Props to TheSun, Sherdog, MMAWeekly, and UFC.com. If you missed Saturday’s liveblog, click here.

(Lytle vs. Taylor)

The UFC released its customary end-of-night bonuses for yesterday’s event in Birmingham. $40,000 bumps went to the following fighters:

Fight of the Night: Chris Lytle and Paul Taylor for their three-round throwdown, which was even brawlier than the main event.

Knockout of the Night: Luis Cane for his TKO-via-punches victory over Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou.

Submission of the Night: As Fowlkes predicted, Jim Miller gets it for tapping David Baron via Millerplata — which is just a fancy name for a rear-naked-choke.

More vids after the jump…

(Gono brings some much needed style to the weigh-ins. Photo courtesy of MMA Weekly.)

Despite the best attempts of some jerks to ruin the results of tonight’s tape-delayed event, those of you who have managed to remain willfully ignorant will get to see it all unfold without the curse of omniscience that makes God’s days so utterly boring. Those of you who have had the outcome spoiled for you already, you’ll just get to see some fights. I’ve spent all afternoon trying to make sense of Michael Bisping’s video blog (turns out “geezer” means something different in England) and getting myself all riled up on coffee and booze, so I’m as ready as I’ll ever be.

Let’s turn on some Spike TV, see the same video game ads over and over again, down some frosty beverages, and watch some fights. Just thank your lucky stars it’s free. Remember to refresh the page every so often. Giddyup.

Michael Bisping’s UFC 89 Vlog – Watch more free videos

Here’s Michael Bisping‘s UFC 89 video blog from yesterday, following him through the weigh-ins and the aftermath. Since much of this video is just Bisping sitting around and talking with his British friends, I understood very little of what was going on. Still it seems interesting that Bisping does his own video blog for this event, is basically the impetus for the whole card and its location, and has already been named as the next TUF coach regardless of his performance tonight.

At least one fighter thinks all the attention is undeserved. In Sherdog’s “pros pick” article for this fight, Clay Guida not only sides with Chris Leben but calls Bisping “the most overrated TUF winner in UFC history.” Daaaaaamn!

(Damn it feels good to be a gangsta.)

I’ve always assumed that the worlds of professional fighting and organized crime came into contact more often than we know. I’ve also assumed that if you’re involved in either industry, it’s probably better not to talk about that contact. But Dana White, being the UFC president and the producer of an upcoming Spike TV Irish mob drama, is just putting it in the streets anyway.

Fighters Only quotes White as blaming the Yakuza for Zuffa’s inability to do anything with Pride. This is no big shock, since the Japanese mafia’s involvement with Pride was rumored to be a big part of their downfall. It is a little surprising that White is so willing to talk about it, however, and apparently it’s not just Japan where the mob is an issue:

The UFC has also long had its eye on staging events in Mexico because, as White puts it, “when we first bought this company, we said there are three no-brainers: the US, Mexico and the UK. They are big fight countries.”

However, what he terms “The Mexican initiative” is taking “a lot longer than we though it would, basically because five families control all of Mexico”.

“A lot of these places are tough, you just have to work your way around it. The corruption in Japan, the way things are in Mexico, you know? In every country you go to there are different ways of doing business.”

Ain’t that the truth. Friend of mine went to the Netherlands over the summer, my hand to God, they sell marijuana over there. Like legally, in coffee shops and stuff. This crazy world, am I right?

Dana White must be in a talkative mood these days, because he also let it slip to Fighters Only that no matter what happens tomorrow night, Michael Bisping will be coaching on the next season of The Ultimate Fighter, as we suspected.

(Leben fits Bisping for a right hook. Photo courtesy of MMA Weekly.)

The weigh-ins for UFC 89 went off without a hitch today. Everyone hit their target weight, or at least fell within the one-pound allowance of it, and nobody had to strip naked while their dad held a towel in front of them. There was a terse exchange between the main eventers, with Chris Leben offering an apology in advance to the British fans, and Michael Bisping getting all Rodney Dangerfield about Leben showing him no respect:

Said Leben:

“I’m sorry for coming over and ruining your guys’ big hope and dream. I know you love him, but I didn’t come all this way to lose. One of us will take a step back and the other a step forward; there isn’t too many ahead of us now.”

