By now, you know the deal when it comes to Dana White’s videoblogs, and today’s “episode” is no different. Taking a behind-the-scenes look at the aftermath of the UFC’s second Fox event, the UFC 143 videoblog contains the familiar mix of upper and downer moments, with an emphasis on the downer. Especially tough to watch is Joey Beltran’s realization that his Zuffa career may have reached a temporary standstill in the wake of his first round KO loss to Lavar Johnson. Keep your chin up, “Mexicutioner.”

Let’s get right to the highlights.

(0:45) - Jon Jones, seen here for the last time before disappearing into a thicket of notes from which he has yet to emerge.

(1:22) – God damn it, will someone give Beltran a hug and tell him that everything is going to be alright?

(1:40) – Eric Wisely, still in awe of the calf-slicer Charles Oliveira was able to pull on him. The pain was apparently so incredible that Wisely has trouble explaining to the backstage physician where exactly the strain was.

(2:48) – Jon Jones explains how Cub Swanson is one of the “nastiest dudes” on Team Jackson. He makes a good point.

(Little did Eric Wisely know just how quickly a game of Twister could spiral out of control when he spun “left foot blue.”) 

Simply put, Saturday’s second UFC on Fox event saw its fair share of ups and downs. Chris Weidman was able to score the biggest win of his career over Demian Maia on just 11 days notice (which leads us to believe that the Vegas bookies knew something about Maia the rest of the world didn’t), and both Rashad Evans and Chael Sonnen managed to punch their tickets to a title shot against the men they despise the most. And though the future is set for two contenders, the fates of many still remain unsure. That’s why we are here to right the ship that misplaced NFL theme music and Jon Jones’ “commentary” threatened to sink. So join us as we determine the best match-ups for last weekend’s biggest winners and losers.

Phil Davis: Although he started off strong (or at least held his own) in the striking department in the early going, the championship rounds saw Davis overwhelmed by “Suga’s” speed and stamina, content to throw weak, pawing jabs that were anything but wonderful. My older brother, who is by no means a huge MMA fan, summed it up best when he said, “What does he expect to accomplish with that kind of offense?” Davis undoubtedly has a bright future ahead, but needs to round out his game a little more before he takes on a top contender like Evans again. Matching him up against the resurgent Stephan Bonnar, or, depending on how he fares against Rampage Jackson, Ryan Bader would make sense. Forrest Griffin is also a big light heavyweight coming off a loss, so that could make for a great fight as well.

Swanson vs. Roop provided an early candidate for Side-Punchface of the Year. Props: UFC.com

Remember how last night, you invited your non-MMA fan friends over to introduce them to our sport? You spent the past week talking about how Chael Sonnen is one of the best trash talkers in professional sports, and how technical and talented these fighters were. You figured that after three fights that were guaranteed to be exceptional, your friends would be won over to MMA fandom. Then you’d continue to drink and be merry all night, and we’d all meet up here today for our traditional post-UFC event GIF party where we all high five over how awesome the fights were.

Well, it didn’t quite work out that way. Instead, you found yourself doing damage control as you watched three fights worth of sloppy brawling, wall and stall and Chael Sonnen’s blatant swaggerjacking of homage to “Superstar” Billy Graham. You tried to convince them that the fights are usually nothing like this, and that these guys gassing out and the end of the first round are world class athletes. Eventually, one of your friends said “I bet Pacquiao would destroy ANY of these guys” as the rest of your friends grabbed their coats and said they’d call you next time they wanted to watch the fights.

Okay, so last night sucked. But we’ve been planning this party all week, and we’ll be damned if we cancel it at this point. So grab an alcoholic beverage, put on your gaudiest Affliction shirt and join us for our traditional post-UFC event GIF Party.

As always, praise be to Zombie Prophet at IronForgesIron.com for the GIFS.

Totally illegal in NCAA competition. (Photo: UFC.com)

“It’s usually not like this.” With that text I found myself apologizing to a UFC-virgin for the first time in a long time. My friend had just told me that she was at home watching the the show on FOX, without any provocation from me mind you. “This is that fighting you like, right???”. I assured her that the event had yet to capture the energy and excitement indicative of the sport. “I’m going back and forth between this and figure skating,” she replied. I can’t really say I blame her, either.

While we expected plenty of grappling in the bouts themselves, the wrestling theme seemed to carry on throughout the production at large. The usually-charismatic Jon Jones wrestled with his notes, relying on them not just for in-depth fight analysis but for simple things like his thoughts on fighting Rashad. The opening act wrestled with fatigue, leading to a performance as exhausting for fans as it was for the competitors in the cage. And once again, FOX wrestled with an underwhelming broadcast that left the most exciting action behind in the prelims.

