(Video courtesy of YouTube/ncaasteve)

Steve Cofield caught up to TUF 14 coach Michael Bisping recently during a break from taping the SPIKE TV reality series, and the cocky Brit expressed his dissentient opinion that his opposing coach on the show, Jason “Mayhem” Miller is not a worthy opponent.

“I can fully understand it. The guy’s obviously….he does Bully Beatdown. He does a TV show, so he’s got a bit of got a bit of a crossover appeal, if you will, but I wasn’t overly excited that he’s going to be my next fight. I wanted somebody like Chael Sonnen or possibly the winner of [Yushin] Okami and Anderson [Silva] — you know, somebody of that stature in the middleweight division,” Bisping explained matter-of-factly. “But I can understand from a business perspective the UFC’s decision to do…you know, to give Mayhem the shot. It’s a double-edged sword. It will be good for the show, but it wasn’t the opponent I wanted though.”

By CagePotato contributor Jason Moles

During the illustrious eighteen-year history of the Ultimate Fighting Championship, we’ve witnessed countless brutal beatings, killer knockouts, and spectacular submissions. Simply put, we’ve witnessed a ton of holy $&*% moments!

I’m sure you have your favorites that you’ll share with your grandkids when you’re sitting in the old man’s chair. But have you ever stopped and asked yourself which moments in the past two decades were the biggest on a large scale? Well I did and I went to the largest scale imaginable: the almighty Google and here’s what I found. Remember, Google doesn’t have emotional or monetary interest at stake here. These moments are the ones that have generated the most web traffic via searches, not which ones impacted the sport the most.

5.) St. Pierre Beats Shields at UFC 129 – 04/30/2011

Why it’s ranked: Jake Shields left Strikeforce as champion so essentially casual fans and mainstream media alike viewed this as the first major inter-promotional, champion vs. champion fight. Georges St. Pierre, reigning UFC Welterweight champion and winner of nine straight came out on top of Shields who was riding a fifteen-fight win streak over the past five years.

The UFC went all in on this one hyping this event with the normal Countdown shows in addition to a pretty sweet commercial, the Primetime series, and a flyer in my mailbox reminding me to order the PPV. It was a huge moment in both men’s career primarily because it was the first tough competition either had faced in quite some time up to that point.  The underlying reason this mattered so much is that we all wanted to see the GSP vs. Silva super fight.

(Video courtesy of YouTube/Spenny12311)

When the UFC announced that Jason Miller would be coaching opposite Michael Bisping next season of The Ultimate Fighter on Spike TV, it really didn’t surprise anyone considering that “Mayhem” already enjoyed success on another Viacom-owned network with MTV’s Bully Beatdown.

In a recent video for UFC.com about his inclusion on the show, Miller spoke about the opportunity of turning UFC fans into Mayhem fans and vice versa.

Any excuse to post a Monty Python homage. VidProps: RangerUp

Matt Phinney, perhaps better known to most of you as that funny coach that drove Michael Bisping bugshit insane in the leadup to his fight with Jorge Rivera, will make his pro MMA debut this month for World Championship Fighting. Phinney brings a strong amateur boxing background to the fight with two Golden Gloves titles to his name, something he explains has made it difficult to actually get a fight signed. “I’ve been trying to take an MMA fight for a while now, but there aren’t many guys looking to take a fight with a first timer with a strong boxing background,” Phinney says.

(“Your perfume is making me feel nauseous.”)

The beauty of social networking tools like Facebook and Twitter for fighters is that they can get whatever message they want across however they want it written. Of course there’s also an ugly side to that reality. Just ask anyone who subscribes to Tito Ortiz and Jenna Jameson’s Twitter feeds.

Chael Sonnen is one of the fighters who embraces the ADHD-friendly 140 character limit messaging service as it gives him a platform from which to aim punchline-heavy zingers at whomever he wants without having to deal with annoying follow-up questions from reporters.

