(Trust fall: You’re doing it wrong.)

If anything, UFC on Fox 3 is looking like it has the potential to surpass that of its first two cards in terms of excitement. Dana White announced via his Twitter last night that a battle between top welterweight contenders Josh Koscheck and Johny Hendricks has just been booked for the UFC’s third go-around on Fox, which is already set to feature a lightweight clash between Jim Miller and Nate Diaz, as well as a heavyweight sure to be slugfest pitting Pat Barry against Lavar Johnson. Yes, it’s looking like there is little stopping this card *cough* Jon Jones’ commentary *cough* from finally delivering a good lineup to the masses. The first Fox card had the fights, but failed to showcase enough of them, whereas the second card was simply too underwhelming to reel in any new fans, but the addition of Hendricks/Koscheck to this card will surely push it over the top.

Hendricks is coming off a 12 second knockout over former #1 contender Jon Fitch, which snapped a 5-0-1 streak Fitch had put together since dropping a unanimous decision to Georges St. Pierre back at UFC 87. Koscheck, however, is fresh off a controversial split decision victory over Mike Pierce at UFC 143. Despite being outsruck for the majority of three rounds, Koscheck was able to secure the decision by converting on two of his three takedown attempts, because that’s apparently all it takes these days.

(Apparently after this loss, Max Holloway decided to change his nickname from “Lil’ Evil” to “Blessed,” likely because taking Jens Pulver’s nickname REALLY lets opponents know where your weakness lies.) 

Aside from bitterly dividing fans on what exactly constitutes a fight, UFC 143 left us with a lot of unanswered questions. Should Carlos Condit consider a nickname change?* Will Dustin Poirier get the next shot at Jose Aldo?** Is Nick Diaz really calling it quits?*** Though only time will truly calm our concerns, we’re going to make some bold predictions for Saturday’s winners and losers nonetheless, because that’s how we do things ’round here. Check out our matchmaking picks below, and let us know what you think in the comments section.

Nick Diaz: Perhaps the most impressive thing about Nick Diaz is that, despite his intellectual shortcomings, he maintains an ability to instill fear into whomever he fights. His cardio, striking attack, and Jiu Jitsu are second to none and just plain SCARY, but it is the man’s confidence, his willingness to relentlessly pursue and trade with anyone, that breaks even the strongest of competitors. Going into a fight with Diaz, you know you aren’t going to submit him, and you know it’s damn near impossible to knock the SOB out, so what the fuck are you supposed to do?

(“If you’re gonna tease me, at least let me shove this down your shorts, homie.”)

The Nevada State Athletic Commission today released the salaries for Saturday night’s UFC 143: Diaz vs. Condit event at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas.

The entire payroll for the show, which was attended by 10,040 fans and earned a reported live gate of $2.3 million, was $880,500.

Nick Diaz took home the biggest paycheck out of the night’s combatants with $200,000, not including discretionary back room bonuses which are rumored to have brought Diaz’s payday to the $1 million range. The next highest payout went to Josh Koscheck, who doubled up on his $73,000 base salary with his razor-close win over Mike Pierce, bringing him to $146,000. In third was Carlos Condit, who took home $110,000 for his win over Diaz including a $55,000 win bonus.

Fabricio Werdum’s UFC salary remained the same as his Strikeforce one as he netted his customary $100,000 flat rate for his win over Roy Nelson, who is still at the lower end of the pay scale of the UFC’s upper-echelon of fighters thanks to his TUF contract. To put it in perspective, Scott Jorgensen took home $500 more than “Big Country” for his loss to Renan Barao, while Mike Pierce matched salaries with the former heavyweight IFL champ.

“Where I come from, people who lose close fights retire.” Props: UFC.com

While watching UFC 143 from the comfort of my favorite dive bar last night, I knew that MMA fans would be waging war on the internet over the fights that went the distance. Between the two point deduction that cost “Bruce Leroy” his fight against Edwin Figueroa and Josh Koscheck’s close fight with the “undeserving” Mike Pierce, I knew that I could expect a long-winded, philosophical debate over what constitutes a fight and what doesn’t- whether abstract concepts like “control” and “aggression” mean more than punches thrown, and whether takedowns earned and stuffed negate an inferior striking display. Naturally, this debate would include a lot of ad hominems and off topic ranting, because that’s just par for the course online.

