Photo courtesy of LegacyFights.Net

UFC veterans Damacio Page and Kamal Shalorus both had fairly similar runs in the Octagon. After showing promise in the WEC, both men were disappointing at best once called up to the sport’s biggest stage. Both men went 0-3 in the UFC before receiving their walking papers during the summer of 2012. Now, they’ve both recently booked their first fights in their post-UFC careers, and neither man has an easy rebound fight lined up.

When we last saw Damacio Page, he was being choked out by Alex Caceres during UFC on Fuel TV 4, marking his fourth straight loss. “The Angel of Death” was released from his contract shortly afterwards, and now, the former UFC bantamweight has decided to sign with Legacy FC. He will make his promotional debut against 4-0 prospect Patrick Ybarra at Legacy FC 20 on May 31.

Before you start screaming “squash match,” know that Ybarra has finished all four of his professional fights by armbar, and that none of those fights made it out of the first round. Combined with the fact that seven of Page’s eight losses have come by submission, Ybarra probably has a better chance at pulling off the upset than you think.

Props to MMASucka for turning us on to model Felixia Yeap, a Miss Universe Malaysia finalist who was just picked up as a ring girl for ONE FC. A former kindergarten teacher and the imaginary girlfriend of cock-talking lawyers worldwide, Felixia hails from Kuala Lumpur and became Malaysia’s first Playboy Bunny when she was hired to work at the Playboy Club in Macao.

Check out lots more of our favorite Felixia Yeap photos in the gallery after the jump, and if you like what you see, follow her life on twitter, Facebook, and YouTube.

(The match up that launched a thousand rematches)

Last Friday we (and the rest of the known cyber MMA world) complained about Singapore MMA promotion One FC botching an otherwise solid event in the Philippines with convoluted rules relating to kicks to the heads of downed opponents. Referees somehow had to give fighters “permission” in the moment to throw kicks to the heads of their fallen opponents.

You might remember that Phil Baroni won his fight with a barrage of punches and kicks to the head of his opponent Rodrigo Ribeiro while Andrei Arlovski was penalized for kicking the head of the dropped Tim Sylvia. When the “Mainiac” could not continue, their fight was ruled a no-contest (GIFS of both fight endings here, full fight videos here).

Sunday night, a message was sent out from the OneFCMMA twitter account, hoping to set things right.

Effective immediately, ONE FC has adopted full PRIDE rules for soccer kicks.Catch ONE FC: Rise of Kings on Oct 6!

— ONE FC (@ONEFCMMA) September 3, 2012

(* Sylvia’s physique subject to change.)

Well, it had to happen sooner or later. News broke this morning that heavyweight arch-rivals Andrei Arlovski and Tim Sylvia — who previously faced each other in three UFC title fights in 2005-2006, with Sylvia winning the last two — will fight for the fourth time at ONE FC: Pride of a Nation, August 31st in Manila. Arlovski was originally slated to fight Australian bruiser Soa “The Hulk” Palelei at the event, but as Palelei tweeted to us earlier today, ONE FC wouldn’t let him fight unless he signed a five-fight contract. And as everybody knows, a Hulk needs his freedom.

Though both the Pitbull and the Maine-iac endured their share of setbacks during their post-UFC careers, both men are currently riding win streaks. Arlovski scored back-to-back knockouts of Ray Lopez and Travis Fulton while competing in ProElite last year, while Sylvia has won his last three bouts, most recently a 12-second TKO of Randy Smith. And while you might see this match as a relatively meaningless nostalgia fight, for Arlovski it’s still very, very real. As he said earlier this year:

“I would love to fight pee-pee taste…I beat him once and he beat me twice and it’s personal. He’s the only person in the word I really want to fight; really, really fight, it’d be a nasty fight. I don’t want to talk about what would happen in the fight, he’s a piece of shit and I’d just try to kick his blah blah blah.”

Will Arlovski even the score? Will Timmy take another step toward the UFC comeback that continues to elude him? Let us know what you think in the comments section, and re-watch their first two fights after the jump…

Pictured: The closest Fernandes has come to landing a punch in the UFC.

After an astonishing 0-0 run in the UFC, it looks like Bibiano Fernandes already has a new home.

It’s being reported by MMAFighting.com that the former DREAM bantamweight champion has inked a deal with ONE FC and is set to make his promotional debut at an August 31 show in Manila, Philippines. An opponent has not been specified at this time.

It may have been merely a footnote to most fans in an already sub-par chapter of MMA events, but this weekend’s ONE FC 4 gave fans a quick fix for soccer kicks, quick stoppages and some lesser-known talent making names for themselves.

But before we get to that, let’s talk about the names you’re already familiar with. Roger Huerta took to the cage at welterweight looking to rebound from an ugly TKO at the hands of War Machine. His initial opponent, Phil Baroni, was forced off of the card due to an ugly knockout loss at the hands of Chris Holland at Ring of Fire 43 earlier this month. Replacing “The New York Badass” was Zorobabel Moreira, a tall lightweight sporting a 6-1 record before the bout. If “El Matador” was looking to break out of his recent slump, Moreira was, on paper, the perfect opportunity.

