See what I mean about the bruises?

Yuki Sasaki has been pulled from tonight’s Strikeforce middleweight tournament after a second-consecutive MRA exam raised concerns with doctors; his participation has been questionable since his original MRA and MRI exams revealed an unspecified neurological condition. Sean Salmon — originally scheduled to fight in the tournament’s alternate bout — will take Sasaki’s place, and the alternate bout will now be fought between Dennis Hallman and Jeremiah Metcalf.

MMA fans talk about Cung Le like he’s the second coming of Bruce Lee — and when you see him in action, you’ll understand why. Le’s last fight was a non-stop demolition of Tony Fryklund at Strikeforce’s Shamrock vs. Baroni event in June. Why Fryklund didn’t try harder to take the fight to the ground is anybody’s guess — Le is possibly the most dominant striker in MMA right now, and the fight was a brutal showcase of his abilities. As we mentioned before, Le takes on Sam Morgan at tonight’s Strikeforce event, and Morgan should have a different game plan than Fryklund’s if he hopes to stand a chance.

If you need any more hype, get it here.

(Ed Herman)

CBSSports.com has a great preview of Saturday’s UFC card, where all of the match-ups (including the ones in the undercard) are analyzed by MMA writers Denny Burkholder, Sam “WAMMA” Caplan, Todd Martin and Ben Fowlkes. If you have some free time, check it out. If not, we’ll summarize:

— Nobody thinks Michael Bisping stands a chance against Rashad Evans.
— Ditto for Thiago Silva against Houston Alexander.
— Even though Joe Doerksen beat him when they met at SF 7 in 2004, Ed Herman gets the edge in their rematch tomorrow.
— Todd Martin calls a Karo Parisyan victory over Ryo Chonan his “lock of the night.”
— Sam Caplan predicts Edgar/Fisher will be the best fight of UFC 78.
— Thiago Alves, Joe Lauzon, Marcus Aurelio and Akihiro Gono will be sure things in their respective fights. (Man, it’s like these MMA writers share a brain…)

Strikeforce is putting on a way-killer show tonight at San Jose’s HP Pavillion, with a 13-fight card that features kickboxing star Cung Le, PRIDE vet Alistair Overeem, light heavyweight champ Bobby Southworth, and a four-man middleweight tournament that will determine the next contender to challenge Frank Shamrock for his title. The event kicks off at 6 p.m. PT, and will be available to all Internet users located beyond a 150 mile radius of San Jose, via a stream on Yahoo! Sports. Though the fighters in the 185-pound tournament were announced a month ago, the exact brackets were determined by a lottery held yesterday. They are:

Trevor Prangley (185) vs. Falaniko Vitale (185)
Yuki Sasaki (183.3) vs. Jorge Santiago (184)

As for the rest of the evening’s action…

It’s not the first time that this rumor has been brought up — so take it with every grain of salt you can get your hands on — but M-1 Mix Fight (the Russian precursor to M-1 Global) has reported that the first M-1 Global event will take place in Japan’s Saitama Super Arena on New Year’s Eve, and that more details will be posted on the site later.

Whoa, fingers crossed! But there’s one thing that concerns me. When they say “No one other than four times Pride Heavyweight Champion Fedor Emelianenko will fight in the main event,” could that possibly mean that Fedor will be in the ring by himself? People, I wouldn’t rule out any possibility at this point…

That ESPN.com profile of Houston Alexander has inspired me to track down his fight against Keith Jardine from UFC 71 and post it for y’all in its entirety. Check out Houston springing up from a knockdown and dirty-boxing Jardine into unconsciousness. If he can operate on this level on Saturday, Thiago Silva doesn’t stand a chance. Two more things to keep in mind:

1) If it wasn’t obvious during his fight with Chuck Liddell, this video makes one thing abundantly clear — Keith Jardine is one awkward-ass fighter. He basically limps out to meet Alexander, and shakes his arms at eye level in what Joe Rogan describes as “the chimpanzee approach.”

2) That last knee from Houston? Quite illegal. But hey, Jardine was probably going to lose anyway…

So, big news — a group of fighters, journalists and promoters held a press conference yesterday to announce the creation of a new MMA sanctioning body called the World Alliance of Mixed Martial Arts (WAMMA), which would rank the top ten fighters in nine different weight divisions and arrange cross-promotional fights to recognize unified champions. Involved in this pipe dream noble undertaking are MMA guru Pat Miletich, UFC legend Don Frye, ex-wrestler/commentator Bill Goldberg, and ProElite.com/FiveOuncesofPain.com’s Sam Caplan, who will chair the rankings committee. WAMMA’s president and CEO will be Dave Szady, a former FBI assistant director with no MMA credentials; the guy doesn’t even have a Wikipedia page. Speaking of which, I’d include a link to WAMMA’s official website, but I couldn’t find it. WAMMA.com doesn’t work, and WAMMA.org really, really doesn’t work (trust me).

(Before we delve even further into this thing, I’d like to point out that the image at the top of this post is not there because of my own laziness; I didn’t do a google image search for “rainbow gloves unity six fingers” and take the first result. That’s the WAMMA’s actual, official logo, which was designed by LeRoy Neiman, who your grandfather might be familiar with. It’s a little lightweight, if you ask me, and not in a juiced-up Sean Sherk kind of way. At any rate, Neiman does have a Wikipedia page.)

Moving on…

UFC 78 is only two days away (!), and ESPN.com is doing its part to pump it up. Check out these videos on some of the night’s key fighters and get psyched.

(“I think I do just about everything better than Bisping.”)

In last night’s episode of The Ultimate Fighter, the quarterfinal matches were announced, Mac Danzig upsets the entire animal kingdom, Ray Longo turns out to be one of those guys who pronounces “penalized” as “peenalized,” and Jon Kolosci goes out like a punk. Read on, if you dare…

The International Fight League announced today that it has formed a video sharing partnership with YouTube and Google AdSense that would deliver IFL content — including full-length fights — to thousands of websites around the world that use AdSense and YouTube players (including YouTube itself, obvi). Though YouTube has had similar partnerships with the NBA and NHL, this is the first video sharing deal it has struck with an MMA organization. The arrangement also includes a revenue sharing model that would allow the IFL to generate income from advertisements shown with its videos. According to the press release:

Adam Carolla, who we’ve idolized since his Loveline days, had Dana White as a guest on his radio show this morning to plug UFC 78 (you can listen to the audio here). We were particularly surprised by the following:

— Dana White and the Fertitta brothers bought the UFC for $2 million in 2001 and then proceeded to lose $44 million over the next three years.

— Though he didn’t say anything during the segment, Danny Bonaduce is apparently Adam’s sidekick on the show. Good for you, Danny!

Last Friday, I met up with World Extreme Cagefighting featherweight champ Urijah “The California Kid” Faber at a little-known Italian joint called Carmine’s. Faber, who has already defended his title three times this year, will put his belt on the line once again at WEC 31, which goes down December 12th in Las Vegas and will be televised live on VERSUS starting at 9 p.m. ET. The stacked fight card also features a middleweight championship bout between Paulo Filho and Chael Sonnen, a heavyweight championship fight between Doug Marshall and Ariel Gandulla, and the WEC debut of Jens Pulver. In this exclusive CagePotato interview, Faber shares his thoughts on Pulver, Justin Timberlake, and that little misunderstanding he had in Bali…

Let’s start with the most important question — what did you dress up as for Halloween?
I was a pimp! I had some gold chains, a hat with dollar signs all over it, and a fur coat that was my girlfriend’s grandmother’s. I kept it sober that night but I still had fun.

You’ll be defending your title against Jeff Curran next month. What’s your impression of Jeff as a fighter?
I think he’s really good. He’s a very good grappler, he’s got good hands, and he’s hard to finish. It seems like he’s got a chip on his shoulder, so I know he’s looking forward to fighting me, but I’m pretty sure I’ll have the edge.

Okay, so she may not be a ring girl per se, but Patrycja Mikula — a model, Playboy.com Cybergirl, and the longtime girlfriend of Andrei Arlovski — was once a guest ring card girl for an IFL event in her adopted hometown of Chicago. Plus, she’s officially the hottest MMA fighter-girlfriend, now that Jenna Jameson looks like this. Enjoy the pics, and if you want to be Patrycja’s friend, visit her on MySpace.

Remember when we told you that Kimbo Slice’s opponent for EliteXC: Renegade had been changed from Mike Bourke to Bo Cantrell, and that Cantrell had recently become infamous as the second consecutive guy that Brad Imes submitted by gogoplata? Well, we finally have the video of the Imes/Cantrell fight. Check it out below, and notice how Cantrell looks like a completely different fighter compared to his laughable non-performance against Kimbo. He quickly drops the much-taller “Hillbilly Heartthrob” to the mat with a barrage of punches, and tries to finish the fight early with some relentless ground-and-pound. But Imes manages to keep his composure and ends up choking Cantrell out with his shin. It’s a crazy world. Too bad EliteXC didn’t put Kimbo up against Imes…

Sam Caplan has a solid interview with new EliteXC lightweight champ KJ Noons on his ProElite.com blog, where Noons discusses his training, a possible rematch with Nick Diaz, and his pro boxing ambitions. But the most telling quote comes right at the beginning:

Sam Caplan: After you beat Nick Diaz, how did you celebrate?
K.J. Noons: I showered up and we went out to a Fudrucker’s [sic] that my buddy owns in Corpus Christi. I had about 40 friends and family down there that drove from Houston and he re-opened up his restaraunt and (there was) an open bar. Open bar and food. It was kind of like a private party. It was fun.

Okay, for all of you who have never been to a Fuddruckers before, when KJ says there was an “open bar,” he’s referring to Fuddruckers’ famous Toppings Bar, where you can turn your hamburger into a “Burger Masterpiece” by dressing it with as much lettuce, tomatoes, onions, pickles, peppers, cheese, seasonings and sauces as you want — and in any combination. It’s what ensures that no two Fuddruckers burgers will ever be quite the same. And you don’t have to be an MMA champion to use it!

Also, when he says that it was “kind of like a private party,” he means that the last customers had gone home four hours ago, and except for the homeless drifter that sleeps outside of the women’s restroom, they basically had the place to themselves.

I’m not exactly sure what he meant by “It was fun.”

Today marks the 14th anniversary of UFC 1, and Dave Meltzer has a great tribute to/history of the groundbreaking event at Yahoo! Sports. Some highlights:

— Though it was marketed as “banned in 49 states,” it wasn’t banned anywhere at the time; the banning would come later.

In the market for a pre-owned vehicle? Well heads up, because Randy Couture is auctioning off the limited edition H2 Hummer that Dana White gave him for participating as a coach on the first season of The Ultimate Fighter. The bidding is supposed to start today, so go to Xtreme Couture for details and a full photo gallery of the vehicle in question. It hasn’t been confirmed if Randy is selling off the Hummer to make room in his garage for a more environmentally conscious Toyota Prius, or if it’s just a petty “fuck you” to Dana White, but we’re guessing it’s the latter.

From time to time, I like to check out the M-1 Global website to see what’s new with the fledgling, Fedor Emelianenko-mascoted organization. You’d think they’d be hustlin’ non-stop to build buzz, and making regular announcements to maintain the heat created by their first press conference last month. But the website has only posted one piece of “news” since then — a rundown of M-1′s global management team. It’s encouraging to know that while they still haven’t formally announced the signing of any fighters besides Fedor, Joost Raimond will be responsible for directing day-to-day operations in Eurasia.

But at least their franchise player is keeping somewhat busy.

Kevin “Kimbo Slice” Ferguson is an intimidating son-of-a-bitch. Still, there’s no excuse for what happened Saturday night at EliteXC: Renegade. Kimbo’s “opponent,” Bo Cantrell — a late replacement for the injured Mike Bourke — came into the fight completely psyched out, and after a couple of glancing shots from Kimbo, he dropped to the mat and started tapping for mercy. You have to watch the video to see just how pussified it was:

“Don’t forget to watch Kimbo Slice tear some poor cracker apart on Showtime tomorrow night at 10 p.m. ET/PT!”

Will do, Tanya. By the way, you’re easily the hottest Jewish girl we’ve seen all week…

It looks like some scabs will be crossing the WGA picket line after all — specifically, the ones on Forrest Griffin’s face. CBS, the network responsible for such quality programming as The Unit and Shark, could be making a further committment to MMA with one or two UFC-related prime-time specials. The Los Angeles Times has reported that CBS is in negotiations with the UFC, and hopes that these specials could provide a hedge against the ongoing writers strike.

If you’re wondering how the UFC could arrange this so soon after negotiating an exclusive contract extension with SpikeTV, keep in mind that 1) the UFC is exclusive to Spike only in the cable market, and can pursue other opportunities in network television, and 2) both the CBS Corporation and SpikeTV’s parent company, Viacom, share Sumner Redstone (pictured above) as their Chairman. And if you’re wondering how Redstone’s hand got so jacked-up, click here and scroll down to “interesting facts.”

The drug abuse continues at CagePotato…

This went down back in March, so apologies if you’ve seen it already, but I just came across the clip of Chuck Liddell’s disastrous appearance on Good Morning Texas, where he was promoting, of all things, the movie 300. Liddell slurs like a stroke victim through the entire excruciating segment, calls out boxer Tommy Morrison for a fight, and at one point falls asleep. Live television, people:

Afterwards, Liddell claimed he was suffering through a sinus infection and had taken a large amount of cough syrup the night before. (In Texas, they call that purp or drank.)

Host Gary Cogill gives his post-interview thoughts here. “What a day in television…what a day.”

Jennifer Tate has become the first female MMA fighter to test positive for drugs. Results of a drug test administered during EliteXC’s “Clash at Chumash” event — where Tate was submitted by Shayna Baszler via armbar — showed that Tate had marijuana in her system; she has been suspended for three months and fined $500. The spunky 130-pounder joins such notable mixed martial artists as Nick Diaz, Kazuhiro Nakamura, and Diego Sanchez in the previously male-dominated fraternity of fighters who can’t resist taking a few bong rips before a match. Viva equality!

#10 (tie): Chris “The Polish Hammer” Horodecki & Peter “The Dutch Lumberjack” Aerts

Though it has a long, proud history, the nationality + noun combination is always a risky move when crafting a nickname. If it’s “The Polish ____” it can end up sounding like the setup to a joke. (i.e., “You hear the one about the Polish Hammer? They use it to pound fingernails.” Or something like that, but much funnier.) With any other nationality, like “The Dutch ____,” it can end up sounding like a deviant sex act. Marcus “The Irish Hand Grenade” Davis gets a pass because hand grenades are badass.

Before he fought Tito Ortiz to a draw at UFC 73, Rashad “Sugar” Evans scored his tenth consecutive win by way of a nasty high kick against Sean Salmon. As Joe Rogan so eloquently puts it, “WOOOOOOOOOOW!”

Note to Michael Bisping: Your strategy against Evans at UFC 78 should closely reflect this classic Wu-Tang jam.

Sherdog reports that former undisputed heavyweight boxing champion Riddick Bowe has his eyes on an MMA career. The 40-year-old currently retired fighter wants to be the first man to hold major titles in boxing and MMA simultaneously. (Coincidentally, I want to be the first man to win both a Nobel Prize in literature and an AVN Award for “Best Male Newcomer.”)

Remember how we told you that Sean Sherk’s appeal hearing for his steroid case was postponed until November 13th? Well, it’s been postponed again, this time until December 4th. Man, you thought Dana White was pissed before…

Sherk’s lawyer in the case is Howard Jones, who has advised many other high-profile athletes in doping cases, including sprinters Marion Jones and Tim Montgomery, and Tour de France winner Floyd Landis. Basically, what Johnnie Cochran is to double-murder, Howard Jones is to steroids — sure, it looks a little suspicious when you hire him, but as Chris Rock once said, “I’d rather look guilty at the mall.”