(The latest Fedor/Rogers video promo, courtesy of YouTube.com/CBS. Props to MMA Fanhouse for the tip.)

Just as HBO uses the 24/7 series to plug notable boxing matches, Showtime has launched its own behind-the-scenes hype series with Fight Camp 360, which debuted October 10th with a profile on the Super Six World Boxing Classic. But 360 won’t be limited to just boxing. According to Brett Rogers, Showtime is preparing an episode of the show to promote Strikeforce: Fedor vs. Rogers, slated to air about a week before their November 7th fight.

Of course, that event will air on CBS, not Showtime. But Showtime is owned by CBS Corporation, and it’s the network outlet for most of Strikeforce’s events, so it’s in their best interest to pitch in with the promotional effort, which has taken a while to warm up. But hey, better late than never — and it’s great to see MMA fighters start to get the "all-access" treatment before big fights. Though if you’re one of the Showtime video producers who has to fly to Stary Oskol and freeze your ass off while shooting some B-roll of a new swingset being installed at Fedor’s training facility, our condolences…

(Lyoto and his father Yoshizo share a warm moment at their home base in Belem, Brazil. Photos courtesy of this set on Sherdog.)

If you have a dream — go ahead, it is possible! And if you have a glass of urine — pass that shit, son! Apologies if you’re seeing this during lunch, but here’s photographic proof that Lyoto Machida’s urine-drinking regimen is for real, and not something he made up to get inside the head of Rashad Evans. Yes, we’ve already debunked this quaint bit of folk-medicine as B.S., but the Machida clan stands by it. (And check out how healthy and happy they look!) As Machida patriarch Yoshizo explained to Sherdog:

(Toby Imada’s infamous flying inverse triangle choke of Jorge Masvidal at Bellator 5.)

Bellator MMA make a dramatic arrival earlier this year with a weekly ESPN Deportes series and a memorable string of viral videos on YouTube. But the league lost some momentum during the long negotiations for a new broadcast partner, and its fighters have struggled to find work. The good news is, the wait was worth it. This morning, Bellator announced an unprecedented three-part network deal that will put their product in over 100 million homes.

Bellator’s second season will launch April 8th, 2010, with 12 weekly live events that will air Thursday nights on FOX Sports Net and its regional sports network affiliates (reach: 82 million homes). Every subsequent Saturday night, a 30-minute highlight show will be broadcast on NBC (112 million homes), and an hour-long package will air on Telemundo (62 million homes). The deal also includes a third 12-week season that is slated to begin on August 12th. Both seasons are expected to follow the multi-tournament format established in Bellator’s first season, which crowned Joe Soto, Eddie Alvarez, Lyman Good and Hector Lombard the promotion’s champions.

(Props: Genghis Con on Vimeo)

The latest film from MMA auteur Genghis Con focuses on two of the world’s most exciting fighters — Nate Marquardt and Gegard Mousasi — taking us through their early careers, their high-profile losses, and their current paths of success. As usual, the editing and music are pitch perfect, so give it a look if you have 20 minutes free. Otherwise, you can just check out the eight-second head-kick KO after the jump.

(Man that thing’s hideous.)

British slugger James Thompson has lost his last four fights, and eight of his last ten. His career highlights include getting pwned in 11 seconds by Aleksander Emelianenko, accidentally starting a riot in Montreal, and losing to Kimbo Slice. All of which makes him an ideal candidate for Alistair Overeem‘s next victim. MMA Fanhouse is reporting that Overeem’s "TBA" opponent for this coming Sunday’s Dream.12 show will be The Colossus, who most recently got knocked out by Jim York at Sengoku 7. (Video of that fight is after the jump; yep, he’s still doing that ridiculous gong-and-dash thing.) We don’t expect Overeem vs. Thompson to play out much differently than Overeem vs. Sylvester; it’ll be a deadly striker vs. a befuddled brawler, and Big James is going to leave the ring with yet another concussion to add to his vast collection of brain injuries.

(Props: The Sun)

The UFC is reportedly making its first visit to Virginia for UFC Fight Night 20 (January 11th; Fairfax), and the lineup is starting to come together. Here’s what we’re hearing:

— Josh Koscheck (13-4), fresh off his first-round TKO over Frank Trigg at UFC 103, will be taking on Mike Pierce (9-1), who most recently scored a big upset over Brock Larson in his Octagon debut at UFC Fight Night 19. Koscheck is under the impression that he’ll be getting Georges St. Pierre soon, though he’s probably still in line after his teammate Mike Swick.

