Thanks to everybody who entered our UFC 145 fight-picking contest last week! Many entered, but only three were skilled enough to claim the Fightville prize-packages, which include the movie’s official t-shirt from No Mas and a signed poster. The top three pickers were MoshuDragon, Alan K, and TheGangi, who predicted all three winners correctly, and picked unanimous decision victories for Jon Jones and Mac Danzig. Since MoshuDragon also guessed a first-round stoppage for Travis Browne, we’ll call him the unofficial first-place winner and throw in a CagePotato t-shirt.

If your name has been called, please send your real name, address, and shirt-size to contest@cagepotato.com and we’ll hook you up ASAP. Follow Fightville on Facebook and Twitter, and watch it now on iTunes.

(Props: movieclipsTRAILERS)

By Elias Cepeda

If you ask a movie reviewer what sets great movies apart from good ones, many would tell you that great movies are the ones that manage to transcend their premises. The Rocky series wasn’t about boxing; it was a story of an underdog who succeeded through hard work and determination in the face of impossible odds. Fight Club wasn’t about dudes beating each other up in basements; it was a dirge for our lost masculinity and the rise of anonymous consumerism.

And the new MMA documentary Fightville isn’t about the fighting; it’s about the struggle.

Directed by Petra Epperlein and Michael Tucker — who have previously collaborated on four other full-length features, including the Iraq war documentary Gunner Palace — Fightville is a gritty and thought-provoking glimpse into the human condition that should appeal to fight fans as well as fans of good filmmaking. Simply put, it’s the best MMA documentary since The Smashing Machine.

By Jason Moles

Before I dig in, let’s take a look at what Amazon has to say about this ingenious idea:

“Once friends, now bitter enemies, UFC superstars Chuck ”The Iceman” Liddell and ”The Huntington Beach Bad Boy” Tito Ortiz waged intense battles inside and outside of the Octagon. UFC Bad Blood: Liddell vs. Ortiz gives an all access look at the epic feud forged in heated competition over the UFC Championship, and fueled by personal conflict that often boiled over. Through exclusive new interviews, rare behind-the-scenes footage, and hard hitting action from their historic fights, you can re-live the rivalry that helped launch the Ultimate Fighting Championship into the mainstream, and make Chuck Liddell and Tito Ortiz household names that will be forever linked.

Special Features: Countdown to UFC 66, UFC 66: Chuck Liddell vs. Tito Ortiz, and UFC 47: Chuck Liddell vs. Tito Ortiz”

Well it’s about time that massive video library is being put to use. One of the most well-known and publicly talked about feuds in mixed martial arts will live forever on DVD and Blu-ray come August 30th, you know, in case you ever want to show your grandkids what human cock fighting looked like. Not sure about you, but wouldn’t this have been a bigger seller last year when Chuck Liddell coached opposite Tito Ortiz on The Ultimate Fighter 11? Rumor has it the DVD was supposed to be released much earlier but had to withdraw from stores due to a bulging disc and a cracked case.

To bring a few of you up to speed…

Genghis Con continues his campaign to make you like Mondays, as the second episode of his web-doc Miami Hustle dropped right on schedule. This episode follows decorated Cuban wrestler Alexis Vila as he prepares for his ninth pro MMA fight at flyweight. The episode starts with the final stages of sweating just before weigh-ins, and ends with his fight with OKC-based Lewis McKenzie at MFA New Generation 4 in February. Vila is an impressive talent, and don’t be surprised if you hear his name pop up when people start talking about the UFC’s plans at 125 pounds.

As with pretty much everything Genghis Con does, this is completely worth the time to sit down and watch. The two-man film crew managed to catch some funny stuff, not the least of which is Vila’s girlfriend stunningly bad timing to start with “I need to lose some weight…” Considering that she’s talking to a wrestler — an Olympic wrestler at that — and a pro fighter who’d just weighed in hours before, she’s not going to get much sympathy about how hard it is to shed ten pounds.

Also keep an eye out for Bellator’s Zombifier-in-Chief Hector Lombard, as he comes to watch Vila fight and gift Jorge Masvidal with a big knife, and JZ Cavalcante and Jorge Santiago ditching training to go surfing. Slackers.

You can catch Miami Hustle Monday nights here at 8pm ET, but seeing as how you can barely remember where you left your phone and what pants you’re wearing, we’ll go ahead and remind you next week.

[RX]

(Props: SXSW)

By Fidel Martinez, TuVez.com

I should preface this review by stating that at best I’m a very (very) casual fan of MMA, and at worst I’m completely ignorant about the subtleties of the sport. With that said, I don’t think that admission disqualifies me from writing about a documentary film on the subject. In fact, I think I’m exactly the kind of person that filmmakers Petra Epperlein and Michael Tucker were targeting with Fightville.

The film, which premiered at the SXSW Film Festival on March 12th, profiles four individuals involved in USA-MMA, a “feeder” league based out of Lafayette, Louisiana. The stars are two fighters (Dustin Poirier and Albert Stainback), their trainer (Tim Credeur), and their promoter (Gil Guillory, owner of USA-MMA). Epperlein and Tucker do a fantastic job at showing the nitty-gritty of a lower-level fighting league. From the unglamorous setting-up of the ring in a rodeo to the fighters balancing their personal lives (work, family, etc.) with their full-time job of training, Fightville provides an important contrast to the extravagance of the UFC — with its millions of viewers, hundreds of thousands of dollars in prize money for the headliners, ring girls, and promotional muscle.