Sonnen, who was noticeably absent from the Twitterverse while his court and athletic commission issues were being ironed, is once again an active tweeter and has been taking aim at a few fellow UFC middleweights the past few days.

(“If you hear something late at night / Some kind of trouble, some kind of fight / Just don’t ask me what it was…” Photo courtesy of MMAWeekly)

With Jason Miller being drafted for a high-profile gig coaching The Ultimate Fighter, Mayhem’s original UFC return opponent Aaron Simpson was left without a dance partner. However, the UFC confirmed last night that Simpson will remain on the UFC 132: Cruz vs. Faber 2 card (July 2, Las Vegas) against undefeated TUF 11 semi-finalist Brad Tavares.

Kind of a downgrade for Simpson in terms of name value, but Tavares (7-0) is one of the best prospects in the middleweight division, and is coming off a first-round knockout of Phil Baroni in January. During his stint on The Ultimate Fighter, he won three consecutive fights before being choked out by Court McGee in the semis, then outpointed Seth Baczynski at the Finale show.

Dana White announced this afternoon that British heel Michael Bisping and American goofball Jason “Mayhem” Miller will be the coaches on the next season of The Ultimate Fighter, which will start filming soon with a cast of featherweight and bantamweight contestants.

The selection of Miller comes as a surprise, as he was already slated to fight Aaron Simpson in July, a match that now appears to be off. On the other hand, his outsized personality coupled with Bisping’s thin-skinned volatility is sure to produce the kind of excitement and interaction between the coaches that was completely lacking on TUF 13. So, good move, UFC.

Bisping was formerly a coach on TUF 9, leading British fighters Ross Pearson and James Wilks to success in the lightweight and welterweight brackets, but was later the victim of a devastating knockout at the hands of rival coach Dan Henderson. Miller has hosted three seasons of MTV’s Bully Beatdown, leading pro fighters like Jake Shields, Andrei Arlovski, and Eddie Alvarez to satisfying thrashings of untrained douchebags.

Picture is unrelated. Do your worst, Nation. (PicProps: MMTKO)

After a long absence, we decided to solicit questions from our readers to find out what was on your minds, so that we may enlighten and amuse you in an engaging way. Also to keep you jerks occupied, because you get all crazy when you’re bored and that’s why we can’t have nice things.

As always, you can submit questions in the CagePotato Forums (which actually exist behind that button up top labeled “Forums”), or you can submit your queries via email to TheAllKnowingPotato@gmail.com. If The Great And Powerful Potato deigns to answer your question, you agree to buy us beers at the next meet and greet. Those are the rules.

Let’s get to it.

[The All Knowing Potato]

(Stann’s weekend just got a whole lot more interesting.)

According to a report by Dave Meltzer from his F4WOnline.com insider newsletter, there’s more than just a win bonus at stake for former WEC light heavyweight champion Brian Stann when he squares off against former Sengoku middleweight champion Jorge Santiago. He’ll earn a TUF coaching gig opposite Michael Bisping if he has his hand raised Saturday night.

By Anton Gurevich

Before his fight against Nate Marquardt at UFC 109, Chael Sonnen was just another UFC middleweight — far, far away from challenging Anderson Silva for his belt. But the charismatic Oregonian had plans of his own; Sonnen used his second-to-none trash-talking skills and the interest in Nate Marquardt’s campaign for a rematch against Anderson Silva to call out the Champ, eventually forcing himself into the mix for a shot at the title. Of course, Chael Sonnen backed up his talk by bulldozing Marquardt during all three rounds, to earn a spot in line against the winner of UFC 112′s Silva vs. Maia match-up.

Whether you like him or not, it’s hard to deny that Chael Sonnen has an exciting personality. But Sonnen has suffered his share of setbacks, and now finds himself in an ongoing battle against his toughest opponent to date – the Nevada and California athletic commissions. When looking for another UFC middleweight even remotely as controversial and charismatic as Chael Sonnen, the only name that comes to mind is Michael “The Count” Bisping. It’s no surprise that the pair were originally set to resurrect The Ultimate Fighter series, something that even Brock Lesnar has struggled to do this season…

Continue reading on Lowkick.com

(Guess if they’re gonna let *somebody* fight Bisping, it might as well be somebody we like.)

