Ever since he was dubbed the winner of our “Proving Grounds” competition a couple years back, we have repeatedly sung the praises of undefeated, congenial amputee fighter “Notorious” Nick Newell. We’ll spare you the obvious cliches, but to say that Newell’s dramatic (also, absolutely devastating) run under the XFC banner — which culminated in a first round submission victory over Eric Reynolds to claim the promotion’s lightweight title – was anything less than inspiring would be a disservice.

Unfortunately, Newell’s influential story has turned into that of controversy recently.

Newell was scheduled to defend his newly-earned title against fellow undefeated prospect Scott “Hot Sauce” Holtzman at the upcoming XFC 24, but according to XFC President, John Prisco, Newell has refused to defend his title against anyone but a UFC veteran and has thusly been stripped of his title. Prisco spoke directly through XFC’s official website and he was rather candid:

(Yep. That pretty much sums it up.) 

God. Damn. It.

Although details are sketchy at best right now, it appears that UFC heavyweight contender/future champion Mark Hunt has been arrested in his native New Zealand and has consequently been denied the Visa that would allow him to fly to Las Vegas, kick Junior Dos Santos’ ass on May 25th, and secure the next shot at Cain Velasquez. The information was passed along by none other than Hunt himself via his Twitter account. Caution: the following contains several naughty words and a noticeable absence of the letter “c.”

Well thanks to a idiot friend of mine I did get arrested. Denied again at airport I’m never helping anymore dikhead mates. This is wat happens wen u have friends that are dikheads the last fukn time I help these mother fkn trouble makers. 

New Zealand: It’s pretty much Stockton, CA with nicer summers.

(“Don’t worry, Mo, we’re pretty sure your belt just got lost in the mail.”)

On the heels of his first successful title defense over Rick Hawn at Bellator 85, Bellator lightweight champion Michael Chandler has officially been booked to take on his next challenger at Bellator 96, which goes down from the WinStar World Casino in Thackerville, Oklahoma on June 19th.

Chandler will face grappling savant Dave “The Fugitive” Jansen, a 19-2 (6-0 Bellator) product out of Oregon who earned his shot at Chandler with a unanimous decision victory over Marcin Held at Bellator 93 in March.

Undefeated in his mixed martial arts career, Chandler has won eight straight fights under the Bellator banner, including victories over Akihiro Gono, Patricky Freire, and a 4th round submission over Eddie Alvarez in an absolute war back in November of 2011 that secured him the title.

Also set for the June 19th card will be a clash between former Strikeforce light heavyweight champion Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal and UFC/EliteXC veteran Seth Petruzelli that will in no way draw comparisons to Petruzelli’s infamous knockout of Kimbo Slice, we assure you (ROCKY! ROCKY IS HERE!! THE MOST INCREDIBLE…VICTORY…IN THE HISTORY OF MIXED MARTIAL ARTS!).

And barring any arrests, War Machine will be there too. Should be fun.

-J. Jones

(Quite possibly the strangest reaction to Pig Destroyer’s “Gravedancer” that we have ever seen.) 

Bad news, Potato Nation, as it has been recently announced that the upcoming World Series of Fighting 3 card has taken a major hit in the form of Tyrone Spong, who has allegedly been pulled from the event due to visa issues. The kickboxing powerhouse was expected to face 11-2 Angel DeAnda in the co-main event of the June 14th-scheduled card, which features Josh Burkman vs. Jon Fitch II to determine the promotion’s inaugural welterweight championship.

On the heels of a successful MMA debut beatdown of Travis Bartlett at WSOF’s first event (as well as a second round KO over Remy Bojansky in his latest kickboxing exhibition), Spong was heavily favored to make short work of DeAnda as well. Fortunately for DeAnda, he will live to fight another day. Unfortunately for DeAnda, no replacement opponent has been named as of this write-up, and even if one is, it is very likely that the fight will now be buried on the prelims. The sorrowful life of a stepping stone, you guys.