— TUF 8 winner Efrain Escudero (12-0) and Nik Lentz (17-3-1) have agreed to meet each other in a lightweight bout. Escudero’s last win was a first-round TKO over Cole Miller at UFC 103, while Lentz defeated Rafaello Oliveira by decision at the same event. Not exactly a step up the ladder for Escudero, but the UFC has a way of building up their TUF winners slowly.

(Walla Walla-themed fan art courtesy of bojanelezovic.com. We also recommend checking out this breathtaking drawing of Fat Fedor.)

As one of Dana White’s official mouthpieces, you sometimes have to take Kevin Iole‘s articles with a grain of salt. Following the report that Dan Henderson is on the verge of signing a deal with Strikeforce, we’re now wondering: Was the story put out in an attempt to put pressure on Hendo or affect public opinion of him? Because at the moment, Henderson is denying it completely. As Henderson’s friend and business partner Aaron Crecy told MMA Fanhouse, "We had a brief get-to-know-you session with (Strikeforce) and met them for coffee, but to say he’s close to signing would be a gross misrepresentation." And as Dan himself told MMA Weekly, "I’m still hoping to come to terms with the UFC, until I heard this…I’ve never even seen an offer from (Strikeforce).”

So, a ray of hope for Hendo fans who want to see him get his rematch with Anderson Silva at some point, even if he still isn’t close to terms with the UFC when it comes to money. But why would Yahoo! and the UFC puff up a "possibly" story into an "imminently" story? Could they be testing MMA fans to see how much people really want Henderson to stay in the UFC? And will the UFC adjust their offer depending on the results?

(Props: MMA Turf. Apologies for the lack of sound.)

Well, we expected a pointless mismatch, and a pointless mismatch is what we got. Last night at Ultimate Glory 11 in Amsterdam, Alistair Overeem whipped Tony Sylvester as if he’d discovered the American fighter banging his wife and keying his car at the same time. Sylvester was only able to get off one leg-kick during the 83-second execution, which was marked by Overeem breaking down his opponent with knees in the clinch before ending the fight with a standing guillotine. There’s an odd moment at the 0:52 mark of the above video in which the referee seems to wave off the bout before separating the fighters so that Sylvester can take more abuse. Damn, maybe Sam Hoger would have put up a better fight after all. Overeem is now slated to compete next Sunday at DREAM.12 against an opponent who’s still TBA. (I guess they’re still checking on Canseco‘s availability?) Full results from Ultimate Glory 11 are after the jump…

(Eh, it was mostly plastic anyway. Photo courtesy of Sherdog.)

Following Benson Henderson and Donald Cerrone‘s five-round war at WEC 43, lightweight champ Jamie Varner said he’d be down to take on Henderson in December, which seemed a little selfish considering Varner had spent the last nine months recuperating from his Cerrone-related injuries, while Henderson had just sustained his. Certainly Varner and the WEC would allow their new interim lightweight champ at least a three-month turnaround before putting him in another tough battle, right? Well, if Rashad Evans has the correct information, that’s not the plan, and Bendo is about to get screwed:

(For the sake of perspective, let’s recall how "The Simpsons" has portrayed the boxing world in the past.)

Here’s a newsflash for you.  Remember that MMA-themed episode of “The Simpsons” that we were pleasantly surprised with, if only because it wasn’t as hackneyed and completely unfunny as every episode of the show for the last six or seven years has been?  Well, UFC president Dana White wasn’t laughing, and not just because he lacks the ability to find anything funny if it doesn’t involve someone getting shocked:

"I was disappointed," White says. "I think it was typical of people that don’t know anything about the sport. I know it’s for fun, but the second half of it really wasn’t even funny. …We like fighting.  But to make it sound like the UFC crowd is this bloodthirsty crowd that shows up and just want to see people get their (butts) kicked — that’s not true. That’s the stigma that the mainstream has of us. … The Simpsons program will show you how mainstream we’re not.” 

