Like with most other major sports, fantasy games are becoming integral to the MMA fan experience.  Fantasy MMA adds to the enjoyment experienced while watching MMA events by enabling fans to compare their knowledge against others — either for bragging rights or for cash prizes.  In addition to adding more enjoyment to the fan experience, fantasy games promote the sport in general by engaging fans with fighters they may otherwise ignore.

As a coach on season one of The Ultimate Fighter, Randy Couture recognized the similar multi-faceted promotional value that the show had, which prompted him to partner with Kountermove,  the newest fantasy MMA website on the block that has grown immensely in popularity since going live four months ago.

“The great thing about The Ultimate Fighter is that it drives fan interest to lesser-known fighters,” Couture explains. “I got involved in Kountermove for that reason.”

Kountermove boasts more than 5,000 players, has paid out over $50,000 in cash prizes thus far and has steadily increased its prize pools to keep up with its membership boon. Since launching in November of last year, Kountermove has quickly become one of the most popular of the MMA fantasy sites and one of a select few that allows play for cash prizes. The site is neither a “pick ‘em game,” nor a “betting simulation,” unlike the other major fantasy sites, as it uses actual fight data, such as strikes landed and takedowns, to determine the winner.

Find out how the Kountermove is hooking up the Potato Nation after the jump.

(Remember them.)

It’s true. Our year-old MMA FightPicker game — which was played so passionately by so few of you — has just become too costly to keep around, and we’re taking it to live on a farm upstate where it’ll be cared for by a nice man. So if you’ve had problems lately joining pools or getting your PotatoChips paid out, that’s why. Sincere apologies to everyone who grew to love the poor thing, and congrats to those who actually did well on it (Rampey, finland, et al.).

It’s a sad day, to be sure, but this doesn’t have to be the end of CagePotato’s foray into gaming. If you have ideas for other MMA-related games you’d like to see on CP, please let us know in the comments section. Thanks for understanding.

Clear your schedules, Potato Nation — this coming Saturday, the Ultimate Fighter 12 Finale (Spike, 9 p.m. ET/PT) and Strikeforce: Henderson vs. Babalu (Showtime, 10 p.m. ET/PT) will both be competing for our attention. If you haven’t visited our MMA FightPicker game in a while (which you can also play on Facebook), please swing by and test your prediction skills against your fellow fight-fans; this week’s pools include questions related to both events. For those of you who already made picks over the weekend, keep in mind that Strikeforce’s recent run of bad luck and Leonard Garcia’s withdrawal from the TUF 12 Finale have altered things a bit, so revisit your pools and make any necessary changes. The current list of FightPicker questions is after the jump. Good luck.

(Props: YouTube.com/UFC)

We know that times are tough. So when you have a chance to bet fake money on an event that’s being broadcast for free on basic cable, you have to jump on it. This week, MMA Fightpicker presents questions related to Saturday’s UFC 120 event in London (Spike TV, 8 p.m. ET/PT). Will Bisping vs. Akiyama go the distance? Will the main card’s heavyweight feature end with a dude getting his ass KTFO? Out of the seven British fighters in the lineup, how many will actually win? Check out the full list of pool questions after the jump, and throw down your predictions at fightpicker.cagepotato.com or apps.facebook.com/fightpicker…

This Thursday night in Broomfield, Colorado, the WEC will be hosting its most star-studded event since Aldo vs. Faber — with many of the same faces squaring off in the cage. In addition to Jose Aldo‘s featherweight title defense against Manvel the Anvil, WEC 51 boasts the bad blood rematch between Jamie Varner and Donald Cerrone, Miguel Torres trying to snap a two-fight losing streak against Charlie Valencia, Mike Brown bouncing back against Cole Province, and Leonard Garcia and his Fight of the Year partner Chan Sung Jung returning against new opponents. Set your DVRs now (Versus, 9 p.m. ET) so you don’t have to come crying to us later. And if you’re a FightPicker player, please swing by fightpicker.cagepotato.com or apps.facebook.com/fightpicker to battle your fellow ‘pickers for bragging rights. The complete list of this week’s WEC 51 pool questions can be found after the jump…

