Lyoto Machida interview – Watch more Funny Videos

Former UFC light-heavyweight champion Lyoto Machida was in attendance at yesterday’s weigh-ins for WFE Platinum, a Brazilian promotion that’s hosting an event tonight at the Fiesta Bahia Hotel in Salvador. Lyoto was there to support his brother, Shinzo Machida (1-1), who returns to MMA after a four-year absence. The Dragon spoke with Brian D’Souza about his brother, his controversial fight with Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson, and Anderson Silva’s prospects against Vitor Belfort.

Official weights (in kilos) and match-ups for the WFE show are after the jump…

Werdum talks Ubereem – Watch more Funny Videos

After a hard workout at Rafael Cordeiro’s Kings MMA gym in Huntington Beach, Strikeforce heavyweight contender Fabricio Werdum sat down with CagePotato West Coast correspondent Ruben Vera to discuss his health and Strikeforce return. If all goes according to plan, Werdum says he’ll be back in March, fighting Alistair Overeem for the heavyweight title. Werdum and Overeem met once before at Pride Total Elimination Absolute in May 2006, with Werdum winning by second-round kimura. At the time, Werdum says he had zero standup training to speak of. Now, he’s a more complete fighter, and is certain that he’ll finish Overeem in the first round of their rematch. "Overeem is my son, there’s no problem" Werdum says with a laugh.

Other notes: His elbow is in good shape, and he’s currently going through physical therapy following his recent surgery. He doesn’t consider himself the world’s #1 heavyweight after upsetting Fedor Emelianenko in June — he still thinks Fedor is #1, though Cain Velasquez is right up there. As for Saturday’s fights, Werdum predicts that his training partner Babalu Sobral will defeat Dan Henderson in the main event, and tells us to keep an eye on the undercard fighter Fernando Bettega.

The Cyborg Family – Watch more Funny Videos

Cristiane "Cris Cyborg" Santos and Evangelista "Cyborg" Santos — aka The Most Violent Couple on Earth — have been hard at work at their new Chute Boxe Team Cyborg gym, which they operate out of Cleber Luciano’s school in Huntington Beach. CagePotato West Coast correspondent Ruben Vera recently caught up with them to get an update on their lives inside and outside of the cage.

Neither fighter knows who their next opponent will be in Strikeforce, but they’re both training hard just in case an offer comes along. In a perfect world, Evangelista would get rematches with Gegard Mousasi and Melvin Manhoef. Cris doesn’t care who she fights because she doesn’t have anything personal against anybody — even Erin Toughill, who keeps calling her out. ("Even a bird can talk," Cris says.) Though she would be happy to go up in weight in fight Erin’s big ass, if it came to that.

As for their domestic life, Evangelista claims to do most of the cooking at home, and all of the cleaning. "Never clean!" Cris admits. In a fight between them, Cris would win because Evangelista would never hit a woman. On their iPods, Evangelista jams out to an audiobook of the Bible. Cris prefers "Waka Waka."

Ben Saunders Comes To Fight! First Win Post UFC – Watch more Funny Videos

Released by the UFC in August following back-to-back decision losses against Jon Fitch and Dennis Hallman, TUF 6 welterweight vet Ben Saunders returned to action this Saturday at World Extreme Fighting in Kissimmee, Florida, scoring a dominant first-round submission-via-strikes victory over Elijah Harshbarger. ‘Killa B’ was justifiably amped-up after the win, and spoke to our pal Remington Reed about the fight and his future goals. A couple highlights…

K-Sos Talks UFC 122 – Watch more Funny Videos

Coming off his Fight of the Night-winning TKO loss to Stephan Bonnar at UFC 116, Krzysztof Soszynski — better known around here as "K-Sos" — is hungry to get back to the win column. He returns at UFC 122 (November 13; Oberhausen, Germany) against Goran Reljic, who has dropped his last two bouts against CB Dollaway and Kendall Grove, and needs a victory to save his job. According to K-Sos, that’ll just make for a more exciting fight. As he tells our interviewer Ruben Vera:

"I think it’s another one of those fun fights. He’s gonna leave everything on the line. He’s 0-2 in his last two fights, he’s gonna be desperate; he doesn’t want to go 0-3. So he’s gonna put everything out there, he’s gonna put everything on the line to get this win, and I’m going to have to be ready for it. I feel like with the way I fought against Stephan Bonnar — a lot of punches, a lot kicks, a lot of pressure — I think it’s gonna be one of those barnburners, and one of those fights where the fans are gonna get a really good look at what we can do…
It’s gonna be a brawl…it’s gonna be a battle of wills, a battle of conditioning, and whoever’s fresher in the third round is gonna win that fight. I’m expecting a three-round war, and I’m pretty sure he’s expecting the same from me. We’re just gonna put on a great show for the fans and the UFC."