Replied Bisping:

“You’re right, one forward and one down. I am moving forward. You underestimate me and I think that is a mistake. May the best man win and I will see you tomorrow night.”

As weigh-in disagreements go, that’s downright gentlemanly. Guess that’s what you get in jolly old England. Full scale-tipping results are after the jump:

With one day to go before UFC 89 (which we’ll be liveblogging, naturally), it’s time for everyone’s favorite self-indulgent exercise: Ben versus Ben. This time around we argue bonuses, the UK-centric undercard, and the mysterious/as-of-yet fictional Millerplata, among other stuff.

How exactly will Bisping/Leben end?

Fowlkes: As much as we’ve heard about Leben’s transformation from immature brawler to well-rounded tactician, a part of me (the part located in the brain region) isn’t totally buying it. Leben may be a more seasoned fighter, but he still knows one way to win a fight when things get hectic and it’s throwing big, looping bombs and hoping one catches his opponent on the chin.

This has worked at times. He hits hard and he can take enough punishment to make that strategy effective. But as strategies go, it’s relatively easy to prepare for, especially for a more cerebral fighter like Bisping. “The Count” is smart enough to avoid a street fight with Leben. He’ll accumulate points and damage but won’t dive in for the illusion of a quick finish, and this will frustrate Leben.

Leben knows he doesn’t want to go to a decision against a Brit in Britain, so the closer to the final horn he gets the more desperate he will become. This is where Bisping will find an opening, drop him with a straight shot, then pour on some ground-and-pound that looks worse than it is, causing the referee to stop it at 4:02 of round three. And Leben is going to be pissed.

Goldstein: I concur. Bisping is a more talented, complete fighter than Leben, and this business about the Crippler maturing is more manufactured narrative than reality. But I don’t think it’ll take Bisping until the third frame to get the stoppage win. As a middleweight, his kickboxing has looked razor-sharp — his last two opponents didn’t make it to the second bell — and his ground capabilities are underrated in general.

The headliners will give the crowd what they paid for in round one, slugging it out like a couple of drunken soccer hooligans, and Bisping will go about finishing the fight in round two, engaging the killer instinct that we’ve seen from him lately. If Leben starts to land more shots in that second round, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Bisping clinch with Leben, bully him to the ground and finish him from the top. Either way, it’ll be a stoppage due to strikes at exactly the 4:15 mark of round two.

Who will win the Vera/Jardine and Sokoudjou/Cane fights?

(Bisping realizes how overdressed he is for the occasion. Click the image to watch the video on UFC.com.)

UFC.com just put up a video of a UFC 89 press-conference held earlier today in Birmingham, England, where Chris Leben did his best to add heat to the main event fight by complimenting Michael Bisping’s suit and criticizing the Count’s style as one that makes self-preservation the top priority. Bisping kept his cool, saying he doesn’t need extra motivation to beat Leben: “I don’t have to do anything to get myself fired up…I don’t need any kind of smack talk, I don’t need any kind of reason to hate the person. To me it’s all about business…by winning my fights, it enables me to provide the lifestyle I want for my family, and that’s all the motivation I need.” Anyway, the fans were expecting Leben to come at them with a crazy new hairstyle for this fight, and you can’t say that he didn’t deliver. WAR ‘ROWS.

(Bisping challenges another poor bloke to high-stakes Rock, Paper, Scissors.)

As our collective faith in the health of the economy deteriorates, the online gambling market is looking better and better. The more I think about it, the more I’m surprised it didn’t come up in last night’s debates. But once again neither candidate speaks to my issues. Looks like this is one more election year where I’ll end up scrawling “Wanderlei” in crayon across my ballot and then handing it to the overweight woman at the desk, who will inevitably respond by insisting that “this is not a polling place.” Goddamn bureaucracy.

Anyway, if you’re like me and are ready to bet your foreclosed home on UFC 89 this Saturday, here are the sweetest lines around, courtesy of BestFightOdds.com. If you don’t understand how betting odds work, read this. If you still don’t get it, stop sniffing glue.

