or the ref orders a stand-up, repeat as necessary, and win an unsatisfying decision without inflicting any real damage. Yes, it would be ugly, and the fans would be livid. I’d much rather see Machida ghost-ride Evans’s ass with punches and foot-sweeps until Sugar has a nervous breakdown on the stool between the fourth and fifth rounds. But hell, you asked for an answer and I gave you one.

BF: Impregnable defense, I’ll give that much to Machida.  But ‘impetuous’ in this sense means marked by an impatient, impulsive force or violence.  Does that sound like Machida to you?  He’s more like impregnable defense and indifferent style.  Whether he finishes you or not is of little consequence to him.  The guy can wait all night for a victory, and he has.  But on to the question at hand.  

Here’s how you know your MMA rap video is off to a really bad start: you inform us that you are “here with the crew,” and when you glance over your left shoulder to indicate said crew there’s Spencer Pratt from MTV’s pseudo-reality show/vehicle for vapid rich kids, “The Hills.”  Great idea there, Kevin Casey.  Honestly, no matter what comes after that, and no matter how many highlights you show from the fight with “Minowaman” that you lost via TKO, your video is already screwed.  I’m not saying that maybe DMX didn’t have a dorky white friend at some point in his history, but when it came time to make a video of a bunch of dudes looking hard and mugging for the camera he was smart enough to give that friend a job behind the scenes.

After the jump, Matt Hughes heads to Minnesota to try some of that wacky caveman training Sean Sherk is always talking about.

("Stitch" Duran runs down the list of the bloodiest fights he’s ever worked.)

- Lindsay Lohan’s dad starting up a new MMA promotion for TV. (KIMT.com)

- Chuck Liddell refuses to say he’s done fighting. (MMA Madness)

- Mario Lopez is surprised to hear that people have seen his fights. (Fight Magazine)

- Rich Franklin talks about training with Anderson Silva. (MMA Weekly)

- Matt Hughes passed his UFC 98 pre-fight drug test. (Fighters Only)

- Bob Reilly talks nonsense on Fox News Fight Game. (MMA Payout)

- More "Strikeboxing" in Canada’s future? (Fight Opinion)

- Forrest Griffin admits he was getting a little bored. (Cage Writer)

- What’s wrong with the Lakers? (Scores Report)

- Sumo wrestling game results in million-dollar lawsuit. (CBS Denver)

- The Adult Friend Finder experiment takes a turn for the weird. (Holy Taco)

- 5 movie robots that didn’t work. (Screen Junkies)

- Nascar drivers want to know what drugs they can’t take. (All Left Turns)

- Hangover recovery kit. (Ask Men)

- Brutal muay thai knockout. (Nothing Toxic)

(Props: CageWriter)

Now that UFC 98 is only ten days away, it’s time to bring out the hard-hitting questions, like if Matt Hughes and Matt Serra were neighbors, and they were just regular guys and not fighters, would they get along, and who would win at bowling? That Pulitzer-worthy line of questioning came from ESPN: The Magazine‘s usually-capable Ryan Hockensmith (who maybe forgot that Serra already beat Hughes at bowling during a TUF 6 coaches’ challenge) at a press conference held yesterday, and while the Terror tried to see the humor in it — even suggesting a reality show based on the two Matts as neighbors, which I would totally watch — Hughes can’t be bothered. "Who cares who would win in bowling?" he says. "To be honest, whoever’s gonna win in bowling is whoever is luckier that day." Hockensmith had prepared a follow-up question about go-kart racing, but wisely kept it to himself.

More choice quotes from the press conference are after the jump, courtesy of MMA Mania…

(Hint: It’s these guys.)

MMA Fanhouse tips us that two new names will be added to the UFC Hall of Fame during the UFC Fan Expo on July 10th, the day before UFC 100 — meaning there’s only two months left before our t-shirt becomes outdated (at which point we’ll jack up the price and call it a "collector’s item," obviously). As the official announcement goes:

Allow us to speculate wildly…

(Props: MMA Scraps)

We still have to wait 18 more days for this thing to pop off, but in the meantime, here’s some preview trash-talk from UFC 98′s extended trailer. While Rashad Evans keeps it simple, predicting he’ll take Lyoto Machida out in the third round, the Dragon gets all poetic ("My philosophy is the same as the samurai…my body is my sword, my mind is my blade.") According to Dana White, it will be the first time in UFC history that two undefeated fighters will fight for a title.