Later in the interview, K-Sos talks about why he left Team Quest for Reign Training Center, how studying under Bad News Brown inspired him to leave pro wrestling for MMA, what he thinks about the current season of TUF, and what his favorite Van Damme movie is. Shockingly, it’s not Bloodsport.

Ruben Vera catches up with Jason Mayhem Miller – Watch more Funny Videos

CagePotato’s West Coast Correspondent Ruben Vera recently got some time with Strikeforce/DREAM star Jason Miller, and if there’s one thing you should take away from this interview, it’s that BULLY BEATDOWN RETURNS NOVEMBER 4TH!!! Okay, now that the shameless plug is out of the way, we can get down to business. Mayhem is rather upset that Nick Diaz has the gall to talk shit and throw water bottles at him backstage after Strikeforce events, but won’t step up to fight him in front of a paying audience. He also runs down his DREAM.16 fight against Kazushi Sakuraba, his recent trip to Brazil, bringing MMA to a new audience with Bully Beatdown, and UFC 121‘s marquee matchups. Some highlights…

On Nick Diaz: "Man, this guy’s a paper champion, get out of here with this. What the hell? So he beat up a 155-pound KJ Noons, and ‘ohhh, you gotta come down to 170, bro.’ Get out of here! Like, okay, what exactly does that mean? The only fight anyone wants to see is me and Nick Diaz. Outside of the UFC, that’s the only fight that people are talking about, here in America. I’m sorry, that’s how it is. You broke it off, you jumped me. You did it, you asked for it, you talked about, for years, guys with painted hair who bark at themselves. Who are you talking about? You didn’t call out names. I’m calling out names! Nick Diaz is a bitch…he wants it, but he doesn’t. ‘Oh, come to my gym and fight me.’ Come to your gym and fight you? Really? That’s what you’re saying now? Get out of here, man. Step in the cage and fight me, you know? It’s ridiculous."

Cain Velasquez talks to CagePotato.com – Watch more Funny Videos

Just a few days out from his UFC 121 heavyweight title fight against Brock Lesnar, #1 contender Cain Velasquez sat down with our man Ruben Vera to answer some tough questions. For instance, what exactly is Cain going to bring to the table that’ll make him different than the other top heavyweights that Brock has already smashed? Velasquez also discusses the looming threat of Junior Dos Santos, the responsibility of being the new Latino standard-bearer in the UFC, and his appreciation of Fedor Emelianenko. Plus: UFC 121 picks, where Cain falls on the tweezers vs. waxing debate, and just like with Phil Baroni, Ruben somehow manages to get Cain Velasquez to say that "CagePotato is the best." Damn, bro…are you holding these guys’ families hostage or something?

(Martin Kampmann: Even when he grooms his eyebrows it’s intense.)

In the lead up to Saturday’s UFC 121: Lesnar vs. Velsasquez show in Anaheim, a major talking point has been Jake Shields‘s highly anticipated UFC debut. Lost in all the hype and Jake-centric media coverage is Shields’s opponent Martin Kampmann, who has taken out names like Paulo Thiago, Carlos Condit, and Thales Leites during his 10-fight run in the Octagon.

Martin was a guest on the latest episode of The Bum Rush Radio Show, where he discussed being underestimated by fans, and agreed with the widespread opinion that Jake Shields is boring a fighter. For the benefit of you lazy bastards who haven’t subscribed to our show yet, we’ve reprinted an excerpt below…

CAGEPOTATO.COM: It seems like all the media attention in this fight is on your opponent. You have Dana White saying Jake Shields will likely get a title shot if he beats you…do you feel overlooked or disrespected in any way by how this fight is being promoted, or presented in the media?
MARTIN KAMPMANN: He’s getting a lot of hype, and I feel sometimes people underestimate me. People underestimated me for my last fight too, they were counting me out then as well, but I proved everybody wrong, and I plan to prove everybody wrong in this fight as well…I’m in the UFC to achieve my goals, and Jake’s just another guy in the way.

If Jake Shields is being offered a title shot if he beats you, do you think the same offer should extend to you? If you beat Shields, are you worthy of the next shot?
Yeah, I definitely think so. If he can earn a title shot coming in from Strikeforce with his first fight in the UFC…this is my 11th fight in the UFC, so I think I’ve paid my dues. Of course it’s up to the UFC who gets the title shot, but I definitely think that it’ll put me up in #1 contender status with a win.

Some more on-the-scene videos from our good friends at kimura.se: First up, Michael Bisping promises that Yoshihiro "Ironhead" Akiyama would have eventually gone down if it were a five-round fight, but says there’s no shame in not being able to put him away. He calls Mark Kinney the best boxing coach he’s ever worked with, and feels that he’s finally putting Mark’s lessons into practice. As for his future, the Count still has his eyes on the prize. "I’ve been around for a long time now, I’m not getting any younger," Bisping says. "Now it’s time to do it, it’s time to put in a run for a title and hopefully get the gold."