Enough belly aching about the show itself, let’s take a look at what made such a promising event so forgettable for the masses.

“Is it too soon to talk about Sandusky, or should I wait ten years, like Paterno?” Props: MMAJunkie.com

“The House that Jordan Built” is sold out for the UFC’s return to Fox, which features three times as many televised fights as its Fox debut. Can Chris Weidman make a name for himself against Demian Maia? Will Chael Sonnen challenge Anderson Silva to a casket match after tonight’s fight? Does Phil Davis establish himself as a contender at light-heavyweight, or does Rashad Evans set himself up to get overlooked for yet another title shot? We’ll answer all this and more as it unfolds.

Handling liveblogging duties tonight is Seth Falvo, who will be watching the event with some old friends. Please direct all complaints about spelling and grammar, comments about the liveblogger’s sexual preference and unrelated conspiracy theories directly at him. Spoilers after the jump.

“Forget all about that belt tomorrow, son.” (Video: YouTube/UFC)

Last night’s weigh-ins in the bag and we are officially one step closer to go-time. While these events are a mere formality in the fight business—I mean, who would show up unprepared, right?–they do give one more opportunity for fans to cheer or boo the fighters of their choice, and one more opportunity for fighters to win the mental war. With those assignments in mind, the men on stage and those in the bleachers made the most of the evening.

Though Michael Bisping and Chael Sonnen have taken second billing on this evening’s card, they’ve more than pulled their own weight in the promotions department. While Chael has drawn plenty of hype for this bout, he’s largely focused the spotlight on himself with little attention paid to his opponent whatsoever. Bisping on the other hand has been in full heel mode in recent interviews, embracing his role as the bad guy and verbally attacking his foe whenever possible. Last night he responded to a chorus of boos by brandishing the ‘Stockton Heybuddy‘, a move that seemed to cost him a sponsor, at least momentarily. If these two jawing in the staredown didn’t get you amped for their bout, there’s little I can do for you.

Despite the main event being a mixed martial arts bout, much of the back-and-forth between Rashad Evans and Phil Davis has centered on wrestling credentials. “Mr. Wonderful” was undoubtedly the more decorated of the two during their NCAA careers, though Evans feels his in-cage ability will expose Davis’s “trash technique”. Upping the ante once more before they glove up, Davis sported a Penn State singlet as he hit the scales. Face to face, both men exuded incredible confidence and not a shred of intimidation.

Full weigh-in results and a video of the Evans-Davis face-off after the jump.

(Always with the forehead contact, eh Mike?)

Staredown gif via ‘unfilter’ on the UG. The full UFC on FOX 2 press conference video is after the jump, in which Dana White clarifies that Chael Sonnen is not actually the middleweight champion, nor will he be challenging for the light-heavyweight or heavyweight titles after this fight.

(UFC on Fox 2: Evil Twins.)

Just a friendly reminder that you can watch the Chael Sonnen Show UFC on Fox: Evans vs. Davis pre-fight press conference live right here starting at 2:00 pm ET sharp.

The smack talk between Sonnen and Bisping will likely be taken to the next level when the two of them are seated within ten feet of each other, so it’s definitely worth checking out.

Let us know your picks for Saturday night in the comment section while we wait for this thing to start.

The video feed is after the jump.

(Rashad Evans: He’ll put those hands on you worse than…well, you know. / Photo via MMAFighting.com)

The UFC returns to FOX this Saturday with a three-fight main card that could produce the next title contenders in two different divisions. It’s also packed with betting opportunities that will generously reward the risk-takers. And you’re not a chicken, are you? Huh? Bawk bawk bawwwwwk?? Yeah, that’s what we thought. So consider our UFC on FOX 2: Evans vs. Davis gambling advice after the jump, and be sure to come back for our liveblog, which kicks off at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT. But first, the complete odds lineup, via BestFightOdds.com:

MAIN CARD (FOX)
Rashad Evans (-165) vs. Phil Davis (+175)
Chael Sonnen (-400) vs. Michael Bisping (+394)
Chris Weidman (-140) vs. Demian Maia (+128)