While it’s hard to argue with DW when he says that the portrayal of MMA and its fans on a cartoon comedy was a little reductive and not 100% accurate, it seems like he’s missing the point.  This is an over-the-top attempt at satire.  When “The Simpsons” does shows on anything – even mainstream sports like football or baseball – accurate representation is not the goal.  For instance, there’s this:

(Props: bigguvnor)

You have to hand it to British MMA fighters — what they lack in technique, they more than make up for in willingness to flail their arms around until someone gets knocked out. Like a pasty, heavyweight version of Sanchez vs. Guida, Ashley Pollard and Ian Hawkings gave the crowd what they paid for at Ultimate Challenge UK in August, slugging it out like two albino gorillas fighting over a female in estrus. Pollard eventually won when Hawkings’s natural instinct to run like hell got the better of him. Deal with it, Floyd Mayweather!

(Just to get you in the holiday spirit: Forrest Griffin as Supergirl, Seth Petruzelli as Kimbo Slice, Mauricio Rua as Fred Flintstone with Wanderlei Silva as a drunken gladiator, Arianny Celeste as a sexy schoolgirl, and three fat guys as the TapouT crew.)

Check this out, Potato Nation. Halloween is just two weeks from now, which means you’re probably scrambling to come up with a clever costume. But we all know that the streets are going to be jam-packed with Zombie Obamas and Pedobears. So we’re looking for your best MMA-themed Halloween costumes. They could be faithful renditions of well-known fighters, or references to more obscure moments in the sport. The only requirements are that they’re related to MMA in some way, and that they make us LOMFAO.

Come up with a unique concept, cobble it together using whatever you can steal from Party City*, and e-mail a photo of yourself to feedback@cagepotato.com. The winner will get a super-awesome prize package, the contents of which cannot be revealed at this time because we’re not sure what it’ll be yet. But trust us, it’ll be absolutely spooktacular. Here’s the thing, though: You must submit your entries by Thursday, 10/29, so that we can post the finalists on Friday. In other words, you won’t actually have to go out in public wearing your costume if you don’t want to, which is great news if you’re planning to dress up as Brock Lesnar’s Tattoo. Holler in the comments section if you have any questions, and good luck!

* Shoplifting is in no way endorsed by CagePotato.com or Break Media, but we all know times are tough, and we don’t expect anybody to drop a lot of cash on this contest when the return on investment could turn out to be an autographed 8×10 of Tim Sylvia.

Props to Fightlinker for turning us on to Mika Nagano, a 4-2 veteran of the Smackgirl and Jewels promotions in Japan. The 25-year-old fighter was an amateur grappling champion before turning to MMA, and has won her last three fights by armbar. She’s also quite a looker, and used her natural charm to promote her last Jewels fight with a semi-nude photo-shoot. Those pics (among many others) are after the jump; you can see a few more photos here and here.

Justin Wren vs. Wes Sims – Watch more Funny Videos
(The sad ending of Wren vs. Sims.)

Last night’s episode of The Ultimate Fighter began with Matt Mitrione tweaking his shoulder while rolling with Titties. Back in his football days, he would just take a cortisone shot and get right back into action. But Rashad tells Matt that he ain’t getting no damn cortisone shot, because of the damage it’ll do in the long run. He’s just going to have to suck it up and deal.

Marcus Jones is itching to fight next, and asks Rashad — who still has control of the picks — to give him a match. Rashad keeps it mysterious, telling Big Baby he very well might be fighting next; who can say, really? Jones interprets it as a promise, and gets hyped up: "It was like I was cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs, you know what I’m sayin’?"

Rampage is understandably bummed out by the fact that his team still hasn’t won a fight. Losing messes with Rampage’s sex life, which doesn’t need any more setbacks. The team practices aren’t doing much to encourage him, either. Zak Jensen is unable to perform a drill where he has to shimmy to the cage with a guy on top of him. He’s a good wrestler, apparently, but shuts down when he’s on his back; even Kimbo controls him from top position. Scott Junk says that Zak talked himself up so much when he first arrived at the house, but he’s just a "turd" at practice. Rampage won’t get his hopes up if Zak is picked to fight.