After the jump, Dan Hardy reflects on his knockout loss against Carlos Condit, and our BFF Dana White discusses educating new markets on MMA, the question of "morality" that jackass politicians bring up around the world, and the new "GSP is bigger than Gretzky" talking point he’s been testing out recently. For lots more UFC 120 interviews, check out youtube.com/kimurase.

CagePotato.com Interviews Carlos Condit – Watch more Funny Videos

Five days before his UFC 120 showdown with Dan Hardy, welterweight contender Carlos Condit swung through New York yesterday for a media tour, which ended with an evening workout session at The Wat. After Kru Phil Nurse put him through a few grueling rounds of pad work, Carlos was kind enough to give us a brief interview, in which he discussed his matchup with the Outlaw this weekend, his dramatic win over Rory MacDonald at UFC 115, and why he’s become a loyal follower of Greg Jackson. Some highlights…

UFC Boston – Ariel Helwani Interview – Watch more Funny Videos

At this point, MMA interviewer/analyst Ariel Helwani is more famous than a lot of the people he interviews. If you’ve ever spotted him at an MMA event, you know that he can’t get ten feet without being swarmed by another group of fans, who follow his work intently at MMAFighting.com and Versus. Keep in mind that Ariel Helwani is not a fighter. He’s just a dude who started with a dream and went on to become the most well-known interviewer in our sport. To put it simply, he’s come a long way since Andrei Arlovski’s pee-pee-pee. 

So here’s something special for all the Helwannabes in the house: Ariel stopped by the CagePotato.com booth at the UFC Fan Expo on Saturday and spent some time on the other side of the microphone. Watch the video above to learn about Ariel’s journey from sports fan to "liver of the dream," his love of Howard Cosell, and of course, why he thinks we’re so awesome. Many thanks to Ariel for giving us his time and, at least for one moment, lending the CagePotato.com carnival booth some measure of legitimacy.

Note: Keep your eyes peeled around 2:41 and 2:56 to watch some amazing background work from ReX13. Yep. That’s what I had to deal with all weekend.

(Photo courtesy of MMAWeekly)

By CagePotato.com contributor Elias Cepeda

Gabe Ruediger (17-5) spent years developing a solid reputation as a talented submission fighter, racking up an impressive record and finally reaching the UFC. Then, with a loss in his debut and an embarrassing short-lived stint on The Ultimate Fighter 5, which saw him get KO’d by a scale and not an opponent, he saw it disintegrate in just a few months’ time.

That was in 2006. Since that time, Ruediger has had neck surgery, switched up teams, won and finished his last six fights, and has now found himself back in the UFC as he steps in for an injured Terry Etim to face another TUF 5 vet, Joe Lauzon. Gabe talks with CagePotato about how he survived becoming a laughing-stock and why he thinks Joe Lauzon is a “good kid,” but still wants to kick his ass.

CAGEPOTATO.COM: Gabe, you are filling in on short notice for Terry Etim to fight Joe Lauzon. The two of you, as well as his younger brother Dan, have been talking back and forth with each other for years. How did this fight finally come about?
GABE RUEDIGER: [UFC matchmaker] Joe Silva approached us after my last fight and said that he wanted to bring me back but that it was hard to find a proper place for me with the lightweight division being so deep. They were unsure of what to do with me and wanted to give me a fight if they could find a really good matchup for me in terms of it being compelling. But I was in a good position at that time because all the major organizations were interested in me so I understood and was fine with that. When Terry Etim had to pull out of the fight with Joe and they called me I was more than thrilled and I think Joe was more than thrilled. The fight has a good back story to it.

(Photo courtesy of Sherdog)

By CagePotato contributor Matt Kaplan

2003: 46-year-old Eugene Pettis has separated himself from gang life and is working to keep his family away from the violence that he ultimately could not escape. On November 13, he is stabbed three times in the chest and killed at a friend’s house across the street from his Milwaukee home.

2004-5: Eugene’s murder remains unsolved. His son Anthony turns his back on years of martial arts training and spirals out of control: “I was a lost cause,” he remembers.

2006: Anthony works his way back to martial arts, taking a job as a tae kwon do instructor at his brother’s academy. He is captivated by MMA and rededicates himself to competitive fighting.

2007: Anthony begins training with kickboxing legend Duke Roufus in November and wins his amateur MMA debut in 24 seconds on January 27, his 20th birthday. He wins his pro debut on December 1 in 36 seconds.

2009: Two days into a January vacation in Cancun, Mexico, Roufus calls Anthony (6-0) with the news that he’s been signed to a five-fight deal with the WEC and is scheduled to make his debut at WEC 40 in April. Vacation’s over.