PRELIMINARY CARD (FUEL TV)
Evan Dunham (-314) vs. Nik Lentz (+300)
Shane Roller (-218) vs. Michael Johnson (+200)
Mike Russow (-150) vs. Jon Olav Einemo (+152)
Cub Swanson (-136) vs. George Roop (+125)
Charles Oliveira (-458) vs. Eric Wisely (+400)
Joey Beltran (-204) vs. Lavar Johnson (+183)

PRELIMINARY CARD (FACEBOOK.com/UFC)
Chris Camozzi (-170) vs. Dustin Jacoby (+160)

Let’s get started…

(Video courtesy of YouTube/FightHubTV)

Our friend Marcos Villegas over at FightHubTV caught up with Michael Bisping ahead of his UFC on Fox 1 middleweight contender match-up this weekend and the brash Brit is not surprisingly confident of his chances Saturday night against Chael Sonnen, who he has been preparing to fight his whole life apparently.

“Well, you know…um… it’s a difficult match-up. There’s no two ways about it. Chael Sonnen is widely regarded as the number one contender and he’s closing in on a match with Anderson Silva. I was training for Demian Maia, who himself is a very, very dangerous opponent. He actually holds a very good win over Chael Sonnen. Demian Maia submitted Chael Sonnen. I’ve been training hard — as hard as humanly possible, to be honest, for my fight with Demian Maia. A fight with Chael Sonnen, there’s a lot of people out there who don’t want to take that fight,” he explained. “I didn’t think about it for a second. I jumped at the opportunity. I’m a fighter. This is what I do and I want to have the title. A lot of people said, ‘Oh, you’ve only got a week to prepare.’ I disagree. I’ve been preparing for this my whole life. I’ve been training in martial arts since I was about nine years old; I’ve been training hard for this fight. It doesn’t mean anything. At the end of the day, I don’t care about the style, we’re gonna get in there and fight and it’s gonna be who’s the better fighter. I believe I’m the better fighter, but we’ll see what happens…I believe this is my destiny to be world champion and Chael Sonnen’s in my way.”

(Video via IronForgesIron)

During a guest spot on Inside MMA last night, Michael Bisping took his anti-Sonnen trash-talk to new, anatomical levels:

“Let’s start with the obvious. One, he’s not the middleweight champion. He’s been beaten many, many times. He’s been submitted more times than I care to mention…the last time he lost a fight by submission, there was some issue involving performance enhancing drugs. Now, I don’t know what the deal is, you know, apparently he has one testicle. One testicle. This is why he uses performance enhancing drugs. I’m sorry…that’s not enough balls to fight me next week!”

Okay, can we set the record straight? Chael Sonnen has two testicles, just like anybody else. It’s just that Sonnen’s testicles never developed properly, which is why he has to undergo hormone replacement therapy and wear special underwear. The question is: How much impact will Sonnen’s genitals have on his UFC on FOX 2 meeting with Bisping this Saturday?

(“NOW, MIKE! GO FOR THE HEEL-HOOK!”)

We’re just nine days away from the greatest inter-continental Villain vs. Villain match in UFC history, as Chael Sonnen and Michael Bisping square off for a shot at the middleweight title at UFC on FOX 2. The short-notice nature of the bout means that we won’t be getting as much memorable-trash talk as we could have. But Bisping is doing his best to build some heat, telling FightersOnly:

“Chael’s biggest weapon is his mouth – but this ain’t no kissing contest and he isn’t going to talk me to death. Unlucky for him he can’t hurt me with his mouth in the Octagon and I am going to crush him. I’m in my prime and this is my time…

[H]is wrestling skills will be on point, I’m going to get the best Chael Sonnen possible, I know that. But his jiu-jitsu wont be too slick. Chael Sonnen can take me down if he likes, because I know I can submit him off my back. I know I can. That’s his big weakness. I may not have a black belt, but I consider myself a black belt. I’ve been rolling with Jake Shields, Dean Lister and a wash of other world champions. Believe me, if Chael Sonnen takes me down he better be prepared to get submitted.

(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 

(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.”

(I know they’re beautiful, Dominick, but just because you promised to get them on TV doesn’t mean they qualify as assistant coaches.) 

The UFC announced yesterday that the fifteenth season of its reality show, The Ultimate Fighter, will feature current bantamweight champ Dominick Cruz and long time rival Urijah Faber as its coaches when it debuts on FX this March.

The pair last met in July at UFC 132, where “The Dominator” earned a unanimous decision nod and evened the score between the two in an exciting back-and-forth battle.Their initial meeting dates back over five years to the glory days of the WEC, where Faber scored a guillotine choke over the current champ within the first two minutes.