When last we heard from Tim Kennedy, he’d just completed the MMA equivalent of sinking a two-foot putt by choking out Melvin Manhoef in Strikeforce, then went public with his lament that he hadn’t been the one to administer an in-home eye exam to Osama bin Laden. Y’all know we’ve always liked Kennedy. Seems like a super cool dude and admittedly there’s something fascinating about a guy whose typical day might just as easily include either choking out a Dutch-Surinamese kickboxer or smoking the world’s top terrorist. Give or take.

It’s exactly that admiration that led us to be a bit disappointed this week when we heard about Kennedy offering to fight Michael Bisping over at MMA Weekly. Calling out Bisping is one of the more played-out moves a well-known middleweight can make, after all. When we saw Kennedy saying it, we assumed it was just another case of a guy trying to make his bones off Bisping’s inflated reputation and general overratedness. Truthfully, there probably is some of that at work here. But then we started digging into Kennedy’s quotes and realized that A) He’s offering to fight “The Count” basically for free (PR bump notwithstanding) and B) He seems driven to do it out of moral obligation, more than anything else. As far as we’re concerned that – as long as he’s not just bullshitting us – is pretty cool.

(Belcher, seen here prior to getting that giant picture of Carl Perkins tattooed on his left arm. Pic: TigerMuayThai.com)

If Alan Belcher manages to return from the detached retina that nearly ended his career last year and can recapture anything close to the 4-1 form he showed during his five most recent fights in the Octagon, it’ll be one of 2011’s true feel good stories. Belcher has always struck us as one of the sport’s more likable characters, so when he tells Sherdog this week that he’s interested in returning to the UFC as soon as September, that’s great news. Only thing is, we wish Belcher would show just a touch more originality in deciding who he wants to fight in his comeback bout. Pretty much the usual suspects here:

“(Michael) Bisping is an asshole who disrespects the sport and his opponent,” Belcher tells the Dog. “A fight between me and Michael Bisping is something everybody wants except for Michael Bisping. It would be amazing to sign that fight and have him come to my backyard. He always gets to fight in Britain and other places, but it’d be good to see him come down to Louisiana. I’d love for that to be my comeback fight.”

Yep. Bisping. The ol’ standby. And in case you’re wondering, Belcher wouldn’t turn down a fight with Wanderlei Silva, either, though he sounds a little more reasonable about Silva’s standing in the division than some of the other dudes who’ve called out “The Axe Murderer” recently …

(We may never get to see if Chael’s armbar defense has improved since last time they met.)

Ever since Chael Sonnen faltered two minutes shy of snatching the UFC middleweight strap from Anderson Silva at UFC 117, fans and pundits alike have been clamoring for a rematch between the pair.

The immediate redo promised by UFC president Dana White was originally delayed due to Silva needing time to recover from a rib injury his camp revealed he went into the August 7 fight with.

Then Sonnen threw another wrench in the UFC’s plans by testing positive for high levels of synthetic testosterone, but after having his suspension halved for pleading ignorance and confusion about the rules and procedures of the California State Athletic Commission, it seemed like the much anticipated bout would finally happen.

(“Tap? That wasn’t a tap. It was Morse code for ‘You’re dead!’”)

Nevada State Athletic Commission executive director Keith Kizer is undecided about whether or not Michael Bisping or Chael Sonnen would be approved as coaching candidates for The Ultimate Fighter if either UFC middleweight applied for a coaching license.

Kizer revealed today MMAJunkie today that Sonnen met with NSAC and UFC officials three weeks ago to discuss remarks he made during his California State Athletic Commission hearing in December to appeal a suspension for high levels of testosterone found in his system in a urine test administered prior to his UFC 117 championship bout with Anderson Silva. During the CSAC hearing, Sonnen testified that he had asked for and received verbal approval for the his prescribed use of synthetic testosterone by Kizer — a claim Kizer flatly denies.

(This story doesn’t have much to do with Anderson Silva, but holy crap, remember when that happened?)

Sorry gang, but it looks like those rumors about Chael Sonnen and Michael Bisping landing coaching spots for TUF 14 were too good to be true. Though the pairing would make for brilliant/insane reality television, Sonnen’s laundry list of personal problems will likely prohibit his participation. From a new MMAJunkie report:

UFC president Dana White today told MMAjunkie.com no decisions have been made about the head-coaching slots for the show, which debuts in September on Spike TV.

But White also said [Chael] Sonnen “has a ton of problems” to deal with, which makes a rumored “TUF 14″ coaching slot against Michael Bisping unlikely…

“I believe in Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Shit Talking”

We’re only one episode into TUF Season 13, and some are already disappointed by the kinder, gentler Brock Lesnar. Sure, we say we want the series to focus more on the fights and less on the drama, but a little tension always makes things more fun. Though it’s far too early to call this season a hit or a flop, the latest TUF rumors already have us eagerly anticipating next season.

According to reports from Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer, noted MMA heels Chael Sonnen and Michael Bisping are on deck to tackle coaching duties for season 14 and potentially redefine everything we thought we knew about coaching beef. The likelihood of this pairing hinges largely on the CSAC Ruling and the outcome of Chael’s legal woes.

(Props: sxboxer)

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…

- Chael Sonnen’s Court Sentencing Postponed, Further Delaying UFC Return (MMA Fighting)

- UFC Fight Night 24 Results: 10 Best Moments From Nogueira vs. Davis Fight Card (BleacherReport.com/MMA)

- Brock Lesnar on ‘SportsCenter’: Look Out Junior, Here I Come (5thRound)

- Watch Every Fedor Emelianenko Action Scene From ‘The Salamander Key’ (MiddleEasy)

- Michael Bisping Labels Nate Marquardt as a “Steroid Cheat” and “Absolute Hypocrite” (Five Ounces of Pain)

- Submissions in the UFC: A Fond Look Back (MMA Convert)

- Mirko Cro Cop: A Career Retrospective (LowKick)

- Roufusport Voted America’s Top MMA Gym (Versus MMA Beat)

- Hector Lombard Scalps Joe Doerksen To Retain Title Belt at CFC 16 (Fight Magazine)

- Junior Dos Santos has Rock Climbing Skills (MMA-Scraps)

Michael Bisping, speaking through his fellow countryman and self-designated public defender, UK Telegraph reporter Gareth Davies, offered up a feeble apology today for his in and post-fight antics during and following his UFC 127 bout with Jorge Rivera.

“Leading up to the fight, I wanted to be the bigger man and not rise up to it, but as it gathered more momentum, my blood was boiling more and more inside. The guy [Jorge Rivera] and his team relentlessly mocked me for a couple of months on the internet, and they definitely crossed the line a couple of times… and I was provoked and if anyone says they didn’t see that they are either blind or pig-ignorant. I went into the fight very angry. I let it get the better of me after the fight. I want to make it clear – I never spat on his cornerman. I spat on the floor to let him know what I thought of him…I said some words…I’m not even sure what the words were now, that was immediately after the fight had finished. After that, I instantly apologised. It was out of order. As a father, as a mixed martial artist, or possibly even as a role model, it’s not a way I should be behaving. It’s not how a mixed martial artist should be acting; not how any many should be acting. Of course, I do regret it, and I owe Dana [White, UFC CEO], and the UFC an apology and I won’t be acting like that again.”

Now if he left it at that, the apology may not have been construed as being transparent, but as Bisping explained, he can’t just be content with being the bigger man and taking the high road.

(“If you prick us, do we not bleed? If you tickle us, do we not laugh? And if you wrong us, shall we not spit on you and then strut around like the cock of the walk afterward?” Pic: Zimbio)

UK Telegraph boxing and MMA correspondent Gareth A. Davies is tired of all these yanks talking rubbish about Michael Bisping! Davies over the weekend authored a strange and sweeping indictment of how American MMA writers have responded to Bisping cheating to win against Jorge Rivera last month at UFC 127 before spitting in the direction of Rivera’s credentialed cornermen. At the risk of sounding like an unbelievable homer, Davies describes the media reaction from our side of the pond as “near-hysterical” and even busts out the term “witchhunt” to propose that Bisping has somehow been unfairly persecuted for his actions.

Pretty weird, right? Ever weirder, Davies specifically goes after Yahoo’s Steve Cofield (an unassuming dude if there ever was one) for daring to quote Nate Marquardt calling out Bisping after his own win last weekend at UFC 128 without – and this is where the logic gets really shaky – providing “balance” by somehow working in Marquardt’s positive steroid test from 2005 and also mentioning the allegations that he turned down a fight with Bisping at UFC 114 (because his wife was set to have a baby three days before the event). Davies rhetorically shouts: “Can there be any doubt at all there is a (sic) acutely American media bias towards Bisping?”

Actually no, there’s no denying it. Better question: Can there be any doubt that he deserves it?

(Who says you can’t go home? Pic: SB Nation)

Sometimes it feels like nearly every middleweight fighter not crippled, crazy or comatose has gone on record in the last few months expressing a desire to fight Wanderlei Silva. At the risk of turning this post into a glorified game of MMA telephone, the reconstructed timeline looks something like this … buckle up, because this is going to get complicated …

Chael Sonnen called out Wanderlei a while back – and the two were briefly rumored as “TUF” coaches – before it turned out Sonnen had a little something-something he had to take care of first. That left Chris Leben to call out Wanderlei following his win over Yoshihiro Akiyama, only to fall to Brian Stann and then see Stann steal his idea. A bout between Stann and Silva was even fleetingly confirmed, before it seemed like Wanderlei begged off, saying he didn’t want to play the heel against an American Hero. Silva himself then turned around and called out Vitor Belfort, but Belfort ignored that come-on and said he wanted to fight Michael Bisping. (Bisping being the guy you call out if you haven’t already called out Wanderlei Silva, we guess.) OK, deep breath. You with us so far?

This week Leben reiterated his desire to fight Wanderlei and then Wanderlei supporters allegedly launched a Twitter revolution directed at Dana White, urging him to make the fight between the two sluggers. Guess what, though? White ain’t even trying to hear that, see. He wants Wanderlei to fight Belfort, maybe in a big money fight at UFC Rio later this year. But NOW guess who may not want to fight Vitor? That’s right, Wanderlei. Wait, what? An attempt to make sense of it all after the jump …

(It remains unclear if Dana White intentionally punished *on* Michael Bisping, or just punished in his general direction. Pic: The Fight Nerd)

When Ariel Helwani showed up at UFC headquarters over the weekend, he and Dana White didn’t just talk about the company’s surprise purchase of Strikeforce or the impending dissolution of the Jones-Evans bromance, they touched on a number of juicy topics, including exactly how White planned to punish Michael Bisping for conduct unbefitting an Englishman at UFC 127. Turns out, he already has … or at least he says he has. Hard to tell really, since White refuses to get into specifics.

All we know is that in the wake of Bisping blasting Rivera with an illegal knee and then spitting at/on one of Rivera’s corner men following their grudge match, White says the British toolbox “didn’t get a bonus.” We assume that he doesn’t mean the ol’ run-of-the-mill, FOTN-KOTN-SOTN bonuses either, instead referring to the long-rumored, under-the-table bonuses that are sometimes alleged to make up the bulk of a UFC fighter’s pay. So, yeah, that seems … vague. Whatever he did though, White assures us it was a pretty big deal.