("…moooooooorrrrrrrre brreeeeeaaaaaaasssssst miiiiiiiiilllllllk…")

Props to Fightlinker for unearthing this absolutely amazing baby picture of Brock Lesnar, proving once and for all that Lesnar arrived in this world enormous, ornery, and ready to consume everything in his path. (Not pictured: The tiny pacifier tattoo on his chest.) Check out that Krang-esque head-shape; my God, his poor mother. More awesome pics of MMA fighters as youngsters after the jump…

(Props: Fighters Only via MMA Mania)

In his first public statement since being arrested for multiple assaults following an alleged suicide attempt, Junie Browning apologized for whatever went down that night, but suggested, of course, that people don’t know the full story. "Stuff gets a little more complicated than it seems to be when you read it on paper. I have a lot of problems and I’m working on them. That’s just about all I can really say…I’m truly sorry for what happened, and if I could take it back I definitely would." Browning thanked the fans for their support and the UFC for the opportunity he was given, and promised he’ll make it up to everybody one day. Get well soon, Lunatic.

As for Browning’s mentor Shawn Tompkins — who drove Junie to the hospital during his Klonopin bender — the highly respected striking coach is going through some life changes of his own…

(Dos Santos, Destroyer of Worlds.)

Though it was previously rumored that Gabriel Gonzaga would be taking on Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira in December, Fighters.com is now reporting that Gonzaga will instead be taking on another dangerous Brazilian heavyweight, Junior Dos Santos. The match isn’t officially tied to an event yet, but it will likely take place at UFC 107 or 108. Gonzaga recently rebounded from his loss to Shane Carwin by scoring a controversial TKO over Chris Tuchscherer at UFC 102. Meanwhile, Junior Dos Santos has been a perfect 3-0 in the Octagon, most recently breaking down Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic at UFC 103. (Speaking of which, Cro Cop now says he’s not retiring from the sport, and hopes to finish out his UFC contract, though he did want to hang himself in his hotel room after the Dos Santos loss.)

Now that Nogueira is currently without an opponent, the UFC might match him up against the winner of Velasquez/Rothwell to determine the next heavyweight title contender — or they can just give him a shot after Brock Lesnar and Shane Carwin settle their grudge in November. And of course if Junior Dos Santos runs through Gonzaga, he’ll be another legitimate candidate for a title shot. Wait a minute, is the UFC’s heavyweight class the new "shark tank" division, like 205 used to be? Right now, it seems be the only weight-class with a deep bullpen of strong, fresh contenders who could realistically challenge for the title. How the hell did that happen?

Could UFC 103‘s altruistic experiment of airing some of the undercard bouts on basic cable before the main card be a recurring tradition? According to a press release distributed by Spike TV this afternoon, the UFC will be doing another live prelim show on Spike directly before the UFC 104 pay-per-view on October 24th. Guaranteed for the one-hour commercial-free broadcast will be…

Ryan Bader (9-0, 2-0 UFC) vs. Eric Schafer (11-3-2, 3-2-0 UFC): TUF 8 winner Ryan Bader, who most recently won a unanimous decision over Carmelo Marrero at Condit vs. Kampmann, will try to take another step up the light-heavyweight ladder against tough ground specialist Eric Schafer, who’s coming off back-to-back first-round stoppages of Houston Alexander and Antonio Mendes. Seems like a perfect next step in Bader’s development, as well as an opportunity for Schafer to prove that he’s a legitimate contender.

Antoni Hardonk (8-5, 4-3 UFC) vs. Pat Barry (4-1, 1-1 UFC): It might be win-or-go-home time for these two leg-kick specialists, who will both be trying to bounce back from losses. Hardonk most recently suffered a second-round TKO against Cheick Kongo at UFC 97, while Barry was quickly choked out by Tim Hague at UFC 98. It’s too bad that Barry didn’t take the Hague loss as a sign that he should drop to light-heavy, because Hardonk’s reach advantage is going to be frightening.

Other preliminary bouts could air during the broadcast, if time allows. UFC 104′s compelete lineup is after the jump.

(Bibiano Fernandes reacts after submitting Joe Warren at DREAM.11. Photo courtesy of Sherdog.)

Following recent events in the UFC, WEC, DREAM, and Sengoku, we’ve updated the featherweight and lightweight pages in our Power Rankings section. To summarize…

FW: Bibiano Fernandes enters for the first time. Hatsu Hioki and Raphael Assuncao rise slightly, while Wagnney Fabiano plummets. WEC 44‘s scrap between Mike Brown and Jose Aldo could alter the top 5. Josh Grispi and L.C. Davis lie just outside the top 10.