Since their UFC 132 Fight of the Night earning brawl, Cruz has scored another unanimous decision win over Demetrious Johnson, whereas Faber recently picked up a second round submission victory at UFC 139 over the man to lose the WEC bantamweight title to Cruz, Brian Bowles.

And so, the speculation comes to an end. Following his beatdown of Jason Miller at the TUF 14 Finale, UFC middleweight contender Michael Bisping will make a quick seven-week turnaround and fight Demian Maia at UFC on FOX 2 (January 28th, Chicago). The UFC confirmed the pairing early this morning, in advance of a scheduled press conference this afternoon at the United Center officially announcing the fight card.

While Bisping is rolling on a four-fight win streak, Maia just got back to the win column in October with a unanimous decision over Jorge Santiago, which followed a decision loss to Mark Munoz. Maia is 3-1 overall since his disastrous title challenge against Anderson Silva at UFC 112. When he enters the cage next month, it will have been nearly three years since the former grappling phenom scored a submission in the Octagon — a triangle choke against none other than Chael Sonnen at UFC 95.

(Success: Getting paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to do something you’d gladly do for free. Photo via UFC.com)

It wasn’t enough that Michael Bisping scored a mouth-shutting TKO victory over Jason Miller at the TUF 14 Finale, in which he out-struck Mayhem 150-38. Bisping also had the pleasure of earning nearly ten times as much cash as his rival. MMA Junkie released the salary list from Saturday’s TUF 14 Finale, which shows that the Count’s paycheck ate up 49% of the card’s $868,000 payroll (including disclosed bonuses). The numbers are below. According to our sources, Marcus Brimage already spent his sixteen grand on revolting sex acts.

Michael Bisping: $425,000 (includes $150,000 win bonus)
def. Jason “Mayhem” Miller: $45,000

Diego Brandao: $16,000 (includes $8,000 win bonus)
def. Dennis Bermudez: $8,000

Tebowing: None of you are doing it right.

Another season of The Ultimate Fighter has come and gone, and we’re not certain what the future holds for it. The entire format of the show we knew and loved, then decided to ignore for a while, then were all like “Dude there’s no way Kimbo gets past Roy Nelson”, then went back to ignoring it when we were proven right, then decided “Well maybe Mayhem will be fun to watch” is about to change yet again. Raise your hand if you got lost during that last sentence.

If there’s one thing we understand at Cage Potato, it’s consistency. No matter how much the show changes, we’ll be around to give you our opinions on what to do with the finale’s biggest names. So let’s get to it, shall we?

Michael Bisping: Since losing to Wanderlei Silva back at UFC 110, Michael Bisping has gone 4-0 and established himself as a Top Ten Middleweight. Or at least that’s what I keep hearing, even though the guys he’s defeated in that time period have been on the lower to middle end of the middleweight division. In his post fight-interview with Ariel Helwani, Bisping hinted that his next fight has already been booked, and it’s against someone he hasn’t fought before. A fight against Alan Belcher makes sense, and should establish the winner as a legitimate contender in the middleweight division. Don’t act too surprised if the UFC uses Bisping as a litmus test for 7-0 (3-0 UFC) prospect Chris Weidman, either.

(“You maaaad, you maaaaad, you maaaaad!” Photo via MMAMania)

Tonight, TUF as we know it comes to an end. Before us lies a shadowy, uncertain world of live fights aired on F/X on Friday nights and international spin-offs. But no matter what comes next, you can feel secure in the fact that we’ll still be complaining about the show just as much as we always have, because we know no other way to live.

Welcome, friends, to our liveblog of The Ultimate Fighter: Team Bisping vs. Team Miller Finale. On the menu this evening — Diego Brandao and Dennis Bermudez battle to decide the first featherweight TUF winner in UFC history, while John Dodson and TJ Dillashaw do the same for the bantamweights. Plus, heavy-handed TUF 13 winner Tony Ferguson steps up against seasoned vet Yves Edwards, and in the main event, Michael Bisping looks to remove the smirk off the face of his latest rival, Jason “Mayhem” Miller, who will be making his first Octagon appearance in over six years.

Round-by-round results from the TUF 14 Finale main card on Spike TV will be piling up after the jump beginning at 8 p.m. ET. Refresh the page every few minutes for all the latest.