Based purely off name value, this setback would presumably make Rolles Gracie vs. Dave Huckaba the co-main event of WSOF 3. In other words…

-J. Jones

(Damn, a Penn State alum *and* a blue belt under Lloyd Irvin? This is not looking good, Phil…) 

I’m no The Mentalist (although I often get confused for him on the street. YOU DON’T KNOW.), but I always saw light heavyweight contender Phil Davis as a kind of introverted, dare I say “nerdy” guy who happens to be a freakishly gifted athlete. Despite the fact that he, you know, chokes dudes unconscious for a living, “Mr. Wonderful” always came off (to me, at least) as a guy who was ultimately harmless when he wasn’t locked in a cage with a dude trying to beat him within an inch of his life.

Well once again, it appears that I don’t know shit about shit. Just one day out from his UFC 159 battle with Vinny Magalhaes, Davis not only finds himself in the middle of a custody battle over his child, but refuting allegations of “crazy brutality, including violent sex” that said child’s mother believes stemmed from his martial arts career. TMZ reports:

According to legal docs — obtained by TMZ — Vantris Patterson claims Davis body slammed her on a couch with such force … when the couch slid into the wall paint came off. And Patterson says, Davis — aka Mr. Wonderful — would often choke her during intercourse, and when she’d plead with him to stop he’d respond, “Shut the f*** up, bitch.” She says Davis has threatened to kill her numerous times if she ever slept with another man.

Now here’s the hook — Patterson claims Davis’ alleged propensity for violence has escalated because of his involvement in the UFC.  She says, “I am afraid that the numerous fights have negatively impacted his mental stability,” and she can’t defend herself because of his “increased strength and attacking ability.”

And if you think that’s crazy, just wait until you hear the allegations Davis lobbed back at Patterson in response…

A lot has been said regarding the role of transgender athletes in MMA since this whole Fallon Fox controversy was first made public. While some have opted to defend Fallon’s right to fight, citing whatever limited studies on the subject that currently exist, others have chosen to publicly chastise Fox for having an “unfair advantage” or challenge her…him…I’m confused to a fight in the squared circle. In the case of the CagePotato audience, Fox’s unique predicament was met with the usual barrage of seething, ignorant hate and middle school-level sex jokes about ham wallets and hot dog vendors — bump it, you guys.

In either case, Florida’s Department of Business and Professional Regulation ruled earlier today that there was insufficient evidence to declare that Fox had committed any fraudulent activities prior to her last bout in Florida. A quick recap of what went down: While applying for a fight license in Florida, Fox claimed that she had already received a license in California, when in reality she had only applied for a license and received a receipt she mistook for a license in return.

Clearly excited, Fox spoke with Outsports about the decision:

(“OK, Jon, let’s call it a day. I’ve got to go get some fans.”)

Greg Jackson, world-renowned mixed martial arts trainer and Dana White-described “fucking sport killer” is known by MMA fans near and far for his ability to predict the mindsets of opposing fighters and react accordingly. He has created intricate, masterly crafted gameplans that have in turn helped propel the likes of Georges St. Pierre, Rashad Evans, and Jon Jones to the ultimate level of MMA glory. But as they say, “Those who can’t do, teach.” “They” were clearly referring to none other than Greg Jackson, who stated in an interview today that he didn’t “foresee any future problems” with the UFC despite the fact that he’s hopped on board Bellator’s upcoming TUF-ripoff reality show:

No, I don’t think so because like Randy (Couture) I’ve worked with Bellator before, and I don’t think it should be a problem. My fighters are my fighters, and I’m me and like Frank (Shamrock) said as well, I think it’s good for the sport.

Even Dana (White) would admit that it’s good for the sport to have other organizations around.  So I don’t foresee any problems.

Oh Greg, you ignorant slut. After all this time in the game, you think you would have a better understanding of The Baldfather’s view on friendly competition.

Some shocking news out of Brazil today, as it has been reported that UFC veteran Assuerio Silva was shot five times outside of his gym in Curitiba, Parana and is currently in serious condition at a nearby hospital.

According to multiple sources, the incident occurred on January 29th and came following a dispute with Silva’s former training partner, Robson Freitas, who had allegedly been threatening Silva for some time over issues that have yet to be disclosed. Oddly enough, Freitas has not been brought in on any charges as of this write up.