LW: Gray Maynard enters for the first time. Shinya Aoki solidifies his place at #2, while Joachim Hansen and Gesias Cavalcante fall. Josh Thomson officially drops off the list due to inactivity, but if he can make it through a training camp without injuring himself, the winner of the rematch between him and Gilbert Melendez could potentially re-enter. Mizuto Hirota and Tyson Griffin are also close. UFC 107‘s match between BJ Penn and Diego Sanchez could alter the top 5.

Give ‘em a look and let us know how you feel…

(Props: MMA Fanhouse)

"Can [Kimbo Slice] be a successful heavyweight? I don’t think so. I think 100% he’s in the wrong weight class, that’s to begin with…But I don’t necessarily think Kimbo can get to 205, at 35 years of age, with the wear and tear. It’s tough to learn this sport, this sport is a lot different than boxing because with boxing you only have to use your hands. In mixed martial arts, you use your hands, your feet, you grapple on the ground, you use submissions. That is a lot of knowledge to retain, and at some point your body starts to shuts down on you in life…Kimbo’s in the wrong sport, there’s no doubt about that. Kimbo should be in boxing…If you want to be the best of the best, if you want to make the most money possible for your family like you say, then you probably should have went to the square-circle."

So says former EliteXC VP Jared "$kala" Shaw, who has now been out of the MMA game for over a year, and recently checked in for an interview with Fanhouse. Despite the criticism of Kimbo’s career choices, Shaw harbors no ill will towards the TUF 10 star, and is proud of the time he spent promoting fighters like Slice, Gina Carano, and Brett Rogers — and if the UFC or Strikeforce wants to give him a job, he’s totally down. It’s a more reflective, slightly-less-cocky version of $kala than we’re used to seeing, even when he’s indirectly taking credit for Gina’s budding movie career. Later in the interview, Shaw tells us that his music is coming along, and he hopes to drop it on us next year. Also, Herschel Walker is a joke, and Bob Arum is an embarassment to the Jewish race. Pot, meet thrifty, lactose-intolerant kettle…

(Props: Hulu)

With great hesitation and extremely low expectations, I decided to watch last night’s episode of The Simpsons, in which Marge Simpson tries to put a stop to Springfield’s new obsession with mixed martial arts, and ends up cage-fighting a male promoter in order to save her community. And yeah, it was pretty lame that MMA was referred to as "Ultimate Punching," and was portrayed as a referee-less bloodsport in which men can fight housewives in a septagon, of all shapes. But I have to admit I L’dMFAO, and if you have 20 minutes free during your workday, you should definitely check it out. Some things I liked:

(Props: jay2005us)

Last night at a Gladiator Challenge event at the Shingle Springs Rancheria — near the Red Hawk Casino in Placerville, California — Dan Quinn harnessed the combined power of the White Cure and all his departed angels to knock Bond Lapua‘s teeth down his throat. Lapua, who may have been making his MMA debut, came out like a house on fire, snapping some nasty leg kicks and landing a crushing right hand that almost ended Dan’s night, then beating him up a bit in the clinch. I dare you to guess what happened next, player. After a few well-placed power punches, Lapua Cro-Copped out of the fight, a thoroughly broken man.

The TKO over Lapua was Quinn’s second straight victory. Remember when we used to laugh at this dude for even suggesting that he could take out Kimbo Slice? Quinn vs. Slice, October 2009, no leg kicks, no takedowns, just throwin’ hands: Who takes it?

(Photo courtesy of MMA Weekly.)

Though various MMA pundits called the decision bullshit, a royal screw-job, and a miscarriage of justice, it’s undeniable that Benson Henderson is one of the toughest bastards to ever put on fingerless gloves. In last night’s interim lightweight title fight at WEC 43, Henderson survived an endless assault of chokes and armlocks courtesy of Donald "Cowboy" Cerrone that would leave the average fighter asleep with shattered limbs. But in a controversial end to the thrilling five-rounder, all judges scored the fight 48-47 for Smooth due to his consistent takedowns and ground-and-pound. Not that Henderson was always dominant from the top position: At one point in the second round, Cerrone landed enough punches from his back that Henderson appeared to be momentarily dazed. Cowboy shouted to the referee that his opponent was out, but Henderson quickly recovered. In the end, it was just the latest in a string of WEC main events that could be considered 2009′s Fight of the Year; if you missed it, click here. Henderson will now take on Cerrone’s old nemesis Jamie Varner at a WEC event to be named later. 

