Do your worst, comments section: The most terrifyingly unnatural part of this photo is _____________.

Well that didn’t take long, did it? Before we can even finish analyzing the action from last night, Strikeforce has announced the addition of another fight on its July 30^th card, headlined by Fedor vs. Henderson. That fight, according to MMAWeekly.com will be a welterweight scrap between Paul “Semtex” Daley and Evangelista Santos. Santos, as you may remember, was initially scheduled to meet up with Tarec Saffiedine on this card. No word yet on whether Saffiedine withdrew from the card, or if Strikeforce decided to pull him in order to make this fight.

(“Don’t be scared, homie.”)

By Matthew Kaplowitz

Honor. Respect. Discipline. These are the keys to being a good sport. Whether your arm is raised in victory or your head is hung low in defeat, a good fighter maintains his decorum in every situation. Unless you’re a jerk.

Every major sport has an athlete with a temporary lapse in judgment that causes them to do something they will regret later, and MMA is no different. In this sport, two people are locked in a cage and expected to beat one another until the other can take no more, so it only makes sense that some of these would spill out into a second fight if not for a hefty security team. That brings us to the top ten post-fight brawls, where the action keeps going after the bell and turns into one giant debacle that ruins the rest of the night! Don’t take your mouthpiece out or unwrap your gloves just yet, we are just getting started!

(Video courtesy of YouTube/HDNetFights)

In an interview he did this week with Kenny Rice from HDNet’s Inside MMA, Nick Diaz’s longtime trainer and manager Cesar Gracie says that the next time the scrappy Stockton California fighter competes, it will be in a boxing ring against Fernando Vargas.

“I’d love Vargas to get in there with him. Fernando Vargas. I know they’ve contacted him and he’s very interested. We’ve actually signed on the dotted line for that fight ourselves and we’re waiting on him now,” Diaz revealed in the clip from the interview that aird Friday. “It’s on already. We’ve already signed for it. We’re looking at September or October for something like that. We’re just waiting on their camp now.”

(A fond look back at Couture vs. Sylvia @ UFC 68, via MMATrailers4)

Some selected highlights from our friends around the MMA blogosphere. E-mail feedback@cagepotato.com for details on how your site can join the MMA Link Club…

- The Cast of UFC “129: St-Pierre vs. Shields” Promo Video (5thRound)

- The Top 5 Most Surprising Falls From Grace in MMA (BleacherReport.com/MMA)

- Paul Daley Thought His Bout Was Stopped a Little Early (MMA-Scraps)

- Dr. Phil Deals With a Kid Who ‘Trains UFC’ by Getting Punched in the Face (MiddleEasy)

- Keith Jardine Explains Why He Thinks He Beat Gegard Mousasi (MMA Fighting)

- Exclusive Interview With American Kickboxing Academy Owner/Head Trainer Javier Mendez (LowKick)

- Anatomy of a Press Credential (MMA Convert)

- Does Gilbert Melendez’s Latest Win Make Him the #1 Lightweight in the World? (Fight Magazine)

- Nick Thompson Retiring From MMA to Focus on Family, Legal Career (Five Ounces of Pain)

- Former President of the American Medical Association Says Maine Should Be ‘Ashamed’ for Sanctioning MMA (Versus MMA Beat)

It’s just as well. Frankly “011-44-115″ is harder to remember than “209″ (Pic: Strikeforce.com)

The first major Strikeforce event under the Zuffa/Forza banner delivered a full night of action and first round stoppages, with a little of the obligatory ‘Majority Draw’ bullshit mixed in for good measure. While it was a typical Strikeforce show from top to bottom, the UFC hardly tried to keep a low profile at the event. Dana White and Lorenzo Fertitta were both in attendance, the cage floor advertised the upcoming GSP-Shields fight, and talk of cross-promotional bouts peppered the event from the commentator booth to the stupid text polls. Maybe it’s just us, but there are far more important issues to vote on.