Silva is perhaps best known for his trio of UFC fights against Tim Sylvia, Brandon Vera, and Cheick Kongo between 2006-2007, all of which he suffered defeats in. Holding notable victories over fellow UFC veterans Fabiano Scherner, Alessio Sakara, and Igor Pokrajac, the 38 year-old Silva has not competed professionally since October of 2009, where he suffered a quick TKO defeat at the hands of Geronimo Dos Santos. If that name sounds familiar, it’s because Dos Santos would be the one-time UFC hopeful who was forced to pull out of his scheduled UFC 153 match against Gabriel Gonzaga when his pre-fight medical exam revealed that he had Hepatitis B. Silva also competed under the PRIDE and Jungle Fight banners, where he compiled a 6-2 record including a victory over Valentijn Overeem.

Our thoughts and prayers go out to Silva and his family in this difficult time.

-J. Jones

(My God, the “TUF 18: Strawweights” team challenges are going to be OFF THE CHAIN.) 

In an interview with MMAJunkie, UFC President Dana White revealed that the promotion had recently traveled to Mexico to scout fighters for a possible 115-pound division in the UFC. Considering the UFC’s hesitance to even use the word “Flyweight” during their promotion of UFC on Fox: Johnson vs. Dodson, this news should come as a pretty big surprise to most of us. Then again, The Baldfather previously stated that we would never see women’s MMA in the UFC, and now this is a thing that is happening. And according to White, the trip was a huge success:

It went very well. A lot of guys showed up, it was very successful, and the guys we sent down were very excited with what they saw.

As we know, the UFC’s flyweight division was added all of a year ago, and is currently composed of just 13 fighters. While last weekend’s event should have put all doubt to rest in regards to the legitimacy and marketability of the smaller weight classes, it also highlighted a noticeable problem in the division: matchmaking. Granted, the division is still in the infant stages of development, but if the UFC is looking to continue promoting flyweights in the long run, their focus should be on beefing up that division, not necessarily adding another. Still, this is good news for any disgruntled Ewoks, Oompa Loompas, or members of The Lollipop Guild who find themselves outmatched by the mammoth of a man that is Demetrious Johnson.

(Look at it this way, Keith, now you’ll have plenty of down time to figure out the air speed velocity of both the African AND the European swallow.) 

I come to you with a bit of mixed news this afternoon, Potato Nation. In a recent interview with MMAFightCorner, UFC/Strikeforce veteran Keith Jardine announced that he would be stepping away from the sport for an undisclosed period to address several lingering injuries, stating the following:

A lot of people have been pushing me to retire, I’ve been a shell of myself these last couple years. I’ve been saying I’m definitely on the shelf, I’m semi-retired, I’m definitely on the shelf right now.

…my approach right now is I’m trying to get myself healthy. And then once I feel like I’m ready to go out and to perform at a level I want to and shock the world, I want to do it. I got to do it again. I don’t care if I win or lose, but I just want to go out there and perform and be Keith Jardine which I haven’t been in the last couple of years. When I dropped to middleweight it was a disaster, it was stupid. It made everything worse.

As we all know, Jardine is considered by many to be one of the nicest guys in the sport, despite the fact that he looks like the kind of person who has an unfinished basement stockpiled with barrels of lye and a human-sized cage that he claims is for his pet Dodo. So first and foremost, we’d like to congratulate him for at least addressing the fact that he has not been performing to the best of his abilities in recent years. On the other hand, Jardine was never a world beater to begin with (his longest UFC win streak stands at 2), and perhaps his struggles as of late are a sign that the game has passed him by more than anything else.

(After Dana caught Hughes sleeping on the job yet again, he figured it would be better to just give the former champ a cushy office position where no one would bother him anymore.) 

Although former UFC welterweight champion Matt Hughes has been off everyone but PETA’s radar for the past couple of years, the MMA community has still been waiting on bated breath to see when the Hall of Famer would make an official announcement regarding his retirement for some time now. Hughes stated last October that he was “fully retired” but didn’t seem as if he had quite come to terms with hanging up his gloves just yet. That is, until earlier today at the UFC on Fox 6 press conference.

Along with the announcement of his retirement, Hughes also stated that he, like Chuck Liddell before him, would be accepting a front office position with the UFC titled “Vice President of Athlete Development and Government Relations.” That’s funny, here I thought the UFC was for the separation of church and state. *steals basketball and nails three pointer* 

Anyway, Hughes had the following to say while assessing his current role in the promotion he has called home for the better part of his MMA career:

It’s funny, the road God puts you on; you just don’t know where you’re going to end up. What started out as a hobby brought me to the UFC and here in front of you know. I love this sport, and the new position is the best way for me to stay in it moving forward. I look forward to using my experience and providing a perspective for both the UFC and the fighters, so thank you guys. 