Elsewhere on the card, what we were calling the biggest squash match of the year turned into what may be the upset of the year as Miguel Torres student Mackens Semerzier — who came into the fight as a 3-0 rookie — somehow managed to lock in a triangle-choke in the first round against top-ranked jiu-jitsu ace Wagnney Fabiano. After scoring a takedown, Fabiano got a little sloppy in Semerzier’s guard and paid the price. Also, Raphael Assuncao notched a split decision over GSP’s homeboy Yves Jabouin thanks to his superior grappling and impressive ability to take a hard shot. Jabouin was every bit the explosive striker that he was advertised as, but his spinning back kicks and superman punches barely rattled the iron-chin’d Assuncao.

Full results from WEC 43 are after the jump…

(Photo courtesy of round5mma.com.)

Colorful Long Island resident Matt "The Terror" Serra — who has competed at a blistering pace of one fight per year since 2005 — may have already booked his 2010 UFC appearance. According to MMA Fanhouse, Serra has verbally agreed to a bout in Las Vegas on February 6th. Though Serra wouldn’t confirm who his opponent will be, Fanhouse says Frank Trigg is a strong possibility. Which makes sense, since they’re both in their mid-30s and coming off losses and not really factors in the division anymore. The loser of that fight would probably be retired by Joe Rogan in the post-fight interview, while the winner would pretty much have to take a rematch with Matt Hughes, considering that Hughes doesn’t have any better ideas.

Fighting for a living is a lot like teasing a really mean dog: you can’t do it forever without something bad happening to you.  Even the great ones get to a point where their drive becomes sluggish and their bellies are too full for them to stay hungry, and that’s usually when a particularly bad beating takes what remaining fire they have and douses it with the fury of a God pissing on your dreams.  It doesn’t necessarily mean they’ll quit right then, even if they should, but it does mean that they’ll never be the same again.  Here now, in chronological order, are the most notorious breaking points in MMA history.

IGOR ZINOVIEV vs. FRANK SHAMROCK at UFC 16, 3/13/98

It’s hard to say that Igor Zinoviev was really on his way to being a legend of the sport, because he got stopped almost before he really got started.  The former Soviet Army commando was one of the first fighters in the early days of MMA to beat a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt when he TKO’d Mario Sperry, and he took out Enson Inoue the next year.  All this came after years of fighting underground brawls in Brooklyn warehouses following the fall of the Soviet Union, so his toughness was never in question.

When he joined the UFC the future was, as they say, wide open.  Then he came up against Frank Shamrock, who wasted no time in scooping him up and slamming him down so viciously that it shattered his collarbone and knocked him out cold.  It was Zinoviev’s first career loss, and he would never fight again after that.  We’re not saying the devastating finish served as the catalyst for Shamrock’s out of control ego over the next 10+ years, but we’re not saying it helped, either.

(As you can see, Antonio’s head is roughly the size of Fabricio’s torso.)

According to a report on MMA Junkie, bout agreements have been finalized for heavyweights Antonio "Bigfoot" Silva and Fabricio Werdum to face each other on the main card of Strikeforce’s "Fedor vs. Rogers" event on November 7th. With Alistair Overeem pissing his career away in Holland, the Silva/Werdum matchup would logically produce the next opponent for the winner of the night’s main event.

Silva has gone 2-0 in Sengoku since catching a one-year steroid suspension from the California State Athletic Commission following his victory over Justin Eilers at EliteXC: Unfinished Business. Werdum made his Strikeforce debut in August with a quick submission win over Mike Kyle; two weeks ago, he swept the heavyweight division at the 2009 ADCC Submission Wrestling World Championship. With the addition of this bout, the Strikeforce: Fedor vs. Rogers main card looks like this…

(Photo courtesy of knucklepit.)

With his original opponent Mark Coleman out due to sissiness an MCL tear Tito Ortiz will now be taking on Forrest Griffin in the co-main event of UFC 106 (November 21st, Las Vegas). UFC president Dana White confirmed the news to Yahoo! Sports last night. The two former light-heavyweight champs previously met at UFC 59 in April 2006, where Ortiz won a split-decision after battering Griffin with ground-and-pound in the first round and scoring a decisive takedown near the end of the third.