2010: Anthony (9-1) is one of the WEC’s top lightweights. He’s finished Mike Campbell, Alex Karalexis, and Danny Castillo, and a win over Team Takedown’s Shane Roller at WEC 50 on August 18 could bring a title shot. On a hot August afternoon, Anthony Pettis talks to CagePotato.com about fighting, family, and food. Showtime, playa.

(Photo courtesy of Michael Castillo)

By CagePotato contributor DL Richardson

It seems we expect female fighters to fall into one of a few archetypes, and we want to know what we’re dealing with as soon as we hear her name announced. “The Karate Hottie.” “Crazy Bitch.” “Beauty but the Beast.” “Cyborg.” But what happens when you meet a fighter who doesn’t fit neatly into these pre-formed notions? How do you reconcile the image of a fighter who dotes on her Staffordshire terrier and professes love for the movies Labyrinth and Stardust with the image of a professional kicker of asses and taker of names? Stalking could lead to some interesting revelations about a person’s habits and character, but it could also land you in traction. Easier route: call her and ask her a bunch of questions. Meet Jessica Pene, a participant in Bellator’s upcoming 115-pound women’s tournament who enjoys working with children, long walks on the beach, and subbing dudes forty pounds heavier than she is.

Ask Jessica Pene about her favorite fighter, and she’ll mention a handful of names. She expresses interest in “old school” fighters like Fedor Emelianenko, members of the new wave of MMA like Gegard Mousasi, and female division standouts like Megumi Fujii. One name, though, comes up repeatedly: “I love watching BJ Penn fight,” she says, perhaps unaware of the parallels between them.
 
Like Penn, Pene doesn’t have to fight to pay the bills. Born to a white collar family in southern California, Pene could have cruised through life, gotten a degree at a university and moved on to a cushy job. With her good looks and quiet charm, Jessica Pene could have made good money in advertising or public relations, and never once had to worry about making weight, defending a takedown, or getting punched in the face. Pene wakes and trains when most of us are still asleep, not because she needs to put food on the table, but because she is and always has been athletically inclined. Like Penn, she doesn’t compete because she needs a big payday. Jessica Pene fights because, deep down, she’s a fighter.

(Props: YouTube.com/KarynBryant)

Bryant (starting at 1:02): "[You and Jon Jones] have been doing a lot of press, and pretty much the storyline is ‘experience vs. youth’. How do you feel about that, and do you feel that that’s really the decisive thing going in here?"

Matyushenko: "Well it’s not only that, experience and youth, it’s just like…black and white."

I know, right? Athletic explosiveness vs. hard-working blue-collar-ness. Finally, somebody says what we’re all thinking!

Okay, maybe Vlad was trying to make reference to their vastly different styles (or not, it’s kind of hard to tell). Anyway, this MMA H.E.A.T. interview is also noteworthy because Karyn asks the Janitor who he wants to fight next, even though she clearly realizes it’s a big no-no (skip to the 3:14 mark). For the record, he likes to take things fight by fight (shocking), but he wouldn’t mind avenging his losses to Antonio Rogerio Nogueira and Tito Ortiz. His entrance music on Sunday, as usual, will be "Deaf Forever."

Randy Couture Discusses The Expendables, UFC 118 Fight With Ja – Watch more Funny Videos
(Randy is one of those strong, soft-spoken types, and unfortunately my camera didn’t do a great job of picking up his audio, especially near the beginning. I recommend listening to this with headphones, at a decent volume.)

UFC Hall of Famer Randy Couture was in New York yesterday doing press for his supporting role in The Expendables, and I got a chance to point my Flip cam at him for about 10 minutes and ask stupid questions. Couture revealed the secret behind Sylvester Stallone’s cartoonish forearms, weighed in on which member of the The Expendables is the toughest S.O.B. in real life, and explained why this movie was important to his budding movie career.

Of course, we also discussed his upcoming UFC 118 fight against James Toney. The Natural gives his thoughts on Toney’s off-the-wall trash talk, whether or not the match is a "freak show," and how he’s been preparing for Toney’s boxing skills. Some transcribed highlights are after the jump…

(Leave it to the professionals, Andy…)

A couple weeks ago, I stumbled across a Bleacher Report article titled “The Top 10 Questions Every MMA Fighter Should Be Asked.” It was written by a teenage contributor named Dale De Souza who, at that point, had only done one interview with an MMA fighter, but still felt like he’d accumulated enough wisdom to put together a guide for aspiring MMA journalists. Isn’t that adorable? For the most part, De Souza’s question suggestions are pretty standard fare if you’re interviewing an up-and-comer that fans don’t know much about, and you don’t mind being unoriginal. (i.e., “How did you get into the sport?” “Which team are you training with in preparation for your next bout?” “Do you like to stand with your opponents or take them to the ground?”)