The recent information that has been unearthed regarding renowned martial arts trainer Lloyd Irvin and two of his students is nothing short of horrific. One such allegation dates back to 1989, and involves Irvin’s role in the gang rape of a 17 year-old woman. The other involves the rape of one of Irvin’s students on New Year’s Eve, as perpetrated by two other students of the Lloyd Irvin Martial Arts School in Washington, D.C. Despite being vehemently pressed for information over the past few weeks, Irvin has remained silent on both cases, instead focusing his attention on the recovery of the female student that was accosted.

That is, until now.

Irvin recently issued a statement in the form of an open letter that addressed both his own involvement in the 1989 case and that of the New Year’s Eve case currently under investigation. In it, Irvin is both understandably apologetic and sincerely candid while describing the circumstances involved in both cases. Not to take anything away from as well respected a member of the MMA community as Irvin, we have placed the entire letter, completely unedited, after the jump. It’s a long read, but ultimately necessary if you want to understand the events from the perspective of at least one of the parties involved.

(We blame you for this mess, TUF 15. In fact, we’re going to blame you for a lot of things moving forward, so just get used to it.)

Great news, Potato Nation! If you thought having the average UFC card spread across three channels on different networks and a social networking device to boot wasn’t complicated enough, it has recently been announced that not only will FX be cancelling all of their sports programming going forward, but the FUEL and SPEED networks will be transformed into sports-based FOX networks to compensate for this change. Those expecting to catch a night of free fights in the future without an Arabic scroll, the flame of Anor, and the ability to answer the bridge troll’s questions three should prepare themselves accordingly. The news was passed along earlier today by Sports Media Watch:

News Corporation will convert the Fuel cable network into general sports channel ‘Fox Sports 2′ this August, Sports Business Journal reported Monday. The launch of Fox Sports 2 will coincide with the conversion of Speed Channel to Fox Sports 1.

Fox Sports 1 and Fox Sports 2 will be the chief outlets for News Corp. sports programming. FX, which aired college football coverage the past two seasons and previously televised baseball and NASCAR, will no longer carry sporting events. Fox Soccer is expected to be converted into a general entertainment channel.

(“Hey Joe, now that I’ve put the kibosh on those pesky Adderall rumors…wanna do some blow?”)

Oh boy, Taters, do we have some good news for you. Not only will next Saturday’s UFC on FOX 6 card feature such intriguing matchups as John Dodson vs. flyweight champ Demetrious Johnson, Rampage Jackson vs. Glover Teixeira, and Donald Cerrone vs. Anthony Pettis, but the event will also spotlight the return of longtime UFC commentator Mike Goldberg, who was recently pulled from the UFC 155 broadcast to deal with several health issues that had been affecting him for some time. MMAWeekly reports:

After a brief absence due to illness, Mike Goldberg will be back in his regular broadcast duties alongside Joe Rogan at UFC on Fox 6.

UFC officials confirmed Goldberg’s return to MMAWeekly.com on Tuesday.

In short, come next Saturday, the little eagle will soar again. Precisions, they will be precise. Books, they will be taken out of other people’s chapters. Japanese and Portuguese will combine into one beautiful, indistinguishable language. So prepare yourselves, Potato Nation, for a great deluge of cliched phrases and verbal diarrhea is coming.

Ugh. We here at CagePotato have been debating for days now whether or not we should cover the recent, horrific story involving two Lloyd Irvin Martial Arts School students, which has in turn brought to light the former and similarly shocking allegations aimed at Irvin himself. On one hand, we like to keep things light and humorous around here, and would prefer to wait until all of the evidence has surfaced. On the other hand, sweeping a story as heinous as this under the rug would be a cop out even by our standards. At the end of the day, we are supposed to report on all things MMA, no matter how positive or negative a light they shine on the sport, so here we go.