(Props: Heavy via Cagewriter. / Bisping addresses his supporters at the 5:50 mark. )

At yesterday’s weigh-ins for the Ultimate Fighter 14 Finale, Michael Bisping did nothing to support his claims that there’s a somewhat decent person hiding underneath that bristly persona. The UFC middleweight contender missed weight by a quarter-pound — which he shed later — inviting boos from the crowd at the Palms in Las Vegas. After his opponent Jason Miller goaded the crowd further, telling them to “boo this man,” Bisping took the mic:

“I could give a fuck about getting fucking love. All I care about is smashing this dickhead’s head in. Tomorrow night, that’s gonna happen. Fuck you all.”

Our liveblog of the Spike TV main card kicks off at 8 p.m. ET. Check out the full weigh-in results from the TUF 14 Finale after the jump…

(Props: MMAFighting)

Despite Jason Miller‘s basic-cable cred, Michael Bisping will be the biggest UFC star to compete at the TUF 14 Finale on Saturday night. He’s also one of the biggest villains on the UFC roster — a fighter who fans love to hate. To some extent, you can blame that on reality show editing, which Bisping in fact does, starting at the 10:18 mark of this video interview. But he’s also been responsible for some real-life behavior that’s just nasty and wrong. Like Josh Koscheck, the villain persona that has been hoisted on Bisping seems to be an exaggerated version of what’s already there.

In this 20-minute pre-fight chat, Ariel Helwani gets the Count’s thoughts on his fight with Mayhem Miller, and attempts to reconcile Michael Bisping the bully character with Michael Bisping the human being. Here’s a cheat sheet…

(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.

The Ultimate Fighter 14 Finale is just two days away, and though the bookies haven’t given us much to work with, we decided to throw y’all some last minute betting advice come fight night in case you plan on bluffing the piss out of Johnny Chan in the Palms Casino afterward. Check out the betting lines, courtesy of BestFightOdds, along with the almighty wisdom of the Great Potato, below.

Main Card (Spike TV)
Michael Bisping (-185) vs. Jason Miller (+160)
T.J. Dillashaw (-205) vs. John Dodson (+165)
Diego Brandao (-320) vs. Dennis Bermudez (+250)
Tony Ferguson (-255) vs. Yves Edwards (+205)

The Main Event: Let’s get right to it. Bisping has a lot of advantages going into this fight: he’s never been submitted, which is Miller’s bread and butter, he’s fought more in the past year, and he has considerably less pressure on him than Mayhem, who is out to prove to casual and hardcore fans alike that he is more than just a goofball TV personality. And we all know that Bisping will do anything, and I mean anything, to destroy those who slander him publicly, so Miller will most definitely be facing at a steep hill to climb for his first appearance in the octagon since 2005. But there are a couple crucial outside factors here. As Miller has stated, he is one hard headed son of a bitch, and despite what Bisping’s record says, have we ever seen him truly overwhelm an opponent as tough as Mayhem on the feet? You could argue Denis Kang, but I would respond to that argument with a pat on your head and a condescending chuckle.

(Gentlemen, please. You can *both* eat dicks. / GIF via IronForgesIron)

After a compact ten-episode run, Spike TV’s final season of The Ultimate Fighter ended last night. So what did we learn? Repeating short phrases over and over again gives them more rhetorical power. “Fufessional” is just another word for dumbass. Karma visits upon every asshole.

But before we put this sumbitch to bed, we have two more semi-final fights to get through. John “The Snitchin’ Magician” Dodson is training for his bantamweight face-off with teammate Johnny Bedford, while Bedford blatantly creeps on him the whole time. Coach Mayhem decides he won’t corner either man, leaving that responsibility up to the assistant coaches.

Says Dodson: “I only got taken down once, by Prince [John Albert], and I’m never going to get taken down again.” But taking Lil’ John down is, in fact, Bedford’s gameplan. And he doesn’t think Dodson has the power to hurt him. Dodson giggles and poses in the face-off after weigh-ins. Once again, we marvel at how small this man is, and how he should really be competing at 125, if such a division existed in the UFC. And once again, his size disadvantage probably won’t matter one damn bit.

The TUF 14 Finale is just a few days away, and unless you overheard Michael Bisping’s spoiler fail on Inside MMA, then this season’s participants in that finale are still a mystery to you. That being said, Team Mayhem coach Jason Miller has released the first of several video journals leading into his upcoming scrap with opposing coach and global pandemic, Michael Bisping, which goes down this Saturday at the Palms Casino.

Though not much is revealed in the first installment (other than Miller admitting Nick Diaz to be one of his favorite fighters), we do get a sneak peak at Mayhem’s diet and weight cutting method from nutritionist and Team Mayhem assistant coach Ryan Parsons. Turns out, Parsons is a strong believer in the power of romance in a fighter’s life. Tom Lawlor concurs.