Chris Leben (+191) vs. Michael Bisping (-211)
Luiz Cane (+104) vs. Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou (-114)
Dan Hardy (+285) vs. Akihiro Gono (-308)
Neil Wann (+600) vs. Shane Carwin (-675)
Keith Jardine (+155) vs. Brandon Vera (-165)
Jess Liaudin (+141) vs. David Bielkheden (-135)
Marcus Davis (+230) vs. Paul Kelly (+285)
Paul Taylor (+300) vs. Chris Lytle (-328)
Samy Schiavo (+166) vs. Per Eklund (-180)
Terry Etim (+275) vs. Sam Stout (-291)
David Baron (+155) vs. Jim Miller (-172)

Thoughts…

With Dana White skipping out on his vlogging duties for UFC 89, someone had to step up and fill the void. This time it’s Michael Bisping giving us a look at his life in the days leading up to his main event bout against Chris Leben. Bisping starts this video by saying he needs ice because there’s something wrong with his back — which isn’t very confidence-inducing — but he soldiers through a day of press and an open workout, taking time to hang with fans in between. Later, Cheick Kongo shows up to speak in a strange voice, and Bisping has to go without hot dogs and cookies because he still has eight pounds to lose. At the end, he tells us how he just saw Chris Leben in the lobby of his hotel, and he looked slimmer than usual, but still has a large head. To see previous installments of the Bisping video blog, go to Bisping.tv.

In the official UFC 89 hype video we continue to hear about Chris Leben‘s transformation as a fighter, which has quickly become one of the main storylines heading into this event. Oddly, with all the talk about Leben’s transition from brawler to technically sound MMA fighter, whenever anyone talks about his strengths they inevitably end up talking mostly about the characteristics of a brawler (hard-hitting, looping punches, good chin, etc.) while ascribing to Michael Bisping the characteristics of a technical fighter (straight punches, apparently, which is laughable to Chris Wilson). Not saying Leben isn’t a different fighter these days, just saying the whole thing is interesting.

Anyway, give it a look and you won’t be disappointed. Despite burning through all the stock footage of British landmarks in existence, it’s another solid effort from the Countdown crew.

(The people’s philosopher.)

When it comes to getting drunk and going crazy on The Ultimate Fighter, Chris Leben is sort of like the Neil Armstrong of the field. He did it first, when no one even knew whether it could be done, and so forever after people wanted to know what his thoughts were when other people did it. The difference is that while Armstrong stayed pretty involved and interested in the space program (God, this is a terrible analogy), Leben says he doesn’t really keep up with new installments of TUF. Which is why he might be forgiven for getting a little frustrated when asked about Junie Browning’s drunken freakouts during a media conference call to promote UFC 89:

You know, every time someone gets drunk on that show I get called by one of my friends who says, ‘You know, this guy reminds me of you. He was drunk and out of hand.’ You know, a house full of fighters…I got a saying, fighters are like strippers, they ain’t paying their way through college. What I mean by that is we all got a bunch of problems and skeletons in the closet.

Here’s my question: does Chris Leben have any sayings that don’t involve strippers? This is the same guy who, during the first season, coined the phrase, “I’ll come in smelling like booze and dirty strippers and still put the stamp on kids!”

Not that it wasn’t awesome, and not that his stripper/fighter analogy isn’t many times better than my Leben/Armstrong analogy, but dammit, comparing fighters and strippers seems like it isn’t doing either group too many favors.

- Drew Fickett gets waaaaaay too personal in forum post. (UG)

- Kim Couture calls Jared Shaw a perv, no one is terribly surprised. (Steve Cofield)

- Kenny Florian struggles for answers on “MMA Live”. (ESPN)

- Michael Bisping responds to Chris Leben with dry British sarcasm. (Fighters Only)

- TUF 8 ratings rebound with Junie Browning’s alcohol-fueled antics. (MMA Payout)

- Marcus Aurelio says Hermes Franca is a bad person. (MMA Rated)

- Bobby Lashley goes from WWE to ATT. (AmericanTopTeam.com)

- Brett Rogers to fight TBA for EliteXC in November. (AOL Fanhouse)

- The sad state of product placement. (Wall Street Fighter)

- Tribute to the naughty nurse. (Holy Taco)

- Eric Cartman’s most evil moments. (Screen Junkies)

- Japanese wrestler beaten by coach. (Nothing Toxic)

From Spike.com: Chris Leben says his loopy, wide-open style knocks people out. He also refuses to lose, check the news and read the interviews. Damn…dude is like the white Shonie Carter. Skip to the -5:14 mark for the ridiculous ending to his fight against Terry Martin; there’s your warning to not get cocky, Count. Later in this video, we look at the matchup between the Dean of the Mean and the Truth, also at UFC 89.