You might have heard that recently, two well known students of the Lloyd Irvin Martial Arts School – Matthew Maldonado and Nicholas Schultz — were accused of raping a female student of the gym on New Year’s Eve. Apparently, Shultz and Maldonado ran into the victim at a club in Washington D.C. and offered to drive her home, as she was too drunk to drive. What follows are the sickening details regarding what actually happened:

But the men took her to the St. Matthew’s Center parking garage instead, police explained, where surveillance cameras captured Maldanado raping the woman and Shultz joining.

After Maldanado left, police said, the tape shows Schultz raping her repeatedly. She told police he said at one point, “I am sorry. I am a sick bastard.”

Detectives said the woman claimed she had been raped, but it wasn’t until they saw the tape, that the extent of the allegations emerged.

They wrote of the alleged attack “She fell backwards…striking her head against the wall…later struck her head again…and noted she collapsed to the ground…several times…he head again hitting the ground.”

And if that bit of info didn’t have you closing your eyes, covering your ears, and screaming “NO! NO! NO!” while rocking back in forth in the nearest corner, just wait until you see the story these allegations have unearthed involving Lloyd Irvin himself.

Words cannot express how much we dislike the group of two-faced, propaganda pushing arseholes that are The Culinary Union (although we sure do try), but we have to admit that they’ve raised an interesting debate whilst digging up dirt on some of the fighters participating at UFC on FOX 5. First, they rallied to get Jeremy Stephens removed from the card as a result of his past transgressions, and now they’ve uncovered some information about undercard fighter and debuting UFC lightweight Abel “Killa” Trujillo that is simply too glaring to overlook:

Abel Nazario Trujillo, another cage fighter scheduled to compete on the UFC fight card on Dec. 8th in Seattle, has twice pleaded guilty to Domestic Abuse Assault Causing Bodily Injury, an aggravated misdemeanor. In both cases, the victim was identified as the mother of his child. In May 2007, Trujillo also pleaded guilty to Obstruction of an Emergency Communication.

In the plea agreement, Trujillo acknowledged that the crime required the State to prove that his alleged assault victim was making a 911 call, Trujillo knew that she was making a 911 call, and Trujillo hung up the phone. Trujillo competes under the nickname “Killa.”

Jesus. That is some cold-blooded shit right there.

Now, we feel that there is one major discrepancy between the cases of Trujillo and Stephens that needs to be addressed. For starters, Stephens has yet to be convicted of anything. His trial date is set for January 9th, and despite the evidence against him, Stephens should not receive a mandatory/preemptive punished in a country whose legal system declares that we are all innocent until proven guilty.

Trujillo, on the other hand…

(Don’t worry, we shall have our revenge on this murderous ocean.) 

While there’s little doubt that a lot of us East-Coasters are currently comparing scars in relation to Hurricane Sandy Vagina’s rampage through our respective towns (I spent most of my day bailing water out of my car here in Dorchester and my brother’s roof in Upstate NY was completely destroyed, in case you were wondering), if you are able to read this right now then you are likely much better off than UFC middleweight contender Chris Weidman. Because according to Ryan Bader’s Twitter account, Weidman’s New York City home was completely destroyed by the storm today:

Thankfully, no one from Weidman’s family was injured in the incident, which is unfortunately not the case for many families throughout the East coast. We here at CagePotato would like to extend our thoughts and prayers to the Weidman family and every family that is currently struggling to deal with the impact of Sandy, and also thank you readers for checking in on us when many of you probably have a lot more pertinent issues at hand.

Now head over to Chris Weidman’s Twitter and lend him your support, won’t you?

-J. Jones

Well, it’s official: The debate should no longer be about whether or not Strikeforce is headed for an early grave, but whether or not we should allow their lifeless corpse to continue resting in its vegetative state or simply pull the plug. Less than a month after cancelling their September 29th card due to injury, word has just broke that Strikeforce will also be cancelling their event scheduled for November 3rd in light of another slew of injuries.

We know the discussion of the injury curse is beyond old news at this point, but is anyone else still having trouble coming to terms with the pure scale of devastation it has wreaked on the sport in 2012? Even the UFC has been forced to, as BG put it, scrape the bottom of the matchmaking barrel for available fighters and they’ve poached upwards of half the fighters that Strikeforce previously had under their banner, to the point that one key injury could completely undo a card. Thank God the UFC would never be forced to resort to such drastic measures.

In either case, Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker was already looking to the future when discussing the second straight cancellation:

Due to a series of injuries, we were forced to cancel the upcoming card on Nov. 3, but are already working to put together a stacked card in January.

Yeah, Scott, we’re sure UFC 156 will be pretty great too.

(WHY THE FUCK ARE THERE NO REESE’S PIECES?!!)

Well, at least it wasn’t an injury that nearly cost us another fight this time.

Just a few hours ago, MMAJunkie learned that lightweight slugger Jeremy Stephens had been arrested in Minneapolis on an outstanding felony charge and was being held without bail by the Hennepin County Police Department. Although there are no details available as to the specific charges, apparently Stephens was being sought after for an outstanding warrant in another state which was also not named.

But before everyone starts having a panic attack over the fact that two fights from tonight’s card have now suffered last minute cancellations, rest assured that according to both Dana White and Ariel Helwani, Stephens will in fact be fighting against Yves Edwards tonight.

(Careful Clay, all those fruity, sugary, woman drinks ironically go right to the hips.)

On the heels of a razor thin split decision loss to Gray Maynard at UFC on FX 4, his second loss to top tier competition in as many fights, it appears that everybody’s favorite energizer bunny/alcoholic, Clay Guida, will be dropping to featherweight for his next fight. Although no debut date or opponent have been decided as of this write up, Guida told MMAJunkie that he expects to make his featherweight debut sometime in early 2013.

Prior to his current two fight skid, Guida racked up four straight wins over such names as former PRIDE lightweight kingpin Takanori Gomi and former WEC lightweight champion Anthony Pettis among others, pulling in two Submission of the Night awards in the process and bringing his total award count to 7.

(Haley Joel Osment turns in his only best performance in years, but even he is upstaged by Sonnen’s shit-eating troll face.)

- GIFathon: Getting to Know UFC’s Jimi Manuwa (BloodyElbow)

- 10 Moments That Made MMA the Sport It Is Today (BleacherReport/MMA)

- Light heavyweight rankings: After the deluge, Jon Jones still No. 1 (MMAFighting)

- The Top Ten UFC 152 Photos (HeavyMMA)

- Rampage Jackson talks newfound love for fighting, says he can beat Jon Jones in a rematch (Lowkick)

- Video: Recovering UFC commentator Kenny Florian undecided on potential MMA return (MMAJunkie)

- Fightlinker UFC 152 Awards (Fightlinker)

- Now Machida wants to fight GSP as well (FightersOnly)

- Best Workout Songs of the Decade (Men’sFitness)

- A Q&A with ADCC world champion Hannette Staack (MiddleEasy)

- Brian Stann: Dana thought I won over Bisping, I did too (CagedInsider)

Sad news out of Brazil today, Potato Nation, as it has been reported that MMA legend Wanderlei Silva’s father, Holando Pinheiro da Silva, was killed in a car accident yesterday. Holando, who makes an appearance around the 1:20 mark of the above video that was shot just a few days ago, fully supported Wanderlei’s career as a mixed martial artist and claimed he was “bringing pride to all of Brazil.”

Badnewsfmcuritaba first broke the news, as translated by Google:

The father of MMA fighter Wanderlei Silva, Holando Pinheiro da Silva, died in a car accident this afternoon. The accident occurred in the region of Castro, where his father lived fighter. The body was taken to the Forensic Institute of Ponta Grossa, in the Campos Gerais region. According to relatives, Wanderlei Silva is in Las Vegas, United States, and was told of the accident by phone. The fighter comes to Paraná tomorrow.

After the jump: A tweet from Wanderlei regarding the news.

(Subtract the fire extinguisher and a pair of trousers and this is basically what happened.) 

No one really knew what to say when news broke that Jason “Mayhem” Miller was arrested in an Orange County church after breaking in, stripping down, destroying the place, and showering the remains in fire extinguisher retardant. They may make pamphlets to tell us if our little Johnny is high, but they sure as shit don’t make them for that situation, and our apathy/confusion toward the news reflected this. Miller had found his way to the blotter before, but this arrest was simply too bizarre to take in all at once. If Rampage Jackson was an episode of World’s Wildest Police Chases, Mayhem was an entire season of Reno 911. Specifically, the episodes featuring Terry.