(Props: picturelab1)

Whether or not Shark Fights 13 is worth $29.99 of your pay-per-view budget is up to you to decide. But you have to admit, the prospect of Keith Jardine, Sokoudjou, Houston Alexander, and Paul Daley on the same card is pretty damn compelling, especially on a weekend when nothing else is going on. After four straight losses in the UFC, Jardine calls his fight with Trevor Prangley this Saturday the beginning of his comeback. A strong performance from Paul Daley against veteran Jorge Masvidal might help Semtex get back in the UFC’s good graces as well. (Yeah, we know he was banned from the Octagon for life, but so was Karo Parisyan, and all Karo had to do was agree not to screw Dana White any more.) And sure, the Assassin vs. the African Assassin? Should be a classic banger, unless Houston decides to dance around in circles again.

Check out the extended video trailer for "Shark Fights 13: Jardine vs. Prangley" above, in which a cast of fighters and analysts (and Don Frye) break down the event. And if you’re an MMA FightPicker supporter, please head on over to fightpicker.cagepotato.com or apps.facebook.com/fightpicker to make your picks for the ten-fight card. The pool questions are after the jump. Note: Due to injuries, Drew McFedries and Marcus Hicks have dropped off the card and have been replaced by Danillo Villefort and Daniel Straus. The event’s preliminary card will be streamed on Sherdog.

(You’re really going to pick against a guy who can play Für Elise with handguns? Props: YouTube.com/RangerUpVideo)

Following WEC 50: Cruz vs. Benavidez on Wednesday and Bellator 25 on Thursday, this wild and wooly week of MMA concludes Saturday with Strikeforce Houston, which features King Mo vs. Rafael Cavalcante, Tim Kennedy vs. Ronaldo Souza, KJ Noons vs. Jorge Gurgel, Bobby Lashley vs. Chad Griggs, and a champion of two different promotions on the preliminary card. For some reason, betting sites are only offering action on Lawal (-381) vs. Cavalcate (+375), so you’ll have to make things interesting by wagering some FightPicker PotatoChips — which you can accumulate just by signing into the game every day. Swing by fightpicker.cagepotato.com (or the Facebook equivalent) to make your predictions on the four marquee fights, as well as three prelim scraps that will probably never see the light of day. The question list is after the jump. Pick wisely.

(Can Miesha Tate smash through two fighters in the same night? Photo courtesy of Strikeforce.)

Look, we could talk about Silva and Sonnen all day, but there’s new business to attend to — namely, this is a huge week for women’s MMA. Thursday marks the premiere of Bellator’s third season, which will go down at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, Florida. In addition to appearances by Hector Lombard, Eddie Sanchez, and Yves Edwards, Bellator 24 will host two opening-round fights from their 115-pound women’s tournament: Megumi Fujii against late replacement Carla Esparza, and Jessica Aguilar vs. Lynn Alvarez. 

The following night, Strikeforce Challengers comes to the Dodge Theatre in Phoenix, featuring Miesha Tate, Carina Damm, Hitomi Akano, and Maiju Kujala in a one-night 135-pound tournament; first-round matchups will be determined at Thursday’s weigh-ins. If you’d like to enter some MMA FightPicker pools, please make it happen by tomorrow at fightpicker.cagepotato.com or apps.facebook.com/fightpicker. The full list of this week’s questions is after the jump…

(Unofficial UFC 117 poster via Bloody Elbow)

It’s almost upon us: The fight that may or may not get Anderson Silva fired. (Also known as the fight that may or may not get Chael Sonnen killed.) Your old pals at CagePotato.com will be liveblogging the action Saturday night, so be sure to swing by for up-to-the-minute results. And for you FightPickers out there, please follow the Internet-tubes to fightpicker.cagepotato.com or FP’s Facebook page to make your UFC 117 predictions for this week. We’ve got a husky set of 14 topics waiting for you in the pools, such as: Will the main event be the latest in the Spider’s series of long, drawn-out decisions? When will Sonnen score his first takedown in the fight, if ever? Who wins this USA vs. Brazil pissing contest, anyway? The full list of questions is after the jump; give ‘em a look and let us know how you feel.

(John Howard: You’d be a fool to pick against hair like that.)

Watching MMA is a lot more exciting when you have something riding on the outcome. And while you may not be bold enough to throw actual money on all those tasty underdogs, you can still play along during Sunday’s UFC Live: Jones vs. Matyushenko broadcast (Versus, 9 p.m. ET/ 6 p.m. PT) by casting your predictions in an MMA FightPicker pool. The game consists of 13 questions this week, covering all the marquee matchups as well as some specific questions on how the fights will play out. (Will there be a takedown within the first two minutes of the main event? Will James Irvin see the second round for the first time since 2006?) Check ‘em out after the jump, join FightPicker if you haven’t already, and feel free to share your predictions in the comments section. 

(Del Rosario’s most recent Challengers appearance against Brandon Cash, 11/6/09)

Strikeforce’s next "Challengers" card goes down this Friday in Everett, Washington, headlined by a heavyweight bout between Shane Del Rosario and Lolohea Mahe, and the women’s 135-pound title fight between Sarah Kaufman and Roxanne Modafferi. Two questions come to mind…

– Why is a 9-0 steamroller like Del Rosario fighting a 4-1-1 novice who’s coming off a loss?

– Why is that fight headlining this card, as opposed to the women’s title fight?

The answers are: 1) It’s Strikeforce, do you really expect brilliant matchmaking? 2) As rumor has it, Strikeforce is displeased that Kaufman’s last three fights have gone the distance. So they’re pretty much going to stop pushing her. Anyway. Die-hard fightpickers can check out the full set of pool questions for this event after the jump; please make your selections at fightpicker.cagepotato.com or apps.facebook.com/mmafightpicker.

Unrelated: Our good friends at AskMen.com have released their 2010 Great Male Survey, which is honestly one of the greatest sociological research projects of our time. Over 100,000 men participated, giving their opinions on sex, grooming habits, current events, and so much more. Things we learned: 49% of men would punch a co-worker in the face if they could get away with it. 3% of men feel that MMA is too violent for their tastes. 19% of men would track their partner’s movements ("with a GPS implant, for example") if they had the ability. 53% of men feel that "sex addiction" is just a convenient excuse for guys who get caught cheating. Well, obviously.

Do us a favor and check it out here.

A 46-year-old admitted steroid user. A hot-headed sucker-puncher. A veteran film actor. A crazy person. Not one, but two TUF 7 burnouts. Yep, this Sunday’s Impact FC show in Sydney is going to be all kinds of stupid. Even if you’re not buying the pay-per-view, please head over to fightpicker.cagepotato.com and see how accurately you can predict the results. Although with a card this volatile, you may as well try to predict how many fights War Machine will get into while incarcerated.

This week’s MMA FightPicker pool question list is after the jump. If you have any other ideas for FP questions related to the Impact show, please let us know in the comments section. Who knows, we may toss your question in as a bonus on Friday..

(That little son-of-a-bitch is at it again… / ‘Shop courtesy of urdirt)

Alistair Overeem won’t be beating anybody up, but this Saturday’s DREAM event — which will be broadcast live on HDNet at 3 a.m. ET / midnight PT — will still be good for some late-night thrills, so set those DVRs, kiddies. In the main event, Shinya Aoki defends his DREAM lightweight belt (and attempts to bounce back from his humiliation in Strikeforce) against fellow Japanese mainstay Tatsuya "Crusher" Kawajiri, who’s on a four-fight win streak and hasn’t been submitted in five years. Also on the card, Gegard Mousasi and Melvin Manhoef headline that kinda-pointless mini-LHWGP, Mitushiro Ishida makes his featherweight debut against Daiki Hata, Michihiro Omigawa gets fed a can, and Gesias Cavalcante looks for his first win in three years against Katsunori Kikuno. If you’d like to make it interesting, head over to fightpicker.cagepotato.com (or apps.facebook.com/fightpicker) to make your predictions. This week’s pool-questions are…

("Down in the Tremé / just me and my baby / we’re all throwin’ armbars / AND PUNCHIN’ AND HAVIN’ FUN!" Props: WatchKalibRun)

Just a quick update for all you MMA FightPicker players: Head over to fightpicker.cagepotato.com right now to make your predictions for the main card matches at this Saturday’s Strikeforce show. We’ll assume that you don’t really care about the preliminary card, so we’ll keep this week’s batch of questions short and sweet. Do any of you have the balls to pick an upset in Emelianenko vs. Werdum or Cyborg vs. Finney? How do you see the Scott Smith/Cung Le rematch playing out? Review the questions below, then head over to MMA FightPicker when you think you have it all figured out…

– Fedor Emelianenko vs. Fabricio Werdum @ ‘Strikeforce: Fedor vs. Werdum’: Who will win?
– Will Emelianenko vs. Werdum end in a submission?
– Cris Cyborg vs. Jan Finney: Who will win?
– Will Cyborg vs. Finney end in a first round KO/TKO?
– Which fight will be shorter: Emelianenko vs. Werdum or Cyborg vs. Finney?
– Scott Smith vs. Cung Le: Who will win?
– Who will score the first knockdown: Smith or Le?
– Will Smith vs. Le end in a KO/TKO?
– Josh Thomson vs. Pat Healy: Who will win?
– Will Thomson vs. Healy make it to round 3?

* Note: We originally included the scheduled undercard fight between Ron Keslar and Magomed Shikshabekov in this week’s FightPicker pools, but Shikshabekov is off the card due to visa troubles, so we added another question related to Thomson/Healy. Please edit your pools if necessary.

MMA fans have their work cut out for them this week, with three notable events featured on cable TV. Tomorrow night, Strikeforce: Los Angeles airs on Showtime (11 p.m. ET/PT), headlined by Robbie Lawler vs. Renato Sobral. On Saturday, the TUF 11 Finale goes down in Las Vegas (Spike TV, 9 p.m. ET/PT), with Court McGee and Kris McCray battling for the weird glass trophy, and Matt Hamill and Keith Jardine meeting in a light-heavyweight scrap. And on Sunday, Jamie Varner and Kamal Shalorus face off in a potential #1 lightweight contender’s match at WEC 49 in Edmonton (Versus, 9 p.m. ET / 6 p.m. PT). 

This week’s MMA FightPicker pools focus on the TUF 11 Finale, but we’ve also thrown in three matchups from the WEC card just to keep you on your toes. Feeling lucky? Then join some pools and show everybody how smart you really are. The current questions are after the jump…

(Liddell vs. Franklin hype reel, courtesy of 13berhanus.)

We don’t want you guys to panic or anything, but this coming weekend is utterly dead in terms of mixed martial arts competition. Seriously, even Bellator is taking a bye week. So, instead of wasting your time by asking you to enter MMA FightPicker pools for Triumph Fighter, Inferno!, we’re just going to have a two-week entry period for UFC 115 (June 12th, Vancouver). The question list for "Liddell vs. Franklin" is after the jump — study hard, make your predictions, and make us proud. No, you’ll never catch up with the Aaron Rampeys and surf_finlands of the world, but hey, if you’re doing it for the glory, you’re doing it for the wrong reasons.

As for UFC 114‘s pools, the less said about them the better. Mike Russow, John Hathaway, and Dong Hyun Kim pretty much shot my picks to shit. Men make parlay bets, and God laughs…

(There’s only one song that can put Rashad Evans in the proper headspace before a fight: Lee DeWyze‘s cover of "Beautiful Day." Photoprops: allelbows.)

We’re going to try a little something different for this week’s H2H column. Instead of going through all the MMA FightPicker questions for UFC 114, we’re just going to cover a handful of them, and pepper in a few questions that Mike Russell has generously pulled out of his ass. (By the way, have you joined a FightPicker pool yet for this weekend? Because you really should. No, really. No, seriously.) Check out our analysis of Saturday night’s card below, and make sure to come back tomorrow for our always-entertaining liveblog of the fights, starting with the Spike TV prelims broadcast at 9 p.m. ET / 6 p.m. PT. And let’s begin…

Quinton Jackson vs. Rashad Evans @ UFC 114: Who will win?
MR: I’m picking Evans. I just think that Rashad’s wrestling and conditioning will be too much for Rampage. The fact that we never saw Quinton without a shirt on, that it’s rumored he was smoking like a chimney while on the set of The A-Team and that his face looks like Anthony Anderson’s makes me bet against him.
BG: Yeah, I have Evans by decision for this one. Besides the conditioning disadvantage, Rampage has become such a one-dimensional boxer in his last fights. He could always catch Rashad with a knockout punch, but he’s not going to present anything that will surprise Evans.

Will they quash their beef after the fight?
MR: No. If anything, I can see them having to be restrained by their corners when it’s all over. If Rashad wins, he’ll likely not be respectful on the mic, but if Rampage has his hand raised he’ll go off about how Rashad pissed him off and he had to teach him a lesson.
BG: For the most part, Rashad has that Team Jackson martial-artist-respect thing going on. If he wins, I think he’ll shout out Rampage as a great fighter who he has a ton of admiration for — even if it’s just to make himself look like the bigger man.

This Friday, the DCU Center in Worcester will host the oddly-named Moosin: God of Martial Arts event, in what is being billed as the first major, sanctioned MMA event in Massachusetts. The show will be available on pay-per-view, and should feature some entertaining matchups, including the headliner between former UFC champ Tim Sylvia and strongman-turned-MMA-fighter Mariusz Pudzianowski, and the female feature between Tara LaRosa and Roxanne Modafferi. Eric "Butterbean" Esch — who is also the event’s promoter — will be taking on radio host Lyndon Byers, though the fight won’t be part of the PPV broadcast.

Also on Friday, the Strikeforce Challengers series returns to Showtime, headlined by the "WTF, Are You Serious?" match between Matt Lindland and Kevin Casey. Tyron Woodley, Roger Bowling, and Tarec Saffiedine will also be on the card.

The full list of this week’s MMA FightPicker questions are after the jump. Give ‘em a look, and go get those PotatoChips. And if you haven’t done so already, please follow MMA FightPicker on Facebook!

(Heavyweights and generic metal-riffs, baby. If this doesn’t get you amped up, then YOU’RE A PUSSY! YEAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!! Props: shosports)

Though he made a valiant effort in his FightPicker Head-to-Head debut — correctly predicting that Shogun would win by stoppage, Joe Doerksen would score an upset over Tom Lawlor, and Sam Stout would pick up another Fight of the Night bonus — Mike Russell’s excessive love of his Canadian countrymen (and Paul Daley for some reason) proved to be his undoing, as he was edged out by BG, 8-6. Not that getting eight out 13 pool-questions right is anything to brag about. (Aaron Rampey is LOL’ing at our sorry asses right now.) But hey, it was a tough card to predict, with some very surprising outcomes. Did any of you run the table and get every question right?

If you came out ahead this week, why not take your PotatoChip surplus and go extra-big for the current pools, which focus on Strikeforce: Heavy Artillery. Featuring the heavyweight championship fight between Alistair Overeem and Brett Rogers, the event goes down this Saturday at the Scottrade Center in St. Louis, and will be broadcast live on Showtime starting at 9 p.m. ET. We’ve also included a few questions related to Shine III: Worlds Collide, which is headlined by former boxing champ Ricardo Mayorga taking on Din Thomas. Check out the questions after the jump and pick well, my friends…

 
(Props: Nicole B.)

UFC 113 goes down this Saturday at the Bell Centre in Montreal, featuring the long-awaited light-heavyweight title rematch between Lyoto Machida and Mauricio Rua, and the potential #1 welterweight contender’s match between Josh Koscheck and Paul Daley. (Plus, Kimbo Slice and a whole lot of Canadians.) We’ll be liveblogging the pay-per-view broadcast starting at 10 p.m. ET; come early to ensure seating.

If you feel like testing your prediction skills against the Potato Nation this week, please head over to MMA Fightpicker by Friday, enter some pools, and make your educated guesses on how the card will play out. The full question list is after the jump…

Related: Become a FightPicker fan on Facebook!

(Alexander Shlemenko‘s last appearance, a 40-second stoppage via knees to the body against Sean Salmon, at Fight Festival 27 last month in Finland.)

Who needs a frantically thrown-together arena in Abu Dhabi? Bellator is hosting its own outdoor event this Thursday at the Power & Light District in Kansas City, Missouri, featuring the quarterfinals of their middleweight tournament. Sure, there really aren’t any big names on the card, but it’s Bellator, so you know there will be at least one insane finish on YouTube by Friday morning. Here’s how the middleweight tourney is arranged:

Bryan Baker vs. Sean Loeffler
Ryan McGivern vs. Jared Hess
Alexander Shlemenko vs. Matt Major
Eric Schambari vs. Luke Zachrich

Go to fightpicker.cagepotato.com right now to make your picks for the tournament fights as well as the "Local Feature Fight Card," which includes recently-ousted featherweight GP competitor Eric Marriott, former Strikeforce Challengers headliner Rudy Bears, and Drew Dober. Note: Due to some recent changes to the Bellator XVI lineup, we had to make a few edits to the questions this afternoon. So if you already entered a pool, please go back and double-check your picks.

And just for fun, we’ve included two questions about Saturday night’s welterweight boxing championship match between Floyd Mayweather and Shane Mosley. For inspiration, the first episode of HBO’s Mayweather vs. Mosley 24/7 is after the jump…

(Left: The poster for this Saturday’s WEC event. Right: Proof of BG’s FightPicker superiority.)

Props to Jeremy Hill for winning the MMA fan package in last week’s MMA FightPicker prize pool — and special props to myself for taking first place in my final head-to-head pool against BF, despite getting four of the questions wrong. It was that kind of week, I guess. (What happened, Dan Quinn’s Tramp Stamp? Put all your eggs in the Tim Stout basket?) Anyway, I hope this eases the rest of your concerns about the sound leadership of CagePotato.com, in the absence of you-know-who.

There’s no prize pool in effect this week on MMA FightPicker, but every week presents new opportunities to claw your way up the leaderboard and challenge the dominance of Aaron Rampey, who frankly seems to be getting a little too comfortable in first place. Perennial contender surf_finland trails him by just 437 PotatoChips at the moment, while nismo17, herbaliser, and Nick Allen TheBrave round out the FightPicker top 5. Take a look at this week’s WEC 48-related questions after the jump, then head over to fightpicker.cagepotato.com to make your picks!

Tango & Cash. Pancho & Lefty. Lee Harvey Oswald and the CIA. All great duos, and yet none can last forever. So it is with Cage Potato’s own Ben & Ben. But before we break up the team for good, we’re getting together one last time to go head-to-head on Strikeforce: Nashville picks in this week’s MMA FightPicker (Heavy Hitter Pool 10 #1517, stand up!). If you haven’t made your picks yet, get to it. Time waits for no man, and neither does the UFC/Pride prize pack.

Henderson vs. Shields @ Strikeforce: Nashville…
BG: I don’t think he’ll run away with it, but Dan Henderson clearly holds more advantages in this matchup and should be able to take the victory. Hendo has serious knockout power, and unlike Shields’s past opponents, he won’t be manhandled on the ground.
BF: Agreed. Shields isn’t going to submit him and definitely can’t hold him down for five rounds. It’s a bad, bad matchup for him.

 
(Image courtesy of Jimbo Jones, who will probably not be winning the Six Deuce MMA poster contest.)

The non-stop wave of MMA action continues this coming Saturday in Nashville, as Strikeforce presents three title fights (and Jason Miller) at the Bridgestone Arena. Head over to fightpicker.cagepotato.com right now to start making your pool selections, or play the game on Facebook if you’re so inclined.

Unfortunately we can’t give away stolen televisions every week — congrats to TheDemon, by the way — but we still think the current FightPicker prize pool is worth checking out. A reasonable 500-chip buy-in will allow you access to the "MMA Fan Pack Pool 25 #1476." The winner of this pool will receive the following:

– A PRIDE T-Shirt
– A PRIDE 33 DVD
– A UFC "Best of 2009" DVD

Only 25 players are allowed entry, so look sharp. Now let’s take a look at the questions you’ll need to ace to score the loot…

Look alive, Potato Nation: You only have until tomorrow night at 11:59 p.m. PT to enter pools for this weekend’s UFC 112-related MMA FightPicker action, so get crackin’. As we mentioned last week, we’re giving away a Sony BRAVIA 32" 1080p LCD HDTV to the winner of the current prize pool, which only has three players so far. So basically, one of those three unworthy jackassess will be taking home a goddamned television, just for manning up and wagering 3,800 PotatoChips. How does that make you feel? Inspired? Furious? Well, that’s the situation, and only you have the power to change it.

In other news: Phil Pennington, your iPad has been shipped. Here it is leaving our hands! 

After a short week of pickin’ for UFC Fight Night 21: Florian vs. Gomi, it’s time to stretch out a bit. The pools for next Saturday’s UFC 112 card are now open on MMA FightPicker and two things are worth noting: 1) You have a full nine days to enter pools and make your selections, and 2) Up for grabs in the prize pool this time around is a 32-inch television. Seriously. And it’s a nice one, too. A 3,800-chip buy-in gains you access to the 25-person-limit prize pool, in which the first-place winner will score a Sony BRAVIA 32" 1080p LCD HDTV, valued at $549.99.

Yes, 3,800 Potato Chips is about 3,750 more than you have at this point; we realize that. So why not buy some chips? Put it this way: If you need a 32" flat-screen and you think you have a good handle on how UFC 112 will play out, you could pick up a brand-new television at a very deep discount. The prize pool requires a minimum of 16 players, and it includes a tie-breaker question that you’ll need to answer. Any of you sissies have the guts to play? Anybody feel like taking a look at the questions before making such a rash decision?

UPDATE: Okay, listen up crybabies. We realize it’s not fair to con you into buying chips when the prize pool could shut down for not hitting the minimum number of players. So we’re going to lift the minimum player requirement for this one. Thanks for all your feedback, and please check back later…

Extra special shout-out time: Last week we ran two prize pools over at the ‘ol FightPicker to give away some of those newfangled Apple iPads, though God knows what you kids do with those things. The 25-person pool unfortunately ran aground due to the fact that not enough players had the balls to acquire and wager 3,000 PotatoChips — for SHAME — but the Unlimited pool did brisk business. And when the scores were counted up, one man stood tall, and his name was…

Phil Pennington

Hell yeah, bro!  Makin’ dreams come true! Phil, you should have already received an e-mail from us, but we wanted to give you a public "attaboy," and let the rest of you know that not all the glory in this world belongs to Aaron Rampey. (Although we appreciate him too.) Stay tuned for more kickass prize-pools, and be sure to throw down some picks for tomorrow’s "Florian vs. Gomi" card on Spike. 