(Props: @ewillphoto via ThePeoplesCecil)

Perhaps “cluttered” is the best word to describe this weekend’s action. After all, that’s the same word that you would also use for your bedroom floor: There’s a lot of stuff on it, but there’s not much there that you couldn’t live without. This weekend, we have a lot of MMA available to us, such as UFC on FX 4, UFC 147 and Bellator 71. But despite the quantity of the fights available to us, there seems to be very little in terms of fights with immediate significance. It’s one thing when ratings are slipping, it’s another thing when your promotion has to offer full refunds for an injury plagued card, and it’s yet another thing when the only attention your promotion gets for an upcoming card revolves around the wife beater you recently inked a deal with.

But have no fear; this floor isn’t entirely covered in dirty socks, empty bottles and condom wrappers. There are some interesting tussles worth watching (notice we didn’t say pay for), which we’ll make the argument for after the jump. Or you can just join us later for our liveblogs of UFC on FX 4 and UFC 147. That works, too.

The fight doesn’t show too much damage. That’s waiting for you after the jump. (Video: Our boy Zombie Prophet)

While Zuffa takes a load off, smaller organizations world ’round are stepping out from big brother’s shadow. In addition to last night’s stateside action, One FC 3 “War of the Lions” brought us an evening of duels straight out of Singapore. Originally slated to take on Renato Babalu, Melvin Manhoef didn’t let a change of opponents deter his game plan: maim everything in sight. Though he only threw down with Deep Light Heavyweight Champion Yoshiyuki Nakanishi for two minutes, he managed to deliver an impressive amount of damage to both of their legs before his gaping shin injury resulted in the bout being ruled a no-contest.

A bevy of unappetizing pictures and a slow-mo video of the injury await you after the jump.

(Arianny Celeste photo of the month, via Nuts. Click for full-sized version.)

Some must-read content from our bros around the Internet…

- The Hurt Business: Little Victories, Tender Mercies (MMAFighting)

- Thiago Silva: I’m Going to Kill or Die Against Alexander Gustafsson (Lowkick.Blitzcorner.com)

- Bittersweet Victory: Bellator Heavyweight Eric Prindle Discusses Thiago Santos and Upcoming Title Fight With Cole Konrad (MMAMania)

- We Seriously Want You to Watch Our Weigh-in Video for ONE FC: War of the Lions (MiddleEasy)

- Mighty Mouse Close to 2-to-1 Favored Status Over Ian McCall in Upcoming Rematch (FightOpinion)

- UFC Will Hold First Event in China in 2012 (MMAWeekly)

- Court McGee vs. Nick Ring Rematch Targeted for UFC 149 in Calgary (MMAJunkie)

- The Neighborhood Watch Reference Chart (HolyTaco)

- The 7 Worst Talk Show Hosts Of Our Generation (ScreenJunkies)

- Is Survival Horror Dead or Just Sleeping? (Gamefront)

- The 10 Funniest Comedy Songs (MadeMan)

- Charles Barkley Rocks A Dress For Weight Watchers (TerezOwens)

- VIDEO: Ron Burgundy’s Anchorman 2 Announcement (TurdFergusonBlog)

- How Many Calories Should You Eat To Lose Weight? (BuiltLean)

- What to Expect at This Weekend’s WrestleMania XXVIII (MensFitness)

Props: IronForgesIron.com

When we announced that ONE FC’s second event would feature professional publicity stunt Bob Sapp fighting against UFC veteran (sigh) Rolles Gracie, we offered you a question about the fight: Bad idea, or worst idea? On paper, this meant pitting a one-dimensional, subpar kickboxer fighter impersonator against a one-dimensional grappler. Factor in the complete lack of cardiovascular endurance that both men have exhibited, and we were in for an ugly affair.

Well, that fight went down today in Jakarta, Indonesia. And it was everything that you expected it to be.

After going 0-7 in kickboxing and MMA in 2011, Bob Sapp decided that he needed to change his traditional game plan of “start out strong, get tired, get knocked out”. This time around, Bob Sapp attempted to start the fight early during yesterday’s weigh ins. Like the obese guy who orders medium fries with his twenty piece nuggets and large milkshake instead of large fries, we guess we can applaud him for at least changing something.

(No matter how many times his trainers warned him against it, Melvin was convinced that he would become the first person to pull off the Statue of Liberty play in mixed martial arts competition.)

Exciting news today comes compliments of upstart Asian promotion One Fighting Championship. In addition to signing a ten year television partnership with ESPN Star Sports, One FC announced at a press conference this morning that their third event will be headlined by Strikeforce veterans Renato “Babalu” Sobral and Melvin Manhoef squaring off in a light heavyweight contest.

After a successful debut event back in September of 2011, One FC signed a huge partnership deal with over 15 smaller promotions and 23 gyms and announced plans to put on 3 different shows in 3 different countries in 2012. The second show, titled “Battle of Heroes,” will transpire on February 11th from Jakarta, Indonesia, and features a heavyweight tilt between Bob Sapp and Rolles Gracie as well as a headlining lightweight bout pairing Pancrase one-timer Felipe Enomoto against 5-2 K-1 veteran Ole Larson.