As the founding editor of CagePotato.com, I’ve been interviewing MMA fighters for nearly three years, and through trial and error, I’ve learned a lot about what not to ask during fighter interviews. Dale will learn this stuff in time, but to save him (and others like him) a lot of heartbreak, uncomfortable silences, and dull articles, I’ve put together a list of my own. Read on, and avoid these interview questions at all costs…

1. Will you choke me out?/Will you kick me in the leg?
Don’t do it. It’s been done, and you might end up in the hospital. You’ll have to find another way to make your name by humiliating yourself. (By the way, barfing on camera has also been done.)

2. What’s your gameplan for [opponent's name]?
As it turns out, very few fighters are willing to publicly reveal what they’re planning to do to their opponents, in specific detail; go figure. So don’t expect a satisfying response to this question. Most of the time, you’ll get some variation of “I’m just gonna focus on what I do best, and try to show everybody what I’m capable of.” Boooooooring.

(Photo courtesy of sarahkaufman.ca)

The Strikeforce 135-pound women’s champion talks about her upcoming title defense, her desire to fight on a major Showtime/CBS card, and the potential of a superfight with 145-pound champ Cris Cyborg.

By CagePotato contributor Brian J. D’Souza

When fans think of women’s MMA, their first thought is often a tossup between pinups like Gina Carano and Miesha Tate or a 2-2 Kim Couture aided by a last name she married into. But sitting pretty at 11-0 with possession of the Strikeforce women’s welterweight championship belt is Victoria, BC’s Sarah Kaufman, who fights Friday, July 23rd, on the ShoMMA: Strikeforce Challengers event to be held in Everett, Washington. It will be her first defense against 15-5 Roxanne Modafferi, but she’s driven not just to get the win, but also by the goal of making it to the next level.

“I started out in dance when I was about two,” explains Kaufman of her earliest pastime, which was interrupted when she took her first Muay Thai class at age 17. “Adam Zugec opened Zuma (MMA gym) underneath my dance studio — when I started that, it was something fun that just took over my life.”

Later, she even tried to work her University classes around her training schedule for MMA, but there was just no compromising her passion.

“After two years of University, I decided it wasn’t really where I wanted to go. Now I’m doing MMA fulltime”

Cris Cyborg post-fight interview – Watch more Funny Videos

Our buddy Brian D’Souza was on the scene at Strikeforce: Fedor vs. Werdum, and got us this exclusive video interview with 145-pound women’s champ Cristiane "Cris Cyborg" Santos, who put on another vicious striking performance en route to a 2nd-round KO against Jan Finney. Cyborg explains that she thought the fight should have been stopped earlier, and wasn’t troubled by Finney’s strikes because she used to training with men. She plans to get back into training and prepare for her next opponent — possibly Erin Toughill according to Scott Coker, even though Erin shot down that idea in March. But will anybody be prepared for Cyborg?

(Photo courtesy of Tim’s official Facebook fan page.)

by CagePotato contributor Matt Kaplan

Tim Kennedy is a family man, a rising MMA star, and a war hero. He is guided by a strong moral compass and upholds what he thinks is right. As a result, he will no doubt rub some of you the wrong way.

He is unapologetically pro-military. He thinks that too many high-profile fighters are irresponsible, and that your favorite scary MMA t-shirt is lame. His shorts will never promote alcohol, tobacco, gambling, or pornography, and he snickers at nicknames that have “Killer” or “Assassin” in them. He takes seriously his role as a professional athlete and would like to see more of the MMA community follow his lead.

For some of you, Tim’s patriotism and wholesome principles are breaths of fresh air. Others, however, might be wondering if his high horse actually has a name. Either way, there’s no denying that Tim is one of MMA’s most quintessential warriors (for real).

A U.S. Army Staff Sergeant with the 19th Special Forces Group, Tim is a trained sniper and combatives instructor whose combat heroism has earned him the Bronze Star. Now, with an already impressive military record to his credit, Tim is preparing for just his second fight as a full-time fighter and has already lined up in his crosshairs the Strikeforce middleweight championship belt.

On June 16 at Strikeforce: Los Angeles, Tim Kennedy (11-2) will climb into the cage with rugged South African veteran Trevor Prangley (22-5-1), his biggest test to date. Tim has yet to fight someone with the combination of size, strength, toughness, and experience that is Prangley, so he’s keeping to a basic plan of attack: dominate the fight in every possible way. Why get fancy, right?

CAGEPOTATO.COM: Your last fight was against Zak Cummings back in September. Why the long lay-off?

(Evan Dunham sets up the armbar that would earn him a Submission of the Night bonus at UFC Fight Night 20. Photo courtesy of Sherdog.)

By CagePotato.com contributor Elias Cepeda

For most fans outside of the Northwest, lightweight up-and-comer Evan Dunham (10-0) has seemingly come out of nowhere to win three in a row in the UFC, including his arm bar submission win over TUF 8 winner Efrain Escudero in January. Next, Dunham will take on one of the division’s top contenders Tyson Griffin at UFC 115 on June 12th. It’s an interesting matchup made much more so by the fact that the two had trained together at Xtreme Couture for the past year. Now living in Las Vegas and training full time, Dunham talks with CagePotato about dealing with fighting a training partner, what kept him in the sport when he thought he would leave forever, and what the biggest factor in his fight against Griffin will be.

CAGEPOTATO.COM: You just came back from the UFC Fan Expo last weekend. How was that for you?

EVAN DUNHAM: It was a good time all around. I went there and did some signing for Ecko Unlimited, a couple hours each day. I was more than happy to do that.

Did you happen to run into Tyson Griffin at all there? Is that something that you thought about beforehand, “I might run into him here”?

No, I didn’t see Tyson. I think he was at the fights or something. I have no idea, I haven’t seen him.

Heading into your last fight against Efrain Escudero, almost all of the attention was placed on him because he was so well known after winning The Ultimate Fighter. Did you feel like an underdog in that fight?

I’m always considered the underdog, even in this next fight coming up. But I never see myself as the underdog. I think it is kind of good luck for me for people to put me in that position because it just makes me work harder. It is supposedly an up-hill battle for me but I know what I’m capable of so it’s not really a problem. If they want to pay more attention to him, that’s great. Because that just means all that attention is going to go back to me when I win.

Has anything changed for you since that win?

By CagePotato contributor Dallas Winston

"Worlds Collide" was shaping up to be Shine Fights’ most high-profile and successful event to date — but it turned into every promoter’s worst nightmare. First, a legal injunction courtesy of Don King put the kibosh on the historic main event between Ricardo Mayorga and Din Thomas. Then, the event was canceled altogether by the North Carolina Athletic Commission when certain fighter safeguards were deemed insufficient. In the end, both fans and fighters were left demanding answers.

Though it was initially reported that Shine’s matchmaker Ron Foster would be resigning from the organization after the fiasco, that may no longer be the case. We caught up with Foster to get his take on exactly what went wrong with Worlds Collide, his current standing with the company, and how he’s been responding to the criticism.

Note: Keep in mind that Foster is only speaking from his position as matchmaker for Shine Fights, and his statements shouldn’t necessarily reflect the opinions of Shine Fights as a whole.

CAGEPOTATO.COM: Let’s start with Don King. Many feel that the contractual issues that were upheld by the judge should have been foreseen and fully addressed by Shine before the main event was even advertised. What can you tell me about Shine’s response to the injunction before it was upheld? Did you feel you were fully protected by your legal team, or did you know that there was a risk his legal endeavors could jeopardize the main event?

RON FOSTER: Before we moved forward with the Mayorga thing, Shine did have lawyer look over everything to see if, legally, the fight was able to take place. A lot of money and time was put into Mayorga to get this fight to happen. I’m not so sure that [Shine Fights CEO] Devin [Price] would have taken the risk if he thought it would bite us in the butt at the end.

As far as the legal team, of course they thought it was a slam dunk on Shine’s part. But unfortunately, this time it didn’t work out in our favor. Court is like blackjack — you just never know what you are going to get.

CP: Since Mayorga was announced as a Shine acquisition way back in the 3rd quarter of 2009, there has also been a lot of speculation about the timing of the incident, and theories that Mr. King may have strategically put the legal process in motion with a timetable that would leave Shine with no time to react or find a replacement. Do you have any opinions or insight on that?

RF: I think that this was 100 percent personal. Don King is a piece of shit and has screwed people over for a living. As far as the replacement, there is no way we could have replaced Mayorga in this fight. Even if we had more time, it would have been better to just drop the fight.

Following his controversial split-decision loss to Aaron Simpson at UFC Fight Night 20, Tom "The Filthy Mauler" Lawlor was ready to bounce back to the W column against fellow TUF vet Tim Credeur at UFC 113 (May 8th, Montreal). But an injury has forced "Crazy" Tim off the card, and now Filthy Tom will be facing Dirty Joe — Joe Doerksen, who has a 1-5 lifetime record in the UFC, but is getting another shot after racking up five straight wins in promotions like Sengoku and King of the Cage. We sent our friend "Skanky" Remington Reed to track down Lawlor at his gym in Orlando, The Jungle MMA & Fitness, and discuss how he copes with tough losses, the method behind his memorable cage entrances, the runaway success of his "Lawlormania" t-shirt, his weather-based prediction for Machida vs. Rua II, and the question everyone else has been afraid to ask: Between him and Seth Petruzelli, who’s gayer? Enjoy… 

(Props: MMAFighting.com)

If you assumed that Muhammed "King Mo" Lawal could only function on cocky trash-talker mode, you need to watch this video taken Saturday night, in which Mo is so emotionally vulnerable after defeating Gegard Mousasi in Nashville that he can’t even give Ariel Helwani an interview while standing up. Lawal credits his victory to his trainers, and to the fact that most MMA fighters don’t have good takedown defense. But overall, he wasn’t too impressed with his performance: "I got lazy a few times. I took [Mousasi] for granted because I didn’t respect his skills all too much because I knew I could beat him. I should have taken him more serious, I couldn’t even finish him…I didn’t want it to go five rounds, I wanted to leave him sleeping, but he’s tough, man, he’s seasoned."

