You know you’re somebody in the world of mixed martial arts when A/V genius Genghis Con makes you the subject of one of his mesmerizing videos.  That’s why we’re still waiting for that highlight reel featuring clips of us sitting at our computers to the tune of obscure Japanese pop bands (and we won’t wait forever, Genghis), but in the meantime we can entertain ourselves with some of the Con’s most recent work on new Strikeforce signee Marius "The Raging Demon" Zaromskis.  It’s everything we’ve come to expect from our favorite video editing machine.  The video game-esque music is the perfect compliment to Zaromskis’ ridiculous string of head kick KO’s, and nothing tells you that the guy has a Street Fighter II-like overconfidence in himself quite like the attempted backflip attack at the 2:37 mark.

Not that we can’t understand the reasoning behind it, but we’re still a little disappointed in the change of nickname for Zaromskis.  Sure, "The Whitemare" is the kind of thing that might not play in the U.S., but at least it’s unique.  "Raging Demon" sounds like a skateboard company started by a group of guys who dropped out of community college.  The very least Strikeforce could do is to give him a nickname that is as quirky and uncommon as his last one, even if he ends up hating it as much as Gegard Mousasi despises his.   

This video from MMA4Today is entitled "MMA Is Not Enough," but it could just as easily be called "The Agony of Defeat."  It’s basically four-and-a-half minutes of the saddest, most vulnerable moments in the lives of some of the sport’s best fighters.  Remember that Sesame Street video "Everybody Sleeps"?  Think of this as the MMA version: Everybody Loses.  Except Fedor.  For the purposes of this analogy, he’s the shark of the MMA world.

After the jump, another boxing knockout, plus Tiki Ghosn gets tough with Rashad Evans in an "Ultimate Fighter" scene from the cutting room floor.

You asked for it, and now you got it.  Cage Potato presents the 8 most impressive striking displays we’ve ever witnessed in MMA.  Please note that "impressive" doesn’t necessarily mean the best technical displays or most dominant victories.  Naw son, there’s a range.  Some are brutal, some are smoove, and some are just nice all-around displays.  All are impressive for one reason or another, and our hats go off to the purveyors of beatdowns featured below.  Enjoy…

#8: Takanori Gomi vs. Jens Pulver: Pride Shockwave, 12/31/04

Going into this fight, the conventional wisdom was that Pulver would want to stand and bang and Gomi would look to get things to the mat.  As you see, that ain’t how it happened.  Instead they traded a pleasing mix of low kicks, body shots, and power punches in a contest to see who would fall down first.  Turns out that someone was Pulver, who couldn’t stand up to Gomi’s deceptive power quite as well as he thought.  Really makes you wonder what happened to that Gomi.  He sure was something to watch once upon a time.

#7: Fedor Emelianenko vs. Gary Goodridge: Pride Total Elimination, 8/10/03

Fedor Emelianenko vs Gary Goodridge – Watch more Funny Videos

While several of Fedor’s fights could arguably make this list, his one-minute destruction of “Big Daddy” gets the nod simply because it’s one of the best examples out there of Emelianenko’s nothing-but-power-punches approach to striking.  From the moment he first unleashes his offense, Fedor hardly throws anything that isn’t a cannonball with evil intentions.  Just listen to the sound of the punches hammering Goodridge in the opening seconds and see if it doesn’t remind you of a Gallagher show.  Sure, he’s beaten better opponents in his time, and thrown more devastating one-punch KO’s, but this one really gives you a glimpse of how terrifying it must be to find yourself on the business end of a Fedor assault.

#6: Wanderlei Silva vs. “Rampage” Jackson II: Pride 28, 10/31/04 

You know what’s great about this behind-the-scenes All Elbows video of "King Mo" Lawal‘s destruction of a hapless Mark Kerr at M-1 Breakthrough?  Everything.  Not only does it mix sharp editing and a sweet soundtrack with backstage footage and an awesome shot of Mo knocking Kerr’s mouthpiece across the ring at the end, but we also get to see just how painfully low-budget M-1′s Kansas City event was.  Check out Mo’s locker room.  That thing would make a convict feel claustrophobic.  It’s so small he has to warm up in the hallway, not that it seems to have hurt his performance any.  Seeing this now really makes me wonder how/if Mark Kerr got warmed up for this fight.  Do you think he just sat in his car with his eyes closed, listening to "Desperado" on the tape deck over and over again until the promoters came out to tell him it was time?

On a completely unrelated note, after the jump watch the sucker punch at the end of last night’s Oregon/Boise State game that got the college football season off to an embarrassing start.  If only Boise State had recruited that nice Anderson Silva boy to play free safety, no one would have dared to try something like that against them.

After losing a decision in his last outing, Ryan Couture returned to the ring last weekend to face Jimmy Spicuzza on the same Tuff-N-Uff card that saw Matt Polly stumble awkwardly towards victory.  Spicuzza started fast and had Couture rocked early on, but again we see Couture’s considerable prowess in the ground game come to his rescue.  Something tells me it won’t be so easy for his dad to pull off an armbar against Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira this weekend, though.

After the jump, Seth "The Kimbo-Slayer" Petruzelli is back in action, plus a vicious body shot KO, and Bas Rutten actin’ the fool.

After making my MMA highlight reel debut with "Sakuraba: Survivor," I decided to follow it up with a new compilation that’s both shorter and less depressing. The concept of "Stranglehold" is quite simple: Here are some of the most creative and infamous choke-submissions in recent MMA history, soundtracked by Ted Nugent. The cast of characters include Nate Diaz, Dan Miller, Renato "Babalu" Sobral, Shinya Aoki, BJ Penn, Nick Diaz, Demian Maia, CB Dollaway, and Toby Imada. Let me know what you think, and if you dig it, please share with a friend.

(BG)

(Props: The Garv)

The official UFC 100 promo video doesn’t need any heavy-handed voiceover to make its case as one of the best MMA events in recent memory.  It just runs down some perfunctory highlight clips to remind you of who all’s fighting, and then it steps back to let your imagination run wild.  Now all you need is a ton of money and no objection to dropping an obscene amount of cash on one sporting event, and you can experience it live.  You can also help whip your section of the arena into a chant that voices the will of the people.  If that kind of thing interests you.

After the jump, a highlight video that is pretty much the exact opposite of this promo.

#7: Matt Hughes vs. Carlos Newton
UFC 34: 11/2/01

(The Newton slam comes at about the 0:52 mark.  Then there are others.)

We’ve sung the praises of Hughes’ signature slam before, but never was it more effective than when he used it to take the UFC welterweight championship away from Carlos Newton.  Hughes’s first line of defense against Newton’s triangle choke was to pick him up and walk him over to the fence, resting him atop the Octagon while he got a second to think things through.  When that didn’t help he dropped him straight down, sending Newton’s dreads a-flyin’ and knocking him out cold.  Hughes also seemed, shall we say, out of sorts after the slam.  He also seemed like the new UFC welterweight champ.  So there you go.