(“I see no problem with this.” — Rousimar Palhares)

Perhaps in an ill-advised tribute to Kid Yamamoto, bantamweight veteran Seiya Kawahara went full you-know-what at Pancrase Progress Tour 3 on March 11th, utterly destroying Yuta Numakura with punches and soccer kicks in the first round, then continuing his attack when the referee — then several cornermen — attempted to restrain him. Nightmare of Battle explains what happened next:

No fight money, dropped off the Pancrase rankings, fight overturned to a no contest, and can’t compete in Pancrase pro or amateur events for 50 days. After losing the title fight with Manabu Inoue last year he has had trouble with injuries and this was his first fight in 10 months so I believe he got a little overexcited. His management said that this won’t happen again.

Yikes. I’d hate to see how Kawahara would act on a blind date after a long dry-spell. Check out the carnage after the jump…

(“Look, you’re going to have to speak up. I can’t hear a word you’re saying.” PicProps: MMAFighting.com)

Here’s one of those uplifting, Mitch Albom-style stories to get your weekend started: MMA Fighting.com Japanese correspondent Daniel Herbertson reports from last night’s “Pancrase: Passion Tour 5” event that Shigeki Uchiyama’s bout with Masaya "J-Taro" Takita had to be called off when, uh, a good chunk of Uchiyama’s cauliflower ear got torn off during a takedown attempt against the ropes.

Now, listen. We’re just going to say this once: Only follow the jump if you want to see a photo of Uchiyama’s ear lying on the canvas after it’s been severed from his body. Seriously, people …

#10: Rashad Evans serves Tom Murphy on TUF 2

Believe it or not, Rashad Evans used to be a cocky son-of-a-bitch. Finding no challenge from an outmatched Tom Murphy on the second season of The Ultimate Fighter, Sugar entertained himself during the fight by popping, locking, and striking poses until the judges awarded him the victory. The performance also earned him some serious scorn from opposing coach Matt Hughes, but the two eventually put aside their differences and learned to love each other. Now when Rashad dances in the ring, it’s only to pay tribute to the late, great, Redd Foxx.

#9: “Mayhem” Miller mixes clown-and-smile with ground-and-pound

What do you do when Dream gives you a guy who’s nowhere near your level? If you’re “Mayhem” Miller, you have a little fun with it. You start the fight with some kung fu posing, get him down, move to the mount, flash a peace sign for the camera (1:55), then resume punching. Maybe even throw in a double-chop, Sakuraba-style. Why not? The fans love it. What they don’t love is Miller’s faux-retirement. Isn’t it time he dropped that charade? The MMA world is running dangerously low on antics these days.

#8: Anderson Silva’s “52 Blocks” against Patrick Cote

Though Cote continues to tell himself that Silva was simply “lost” and “confused” in this fight, this moment serves as evidence to the contrary. Late in the second round (10:04 in the video) Silva decided to pay homage to his favorite kung fu movies, exhibiting a little Wing Chun action to show his defensive hand skills. At least Silva seemed to be entertaining himself at this point, even if he was the only one who really got a kick out of it. Too bad the fight ended early with Cote’s knee injury. The Dim Mak couldn’t have been far away.

Richard at TheMMAPost passed along this video of a Pancrase fight between Alavutdin Gadzhiyev (who Ralek Gracie defeated via armbar at DREAM.4) and Hikaru Sato, which contains a finish that’s just about as rare as the Aokiplata — a knockout from underneath mount. Skip to 2:27 to get to the good stuff. Yeesh…glass jaw, much?

Coolest video we’ve come across today — the classic 1996 Pancrase battle between Bas Rutten and Frank Shamrock, with narration by Bas himself. Video’s 25 minutes long, so grab a couple beers and settle in.

Bonus: Here’s a new interview where Frank calls out his brother Ken for his lifelong steroid abuse. Money quote: “Why do you think that his mind is so fried? Why do you think he crumbles before the big fights? He’s got no psyche. He let steroids give him a false sense of security and the moment that stuff is gone he’s no longer superman.”

It’s real simple, people. The reader who writes the funniest caption for this picture of Josh Barnett and Hikaru Sato at a Pancrase event last Saturday gets a copy of the UFC’s Ultimate Ultimate Knockouts DVD. Let ‘em rip in the comments section — the winner will be announced on Friday.

Since Bas Rutten is the former coach of the IFL’s L.A. Anacondas team, Kimbo Slice’s trainer, and a personal hero of CagePotato, you’ll be seeing a lot of him on this site, and it would behoove you to get acquainted with his work. A good place to start is this video of Rutten taking on Frank Shamrock in a 1996 Pancrase match. For those of you who grew up on the UFC, the Pancrase rules might throw you off — wikipedia has a decent overview here.

The fight was so theatrical that some have accused it of being a work. Check out Rutten and Shamrock toppling out of the ring at 5:00-5:06; Shamrock’s backward somersault at 7:14-7:18; the exchange at 9:02-9:18 that I won’t even try to explain; and Bas’s celebratory “Rutten Jump” beginning at 11:50, after the fight was stopped due to a cut near Shamrock’s eye.