Three and a half years later, both men need a victory to redeem themselves. Ortiz hasn’t won a fight since his final whipping of Ken Shamrock in October 2006, and hasn’t competed since his unanimous decision loss to Lyoto Machida last May, which was followed by back surgery and a lengthy recovery. Forrest Griffin is now riding a two-fight losing streak after suffering back-to-back knockouts against Rashad Evans and Anderson Silva. Personally, I wouldn’t bet on the guy who’s returning from major surgery — but has Forrest’s chin become too much of a liability? Your thoughts, please…

TEAM RASHAD’s remaining fighters:

Justin Wren (Rashad’s #3 pick), Darrill Schoonover (#6), Matt Mitrione (#7), Mike Wessel (#8)

TEAM RAMPAGE’s remaining fighters:

Wes Sims (Rampage’s #4 pick), Scott Junk (#5), Marcus Jones (#7), Zak Jensen (#8)

Thanks to a couple of boneheaded fight picks by Quinton Jackson, followed by a couple of spot-on matchups by Rashad Evans, Team Rashad has gone up 4-0 on this season of The Ultimate Fighter. We’ve seen this kind of thing happen before on TUF, where one side takes an early lead and has the other team playing catchup. But this feels different. Rampage started off as an inept coach, and last night’s episode showed that he’s basically stopped trying. His team is absolutely rudderless. The psychological advantages that Rashad’s guys have over Rampage’s are profound. Could Team Rashad actually sweep the first round of fights, 8-0?

Strictly based on talent, it’ll be a close race from here on out. Obviously, the order in which the fighters were picked by their coaches isn’t a direct correlation to their talent levels — otherwise Roy Nelson would have been picked second overall and Kimbo Slice would have been picked ninth, not the other way around — but for the last four preliminary fights, each team is now left with one top-eight pick, and three bottom-eight picks. If Rashad is smart (and he absolutely is), he’ll do the following…

(Props: YouTube.com/wec)

Judging from the utter lack of promotion they’ve done for Cerrone vs. Henderson, it seems like the WEC is already treating this show as a tax write-off. And that’s unfortunate, because Sunday’s event has more than its share of potential barn-burners. Donald "Cowboy" Cerrone and Benson Henderson meet in the main event to determine the league’s interim lightweight champion, while top featherweights Rafael Assuncao and Wagnney Fabiano and undefeated lightweight Dave Jansen will also be in action. The above promo clip introduces us to Yves Jabouin, a 14-4 striker who trains with Georges St. Pierre at Tri Star gym in Montreal; he’ll be facing Assuncao on WEC 43′s main card. According to GSP, Jabouin is incredibly fast, and will bring things that MMA fans have never seen before. After the jump, Ben Henderson takes us around his gym and gets savagely armbarred by a four-year-old.

(The end of Schaub vs. Rogers.)

Last night’s episode of The Ultimate Fighter: Heavyweights opened with some analysis of the Kimbo Slice vs. Roy Nelson fight, which was described rather generously as a "classic striker vs. wrestler/grappler matchup" by Scott Junk, who gives props to Slice for not gassing out. Titties Schoonover was also very impressed by Kimbo’s performance. Roy Nelson was impressed by Roy Nelson’s performance. After the fight, we see Big Country needling Rampage, thanking him for helping Roy count strikes to Kimbo’s dome. "I lost count after ten," Roy says, coming in for a bro-clinch. "Get the fuck off me," says Jackson. "I can’t stand that fat motherfucker," he tells Tiki.

Rampage and his assistants do their best to encourage Kimbo after the fight. Rampage vows to keep working with Slice and turn him into one of the best fighters out there. Kimbo doesn’t feel he’s out of the competition yet, and that with another two or three weeks of instruction, he’ll be untouchable. Abe Wagner tells him — to his face, amazingly — that he’s using denial as a coping mechanism. But for a moment, it does look like Kimbo might return. Marcus Jones has a "sweat attack," and has to sit down for a while after getting lightheaded back at the house. His teammates think he’s physically cracking under the demands of the show. Kimbo sees it as his opportunity to squeeze his way back in, but Marcus quickly recovers.