After years of watching Nick Diaz win the stand-up battle against “better strikers”, is it now time for us all to admit that he is the better striker? In true Diaz fashion, he did exactly what he said he would do and exactly what the media and fans alike discouraged- stand up with a dangerous striker. Like a successful version of Jorge Gurgel, Diaz has built his mystique and fanbase upon his refusal to utilize his Brazilian Jiu Jitsu black belt and his unquenchable thirst to punch dudes in the face. While victorious once again, that doesn’t mean he dominated the fight. Daley’s power was a known commodity headed into this bout, which made the both the risk and the reward to stand and bang with him all the greater for Diaz. The two exchanged heavily throughout the one-round fight, and twice “Semtex” dropped Diaz to the floor in what looked like the beginning of the end for the pride of Stockton.

For the most part, last night’s weigh-ins were uneventful. By all accounts the proceedings went more smoothly with Zuffa steering the ship, and Scott Coker did his best Dana impression by injecting himself into the face-offs. California State Athletic Commission rules state that if a fighter elects to first weigh in wearing his fight trunks, he may not later remove them to assist in making weight. Lightweight Champion Gilbert Melendez and Welterweight challenger Paul Daley opted to play it safe and weigh in behind a towel on their first attempt. Both were successful.

Beyond silencing his haters and exorcizing his weigh-in demons, Daley may have scored another small victory. The lead up to this bout was by all standards tame. The brash “Semtex” bit his tongue, saying that he tried to start a war of words early on but decided he was wasting his effort when Diaz didn’t take the bait. Diaz’s interviews, always an interesting dichotomy between repressed emotions and stream of consciousness, focused more on how little he was paid than his upcoming bout. The cool-headed courtesy ended last night with the face-off, where Daley’s jawing brought the 209 out of Diaz and may have increased his chances at walking away with the belt.

(Video courtesy of YouTube/MMAWeekly)

- The 5 Most Obnoxious Child Stars of All Time (TheRugged)

- Why Miss New Jersey hates me (RangerUp)

- Paul Daley’s manager says win or lose Semtex will stay with Strikeforce for at least 5 more fights (LowKick)

- TUF Times: The 10 Most Bizarre Moments from the Ultimate Fighter (BleacherReport.com/MMA)

- BJ Penn explains shoulder injury that forced him out of UFC 132 (MMAMania)

- Jeff Buckley biopic in the works (ScreenJunkies)

- THIS is how you announce a basketball game (TuVez)

- Daley open to UFC return but he isn’t going to seek out White (CageWriter)

-The ultimate bachelor party guide (MadeMan)

- Bjorn Rebney explains how MTV2 will counter-program the UFC’s counter-programming (FightOpinion)

- Jacob Tucker rocks the NCAA dunk competition (TheScoresReport)

- How to write a Nickelback song (HolyTaco)

(Paul Daley vs. Scott Smith, 12/4/10)

With 81.5% of his victories coming by way of strikes, Paul Daley has reason to be confident in his chances against Nick Diaz this Saturday. Semtex has gone 4-0 since his notorious loss to Josh Koscheck at UFC 113, and is currently riding back-to-back first-round knockouts of Scott Smith and Yuya Shirai. Of course, Diaz deserves to be a 2-1 favorite, but Daley is always one punch away from producing another devastating knockout. Here are nine of his best moments. (All videos cued up near the good stuff.)

(Paul Daley vs. Junior Barata, 4/18/09)

(Pic: Tapology)

It’s hard to even know what to think about Paul Daley anymore. Given what we understand about the current MMA landscape, the ’60s radical in us wants to pump our fist and shout out a Hopper-esque “Right on, man!” every time Daley goes on record saying he’s not going to “kiss ass” for the UFC empire. Then again, Daley himself is so thoroughly detestable that it’s also hard not to hope Nick Diaz takes him down and chokes him out in like 45 seconds this weekend during their Strikeforce welterweight title match. Then, if Diaz, Daley, Brock Lesnar, Georges St. Pierre and BJ Penn joined hands in the cage, sang “We Shall Overcome” and announced they were filing a joint antitrust suit against Zuffa, LLC, well, that’d be about perfect … as long as one of them didn’t try to steal a bunch of beer from a riverboat casino later that night … but anyways …

Of the five betting websites we perused this morning, only one – Bookmaker.com – is offering lines on all four of Strikeforce’s scheduled televised bouts as well as a couple from the undercard. Most electronic bookies are steadfastly avoiding Gegard Mousasi vs. Keith Jardine, likely because they don’t want to be complicit in Jardine’s untimely demise. Not Bookmaker though, those brave motherfuckers are posting odds on that fight and somehow still allowing prop bets on the Strikeforce heavyweight grand prix. A guy can still get Fab Werdum to win it all at +550 over there, if you’re interested. In order to stay focused on the here and now however, after the jump are the lines for Saturday night’s “Diaz vs. Daley” show courtesy Bookmaker, plus our picks.