And now, let’s all take a moment to reflect on that fact that King Mo is the light-heavyweight champion of a major MMA organization after just seven bouts — only three of which were actually contested at light-heavyweight. While some may interpret that as a triumph of style over substance, or as a symbol of how thin Strikeforce’s 205-pound division is, I just see a guy who did everything right — a fighter whose brief career should be studied by every young scrapper trying to get into the game.

(Our last hope? Photo courtesy of Fight! Magazine.)

By CagePotato contributor Matt Kaplan

Chael Sonnen is many things: top UFC middleweight contender, hopeful Oregon state rep, realtor, quote generator. An Anderson Silva fan, though, he is not. After thrashing Nate Marquardt at UFC 109, Sonnen is next in line to take on what he sees as an “insignificant” champion in Silva, who, despite his best efforts, “couldn’t” finish Demian Maia at UFC 112. Ladies and gentlemen, Chael Sonnen…

CAGEPOTATO.COM: Were you at all rubbed the wrong way by Anderson Silva’s fight against Demian Maia at UFC 112?
CHAEL SONNEN: No, I did my level best to watch the fight, but just couldn’t get through it.

Dana White was effusively apologetic after the fight. Do you think Silva owes anyone an apology? Would it even make a difference?
He is insignificant, really. Nobody cares about him. They never have. If BJ wasn’t on that card, that arena would have been a ghost town.

Did you see anything in that fight that made you even more confident in your chances at beating Silva?
No, he was dominant over a tough guy, impressive in ways.

What impressed you about Silva’s performance?
He is accurate and moves well.

Why do you think he didn’t put away Maia, whom he clearly outclassed in the stand-up game?
He couldn’t, Maia was too tough.

Did you perceive the goading, motioning, shouting by Silva to be showmanship or disrespect? Or perhaps a little bit of both?
Look, I’m not a gang banger. I don’t talk about “respect.” That term is for street thugs, not me.

(Photo courtesy of MMAWeekly.)

By CagePotato contributor Elias Cepeda

Kenny Florian‘s domination of PRIDE legend Takanori Gomi at Wednesday’s UFC Fight Night 21 made a couple things perfectly clear: First, that Gomi can no longer hang with the division’s elite fighters. Also, that the constantly improving Florian is undoubtedly one of the very best 155-pounders in the world. In this exclusive interview, Ken-Flo takes us through his fight with the Fireball Kid, and discusses life in the UFC’s lightweight division, where the championship belt continues to lie maddeningly out of reach…

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CAGEPOTATO.COM: Very early on in your fight against Gomi, you began to get the better of him standing up. Soon you began dancing around, leaning over, dropping your hands. Was that just one of those things where you got so comfortable that you got a bit cocky, or were you trying to goad him into doing something in particular?
FLORIAN: No, it’s part of a rhythm. It’s a calculated part of a boxing rhythm you try to get yourself into to make sure that I keep my head moving and I stay loose. It’s a swagger you need to have. It’s my way of making sure that there is no catching me when I’m moving, when I’m punching, and it has really helped me, not only in my training, but I think in the fight to have that looseness and relaxation. I’ve just been working on my boxing technique a lot and I’m glad I was able to show that.

In the third round, Gomi landed what appeared to be his cleanest punch of the fight. A few seconds later you took him down, and about a minute later you finished him by choke. Was your plan to basically stand with Gomi until he showed you something, then put him on his back to make things easier for yourself?
Well I knew that he would start to get fatigued. He was losing the first two rounds and I knew he’d start to get desperate and he’d start to get upright. That was going to allow me the space and ability to get to his legs. And that’s what happened. I had planned to take him down in the third round, I knew that was going to happen, I knew he was going to get tired and he’d be easier to finish. By that time I think he was worn out, mentally, physically, and just didn’t have an answer, was frustrated. And I saw a perfect opportunity to go for his legs. I took him down and tried to capitalize.

So it didn’t have to do with him finally landing a good shot?
Not at all. He was landing shots before that, you know. He was able to sting me in the second round. In the third round there was nothing that hurt me. Watching the video tape it looked like that was the cleanest shot but that wasn’t the one that hurt. In the second round, that hurt.