(More proof that being on the right side of any photo immediately makes Bisping fall asleep. / Photo via CombatLifestyle)

While preparing for this Saturday’s TUF 14 Finale grudge match against Michael Bisping, Jason Miller recently wrote the following on his website:

“I just want everyone to understand how fricken hard I am training. I have never trained this hard or smart for a fight in my life. In ironic twist news- I’m totally getting reimbursed for John Dodson’s insubordination. I’m not even asking about Michael’s training, but for some reason all the friends that I’ve had for years that are working with him seem to be inclined to tell me about his camp and what he’s doing. I don’t want or need this info, I’m going to beat him regardless, just found it interesting. Pretty karmic.”

Hmm. Michael Bisping’s TUF 14 assistant coaches Tiki Ghosn and Rob McCullough train in the same Huntington Beach circles as Miller — could they be moles infiltrating the Brit’s camp in the name of American patriotism? Or is Mayhem just trying to get in the Count’s head? Bisping is convinced that it’s the latter, telling InsideMMA:

(Video courtesy of YouTube/RangerUpVideo)

We’ve considered inviting the think lab at Ranger Up Clothing if they’d consider coming to work for us, but we didn’t for fear that they’d laugh at us and punch us in the face just for asking.

At least we’ve still got their hilarious pre-fight smack talk videos.

With The Ultimate Fighter 14 Finale just a couple weeks away, many of us have been wondering how prepared Jason Miller was for his return to the UFC, especially considering that he hasn’t truly faced legitimate competition since his unanimous decision loss to Jake Shields just over 2 years ago. Aaron Tru of TruMMA was able to catch up with the Team Mayhem coach recently, and aside from playing a good old fashioned game of “Sactap,” was able to achieve a rather serious conversation with Miller, at one point even discussing the WEC and Strikeforce veteran’s seriousness (or lack thereof) when it comes to training. And “Mayhem” was quick to set things straight for those doubters out there:

On his training camp: “[Training] is going fantastic. I’m really surprised. This is the first camp that I’ve got a super serious camp in my entire career, and I’m an old damn man by fighter’s standards. It feels awesome. I’ve never been in such good shape and I’ve never had such a good mental focus going into a fight. It’s really refreshing. I was like, ‘Oh, this is what training camp is supposed to be like.’”

On how serious he takes his training: “The reason I do this sport, the reason I got into this career, was because I enjoy going to a padded room where I can act as crazy as I want and it’s not an institution. I think you can train seriously and still have a lot of fun. Even on The Ultimate Fighter, here at Reign Training Center, even going back to high school wrestling, I was always like the funny guy on the team and I feel like it keeps morale up.”

It’s hard to disagree with Miller, who has shown a true knack for not only coaching but connecting with his team on this season of The Ultimate Fighter, whereas Team Bisping seemingly can’t have a sparring session that doesn’t erupt into a brawl at some point.

Check out some more highlights from the interview after the jump. 

“The Stoic Russian” is a hurtful stereotype, so we didn’t include it. The more you know…..

People complain about “pro-wrestling bullshit” invading MMA, but it’s been demonstrated over and over again: personality will get you places in the fight game. We’ve pointed this out before, like when we advised Jon Fitch on how to ensure a title shot. Some fighters are talked about incessantly on forums, at lunch tables, and in interviews because they’ve managed to capture the interest of fans, and many times it is because of things that they have done or said while not in the cage.

Come on in and let’s talk about archetypes, drama, and personality. Because there’s only so many technique videos out there.

With the recent allegations aimed at former Penn State defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky, the sports world has been thrown into a bit of chaos in the past few weeks. The story, which has undoubtedly tarnished the legacy of not only the college itself but also its legendary football coach Joe Paterno, is one of the most shocking and disturbing events to surface in the history of competitive sports.

Amidst the scandal coach Paterno had announced that he planned to retire at the end of the season, but it turns out Penn State had other, more immediate plans in mind. And though Sandusky’s fate has yet to be determined, we can only hope that it involves Pinhead levels of torture. Unfortunately the sad fact is, it often takes a wrongdoing such as Sandusky’s in order to open our collective eyes to the world around us and take action to try and ensure that it never happens again. It is with this in mind that we bring you ten of the biggest skeletons in MMA’s closet.

Whether or not we’ll actually try to do anything but mock them is yet to be determined.

Check out ten of the dirty little not-so-secrets of MMA’s past after the jump.