Meanwhile, Matt Hughes and Matt Serra share their own differing philosophies. Joe Rogan calls their match a must-win fight for both guys if they want to continue fighting in the UFC. For Serra, beating up Matt Hughes is more important than picking up the W. "Let’s send him packin’," he says. "Who the hell wants that guy around anymore? Not me."

After the jump: Get your daily dose of MMA-related laffs with two more must-see clips.

(The universal sign for: ‘I’m weighin’ in ova here!’)

I’ll admit that when Matt Serra told his then-protégé, Joe Scarola, that he’d basically disown him if he walked away from “The Ultimate Fighter” after losing to Mac Danzig early on in season six, I suspected it might be an empty threat.  But judging from Serra’s comments in an interview with MMA Fanhouse, “The Terra” don’t make empty threats.  When he tells you that you’re about to ruin the beautiful friendship the two of you share, he’s being totally cereal.

There was also a little bit of an issue with your friend Joe Scarola. You brought him on the show and then he quit during it. Are you still friends with him?

(You still care about these guys, right? Image courtesy of MMA Weekly.)

Good morning, Potato Nation. It may interest you to know that there’s still eight days left to enter our UFC 98 sweepstakes, in which one of you lucky bastards will score an all-expenses-paid trip to Las Vegas, where you’ll get to watch Rashad vs. Lyoto, Matt vs. Matt, and more great fights in person. Refresh yourself with the rules here, and get your entries in by 11:59 p.m. PST on Monday, May 11th.

And one more thing: To those cynical commenters who thought this was some sort of scam, it honestly isn’t — it’s just not free, that’s all. Someone is really going to win a $3,000 UFC prize package with a minimum total investment of $0.99. (Or the cost of a postcard and a stamp, if you don’t have AT&T or Verizon Wireless and you decide to go that route.) Think of it as a scratch ticket. And stop being such a pain in our asses.

Rashad Evans may be the UFC light heavyweight champ, but the title doesn’t seem to have gone to his head.  Talking with him last week he mentioned that it’s both humbling and sobering to be at a point in his career where he’s the headlining attraction on a card with legendary UFC fighters he came up watching.

“Seeing a guy like Matt Hughes, it makes me kind of wonder, how did I get to be headlining over Matt Hughes on a UFC card?  I mean, Matt Hughes?  It’s Matt Hughes, man.  It just makes you really stop and think.”

(BOOM, THAT JUST HAPPENED. Photo courtesy of UFC.com.)

Well, I was waiting for this one. On Michael Bisping‘s belated Week 3 TUF blog for UFC.com, the Team U.K. coach took some time out to savage UFC 97′s main event, and state for the record that he would have given the fans the show they deserve:

If Bisping can get past Dan Henderson at UFC 100, he’ll likely get the chance to back up his words. And it’s hard to disagree with him. Cote and Leites played it timid against Silva, and didn’t inspire him to greatness. Maybe all the champ needs is a confident challenger. Or maybe Anderson’s just gone batshit loony. Time will tell.

Meanwhile, Matt Hughes tried his own method of baiting Anderson for a future fight…

Don’t even front like you wouldn’t want to hang out at a Buffalo Wild Wings in Orlando with Matt Hughes and Matt Lindland, because you would.  There’s no better place to be this Friday night to eat some wings, drink a couple brews, and talk about the current state of the Republican party.  You could even tell Lindland and Hughes what time you woke up that morning, just so they could both assure you that they’d already been up for hours by then, getting shit done.

Hughes says on his blog that he’s running down to Florida to do this quick little promotional joint, then he has to “hurry up and come home so I can watch my buddy Chuck fight.”  Hughes’ own long-awaited grudge match with Matt Serra is just a little over a month away and he says he’s been pushing himself hard in training.  At the moment oddsmakers have him pegged as a heavy favorite at around -250, depending on the source.  That seems just a little high considering he’s coming off two straight losses, but Serra has only fought twice in the last two years, so he’s either really rested or really rusty.