(Photo courtesy of vegasnews.com.)

By CagePotato.com contributor Elias Cepeda

CAGEPOTATO: Jens, you’re fighting March 6th in Columbus, Ohio. You’ve lost four straight to some very good opponents. Any word yet on who you are fighting?
JENS PULVER: Nope. I don’t know yet. I told them I don’t even want to know.

You actually asked not to know?
Not until they really have to tell me. Who cares who I’m fighting? Opponents don’t beat me, I’m beating me. You’ve got all these guys saying I’m getting punchy. I got hit on the head against Leonard but the other two of my last three losses were chokes. With Faber I ate everything, Lauzon clipped me on the chin. I’ve never been knocked out to the point of four minutes later they are waking me up and I’m trying to figure out what happened, saying ‘shit, what happened?’ I’ve been clipped. I might get punchy at some point but come on, it’s not happening now. Let me get mine. What fucking part of guillotine chokes don’t people understand? I appreciate their concern all the same but people don’t pay attention. Where does most of the damage fighters take come from? Not from fights but from when we are sparring with pillows on our hands and we take hours of brain rattling. Fights are five to twenty five minutes long; the brain damage comes from sparring. You don’t ever hear people saying we should quit sparring. So I’m not really worried about who I’m fighting. I’m fighting me right now. I’m fighting against myself, trying to be the old me. I’m trying to beat myself.

You’re talking about the old vs. new you.
I’m not talking about the young bullet-proof me. I’m talking about the middle me that has gotten his ass handed to him. I don’t complain to people, I don’t bitch about income. Of how there are all these other guys who have made a lot of money. Maybe I’m not that savvy with business. I’ve had a rebirth with meeting my wife, having my son and my daughter getting older. The biggest thing for me was how we moved training camps, finally. This one in Boise, I’ve designed. You can see it at DrivenTC.com. Just little things with this gym are going to make a lot of difference for me, I can’t even tell you. Our supposed great leader back in Iowa who didn’t even have a boxing ring or a cage — what kind of people fight in MMA and have never even sparred or trained in a cage? I’ve brought in Tony Fryklund and all positives happen with him around. That right there is leaps and bounds better.

Strikeforce Press Conference Lighting Round – Watch more Funny Videos

Following the Strikeforce post-show press conference on Saturday night (which I’ll post highlights from later today, as well as some other goodies), I ran around the room interrogating as many fighters as I could before we were all kicked out of the Scottrade Center. The results are above: The Grim talks wall-punching, Gilbert Melendez talks redemption, Jake Shields rants about his hatred of Joe Riggs, and Nick Diaz says he wants an important opponent — like Georges St. Pierre. More to come…

(Those are the Chinese characters for "best" and "eva." Photo courtesy of Strikeforce.)

The idea of a spiritually grounded Phil Baroni kind of freaks us out, to be honest. But the NYBA you knew as a young, brash, self-destructive middleweight is gone, and in his place is an older, wiser, fired-up welterweight who won’t quit until he’s a world champion. With his fight against Joe Riggs scheduled for the main card of Saturday’s Strikeforce show, we called Phil yesterday to chat about sex, steroids, destiny, being reborn at 170, and what he really wants to be remembered for…

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CAGEPOTATO.COM: So I’ve been watching some of your recent interviews — do you really believe that not having sex helps your athletic performance? I thought that was just some bullshit myth.
PHIL BARONI: Yeah, I believe it. I know it to be a fact, man, especially when it comes to taking punches. You take punches better when you abstain from, ah…punching your own loads out.

How do you explain the science behind that?
Aw man, I’m not a scientist. It makes you fuckin’ mean, I’ll tell you that much. I’m lean and mean right now. It fuckin’ works. You don’t think so, then don’t do it — you’re not a fighter anyway, so who cares?

Don’t you think your wife’s needs should come before your job?

(He’s got comedic timing, too.)

Mike Thomas Brown destroyed the myth of the unbeatable Urijah Faber with his upset knockout victory at WEC 36 last year, but respect (and until recently, money) have still been hard to come by for the American Top Team featherweight.  With the rematch now just a couple of days away, Brownie talks paydays, fame, and beating the oddsmakers in our one-on-one chat with the WEC 145-pound champ.

CagePotato.com: A lot of people seem like they’re still not buying you as the real WEC featherweight champ.  Do you feel like you still need to prove that your win over Faber wasn’t just a fluke?

MB: No, I think I’ve proved it now.  I mean, I read a lot on the internet, people saying it was a fluke and all that.  But I think when I beat Garcia pretty quickly too, and almost in the same way since I hurt him with the right hand and then finished him off, then it was basically like a replay.  That showed it wasn’t a one-time deal, that I could do this to good guys.  Leonard had never been finished before so I was proud of being able to put him away.