From CBS.com, for some reason: A preview of the UFC 90 welterweight feature between Thiago Alves and Diego Sanchez. “You are going to see the strongest Sanchez you have ever seen before,” Sanchez says. “The result is gonna be a dominating submission victory.”

(Props: “Card” on the UG)

Chris Leben’s first shot at Michael Bisping didn’t exactly go as planned. Soon after signing to fight “The Count” at UFC 85 in London, Leben was forced to return to Oregon to deal with an outstanding warrant resulting from a DUI arrest before he could leave the country. Though Leben and the UFC were hoping to resolve the matter quickly, the judge had other plans. Leben was sentenced to thirty-five days in jail, prompting the UFC to scratch him from the card.

With his legal troubles now behind him, Leben is getting a second chance at Bisping, this time at UFC 89 in Birmingham, England. In this exclusive CagePotato interview Leben discusses his maturation process as a fighter, his gameplan against Bisping, dealing with hometown judges, and more.

CagePotato.com: Hey Chris. Thanks for talking with me. We’re a few weeks out from the fight. How is your preparation coming?

Really good, really well. It’s been long and intense and I’m kind of just getting to the point now where I’m ready to go fight and get this thing over with.

It seems like things really changed for you when you moved to Hawaii. What has that move done for you?

You know, it’s great. Moving to Hawaii is definitely the best thing I’ve ever done in my life. I had the opportunity to be the head coach at Icon and there are a whole bunch of guys out here training with me who are just great. But besides the gym and the wonderful people out here you have the weather and everything that is Hawaii. It’s been really conducive to my training.

I hear a lot of people say you’re much more mature these days, no longer such a wild guy in and out of the cage. What do you think prompted that transformation?

Losing (laughs). You know, I got away with being a brawler for a long time. And it’s hard to change things when they’re working. But when I fought Anderson I realized, I might be able to beat 95% of the guys out there, but I’ll never be a world champion fighting this way. So I had to go back and change a lot of things. That was one part of it.

And the other part was, you know, coaching. Now that I have a team of amateur guys fighting, it’s hard to tell them to do something if you’re not doing it yourself.

- Michael Bisping has some kind words for Chris Leben in the above ESPN interview, calling the UFC 89 bout his toughest challenge to date.

- Frank Mir astutely summed up what it was like to fight Brock Lesnar, telling Sherdog the experience was “like getting hit by a car that’s moving very slowly and you can’t get out of the way. It bumps and knocks you over and is just overwhelmingly powerful. …I didn’t know where he was half the time. It really felt like I was underwater and somebody was beating the s—-t out of me. I was just drowning under him.” Check out MMA’s undisputed champ of metaphors.

- Sounds like we can forget about seeing Wanderlei Silva-Rampage Jackson tacked on to the UFC 91 card. Yahoo!’s Kevin Iole says it’s more likely that fight will appear on a Super Bowl weekend card, but almost certainly won’t happen in 2008. At least it will give Rampage more time to sort out his legal problems and get comfortable with his new team.

- TUF 6′s Ben Saunders will take on Brandon Wolff at the UFC’s Dec. 10 event for the troops at Fort Bragg in North Carolina. This is the fight that War Machine turned down, right around the same time he made idiotic comments about Evan Tanner. Saunders kept his mouth shut and agreed to fight whoever the UFC asked him to. Guess who still has a job.

(Will Michael Bisping follow in Forrest Griffin’s footsteps? Photo courtesy of daylife.com)

From TheSun.co.uk:

Michael Bisping is hot favourite to be named as one of the coaches on the new series of The Ultimate Fighter…

The UFC have not yet offered Bisping the coach’s role on TUF 9 because he is scheduled to fight Chris Leben at UFC 89 at the Birmingham National Indoor Arena on October 18.