After the jump, Hughes shows us what they do for fun in his neck of the woods.

(Please just tell me there’s a dancing seminar by Gono.)

The UFC sent out an email today announcing their first ever UFC Fan Expo around UFC 100 in Las Vegas this summer.  It includes training demos, autotgraph sessions, and “keynote addresses,” possibly from Dana White and/or Lorenzo Fertitta (though details on anything are very sketchy at the moment).  Basically, a lot of fun stuff for UFC fans in the days leading up to what is supposed to be the biggest UFC event to date.  Sounds great.

The trouble is, you have to buy a ticket, and they aren’t cheap.  You can get a two-day pass for $50 if you buy in advance, or a one-day pass for $30.  This way the UFC gets you to pay for the fights, whether you watch them live or on pay-per-view, and also gets you to pay for some idle entertainment before the fights, like watching Matt Hughes demonstrate how he choked out Frank Trigg’s pompous ass, or listening to Dana White swear his way through a speech about professionalism and ethics in business. 

Okay, those things would both be worth paying for.

If you’re headed to Vegas for UFC 100 you should a) put aside some money to buy me a beer at the Hofbrauhaus, and b) keep an eye on this website for Expo information.  It doesn’t offer much help at the moment since they just announced it, but the last question on the Frequently Asked Questions list is worth a chuckle:

(Go ‘head and tell Matt Hughes he don’t know the difference between sweat and grease.  Wish a motherf*cker would.)

As sick as we all are about the Georges St. Pierre greasing allegations (and we are…seriously) Matt Hughes has more to say on the subject.  More accurately, he has the same thing to say about them as he said originally, he just wants you to know that he really meant it and wasn’t simply piling on for the hell of it.

On a post to his blog today Hughes wrote:

I usually don’t do this, but I will this time.  When I talk about a topic one week, it usually doesn’t get brought up again.  I think a lot of people need to go back and reread last week’s blog, including GSP.  At no point did I accuse Georges of putting grease on himself.  All I said was that he felt slick.  I’ve wrestled over a thousand matches, fought 50 opponents, all I’ve ever done in life is wrestle and compete with other people.  With all that experience, do you think I wouldn’t be able to tell the difference between sweat and something else?  Last week when I got to Florida, I was in the elevator with Robbie, I said “Robbie did you hear about GSP?”  He said, “No, I don’t know what you’re talking about.”  I then said that BJ accused him of being slippery, Robbie looked right up at me and said, “That’s what you said after Anaheim.”  Also, I’ve had several people close to me around my town who have come up to me and said the same thing.  I’ve nothing against GSP, I even think he’s somewhat a likable guy.  Some people are trying to say that I’m making this personal and that’s just not true at all.  The reason I didn’t bring this up before was because I didn’t know there was anything to him being slick.  With all the other guys coming out and saying the same thing, I just wanted to be true to myself, and to everybody else, and say that there could be some validity there.  –matt

So, things we should take away from this latest missive…

(‘An opportunity to criticize GSP, you say?  Count me in!’)

Well, LubeGate has officially run the gauntlet.  Matt Hughes is the latest former opponent of Georges St. Pierre to add fuel the greasy fire.  In a blog post to his website today, Hughes had this to say:

I’m not the only one who has said that GSP felt greasy during a fight. I know Matt Serra has mentioned it and, even in their first fight, I think BJ said something. I’m not saying GSP did something wrong and I’m not saying that it would have changed any outcomes of any fights; but what I am saying is, for my last two fights against Georges, he felt greasy.

Weird, he felt greasy in those last two fights?  As in, the two that Hughes lost?  Interesting.

Having more opponents jump on this bandwagon doesn’t help GSP’s case any, but what I’m wondering is, if he’s been greasing himself up for years why hasn’t he been caught before now?  The boys from the NSAC jumped all over him when they saw it at UFC 94.  How has he managed to apply Vaseline to his body in front of cameras and athletic commission observers for so long?  Is he taking a Vaseline supplement that makes it come out of his pores?  

(Rumble celebrates his ferocious Speer-ownage at UFC Fight Night 13 last April. Photo courtesy of NBC Sports.)

From a recent Around the Octagon interview with Anthony "Rumble" Johnson, via MMABay: