(Wear it like a champion. Or at the very least, like a #1 contender.)

Y’know, it would have been helpful last week if we knew that Jung vs. Poirier was going to be a five-round fight. (Serves me right for trusting the word of a fly-by-night MMA fan-blog.) Though we got a wide variety of guesses in our TrauMMA/No Mas fight-picking contest, none of you guessed that the fight would go to the championship rounds, probably because you didn’t know that it was even a possibility.

Nevertheless, the two closest picks belonged to spidey811 (“Zombie def. Poirier via Anaconda Choke at 3:54 in Round 3 [Submission of the Night]“) and topdog (“Jung def Poirier via submission (RNC) @ 3:23 of rd 3 [Submission of the night]“) — who will both be getting the new Korean Zombie t-shirt from TrauMMA Combat Apparel.

Honorable mention goes to Freddyboiiiii, who predicted a second-round submission win for Jung, and correctly guessed that the fight would pick up the Submission of the Night and Fight of the Night bonuses. That’s good enough for a CagePotato t-shirt, I think. If your name has been called, please send your real name, shirt size, and address to contest@cagepotato.com, and we’ll send out your prizes ASAP. Thanks again to TrauMMA for the hookup!

(Shirt image via TrauMMACombat.com)

In honor of Chan Sung Jung‘s upcoming fight against Dustin Poirier at UFC on FUEL 3 on Tuesday, TrauMMA Combat Apparel has released a brand-new “Korean Zombie” t-shirt that you can buy right here for $29.99. But we know that thirty bucks is hard to come by in this economy, so how ’bout we give you a chance to win one for free?

You know how this works: Submit your prediction for the Zombie vs. Poirier main event in the comments section below by Monday night at midnight ET, including the winner, method of victory, and time/round of stoppage (if applicable). No need to include judges’ scores if you’re predicting a decision, but for the purposes of a tie-breaker, please include which end-of-night bonus you think the fight will win, if you think it’ll be bonus-worthy. Your entry should look like this…

Jung def. Poirier via split-decision [Fight of the Night]
or
Poirier def. Jung via submission (triangle choke), 3:54 of round 2 [Submission of the Night]
or
Jung def. Poirier via TKO, 1:59 of round 3 [no bonus]

And there’s just one more twist…

(Props: YouTube.com/TrashTalkinKids)

The wait is finally over. After keeping you guys on pins and needles for like a full month, we have a winner in our Urijah Faber t-shirt design contest with Punch Buddies. Watch the stunning conclusion above, in which Urijah, Stephan Bonnar, and Rachelle Leah take the finalists out to the desert and eliminate the losers one by one in the most hardcore way possible.

When the dust settles, they’re left with two designs that they can’t decide between — so Punch Buddies is producing both of them. Since the surfing California Kid shirt was created by one of PB’s own artists, our congrats really go to CagePotato reader Peter Starwalt, who went all the way with his beach/shark-themed design. Congrats, man! Your design is going to be on an actual MMA t-shirt, and you might actually see Faber wearing it someday! We’ll be dropping you a line shortly, because your wild ride is only getting started.

Also: Remember when I said we had a surprise for everybody whose design was featured in this contest? Well check it out: Urijah printed out and signed all your designs, and I’ll be sending them out to you guys over the next couple weeks. Keep an eye on your inboxes; we’ll be in touch.

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

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

(Click images for full-size versions.)

In honor of tomorrow’s release of our new favorite MMA documentary Fightville — look out for it in select theaters, video-on-demand, and iTunes digital download — we thought we’d give away some movie-related swag. We have in our possession three prize packages that include the official Fightville t-shirt produced by the geniuses at No Mas, as well as a Fightville movie poster signed by Dustin Poirier and Tim Credeur. To get it all, you’ll have to out-guess the competition in this weekend’s UFC 145 fight picking contest.

Along with the Jon Jones vs. Rashad Evans main event, we’d like you to predict the results for two preliminary-card bouts: Travis Browne vs. Chad Griggs, and Mac Danzig vs. Efrain Escudero. Submit your predictions for all three fights in the comments section below, including the winner’s name, the method of victory, and the time/round of stoppage, if any. Your entry should be in this format:

In the final opening-round matchup of our epic t-shirt design tournament with Punch Buddies, UFC talent judges Stephan Bonnar and Urijah Faber send one more of your designs to the quarterfinals. Their choices are:

“Captain Butt Chin” by Bobby [who's misidentified in the vid, but whatevs]
vs.
“Urologist Faber” by Toby N.

As you’ll see in the video, both Stephan and Urijah fail to recognize Nazi pedophile Brandon Saling on the Captain Butt Chin shirt. We’re not sure if that affected Bobby’s chances, but it’s worth mentioning. Still, I think they made the right choice, simply based on Toby’s chin-placement.

The competition is only going to get tougher next week as we enter the quarterfinals. Catch up on our previous t-shirt tournament videos here, follow Punch Buddies on Twitter and Facebook, and let us know who you think is going all the way!

It’s day 3 of our Punch Buddies t-shirt design tournament, and the competition is only getting hairier and more intense. In today’s installment, your hosts Stephan Bonnar and Urijah Faber evaluate a pair of movie tributes — Michael P.’s “Fast Times” tee vs. Toby N.’s “Karate Kid” design — and Carlos G. does battle with himself in two Faber-on-a-bear designs. Which talented Potato Nation artist is going all the way? And how can I get my hands on one of those Diego “Dirty” Sanchez shirts? Stay tuned, and browse through some of PB’s classic t-shirts at PunchBuddies.com.

Semi-related video after the jump: Forrest Griffin does the monkey-face in his “Furious Forrest” Punch Buddies t-shirt.

After yesterday’s opening ceremonies, Stephan Bonnar and Urijah Faber are back to evaluate four more of your Punch Buddies t-shirt contest designs. Today’s opening-round matchups are…

- Ben S.’s California Kid action figure vs. Mandy M.’s “No Shirt Nation”
and in the ultra-violence division:
- Erik F.’s “Chucky Faber” vs. Dante F.’s Cruz-decapitation

Congrats to everybody who made it this far, and thanks to Punch Buddies for hooking us up with these videos! Be sure to check in with CagePotato every day through the rest of the week to see how the opening round of March T-Shirt Madness plays out. Was your design good enough to earn a pair of tickets to UFC 148 and a potential spot on Urijah’s torso?

(Props: Peter S. / Click above for larger version, brah!)

Just a reminder to all you aspiring t-shirt designers who might want a pair of free tickets to UFC 148: Cruz vs. Faber 3 — the submission period for our design contest with Punch Buddies ends a week from today, March 21st! So if you have an idea for a clever Urijah Faber t-shirt, and you have a dash of artistic talent, get your head out of your ass and send it to contest@cagepotato.com. For inspiration, we’ve posted our three favorite entries so far, which continue after the jump. Let us know what you think, and be sure to follow Punch Buddies on Facebook and Twitter!

(Hint: Incorporate gigantic women whenever possible.)

Great news, everybody: Our friends at Punch Buddies — who have produced such classics as the Chael Sonnen “I Want YOU Anderson Silva” shirt and Melvin Guillard’s historical revenge-fantasy tee — have just signed Urijah Faber to their roster. With the California Kid making his coaching debut on The Ultimate Fighter Live this Friday on FX, we thought it would be a perfect time to launch another t-shirt design contest on CagePotato.com. And the stakes have never been higher.

Your assignment is to design a new Punch Buddies-style t-shirt for Urijah Faber. (Check out some of PB’s past designs here for inspiration; they usually include a pun or phrase based on the fighter’s name/nickname/persona, and an insane, cartoonish illustration. Easy as pie.) E-mail your work to contest@cagepotato.com by Wednesday, March 21st. We’ll announce our favorite design by the end of that week.

The winner will get two tickets to watch Faber complete his trilogy against rival TUF coach Dominick Cruz at UFC 148, July 7th at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. But wait, it (potentially) gets even better…

(Props: Punch Buddies via FighterXFashion)

The madmen who brought us the most violent MMA t-shirt of all time have gone a little more subtle with their latest design. Punch Buddies’ new “I Want You Anderson Silva” t-shirt features Chael Sonnen as Uncle Sam (obviously), jabbing his index finger into the bird-like chests of pink-polo’d cowards everywhere. It’s an ideal holiday gift for the MMA fan in your life, and a perfect addition to your collection of Anderson Silva taunt-related apparel.

Swing by NGAUGEinc.com to pick up the Chael Sonnen t-shirt for $32.99, and while you’re there, take a look at their Furious Forrest and American Psycho shirts, and their line of UFC regional tees.

(Gross. They’re like a pack of feral cats. Props: FightersOnly via MMAConvert)

Guy-on-the-left clearly comes from the Wanderlei Silva school of intimidation. But seriously, go to a clinic and get yourself tested, buddy. Any Brazilians in the house want to give us a rough translation of “Cagão”?

(The “MMA Hairstyles” shirt in athetic gray. Click here for a full-size version of the t-shirt design on its own.)

In collaboration with artist/illustrator Derek Eads, we’re proud to announce the latest semi-official t-shirt design from CagePotato.com. The “MMA Hairstyles” shirt features the iconic silhouettes of 20 MMA stars — or more accurately, 17 actual stars plus three fighters who have made infamous follicular statements. How quickly can you identify them all?

You can purchase this masterpiece for the fair price of $22 at Society6.com in your choice of eight different colors, five different sizes, and two different genders. (Prove your loyalty to the Potato Nation and buy all 80 variations!)

For more of Derek Eads’s pop-cultural work, visit his official site, and check out some of his other art prints including Cage’s Hair Filmography, Murrays, and Samuel L. Jackson “Hollywood’s Target Practice.”

(This is the current front-runner. Seriously. This. / Props: Jeffrey T.)

Guys, we need to talk. Last week we launched a photoshop contest with Punch Buddies, asking our readers to brainstorm some other folks who need to feel the wrath of Melvin Guillard. Man is it not going well. After the jump, you’ll find four more recent submissions. These include: Two examples of Melvin dealing with folks who are already dead (classy!), Rupert Murdoch palming Melvin’s head like a basketball (not exactly what we’re going for here), and a photo-collage that looks like it was created by an insane person. So if you want a Punch Buddies Young Assassin shirt, it won’t take much effort to steal this thing. Please e-mail your entries to submission@ngaugeinc.com by Thursday night. Good luck.

(Image courtesy of NGAUGEinc.com)

That, my friends, is the first design from a new t-shirt line called Punch Buddies — brought to you by NGAUGE, the madmen previously responsible for Trash Talkin’ Kids. (Ed. note: TTK was literally sued to death shortly after we featured them on this site. Hopefully we can keep this new brand a secret from Hitler and Bin Laden’s lawyers.) Y’know, we’re big fans of Melvin Guillard, and we appreciate the subtle humor of this “Young Assassin” shirt. I bet you didn’t even notice that lynched klansman on fire in the background. So ironic!

Two questions: 1) Do any of you have the balls to actually wear this shirt in public? And for the brave souls who answered “yes,” 2) Would you be willing to enter a photoshop contest to get one?

Smug © (Pic: Zimbio.com)

Perhaps we were all a little quick to bag on Josh Koscheck for taking a legal dump on “Trash Talkin’ Kids“, Stephan Bonnar’s new irreverent line of MMA shirts. True, he does have a track record of being kind of a dick, but this wouldn’t be the first time that we’ve jumped to conclusions about the UFC Welterweight only to back track a little. Lesson learned. From now on, we’ll reserve judgment until all of the facts are in and give Kos the benefit of the doubt. Nah, not really, but here’s the latest on this story.

Koscheck sat down with the folks at BleacherReport.com to give his side of the tale. According to Kos, his problem with the shirt in question has nothing to do with being the butt of a joke, but rather stems from a preexisting exclusive contract.

(The ‘Josh Kosh M’Gosh’: Taken from us too soon. Props: facebook.com/TrashTalkinKids)

Due to his unauthorized depiction in the “Trash Talkin’ Kids” t-shirt line, UFC star Josh Koscheck is suing NGAUGE, the MMA artwork and apparel company co-founded by Stephan Bonnar. NGAUGE was officially served with notice of the lawsuit yesterday morning.

Though a source at NGAUGE told us that reaction from the other fighters depicted in the shirt series (including Georges St. Pierre and Brock Lesnar) has been uniformly positive, Koscheck apparently didn’t see the humor in being associated with a brand of children’s overalls. Which is too bad, because that shit is kind of hilarious.

(Click for larger versions. And take some time to consider what this says about your personalities, you sadistic sons-of-bitches.)

After two days of voting for our Trash Talkin’ Kids t-shirt design finalists, the Potato Nation has made it clear that their two favorites are Chris C.’s “Lost Kos” shirt — which ended up way ahead of the pack with 23.4% of the vote — and Michael P’s “Wake Up Chuck!”, which collected 16.5% of the vote. Grease St. Pierre (15.7%) and Hematoma Hominick (15.2%) were close behind, if that makes you feel any better. The full results can be seen in handy bar graph form here.

So, Chris and Michael, you lucky, lucky boys, please e-mail contest@cagepotato.com with your address, shirt size, and choice of real Trash Talkin’ Kids t-shirts from the designs below. Thanks to TTK for making this happen, and for everybody who designed, voted, and commented. We’ve got more free swag to give away next week, so stay tuned…

(The “Ace”: Coming soon from Trash Talkin’ Kids.)

Thanks so much to everybody who sent in submissions for last week’s Trash Talkin’ Kids t-shirt design contest. We were overwhelmed by the number — and sheer stupidity! — of your designs, and we honestly had a blast going through them. With the help of our friends at Trash Talkin’ Kids, we picked out eight finalists based on humor, creativity, and effort. To see all of the submissions, head over to facebook.com/trashtalkinkids, where they’ve uploaded the finalists plus a bunch more entries that didn’t quite make the cut.

And now we need your votes to make this thing official. Please check out the Elite 8 after the jump, and vote for your favorite in the poll at the bottom of the page. The two highest-voted designs will both be receiving actual TTK shirts. Winners will be announced Thursday. Aaaaaand go!

(Stephan Bonnar — supermodel. Props: TrashTalkinKids)

[Update, 11:56 a.m. ET: The submission e-mail has changed; see below. If you've already submitted an entry, there's no need to re-submit.]

One of my favorite booths at the UFC Fan Expo in Toronto was Trash Talkin’ Kids, a brand-new t-shirt line that combines MMA fighters with one of the most horrible fads from the 1980s. As a dude who appreciates lowbrow humor more than skulls and wings, these shirts spoke to me.

TTK was cool enough to hook us up with a couple shirts for the Potato Nation. It’s been a long time since we’ve done a t-shirt design contest, so we thought we’d give it another shot. Your challenge is this: Create a t-shirt design in the style of Trash Talkin’ Kids. (Basically, a well-known MMA fighter, a weird Garbage Pail-esque pun using their name, and a gruesome visual representation of that pun.) Details continue after the jump…

(“Wait, you’re giving this to me for *free*? My goodness, I’ve stumbled onto the perfect crime!”)

Much like myself, Dana White pretty much lives in t-shirts. It’s his trademark, like Don King’s hair, or Mark Pavelich’s eyebrows. The difference is, DW usually gets paid to wear his t-shirts. Like I said last week, Dana’s torso is the best viral advertising platform on basic cable. So, in honor of our unhealthy fascination with this man, here are 24 noteworthy Dana-in-a-t-shirt photos, along with some brief analysis.

(Wearing a t-shirt that references a local sports team is one of the easiest ways to be liked by strangers. In the pro-wrestling world, they refer to this sort of thing as a “cheap pop.”)

(The “American Wacko” t-shirt, from TrashTalkinKids. Still waiting on my “Snot Jorgensen” tee, guys.)

Riding high on a two-fight win streak against Krzysztof Soszynski and Igor Pokrajac, Stephan Bonnar will likely take on yet another dude with a weird European name in his next appearance. Multiple sources reported today that the American Psycho will face aggressive Czech prospect Karlos “The Terminator” Vemola at UFC on Versus 5, August 14th in Milwaukee.

Vemola (8-1, all wins by first-round stoppage) made his name competing in England as a heavyweight, Donkey Kong-ing most of his terrified opponents in under two minutes. He suffered his first defeat in his Octagon debut at UFC 116, getting slept on by Jon Madsen for three rounds. Wisely, the 6-foot fireplug immediately dropped to light-heavyweight, and beat the living crap out of Seth Petruzelli, picking up a Knockout of the Night bonus in the process. Vemola was slated to return against Luis Cane at UFC 128, but had to withdraw due to a mouth infection.

Killer matchup, if you ask me. Battle-tested vet vs. young juggernaut — who ya got?

(Off camera, Mike Goldberg is just another golden-voiced hobo.)

This week’s caption contest brought in 235 entries — or about 140, if you take out all the spam comments and painfully obvious references to Menace II Society. After careful consideration, we’ve chosen three winners, who will be scoring new t-shirts from Ranger Up. But first, some honorable mentions…

Horror Fighter: With his camouflage coat, Goldberg was confident that he could steal Matt’s beer unseen.

FightZen: “Matt ‘The Law’ Lindland, is, unquestionably, the most accomplished beer drinker in the middleweight division.”

DangadaDang: One thing that’s amazing about Guinness beer is that its hoppiness is so…hoppy.

RWilsonR: “Hey Matt, want to see what’s on a meteoric rise right now? I’ll give you a hint… it’s in my pants.”

Naked Rear Poke: MG: Now, try not to look too shocked because I know he’s a LOT shorter in real life, but he’s a huge fan of yours. Matt, meet Eminem!
Naked Rear Poke (again): MG: Hey Matt, do you think this necklace makes me look less like someone with the surname ‘Goldberg’?

And now, your winners…

(Above: The Waldo. Below: The Navy SEAL Bin Laden shirt, and the “We Will Not Fail” shirt. Click the links to learn more and see rear-views.)

On May 1st, 2011, terrorist mastermind Osama Bin Laden was finally brought to justice — American-style, with a bullet to the head. Here in New York, it was like we had won the World Cup or something. Years from now, you’ll probably want to have something to remind you of this triumphant, bizarre, overwhelming moment in our country’s history. That’s where Ranger Up comes in. We’ve featured their patriotically ass-kicking shirts on this site before; now they’re releasing three brand-new designs, perfect for wearing while you’re pissing on the graves of murderers.

R.U. is giving us one shirt of each new style to pass along to you fine people. You know the deal: Check out the photo after the jump of Mike Goldberg and Matt Lindland chillin’ in New Jersey, and submit a humorous caption in the comments section by tomorrow at midnight ET. We’ll announce the winners on Thursday. Can you defeat your fellow Potato Nation members in a battle of wits? Well, let’s see what you got. For more manly apparel, check out RangerUp.com.

(Mike V., representing at WWE Raw)

Yeeeaaaaahhh buddy! Time to give away some more Free CagePotato t-shirts to those of you who posted “Free CagePotato” signs on our Facebook wall, or sent a unique and persuasive tweet @danawhite with the #freecagepotato tag. If we ran your photo or tweet this week, please e-mail your name, shirt-size, and address to contest@cagepotato.com, and we’ll hook you up…as soon as the shirts come in. (Be patient, guys.) Thanks for the support, and please continue to submit your entries for a chance to be recognized next week. More good stuff after the jump…

(Mike S., doing his Jake Shields impression. Damn, how’d you get all those Hall of Fame shirts?)