But SunSport understands Dana White will immediately hand the British star a contract to appear on the show if he overcomes Leben next month.

It is believed Dan Henderson will coach the US team, with the TUF 9 finale featuring him in a clash for the #1 middleweight contender’s spot against Bisping, which could take place in December next year.

As the UFC’s only British star, it makes sense that the TUF 3 winner would be chosen as a coach for the “U.S. vs. U.K.” season of The Ultimate Fighter. But it also makes you wonder who will be picked to lead the British team if Bisping loses to Leben. We’re assuming it would still be Bisping — but then would a fight between him and Hendo really be a #1 contender match? When contacted by MMA Weekly, The Count confirmed that he hadn’t been made an offer yet, but he’d certainly be open to one:

(Amir Sadollah could be part of Couture/Lesnar’s supporting cast.)

— UFC lightweight Gleison Tibau has been forced to pull out of his UFC 90 match against Hermes Franca due to a shoulder injury; replacing him will be Franca’s longtime friend Marcus Aurelio. Franca and Aurelio trained together at American Top Team before Franca left the camp, which led to a feud between Franca and ATT.

— During an appearance at Combat Sports Challenge 26 in Colonial Heights, Virginia, TUF 7 winner Amir Sadollah revealed that he expects his next fight to be at UFC 91 in November. His opponent should be announced in the near future.

— UFC 91 will also reportedly feature a heavyweight bout between Gabriel Gonzaga and UFC newcomer Josh Hendricks. Gonzaga is coming off a first-round submission win over Justin McCully at UFC 86 in July, which snapped a two-fight losing streak. Hendricks is a vet of various regional promotions who’s 9-0 with one no-contest in his last ten fights.

— Michael Bisping thinks that Quinton Jackson’s next fight will be in December, against either Wanderlei Silva or Mauricio Rua: “[E]ither way, revenge is the dish that’ll be served up on the night! I’m sure whoever he gets in December, everyone at the Wolfslair will be behind him 100 per cent and fingers crossed he’ll get his revenge.”

— The UFC recently reunited eight castmembers from The Ultimate Fighter‘s first season to film an upcoming TV special. MMA Junkie provides some advance highlights, like when Joe Rogan asked the cast how much better they did with the women after being part of the show:

“If you’re in a relationship you want out of, now is the time to speak up,” Stephan Bonnar shouted, laughing.

When no one was willing to talk, Rogan called them “a bunch of (expletives).”

Forrest Griffin, now the UFC’s light heavyweight champion, broke the tension by shouting, “Hey, I don’t know about you guys, but I was doing pretty good with the women before.”

(Big mistake.)

With Juanito Ibarra out of his life, Quinton Jackson was down a trainer and a business manager. But according to Fighters Only Magazine, he’s found both at Wolfslair Academy, the Liverpool, England-based MMA team that’s home to UFC fighters Michael Bisping and Paul Kelly. Jackson has signed a three-year deal that will make Wolfslair responsible for managing all aspects of his career, from training camps to securing sponsorships. According to gym co-owner Anthony McGann:

“After the Forrest fight, he felt that his training hadn’t been quite right. He was deeply disappointed in his performance and he felt like he needed to change some things in his life. He came to us as we’ve all been friends for a long time. He feels that training in England can help him focus, which can be difficult in California because of his star status. He’s relatively unknown in England…He will be training when he can in England and the Wolfslair will be running his camps up in Big Bear when he is preparing for his fights.”

Oddly, McGann mentioned that Jackson’s split with Juanito Ibarra was amicable, and they parted on good terms — which runs contrary to every other report on the subject. As for Jackson, he seems very enthusiastic about his new camp, since their vibe seems to mesh with his own:

Chris Leben: Evolution of an Icon (Episode 5) – Watch more free videos

When Chris Leben first showed up to a fight with a tattoo of a samurai holding a severed head sprawling across his back, it seemed like he had finally found something to believe in. In this edition of “Chris Leben: Evolution of an Icon” he adds a different belief system to a different part of his body. Now, you’re probably thinking, ‘What could possibly make Chris Leben want a tattoo of the Buddha when nothing about his life or personal ethos seems to be in keeping with Buddhism?’

