Neil Grove

#8: Neil Grove vs. James Thompson @ Cage Rage 22 (7/14/07), 10 seconds

Three years after his embarrassing 11-second destruction at the hands of Fedor’s younger brother, James Thompson managed to shave one second off of his personal getting-knocked-out record during this Cage Rage match against 2-0 rookie Neil Grove. Following a very brief feeling-out process, Grove starts swinging his big meathooks around until one of them connects squarely on Thompson’s glass chin, sending the Colossus facedown onto the mat for a lil’ nap. The announcer immediately calls the stoppage “UN-BA-LAY-VA-BOWL,” but honestly, what did you expect to see in a fight between two British heavyweights — a flying gogoplata?

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(Photo courtesy of SI.com)

Another UFC event is in the books, which means it’s time again to see who’s up and who’s down according to the Potato Index’s arbitrary numerical rankings system.  It’s kind of like Bob Reilly’s poll, only we admit it’s total bullshit.  And at least this particular brand of bullshit is more fun.

Diego Sanchez +123

“The Nightmare” proved he can cut almost forty pounds and still go three rounds at a steady pace.  That could be bad news for some other lightweight contenders, though it would still be interesting to see how he stacks up against one of the better wrestlers in the division.  Sean Sherk’s not too busy, is he?

Joe Stevenson -88

Another disappointing performance for Stevenson leaves us wondering where he can possibly go from here.  He just doesn’t seem to have enough in his toolbox to hang with the top fighters, and secluding himself in Victorville, which is not known for its elite training facilities, certainly isn’t helping.

Demian Maia +204

If you’re going to do only one thing, you’d better do it extremely well, and Maia does.  He forces another quality opponent to fight on his terms and puts him away with impressive ease.  Is there any middleweight not named Anderson Silva who can pose a significant threat to him at this point?

(Tensions ran high at the Mr. Clean lookalike contest. Photo courtesy of UFC.com.)

Sounds like it was a good one, too. Spoilers after the jump...

("Hell yeah, bro, and I didn't even have to get that colonic!" Photo courtesy of Combat Lifestyle. For more from this set, click here.)

Weigh-ins for UFC 95 went down earlier today at London's Dominion Theatre, with all fighters coming in at or below their limits. The only interesting results were in the heavyweight class, where Neil Grove made his 28-pound weight advantage official, and Stefan Struve managed to pack on enough bulk onto his Mr. Fantastic-esque frame to come in three pounds heavier than his opponent, Junior Dos Santos. Full results are below:

Diego Sanchez (156) vs Joe Stevenson (155)
Rory Markham (170) vs Dan Hardy (170)
Wilson Gouveia (185) vs Nate Marquardt (185)
Chael Sonnen (185) vs Demian Maia (184)
Paulo Thiago (169) vs Josh Koscheck (170)
Brian Cobb (155) vs Terry Etim (156)
Stefan Struve (240) vs Junior Dos Santos (237)
Mike Ciesnolevicz (235) vs Neil Grove (263)
Evan Dunham (154) vs Per Eklund (155)
Troy Mandaloniz (168) vs Paul Kelly (169)

Remember, we'll be liveblogging the Spike TV tape-delayed broadcast starting at 9 p.m. ET; check local listings to see when the event will kick off in your 'hood.

Semi-related: Former Cage Rage welterweight champ Paul Daley missed weight for his Maximum Fighting Championship 20 match tonight against Nick "The Goat" Thompson, and will forfeit 25% of his fight purse to Thompson. It's the second consecutive time that Daley has weighed in over his 170-pound limit; in December he came in four pounds over for a fight against John Alessio at MFC 19. HDNet will broadcast tonight's MFC event — which will feature UFC vets David Heath, Solomon Hutcherson, Rory Singer, and a welterweight title fight between Ryan Ford and Pat Healy — live at 10 p.m. ET.

(Stefan Struve: Tall, young, and Dutch as fuck.)

From short-notice replacements, to submission specialists, to big-ass heavyweights, the UFC will be rolling the dice on a lot of new talent this Saturday at UFC 95, as six of the 20 fighters on the card have never fought in the Octagon before. So which ones will rise to the occasion and which ones are three days away from the most high-profile losses of their careers? Check out the brass-tacks briefing below and draw your own conclusions...

PAULO THIAGO (WW)

Experience: 10-0 record (7 wins by submission) in Brazilian leagues including Jungle Fight and Storm Samurai.
Will be facing: Josh Koscheck (12-3, 10-3 UFC)

Lowdown: Well, he's a brave son-of-a-bitch, for one thing. Thiago is a member of BOPE (Special Police Operations Battalion), a Brazilian SWAT-style unit known for fighting the heavily armed drug gangs of Rio de Janeiro. Amnesty International has repeatedly accused the outfit of excessive force in their operations — and Paulo will need some of it when he goes up against one of the UFC's top five welterweights in his Octagon debut. Thiago is undefeated, and looks great against scrubs, but the jump in competition here is massive. Still, it's MMA, and a Dos Santos/Werdum-caliber upset is always a possibility.

STEFAN STRUVE (HW)

Experience: 16-2 record (12 wins by submission), fighting all over Europe. Holds submission wins over UFC vets Colin Robinson and Mario Neto, and has never gone past the second round in any fight.
Will be facing: Junior Dos Santos (7-1, 1-0 UFC)

Lowdown: Nicknamed "The Skyscraper," Struve stands 6'8" and weighs just 220 pounds. As if his beanpole frame doesn't make him enough of an anomaly in the UFC's heavyweight class, he's also a submission whiz, which will put him at odds with the division's big wrestlers and strikers. The 21-year-old (as of today) Holland native has been competing professionally since he was 17, and now calls Team Schrijber his home. As Struve told Fighters Only: "I think I can beat most of the guys [in the UFC]. They have five or six really good heavyweights. The other guys...not so good, I think."