In addition to losing the bonus, nothing will apparently happen to Bisping. Instead, White continued to do the same song and dance he does whenever someone implies the UFC should take a more proactive role in disciplining its own fighters: He acted totally cowed by the Awesome Power of our state athletic commissions. Check it out, after the jump.

(He could be anyone. Your next-door neighboor. Your son’s wrestling coach. But behind that friendly smile lies the heart of a madman.)

As reported by MMAFighting, UFC middleweight contender Chael Sonnen has successfully completed his six-month suspension from the California State Athletic Commission. Sonnen was originally facing a one-year penalty for abnormally high testosterone levels following his UFC 117 loss to Anderson Silva, but got his suspension reduced to six months when he showed up to the appeals hearing with a tragic tale of hypogonadism and miscommunication. Sonnen has also paid the $2,500 fine that went along with the suspension.

But he’s not completely in the clear yet. CSAC executive officer George Dodd told MMAFighting.com that Sonnen will have to make an appearance before the commission at some point in order to regain his license. And as we learned from Josh Barnett — who showed up to his last hearing without a lawyer and left dumbfounded and license-less when the board demanded that he show “rehabilitation” for his last positive steroid test — that step is not just a mere formality. Plus, Sonnen currently has his contract frozen by the UFC due to his money-laundering charges, so it’s not clear when he’ll actually return. (For the record, Sonnen’s sentencing is scheduled for 11:30 am PT on March 28th, and he’s likely to receive two years’ probation on the recommendation of the U.S. government.)

And in Sonnen’s latest bit of Bisping-bashing…

(Knocking out Wanderlei Silva at PRIDE 33 was “definitely a much bigger accomplishment than anything else I’ve done.” / Photo courtesy of Sherdog.)

With 14 years of battles under his belt, Dan Henderson has bridged the gap between the old-school and the new-school. He started competing in 1997 — long before “Zuffa” and “the Unified Rules” entered the MMA lexicon — and his first four appearances were in single-night tournaments, where he was often pitted against seasoned fighters with years of experience. (Luckily, Henderson had his Olympic-caliber wrestling background to fall back on, and went 9-0 in those tournaments.)

Unlike many of his contemporaries, Henderson evolved with the sport, and has managed to remain one of the world’s top fighters. Coming off a first-round knockout of Renato Sobral in December, Henderson returns to the cage this Saturday in the main event of Strikeforce: Feijao vs. Henderson, where he’ll be challenging Rafael Cavalcante for the promotion’s light-heavyweight belt. We caught up with Dan to get some war stories about his long career and his thoughts on what lies ahead…

Becoming ‘Hendo’: The Brazil Open ’97 (6/15/97)
def. Crezio de Souza via TKO, 5:25
def. Eric Smith via technical submission (guillotine choke), 0:30

(“I am on a drug. It’s called Charlie Sheen.” Pic: ESPN)

During the four years, four months and 16 days that Anderson Silva has had the middleweight title on lockdown, the UFC’s light heavyweight and heavyweight divisions have combined to produce 10 different champions. Think of it this way: Silva won the title by pulverizing Rich Franklin at freakin’ UFC 64, the same event where Sean Sherk defeated Kenny Florian to become the first lightweight champion since 2003. It was also just a few months after Michael Bisping defeated Josh Haynes to win season three of “The Ultimate Fighter.” Kinda seems like a lot has happened since then, huh?

Well, not at middleweight. Middleweight has been a rock – an unchanging, unshakable rock that sometimes seems so maddeningly bored with its own immovability that it just sits there and stares at its opponents for five tedious rounds. Silva’s dominance has been so thorough that it alone kind of makes ranking MMA’s top five 185-pounders an exercise in futility. Half the guys in the Top 10 have already been defeated by the current champ and lot of the other guys either don’t seem worthy or fight in other organizations. Still, we ranked ’em. Why? Because they were there, son, because they were there …

(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)

(“Wait till you see what I do to his cornermen when I win, Herb. It’s going to be funnier than Benny Hill.”)

UFC president Dana White spoke with MMAFighting.com today about the allegations made by Jorge Rivera’s camp that Michael Bisping spit on one of Rivera’s trainers following his UFC 127 win in Australia Saturday night. According to White, Bisping could be fined or punished for the classless move and could also face a suspension for the unsportsmanlike conduct he displayed.

White bluntly told Fighters Only, “He’s in trouble!”

Athletes in other sports found guilty of the same infraction have faced stiff fines and moderate suspensions. Bisping should not be treated differently.

(“Cheat to win!” Pic: SBNation)

There are a lot of things we’ll never know about the illegal knee Michael Bisping landed on Jorge Rivera midway through the first round of their UFC 127 co-main event. We’ll never know if the knee was truly “intentional” or how badly it actually hurt Rivera or whether or not it directly contributed to Bisping’s second-round TKO victory. What we do know for certain is that (whether he meant to or not) Bisping very obviously broke the rules and – aside from losing an ultimately irrelevant point on the judges’ scorecards – suffered absolutely no consequences for it en route to an important win over a man who’d quickly become his arch rival.

It should be noted that blasting Rivera with the knee wasn’t Bisping’s only infraction during the fight. He also grabbed the cage to avoid getting swept from top position with about 3:40 on the clock in the first. For that instance of clear rule-breakage his only punishment was a couple of stern words from referee Mark Goddard. So in a nutshell, in just under seven total minutes of fighting, Bisping indisputably broke the rules twice, yet the end result was that he got his hand raised, got to spit in the general direction of his opponent’s corner men and almost certainly got rewarded with a hefty win bonus from the UFC. Not too bad, all things considered.

As an isolated incident, the only thing Bisping’s performance against Rivera conclusively proves is that he’s kind of an a-hole. Unfortunately, when viewed as part of the big picture of how fights are officiated under the unified rules, we’re really only left to draw one conclusion: In MMA, it makes more sense to cheat than follow the rules. So long as you can keep yourself from getting bogged down by intangibles like “honor” and “fairness,” here are three reasons why.

(Props: AlchemistMgMT.com via pennyjomma)

It’s bad enough that Michael Bisping drilled an illegal knee into Jorge Rivera‘s dome in the first round of their UFC 127 co-main event — 100% intentional, if you ask Jorge. He also followed up his TKO victory by stalking over to Rivera’s corner and spitting at his team, who had participated in Rivera’s video insults and had allegedly (according to Bisping) been hurling verbal abuse at the Count after the fight.

As a result, Rivera’s team wants Bisping fined and suspended. Bisping later apologized for his behavior, but told Ariel Helwani that the knee was unintentional and the loogie wasn’t aimed outside the cage:

(Hit refresh early and often to stay, uh, abreast of the latest updates … Pic: CombatLifestyle)

In the main event of UFC 127 tonight, a laidback vegan ragamuffin fights a bloodthirsty Hawaiian cannibal to determine some sort of vague No. 1 contender status for a welterweight title which could soon be very much in flux. Will Jon Fitch’s strategy of nonviolence win the day? Or will the night end with BJ Penn licking Fitch’s green, iron-deficient blood off his gloves? Either way, will it ultimately mean anything? There’s really only one way to find out: Sit somewhere thousands of miles from the show’s point of origin and follow this website’s second-hand textual analysis of the high definition moving pictures we’ll be watching on the TV. If that doesn’t work, well, try Twitter or something.

Also, imagine our pleasant surprise this afternoon when we discovered our ridiculously inclusive satellite package actually does carry the Ion Network. In light of that, we’ll probably be posting short-ish recaps of the three televised prelims beginning at 9 p.m. EST. When the PPV itself kicks off an hour later, we’ll be live with updates and uninterrupted snark for the duration. Thanks in advance for your attention in this matter …

(The fun starts at 5:28)

Just in case you missed it, there’s a little bit of heat between Jorge Rivera and Michael Bisping as they head into tonight’s bout. Check out the video above for a Dana-eye view of the face off at yesterday’s weigh ins.