And that was before the main event of the evening, which saw Carlos Condit earn a close decision over Nick Diaz. Carlos Condit used backward and lateral footwork while outstriking Nick Diaz, yet many fans felt that Nick Diaz should have won the fight. Before the fight even ended, the debate already began on whether “Octagon control” necessarily means “the guy moving forward”, and whether counter-punchers should automatically be considered less aggressive than their opponents. Judging from the comments sections of today’s articles, that debate won’t be ending any time soon.

Benjamin Disraeli once said that there are three types of lies: Lies, damned lies and statistics. For the time being, let’s move our arguments about last night’s fights past the first two. Let’s now turn our focus towards the statistics from last night’s close decisions. FightMetric’s breakdowns of Riddle vs. Martinez, Figueroa vs. Caceres, Koscheck vs. Pierce and, of course, Diaz vs. Condit have been published, and are available after the jump.

Two kicks + two mangled testes = two points? (Photo: UFC.com)

Controversial decisions weren’t limited to the feature bout at UFC 143, my friends. From scrotum to scorecard, there’s much to break down from the undercard action.

Fabricio Werdum put on a striking clinic against the slightly less-hefty Roy Nelson. Werdum put together crisp, powerful combinations and launched a torrent of knees from the clinch to bloody “Big Country” up. It was a welcome rebound from his performance against Overeem and a promising re-introduction to the Octagon. Nelson has an incredibly tough chin—proven by the sheer number of bombs he takes fight after fight—and a heart as big as they come—what else could pump that much blood out of his face?–but that’s not enough to make it in the UFC’s heavyweight division. He’s served as a very game punching bag for much of his post-TUF career, and it’s not a good look. On the positive side, his refusal to die in the cage did help the duo score the evening’s $65k ‘Fight of the Night’ bonus.

(Don’t be a hero. Just throw your lunch money onto the stage with everybody else’s. / Photo courtesy of CombatLifestyle.com For more photos from this set, click here.)

Tonight, the UFC is putting an interim welterweight belt on the line, to be decided by two gamebred sons-of-bitches who go out to take scalps, not win points. If Nick Diaz vs. Carlos Condit isn’t a thrilling fight, I’ll eat my hat. Plus: Roy Nelson welcomes Fabricio Werdum back to the Octagon, Josh Koscheck slugs it out with his evil twin Mike Pierce, and Scott Jorgenson does his best to snap the 27-fight win streak of Renan Barao.

Handling play-by-play for tonight’s action is interim liveblog champion Aaron Mandel. Follow us after the jump for live results from the UFC 143 pay-per-view card, beginning at 10 p.m. ET / 7 p.m. PT. Refresh the page every few minutes for all the latest, and please use the comments section to let us know how we can better serve you.

Don’t blink- someone’s getting their ass motorboated tonight. (Video: YouTube/UFC)

Though reported to have gone down in Las Vegas, last night’s weigh-ins clearly took place in Bizarro World. How else could you explain a slim(mer) Roy Nelson, Josh Koscheck being the victim of bullying, and Nick Diaz comporting himself like a true gentleman?

We were denied a glimpse of “Big Medium Country” at the memorable UFC 137 weigh-ins back in October, but last night he tipped the scales some fourteen pounds lighter than he did when squaring off against Frank Mir last May. Could it be he’s serious about that drop to light heavyweight?

Koscheck hasn’t had much to say about his foe—aside from having to look him up after the fight was signed—but Mike Pierce provoked him further by donning a pretty accurate wig during their staredown. Considering that Pierce called him out in the first place, he either knows something we don’t or is setting himself up for a lesson in humility this evening.

And as for Diaz, there’s not much to say beyond how civilized he looked. No, he didn’t bro hug ‘Conduit‘ after the face-off, but the ruffian we know and love was nowhere to be seen. First a handshake at the presser, and now no mean mug? Could it be that the ‘Pride of Stockton’ has failed to muster up the hatred for his opponent that usually fuels his fights, and if so, does it even matter?

Full weigh-in results, and a closer look at the Diaz-Condit stare-down after the jump.

(“Hey, my eyes are up here, asshole.”)