There was also the fact that we were still digesting the bowlful of crazy that Miller had spewed at Dana White just days before, which truly raised some eyebrows in regards to Miller’s general well being. He had made his history of mental issues public knowledge before, and many of us assumed that it was likely these problems rearing their ugly heads once again when he was arrested. But according to Miller, who released a statement today to address our concerns following his release last week, declared that “everything is fine.” Granted, he also said the same thing to DW just days before his arrest, so take this with a grain of salt. Miller released the following via his Facebook and Twitter.

Despite the way he was portrayed during his run on The Ultimate Fighter: Heavyweights, which is to say, typical British asshole, it turns out that James McSweeney is actually a pretty cool dude in reality. But seriously, if you were to categorize McSweeney scientifically based solely on TUF 10, his name would’ve been Bispingus Douchebaggus. However, I first caught a glimpse of how well-spoken and down to earth McSweeney truly is during a recent interview he had with MiddleEasy, which I’ve posted above. In the video, he and Kit Cope break down everything from Jon Jones’ DUI to Nick Diaz’s suspension for weed, and he comes off sounding like a relatively enlightened individual in the process.

The reason I mention this is not only to try and prove that there are British MMA fighters out there who aren’t complete dicks, but to provide a little backstory that will prevent this news from catching you completely off guard. Because in the long list of MMA fighters who moonlight as vigilante, Bronson-esque heroes, McSweeney has just added his name.

Yesterday night, McSweeney was giving his family, who was visiting from England, a friendly tour of Las Vegas. As things are destined to do in Vegas, the night would inevitably end in them witnessing at least one person trying to stab another.

(Just off camera, The Grim Reaper stared on in shock as Madadi told him right where he could stick his scythe.) 

Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past few years, you know by now that, while most of us are content to booze or sleep away most of our lives, MMA fighters opt to spend their leisure time foiling robberies, saving women from knife-wielding psychopaths, and teaching Canadian hoodlums a lesson in male dominance…I mean respect.

For some reason, the rule goes double for MMA fighters from foreign countries. We all remember the tale of Goran Reljic saving two men from drowning by smashing through their submerged vehicle’s windshield and pulling them to safety WHILE suffering from a back injury. Or how Kid Yamamoto dove onto a subway track in Japan to help lift a man to safety. Seriously, it’s like the rest of the world operates under Article 223-7 of the Latham County Penal Code or something.

In either case, one name you can add to the list of heroic MMA fighters is UFC lightweight Reza Madadi, who recently saved an infant toddler when the child fell from a pier near Hornsberg in his home country of Sweden.

Full story after the jump.

(You see? People were doing this WAY before MMA was ever popular.)

*facepalm*

Yes, you read that correctly. Apparently a former MMA fighter named Harold Finger III (seriously) viciously assaulted a woman before setting himself on fire, nearly taking a six year old child with him in the process. This bizarre story comes to us courtesy of KTUU.com out of Anchorage, Alaska, whose “report” is so shockingly inept that we feel the need to post it verbatim:

A former mixed martial arts fighter set himself on fire on Tuesday night and faces assault charges for striking a woman, according to Anchorage Police.

Police said 28-year-old Harold Finger III lit himself on fire during a disturbance around 8:33 p.m. Tuesday. Officers found him badly burned at an apartment on the 200 block of N. Klevin Street.

According to witnesses, APD said Finger became angry while speaking on the phone with an acquaintance after getting out of jail for one week.

Police allege Finger then punched and kicked a 34-year-old woman in the face and head while wearing leather gloves with hard plastic knuckles. The victim and two other women living at the apartment took refuge in a bedroom with one of the women holding her 6-year-old son.

Finger said he was not going back to jail and took a can of Prestone starting fluid and doused the door frame and his upper body and then grabbed the child. The women were able to free the boy before Finger used a lighter to ignite himself, bursting into flames. One of the women extinguished the flames with a jacket.

Finger was taken to a local hospital for severe burns on his upper torso, face, and head. He faces charges of assault in the first and second degree and reckless endangerment with a no-bail warrant.

Anchorage Police said Finger will be served when he is physically able to be taken into custody.

(Not to criticize Bellator’s matchmaking, but we haven’t seen a first round tournament draw this easy since Wandelei Silva’s Pride days.)