One FC 3, which is set to go down on March 31st from the Singapore Indoor Stadium, will also feature Japanese leglock master Masakazu Imanari facing off against undefeated prospect Kevin Belingon, Eduard Folayang, Zorobabel Moreira, and Eddie Ng taking on unnamed opponents, and Singapore’s own Nicole Chua making her MMA debut. It’s nice to see a small promotion gaining some momentum, no?

We last saw Babalu suffer a first round KO loss to Dan Henderson back in their December 2010 rematch; apparently the former Strikeforce light heavyweight champion has been recovering over the past year from a brutal snowboarding accident that happened shortly thereafter. Who would’ve guessed? Fun fact: Babalu was the focus of a 2009 music video from Massachusetts based heavy metal kings Shadows Fall.

Manhoef has not fought a MMA match since falling to a first round submission (go figure) at the hands of Tim Kennedy at Strikeforce: Feijao vs. Henderson in March of 2011, and has dropped 5 of his last 7 mixed martial arts contests. His luck in the kickboxing world has not been much better; Manhoef last competed just three days ago at It’s Showtime 2012 in Leeuwarden, where he dropped a unanimous decision to 7th ranked heavyweight contender Tyrone Spong. You can find that video after the jump, courtesy of IronForgesIron.

Now this…makes us nervous. Many of you probably remember the inaugural ONE FC: Champion vs. Champion event that took place back in early September, which featured a plethora of previously unheard of talent in addition to a ton of great fights. Shortly thereafter, CEO and owner Victor Cui announced that his promotion had big plans for 2012, which included adding over 23 gyms and 15 promotions to their partnership and scheduling three events in three different countries. Though it wouldn’t do much to detract from the UFC’s ever-expanding market, many of us looked at ONE FC as the spark that could possibly reignite the Asian MMA scene, a flame that had long been quelled since the demise of PRIDE.

If the above poster for ONE FC’s second event, entitled Battle of Heroes, says anything, it’s that PRIDE is back. Unfortunately, it might not the epic, blood soaked glory PRIDE that we were all hoping for, but rather, the ridiculous, freak show fight filled PRIDE that we both loved and silently resented for all those years.

In what may be the biggest game changer in Asian MMA history, Singapore based upstart promotion One FC has recently announced a major partnership with over 15 smaller promotions spanning from Australia to India. One FC, who you might remember held a rather successful inaugural event back in September, released a list of the organizations they had gained exclusive partnerships with in a recent statement:

URCC (Philippines), Cage Fighting Championship (Australia), ROAD Fighting Championship (Korea), DARE Championship (Thailand), Team Lakay Wushu (Philippines), Tiger Muay Thai and MMA (Thailand), Tigers Gym (India), Evolve Mixed Martial Arts (Singapore), Legacy Gym (Thailand), Tough MMA (Taiwan), Synergy Jiu-Jitsu (Indonesia), Juggernaut  FC (Singapore), Fightworks Asia (Singapore), PAK MMA (Pakistan), Team Force (Korea), MuayFit (Malaysia), Leverage MMA (Malaysia)

Aside from this list, CEO/Owner Victor Cui announced that they would be adding 23 more gyms and promotions to their network in the following weeks in an effort to “unify Asian MMA and to build the sport that we all love dearly.” Cui continued:

Guess who didn’t get the “Bring your big gold belt” memo.    PicProps: onefc.com

OK, first:  if you didn’t manage to wrangle your ass out of bed this morning to log on and watch ONE FC’s inaugural event, you can still catch all the fights for free at Sherdog:

Eduard Folayang vs A Sol Kwon
Yoshiyuki Yoshida vs Phil Baroni
Mitch Chilson vs Eric Kelly
Gregor Gracie vs Seok Mo Kim
Andy Wang vs Zorobabel Moreira

Under card

Eddie Ng vs Yuan Chun Bo
Radeem Rahman vs Susovan Ghosh
Vuyisile Colossa vs Ma Xing Yu
Daniel Mashamaite vs Yodsanan Sityodong
Soo Chul Kim vs Leandro Issa

Watch em, then come in and we’ll talk.  Or you can just come in and we’ll tell you about it.

VidProps: OneFCMMA/YouTube

Above is the commercial being aired in on ESPN Star Sports in about half a billion homes across Asia for ONE Fighting Championship. The new promotion is bursting out of Singapore, backed with some serious cash and helmed by an experienced promoter in Victor Cui. ONE is looking to fill the void in Asian MMA left after the loss of PRIDE, DREAM, and Sengoku, and thus far, they’ve been doing it right.

In case you missed it the first time we mentioned it, there’s a good bit of buzz surrounding the ONE FC rules set, which allows for soccer kicks, knees, and elbows. Unlike most Japanese MMA shows, however, the promotion will use a cage. “The rules are taking the best of Pride FC and the best of UFC,” Cui says.

ONE FC’s first show Champion vs Champion goes live tomorrow morning at 8AM ET, and you can get it free via a Sherdog stream… unless you live in Singapore. Then you’ll probably just go. Either way, you need to plan on being awake in about twenty four hours.

Come on inside for a couple more videos and the full card.