(‘Diaz vs. Daley’ video hype, via ESPN)

Some selected highlights from our friends around the MMA blogosphere. E-mail feedback@cagepotato.com for details on how your site can join the MMA Link Club…

- Gegard Mousasi Speaks About Upcoming Fight with Keith Jardine (BleacherReport.com/MMA)

- 40 of the Greatest Dana White F-Bombs in the History of the UFC (MiddleEasy)

- From Heavyweight to Bantamweight: Seven Future UFC Champions (LowKick)

- Paul Daley: “I’m Not a Kiss-Ass, I’m Not Really a Company Guy” (5thRound)

- Mayhem Miller Moves Past Nick Diaz Feud, Vows to ‘Beat the Brakes Off’ UFC Middleweights (MMA Fighting)

- The Tragedy of the Murder of Sergio Salcido (MMA Convert)

- Fabricio Werdum Eyeing UFC Title-Shot After Strikeforce Grand Prix (Five Ounces of Pain)

- Georges St. Pierre Pretty Damn Confident He’s Going to Beat Jake Shields (MMA-Scraps)

- ‘TUF’ Talk: How Important is Lesnar’s Stint on ‘The Ultimate Fighter’? (Versus MMA Beat)

- MMA Rankings: Alvarez & Wilcox Stay Put At Lightweight (Fight Magazine)

Well, it’s on a poster now, so I guess this fight’s really happening. But if you ask me, the old “U.S. vs. U.K.” opposing-flags angle is a little tired. I’d rather focus on what Nick Diaz and Paul Daley have in common. They’re both perpetually grumpy, for one thing. And they both do some of their best fighting after the last bell. (Who can forget Daley’s Josh Koscheck sucker-punch incident, or the Nashville brawl, or the Joe Riggs hospital fight?)

Unfortunately, one of the names on the poster — lightweight title contender Tatsuya Kawajiri — might have to drop out of the event, due to the current devastation in Japan. According to an MMAJunkie report, Jorge Masvidal and KJ Noons have been asked to stand by as replacements in case Kawajiri and Shinya Aoki are unable to compete. Masvidal and Noons were originally slated to face each other on the “Diaz vs. Daley” card, which goes down April 9th card in San Diego; now we could be seeing Melendez vs. Masvidal and Noons vs. Lyle Beerbohm. We’ll let you know when things are official.

Related: Following destruction in Japan, Akiyama pulls out of bout at UFC 128

“Konichiwa, bitches!”

There are a lot of things we’ve come to know about Dana White over the years. He loves his Pink Berry. He relieves stress by pulling mediocre pranks on his subordinates. He’s an astute, cut throat businessman. And he holds a grudge like a mother fucker. It’s these last two traits that we’ll be examining at this time. With the UFC’s latest acquisition, Dana is in the position of working directly with many of the folks he’s either banned from the UFC or burned bridges with when attempts to work with them didn’t pan out. Aside from the recent legal quandary surrounding Roy Nelson’s employment, Zuffa has proven through aggressive litigation and hard ball negotiation that they know their way around a contract. This makes it very likely that Dana will do just as he says in honoring all current Strikeforce related contracts.

But virtually all contracts come to an end at some point, and when Strikeforce’s agreements reach their expiration date it’s a whole new ballgame. Some Strikeforce staples, such as open, non-exclusive contracts and event co-promotion are sure to disappear. The same is certain for many of the organization’s familiar faces, both in front of the camera and in the cage. Despite Dana’s vindictive nature, he didn’t get where he is today by letting hard feelings get in the way of good business. Let’s take a closer look at who’s on the chopping block when the legal obligations dissolve and Dana is wielding the axe.