Fair question, but what you probably don’t know is that traditional Buddhism actually puts a lot of emphasis on coming in smelling like booze and dirty strippers and still putting the stamp on kids. Plus it looks cool, and nothing’s more American than co-opting the religious symbols of other cultures as ornamentation.

Bisping better be worried now. If he gets hit with Leben’s Buddha arm, it’s lights out.

Chris Leben: Evolution of an Icon – Watch more free videos

Here’s the third installment of the Icon Sport series “Chris Leben: Evolution of an Icon.” When this started, we were among those impressed by the production value (for the internet, anyway) and pleased by the general concept of this web series. But now that we’ve hit episode three, it’s starting to feel a little too much like a Chris Leben infomercial. Maybe it’s the strength coach going starry-eyed over him or his girlfriend talking up his dedication, but when everyone is so unrelentingly positive it becomes hard to digest.

I guess I just thought/hoped this would be more of an inside look and less of an extended hypefest. Now that I’ve typed that sentence, I realize how stupid it sounds.

As an added bonus, check out the trailer for the straight-to-DVD Randy Couture joint, “Scorpion King 2: Rise of a Warrior” after the jump. Is there really a point in the film where some weirdo magic blood is dripped onto Couture’s head, presumably granting him special powers? Really? Then consider it Netflix’d.

Never one to miss an opportunity, Dana White announced during last night’s re-broadcast of UFC 84 that UFC 89 will be broadcast for free on Spike TV. The announcement coincided with Elite XC’s Saturday Night Fights presentation on CBS, but we assume that was just a coincidence.

UFC 89 features Michael Bisping and Chris Leben from Birmingham, England on October 18. It also features Thiago Silva and Lyoto Machida. And not a whole lot else at this point. A pay-per-view from England is already a dicey prospect because of the time difference, and the lack of overall star power on the card makes free TV a much better choice.

Keep an eye out during UFC 87 in August, as we expect Elite XC’s Doug DeLuca to get on TV and announce that he is going out for ice cream, and you’re welcome to come along.

(Props: Bloody Elbow)

Not long ago we wrote about the surprisingly well-done Chris Leben video from Icon Sport. Now the first episode is out, and while Leben himself is no Aristotle he does seem to be more mature than the Leben who KO’d doors on “The Ultimate Fighter”. Around the 4:00 mark talk turns to Michael Bisping, and then Leben describes it as “the fight that needs to happen”. That might be overstating it a bit, but at the very least it’s a fight that would be cool if it really happened this time.

I was incredibly disappointed by Marcus Davis’s loss-by-smothering against Mike “Not Quick” Swick at UFC 85 — partly because I’d been shamelessly hugging his nuts leading up to the event, and partly because his loss contributed to me having to film myself vomiting. But in a recent profile on MMA Junkie, Davis reveals that his insane weightlifting regimen led to an injury that almost sunk the fight altogether. As Davis explains:

“Three weeks before the Swick fight, I had torn the connective tissue between my triceps and my rear [deltoid]. I had Cortisone shots for that. Two days before the Swick fight, I couldn’t move my arm. So, the UFC was cool enough to send me to an orthopedic doctor in the U.K., and they did an ultrasound on my arm. I had an impingement in the front bursa sac that was like 100 times the size it was supposed to be, and then still that tear in the rear connective tissue. [The doctor] did a guided needle with the ultrasound into the bursa, and drained the bursa. And that lasted for about three-and-a-half hours, and then I couldn’t move my arm again.

“The day of the weigh-ins, [the UFC] excused me early. After I weighed in, they let me leave and brought me back [to the doctor] and checked me out. It had swollen right back up again because the needle had aggravated it.”

(In Russia, knee blows out *you*!)

— Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic has pulled out of DREAM.5 (July 21st; Osaka, Japan) due to nagging injuries to his elbow and knee, as well as an absence of opponents; Mighty Mo Siligia, who was slated to replace Jerome LeBanner against Filipovic, recently withdrew from the event. Cro Cop expects to be ready to compete at DREAM.6 on September 23rd. “I would really like to fight Alistair Overeem, we all know why and I won’t let it go,” Filipovic said. “My career is far from being over, I’ll be fighting some strong competitors soon again and hopefully I’ll meet Fedor in the ring once more in 2009.”

— Speaking of Fedor, Michael Bisping claims that the Last Emperor will be going into his July 19th Affliction fight against Tim Sylvia less than 100%. “It’s going to be good to see if Fedor is still the man but I’ve heard on the grapevine from inside sources that he could be injured,” Bisping told The Sun. “But this is time for Fedor to step up. Everyone knows what Tim Sylvia is all about but Fedor’s had an aura about him for a long time.”

In this clip from Fighters Club TV, BJ Penn announces his intention to move back to 170 to fight the winner of Georges St. Pierre vs. Jon Fitch, possibly around New Year’s Eve. The Prodigy says he’d love to reclaim the welterweight title, will take future matches at lightweight “if it makes sense,” and moving to middleweight is a future aspiration. Hopefully, a title defense against Roger Huerta or Kenny Florian still makes sense to Penn, but the lure of eating more cheeseburgers building a legacy can be strong sometimes. (Props to Steve Cofield for the find.)

Another notable bit of UFC news emerging this morning is that UFC 89 (October 18th; Birmingham, England) will be televised for free on Spike TV, and another pay-per-view event will likely be held one week later. UFC 89 will be headlined by Michael Bisping vs. Chris Leben, and will reportedly feature a bout between Thiago Alves and Diego Sanchez.

Chris Leben: The Evolution of an Icon – Watch more free videos

Somebody over at Icon knows what they’re doing. This mini-documentary on Chris Leben promises to be not only entertaining, but also very well done and effective at driving up interest in his bout with Michael Bisping at UFC 89.

On a related note, am I the only one who thinks that body surfing next to cliffs with sharks in the water is a bad idea for a pro athlete? Imagine Leben getting hurt and then trying to explain that one to Dana White.

Clear your schedules for August 9th, people. Like UFC 84, the three headlining bouts at “Seek and Destroy” are worth the cost of admission and the rest is just gravy. So, GSP/Fitch, Lesnar/Herring, and Florian/Huerta…who ya got?

Sort of related: The UFC has confirmed what most of us already knew — Michael Bisping and Chris Leben will meet at UFC 89, which will be held at the National Indoor Arena in Birmingham, England, on October 9th.

(‘These walls are funny. First you hate ‘em, then you get used to ‘em…’)

Chris Leben’s time in jail may have cost him a big time bout with Michael Bisping, but it does seem to have forced him to reflect on the state of his life. It also gave him the opportunity to choke out a convicted felon. Which is, you know, good to have on your resume.

He tells the story to MMA Weekly, describing what happened when his attempts to train in jail drew the curiosity of fellow inmates, who asked Leben to teach them a choke.

“I told the guys it’s a blood choke, so you don’t have to squeeze hard,” he said. “So I was just kind of choking him with one arm while he’s standing up. And I told him just tap when you start to feel like you’re going to pass out. Well, he didn’t tap, and at the time I’m going wow, this guy’s pretty tough, I’m surprised he hasn’t tapped yet. He just drops to the floor in the cell.

“Now I’m standing there with 20 prisoners around and they’re freaking out. This guy’s laying there, snoring like crazy. I’m like ‘it’s all right, it’s all right,’ then I realize they have cameras in here. I’ve just choked this guy out in jail – I could get in trouble for this. I kept telling them, ‘he’s fine, he’s fine,’ and it took this guy a minute to wake up. Finally he woke up and we had a laugh, and luckily I didn’t get in any trouble for it. That was beginning and the ending of my inmate coaching career.”

Two things here: 1) That’s awesome, and 2) The moment where Chris chokes out an inmate and then thinks it through long enough to realize that it was probably a bad idea is, I’m going to say, emblematic of the kind of approach to life that landed him there in the first place.

To his credit, Leben seems to have enough self-awareness to admit that:

(Props: Five Ounces of Pain)