Another big week on MMA FightPicker is in the books, and would you believe that Ben and Ben ended up tied for 2nd place (along with Geriatric Peon) in their pool? I guess that’s what happens when you make the exact same selections. Who knew. Celebrity guest-picker Roy Nelson did about as well, and we applaud him for predicting Ricardo Almeida’s win over Matt Brown, as well as the lack of an early stoppage in St. Pierre/Hardy. Speaking of Nelson, Big Country makes his next Octagon appearance this Wednesday at UFC Fight Night 21: Florian vs. Gomi, which goes down at the Bojangles Coliseum in Charlotte. The event will be broadcast on Spike TV at 8 p.m. ET/PT, and will lead in to the season premiere of TUF 11.

How does this affect you as a FightPicker player? Well, you only have until Wednesday afternoon to enter this week’s pools and make your selections, so get your e-asses in gear and make it happen. There are no prizes up for grabs this time around; we’ll announce the winners of last week’s iPad pools as soon as we have them. Let’s take a look at the questions that are currently in play…

(This is either the line-up for a great game of MMA Fightpicker, or the worst folk music trio in history.)

It’s one thing for us to beat up on one another with our weekly MMA FightPicker game, but do we have what it takes to out-prognosticate an actual UFC fighter? To help us find out, “Ultimate Fighter” winner Roy “Big Country” Nelson, who will be taking on Stefan Struve at UFC Fight Night 21 next Wednesday, has graciously agreed to throw his hat into the virtual Octagon this week and go head-to-head with us on UFC 111 picks. For that we are indebted to him, and so we remind you to check out his official site as well as his Tapout signature t-shirt, and we also thank Superaction, Spike TV, and MMA Glory Talent.

Remember, this week’s FightPicker has changed some with the removal of Thiago Alves and the reshuffling of Ben Saunders, so don’t forget to adjust your picks accordingly before tonight’s 11:59 PM PST deadline. Now…it’s decision time.

St. Pierre vs. Hardy at UFC 111: Who will win?
BG: Georges St. Pierre. You’d have to be a grown retard to think otherwise.
BF: Seeing as how I am not a grown retard, I can’t disagree. Hardy has a tough night ahead of him.
RN: St. Pierre – He has shown himself to be more well-rounded, but Hardy does have the puncher’s chance.

The UFC’s first event on Versus was a good night for those of you MMA FightPickers who like to play it safe. Favorites ruled the day and underdogs went down hard, meaning that the crazy riverboat gamblers among you probably took a much-deserved beating. As for our own petty rivalry, it was my (BF) night from start to finish. While BG scored a respectable 250 points, he didn’t come close to my 12 for 12 Perfecta, which earned me 400 points and landed me tied for first in our pool, right alongside some joker named Felix Apslund. Better luck next time, Goldstein. I totally don’t mean that.

As for other big winners, Aaron Rampey maintains his overall lead with 1,969 Potato Chips and 26 pool victories, but Me is on his tail (kind of) with 1,370 Chips and 18 pools won. Rounding out the top five pool winners overall are Ryan Johnson in the third spot, surf_finland in fourth, and herbaliser in fifth.

Ricky Broomstick (God, I hope that’s his real name) and Stephen Waggoner (I don’t care whether that’s his real name) were our two big prize pool winners this weekend, which means they’ll both be getting that sweet $200 prize package from MMA Warehouse.

That’s cool and all, but let’s look toward the future. UFC 111 is this Saturday, and what with it being a big event and all we thought we’d match it with an appropriately big prize. So we went out and got a couple of Apple iPad’s for you chumps. Look at us all cutting edge over here. The question now is, who’s got the stones to come and claim these bad boys in one of our two prize pools?

Check this week’s questions after the jump.