(Props: ZPsBackUp)

Despite their now-routine struggles with making weight, Paul Daley and Ricco Rodriguez turned in impressive performances at BAMMA 5, Saturday night in Manchester, England. In the main event, Japanese welterweight Yuya Shirai was absolutely no match for Daley, as Semtex rocked him twice with jabs in the first frame before a flurry of power punches put Shirai down for good at the 1:46 mark.

Daley is now expected to face Nick Diaz at Strikeforce’s tentative April 9th event in California, although one rumor suggests that Daley’s participation is far from official and the British striker may be holding out for more money. Which makes sense, since he’ll probably have to forfeit about 20% of his purse to Diaz before the fight.

(Ricco desperately tries to squeeze off a couple more ounces on the scale. For more BAMMA 5 weigh-in pics, check out MMAWeekly)

No strangers to epic weigh-in failure, Paul Daley and Ricco Rodriguez were once again thwarted by the scales today while trying to make their BAMMA 5 bouts official. Main event fighter Paul Daley missed weight for the fifth time in his career, initially weighing in at 172 pounds for the welterweight contest, then getting down to 170.4 before his additional weigh-in time ran out.

Like the UFC, BAMMA follows the Unified Rules of MMA, which doesn’t allow a one-pound allowance for title fights. As a result, Daley’s bout against DEEP champ Yuya Shirai has been downgraded to a three-round non-title affair. Not a good look if you’re trying to convince Strikeforce to give you a title fight against Nick Diaz.

(You don’t want any part of this, Nick. No part whatsoever. / Photo courtesy of ESPN.)

It’s official: Nick Diaz vs. Jason Miller ain’t happening, at least not in the near future. With both sides failing to come to an agreement on weight class, Strikeforce has decided to move on with their welterweight champion, reportedly booking Diaz to defend his belt against Chute Boxe veteran Evangelista "Cyborg" Santos. The fight is expected to take place on the January 29th San Jose card that will also feature the middleweight title fight between Ronaldo "Grappler" Souza vs. Robbie "Striker" Lawler.

(Seriously, Nick, nobody wants to see this happen.)

After conceding earlier this week that a much anticipated bout between his protegee, Nick Diaz and the Stockton fighter’s nemesis, Jason "Mayhem" Miller will likely not happen, Cesar Gracie has turned his sights on another opponent for his charge to fight next.

In an interview he did this week, Gracie revealed that he is making a case for a Diaz-Paul Daley match-up and that they could be ready in a month if Strikeforce will put the fight together.

"I would take that fight right now for January," Gracie said.

As far as the fight with Miller not going down, Gracie, who points out that moving up to middleweight to fight a fighter who isn’t ranked in the top ten by any outlets would be a lose-lose situation for Diaz, says that the blame should rest squarely on the shoulders of Mayhem.

(Propers: YouTube/ShoSports)

If you insist on framing Saturday night’s dueling MMA action as a head-to-head matchup between Strikeforce and the UFC – and we do, since we’re media types, meaning we can always be counted on to find the easiest storyline and absolutely beat it to death – then you have to consider it a victory for Scott Coker and Co. Strikeforce came into the evening with the better card on paper and on this night the chalk held up. By virtue of back-to-back-to-back-to-back knockouts (if you count Antonio Silva’s TKO over Mike Kyle, which we do), last night Strikeforce was the metaphorical broken clock that turns up right twice a day, the dog’s ass that finally catches some sun. Meanwhile, every live fight on the UFC’s broadcast of the “Ultimate Fighter” season 12 finale went the distance. Both shows were decent, but after months of incessant bitching we should know by now that MMA fans will take a night full of stoppages over a night of scorecard verdicts every time.

During any given week on this website we give Strikeforce an unending raft of shit on the basis of its general incompetence, so it only seems fair to hand out some props on the rare occasion when the company doesn’t screw up in any obvious way. Good job, Strikeforce. We’d love to sit here and tell you last night’s show was indicative of the promotion “figuring it out” somehow, but frankly it seems like it just got lucky with a bunch of dynamic knockouts. Still, the fact this show went off as well as it did after the original fight card got scrambled by late injuries is sort of remarkable. Now it just remains to be seen how many people actually watched it.