Since his acting career didn’t quite pan out like he expected and his relationship with the UFC was still somewhat frosty, Roger Huerta has opted to go in a new direction and announced today that he’d be competing in Bellator’s upcoming 155-pound tournament. The first round kicks off on April 8, but there’s no word yet on who Huerta will face. If he wins his first fight he then moves on to fight in May, and a victory there puts him in the finals in June. That’s a busy schedule for a guy who fought just twice in the last two years, but according to Huerta that’s part of what drew him to Bellator in the first place:

"The main thing for me was I wanted to fight constantly," he said. "Since I was out so long, this is the best way for me to fight constantly and it’s up to me to continue to fight. It’s going to be grueling. I’ll fight in April, then on to May and June. But I want to continue to fight. I went from fighting five times in one year in ’07, then once in ’08 and ’09. Now I can fight four times in 2010."

Huerta insists that he’s coming back “with a chip on my shoulder” and is fully focused on MMA these days. His joint-grinding loss against Gray Maynard proved that toughness is never an issue, and we don’t want to sound like a clingy girlfriend here, but is “El Matador” ready to make a serious commitment to this sport? If not, the Bellator tournament’s grueling schedule will probably find him out.

("See? I am friend. Now get in van, please." Photo courtesy of Sherdog.)

Four months after he put Mike Swick to sleep at UFC 109 — thereby going up 2-1 in his one-man assault on the American Kickboxing Academy — welterweight rising star Paulo Thiago will step into the cage at UFC 115 (June 12th, tentatively in Vancouver) against highly regarded contender Martin Kampmann. "The Hitman" is coming off a first-round submission victory over Jacob Volkmann in January, and was slated to take on Ben Saunders at UFC 111, but lost a large piece of his face during training. Coincidentally, Thiago also holds a win over Volkmann, who has been absolutely thrown to the wolves during his brief time with the UFC. (FYI, "Christmas" Volkmann will have his win-or-GTFO match against Ronnys Torres at UFC Fight Night: Florian vs. Gomi on March 31st.)

UFC 115 will be headlined by Chuck Liddell vs. Tito Ortiz, and is expected to feature Mirko Cro Cop vs. Pat Barry, Ben Rothwell vs. Gilbert Yvel, Tyson Griffin vs. Evan Dunham, and Mac Danzig continuing his slow road back to contendership against Matt Wiman.

(Photo courtesy of Sherdog.)

The WEC paid out $276,500 in disclosed salaries and bonuses for their WEC 47 card on Saturday, with bantamweight contender Joseph Benavidez taking home the biggest cut. Benavidez’s $39,000 haul — including his win bonus and submission bonus — made him one of just three fighters to earn over $20,000 from the event. The numbers are below; keep in mind that they don’t include income from sponsorships or undisclosed "locker-room bonuses," or deductions for taxes, insurance, and licensing fees.

Dominick Cruz: $18,000 (includes $9,000 win bonus)
Brian Bowles: $12,000

Joseph Benavidez: $39,000 (includes $14,500 win bonus, $10,000 Submission of the Night bonus)
Miguel Torres: $26,000

Javier Vazquez: $12,000 (includes $6,000 win bonus)
Jens Pulver: $14,000*

L.C. Davis: $18,000 (includes $9,000 win bonus)
Deividas Taurosevicius: $9,000

("These barbarian Americans," Fedor thought to himself. "Worshipping laminated rectangles with names on them.")

Strikeforce has been laying suspiciously low lately, leading some to wonder if they’re having behind-the-scenes problems with Fedor Emelianenko or their broadcast partners; Gegard Mousasi‘s departure from M-1 two weeks ago added another wrinkle to the mystery. Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker tried to shed what light he could yesterday, telling reporters that the organization would hold an event in Nashville, Tennessee, on April 17th, and that more announcements would come next week. No, it’s not much to work on. But recent reports have also clued us in on the following…

— The middleweight title fight between Jake Shields and Dan Henderson is a done deal for April. Said Shields: "I have a date (and) venue, but they told me to hold that back. Hopefully CBS. I think it’s CBS. There’s a slight possibility of Showtime because they’re still (working it out). I don’t know the rest of the card or any of that yet. But me and Dan’s on, and I’m hoping it’s on CBS."