Discussing MMA is a lot like discussing politics; what starts off as a friendly difference of opinion more than often spirals into an alcohol-fueled debate, rife with personal insults and name calling, before ending in a sloppy wrestling match that gets both parties banned from their boss’s wine tasting parties for life. Luckily, we have Doug “ReX13″ Richardson and Jared Jones here to dispute all things UFC 143, because frankly, we can’t make heads or tails outta this card.

Let’s kick things off how we normally do, with a completely offhand topic. Who wins the Super Bowl?

RX: Me, if the commercials are good and Bane blows up the stadium.  Let me guess, you’re a-

JJ: GO GIANTS!

RX: I hate you so hard, man.

JJ: First off, I’m not your buddy.

RX: But I never-

JJ: Eli Manning is to the Patriots what Dylan Klebold was to Columbine High School; he cannot be defeated, unless by that of his own doing. Giants 35-27.

RX: Wow…this has gotten off to a rough start. Can we just move on?

(Mike who? Well, if there’s an ass that needs motorboating, I’ll be there.) 

When Carlos Condit was called up to face Nick Diaz for an interim title shot at UFC 143 in the wake of Georges St. Pierre’s knee injury, one person who felt left out of the mix was none other than former title challenger Josh Koscheck, who was originally scheduled to face Condit at the same event. Kos later tweeted that he would indeed be fighting at UFC 143, possibly as a middleweight. But now it seems that the TUF 12 coach will be fighting back at welterweight against up-and-comer Mike Pierce, who recently announced the match-up via his Twitter.

Pierce is coming off an entertaining three round shellacking of Paul Bradley at UFC on FOX 1, and is perhaps best known for actually managing to mount some offense against Koscheck’s AKA teammate Jon Fitch in their battle back at UFC 107, a feat that has been deemed nearly impossible at this point in Fitch’s career. Pierce is 5-2 in his octagon run thus far, including the aforementioned loss to Fitch and a split decision loss to Johny Hendricks at UFC 133, as well as wins over Brock Larson, Amilcar Alves, and Kenny Robertson.

(Awwwww yeah.)

When the UFC decided to add a couple more fights to their first card on Fox, we figured it was the inevitable result of our time tested, sound advice. And now, Sherdog has confirmed that they are in fact adding three additional bouts to the card, so I’d say our theory is pretty much a lock at this point.

Though the fights may not be composed of big names like “Dos Santos” and “Velasquez,” there are still some pretty interesting match-ups with the definite potential for fireworks, the first of which is a featherweight contest between Virginian powerhouse Mackens Semerzier and Robert Peralta. Semerzier most recently broke a 3 fight skid with a first round submission victory over Alex “Bruce Leroy” Caceres back at UFC Fight Night 24. Peralta is coming off a successful UFC debut at UFN 25 where he scored a unanimous decision victory over Mike Lullo.

(Props: EASJBS)

Since you’re probably tired of hearing about James Toney and his wack-ass smack talk, we’re going to leave him out of today’s installment of The New Guys. Instead, we’ll focus on a fighter who actually has a decent chance of winning his UFC debut at #118, and will probably stick around for one more fight even if he loses. Ladies and gentlemen, meet the other guy who will be entering the Octagon for the first time on Saturday…

AMILCAR ALVES (WW)
Experience: 11-1 record (seven wins by first-round stoppage), competing for various Brazilian promotions. Last competed in December 2009, avenging his only career loss with a 59-second knockout of Fernando Paulon.
Will be facing: Mike Pierce (11-3, 2-1 UFC), in the first fight of the preliminary card.
Lowdown: A product of the red-hot Nova Uniao team in Brazil, Amilcar Alves is a training partner of such elite fighters as Jose Aldo and Marlon Sandro. The judo black belt plans on being a crowd-pleaser: “I know what audience and the promotion expect from a newcomer: to be a ferocious and hungry dog, and this is what I want to [be]. I know what I’ll bring will please the person who’s a UFC fan, much aggressiveness and versatility…I’m capable of bringing new tricks to the table in any moment.”