(Props: mmachiro)

So here’s how we’ll do this: Every week, we’ll announce a handful of our favorite #freecapotato Twitter messages and Facebook photos. As promised, those people will all get “Free CagePotato” t-shirts; if we run your photo or tweet, please e-mail your name, shirt-size, and address to contest@cagepotato.com, and we’ll hook you up. Lots more after the jump…

(Props: Miles B.)

Even if you can’t make your way out to Toronto for the UFC Fan Expo, you can still be part of the “Free CagePotato” movement. For the next month or so, we’re going to be giving away a bunch of the brand-new tees you see above. If you want one, there are a couple of ways to do it…

1. The Twitter Way: Send a tweet of support to @danawhite that includes the hashtag #freecagepotato. (The message must be a positive one. No verbal abuse, please.) Every weekday, we’ll pick our favorite one and hook that person up with a shirt.

2. The Facebook Way: Take a picture of yourself posing with “Free CagePotato” written on a hand-made sign (kind of like the one after the jump) or on your own body (keep it clean, people). Then, upload it to our Facebook wall. We’ll collect our favorites at some point in the future, post them on the site, and award them all t-shirts.

(“Alright ladies, now smile as if you have any f*cking clue what’s going on right now.”)

Thanks to everybody who entered this week’s caption contest, which produced over 200 entries, most of them pretty damn funny. And yet, only three of you will be earning t-shirts from Alchemist Clothing. Doesn’t seem fair, does it? Anyway, let’s begin with some honorable mentions…

destinationblood: All they had left at the Halloween store was stewardess costumes, Rambo guns and a Fred Flintstone tie.

J. Spaceman: Hey Frye, this is how a real man pads his record!

missedcue: Even elite MMA fighters need Apple tech support.

missedcue, again: Dana: “Yeah I guess that’s cool but you still ain’t getting into the Smasher Group.”

intercept440: GAY TEST: If you notice the inconspicous black guy in the back ground…I have some bad news for you.
[Ed. note: Or, if you noticed Tim's pants before anything else...]

Ajax Says: After what happened in the fifth grade, Tim swore he would never have a bad yearbook picture ever again.

MaxS: No ladies that’s NOT a gun in my pocket…that’s just what “Ranger Up” means.

Morningwood: Now THIS is how you raise 120 bucks!

And now, the big winners:

(Nate Marquardt’s UFC 128 walkout shirt — just one of many fine shirts available at AlchemistClothing.com)

You may know Alchemist as the MMA management company fronted by MC Hammer. You may not know that Alchemist has its own clothing line, featuring signature shirts created for its stable of fighters including Nate Marquardt, Jorge Rivera, and Stefan Struve. To help spread the word, Alchemist is giving us three t-shirts to give away to CagePotato readers. As always, there’s a catch.

Check out the photo after the jump of Tim Kennedy fist-posing next to his personal stewardesses, and write a clever caption in the comments section. Submit your entries by Friday morning at 9 a.m. ET, and we’ll announce three winners later that day; if you’re one of them, you get an Alchemist shirt of your choice. Any questions? For more free swag, ‘Like’ Alchemist on Facebook and follow them on Twitter. They do giveaways more often than Charlie Sheen does pornstars. (#hey-oh #topicalhumor)

(Images via MiddleEasy)

A year after Zuffa banned Hoelzer Reich as a fighter sponsor due to their uncomfortably Nazi-ish t-shirt designs, another apparel company is under scrutiny for a potentially offensive symbol. As first spotted by WRESTLENOW on the UG, Clay Guida appeared in a recent Fight! Magazine video wearing a Silver Star shirt featuring a totenkopf. Translated to "skull of a dead man," the totenkopf symbol has been used in the German military since the Prussian army of the 18th century, but it is most closely associated with the Nazi SS – especially the particular version shown above, in which the totenkopf is shown in half-profile – and is currently favored by Neo-Nazis.