(Daniel Roberts grappling highlight reel. Props: YouTube.com/ninjaroberts)

Three hungry up-and-comers will be making their Octagon debuts this Sunday, filling some gaps on the "Vera vs. Jones" preliminary card. But who will explode on the scene, and who will blow the biggest opportunity of their careers like total losers? Read on and get acquainted with…

DANIEL "Ninja" ROBERTS (WW)
Experience: 9-0 record (7 wins by submission), mostly in Oklahoma-based promotions. Most recently scored a submission-via-punches over MMA old-schooler Anthony Macias in January.
Will be fighting: John Howard (13-4, 3-0 UFC)
Lowdown: Roberts is filling in for Anthony Johnson, who dropped off the card last month with an injury. He comes from an amateur wrestling background, and as you can see in the video above, his grappling is ferocious. Roberts currently trains at the Cesar Gracie camp with Strikeforce champions Nick Diaz, Jake Shields, and Gilbert Melendez. He’s thrilled to be fighting John Howard: “I have to say that if I were to pick my opponent for the UFC, it probably would be him. Not to say that he’s a bad guy or an easy win — the fact that he’s 3-0 in the UFC is actually a good thing. I checked him out, I saw what he has, and I definitely feel like my grappling is way ahead of his…if he can last through the first and second round, then he’s pretty tough, because I plan on giving it everything I’ve got…I know a lot of people like to stand up and bang, but I think I’m gonna win a lot of fans over with my grappling. I move really well on the ground and there are not a lot of people that can move like me."

(Mike Pierce takes Brock Larson for a ride during the "Diaz vs. Guillard" prelims in September. Photo courtesy of Sherdog.)

Poor Jon Fitch. Two weeks ago he was "So excited!" about his rematch with Thiago Alves, which was set up when his original opponent Ricardo Almeida went down with a knee injury. But Alves soon had to pull out for the same reason, and Fitch is now faced with a nightmare scenario for any top contender — a dangerous opponent with little name-value. As reported by MMA Mania, Fitch will now compete at UFC 107 (December 12th, Memphis) against Mike Pierce, a 10-1 up-and-comer who recently scored a major upset over Brock Larson during his Octagon debut at UFC Fight Night 19. Before he joined the UFC, Pierce toiled in regional promotions where he picked up wins over TUF castmembers Mike Dolce, Mark Miller, and Paul Bradley. He’s currently riding a six-fight win streak.

Obviously, Fitch should take this one; just as he derailed Paulo Thiago‘s hype train at UFC 100 after the Brazilian scored a freak upset against Josh Koscheck, Fitch will probably do the same thing to Pierce, who’s coming off the biggest win of his career. But once again, it’s a fight that doesn’t do much to move him towards another shot at the welterweight belt. Unfortunately, when your opponents are struck down with injuries, and you’ve already had a shot at the champion, and you won’t fight Josh Koscheck and Mike Swick because of your camp affiliation, your options tend to be limited.

(Jake Ellenberger vs. Jose Landi-Jons, 11/3/07. Fight starts at  the 5:52 mark and ends a few seconds later.)

UFC Fight Night: Diaz vs. Guillard is set to pop off this Wednesday at 8 p.m. ET/PT, directly before the TUF 10 season premiere, and as usual, we’ll be getting some new blood with our old, familiar faces. Only Jake Ellenberger is guaranteed TV time in his broadcast-opening bout against the Natural Born Killer, but if time allows, you may be seeing some other UFC newbies trying to make their mark in the Octagon. Get to know them below…

JAKE ELLENBERGER (WW)
?Experience: 21-4 record (15 wins by stoppage due to strikes), with multiple appearances in the IFL, M-1 Challenge, and Bodog Fight. Most recently knocked out Marcelo Alfaya in 42 seconds, at a Bellator event in June.
Will be facing: Carlos Condit (23-5, 0-1 UFC)
?Lowdown: This 24-year-old Team Quest product has been fighting professionally for over four years, and is stepping in for the injured Chris Lytle against Carlos Condit. Regarded as a well-rounded fighter, Ellenberger is a veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps. As he told UFC.com: “Having been through a Marine Corps boot camp, it makes you tougher mentally. Everything you prepare for in the Marine Corps is for war. We train for the worst case scenarios, and that’s an advantage I think I have mentally in a fight.” Jake employs his twin brother Joe Ellenberger as a wrestling coach and training partner.