("Babalu, you old son of a bitch, I thought you were dead." "Maybe I was, Danny. Maybe I was." Photos courtesy of Esther Lin/Strikeforce.)
  
(From left to right: Mike Kyle squares off with Bigfoot Silva’s massive cranium, Kelli Hutcherson stands out in a crowd, and this is going to sound really strange, but does that photo of Lawler and Lindland remind anybody else of those optical illusion face-drawings that show a different person when you look at them upside-down?)

Headlined by a rematch ten years in the making, and featuring a solid supporting cast of knockout artists, Strikeforce: Henderson vs. Babalu could be the sleeper event of the year. The main card is about to kick off at the Scottrade Center in St. Louis, and CagePotato contributor Matt Kaplan will be liveblogging it as quickly as his little fingers will allow. Round-by-round updates from the Showtime broadcast can be found after the jump, beginning at 10 p.m. ET. Refresh the page every few minutes for all the latest, and share your own thoughts in the comments section.

Strikeforce held a media conference call on Tuesday ahead of its December 4 Henderson vs. Babalu show in St. Louis, MO. Taking part in the call were the promotion’s CEO Scott Coker, former Olympian Matt Lindland, Octagon refugee Paul Daley, and Strikeforce sluggers Scott Smith and Robbie Lawler.

Though there weren’t any shocking revelations that came out of the call, one thing that stood out was how terrible and predictable the questions were.

I guess most of these MMA "journalists" as we’re so often referred to as being, didn’t bother to read Ben’s list of questions you shouldn’t ask when interviewing an MMA fighter:

The highlights are after the jump:

(Surefire prediction: Nobody is getting submitted in this one.)

According to several reports that we have since been able to substantiate with sources close to the bout, Scott Smith will likely make good on his proclamation that he is dropping down a weight class when he takes on newly-acquired welterweight Paul Daley in a December Strikeforce bout. The fight, which is sure to be a slugfest is said to have been verbally agreed to by both fighters.

Daley (25-9-2) has never been knocked out, but Smith (17-7 1NC), who is known for his somewhat reckless, go-for-broke style of fighting will be looking to change that statistic when the pair meet at the end of 2010. 7-3 in his last 10 outings, Daley’s last loss was the decision to Josh Koscheck that saw him tossed from the UFC for attacking the reviled American Kickboxing Academy fighter after the final bell. Since being released by the organization, he has gone 2-0 against Chute Boxe’s Daniel Acacio (21-10) at Impact FC 2: The Uprising in July and American Top Team’s Jorge Masvidal (20-6) at Shark Fights 13: Jardine vs. Prangley in September.

5-4 (1 NC) in his past 10 fights, Smith announced after his most recent loss to former Strikeforce middleweight champion Cung Le in June that he would likely be cutting to 170 pounds to compete as a welterweight, despite having beaten Le handily in his previous outing.

(The moral of the story? When Gina Carano does it, it’s awesome. When Paulo Filho does it, it’s terrible. / Photo courtesy of CombatLifestyle.com)

Anybody can be forgiven for missing weight by a half-pound — as long as it doesn’t become a habit. But when an MMA fighter comes in a full four pounds heavy, as Efrain Escudero did this week for his doomed UFC Fight Night 22 bout against Charles Oliveira, it tends to raise some eyebrows. As we’ve done previously with steroid busts, we decided to catalog the worst scale-fails in MMA history, arranged by number of pounds over the limit. When the information was available, we also listed the punishments the fighters were given, along with their excuses for missing weight, which range from injuries to salt water to the dreaded “menstrual period.” This is by no means a definitive list — but we’d like it be, eventually. So if you know of any other occasions where fighters missed weight by four pounds or more, or missed weight for multiple fights, please let us know in the comments section.

* Note: We’ve eliminated the “Repeat Offenders” section. In the instances where fighters has notably missed weight on more than one occasion (see: A. Johnson, P. Daley, T. Alves), we’ve ranked them in the leaderboard by their greatest weigh-in failure.

Karl Knothe @ Shark Fights 17
Weigh-in date: 7/14/11
Weight: 253.75 pounds, 23.75 over the 230-pound catchweight limit
How is that even possible? Due to some miscommunication between Knothe and his management, Knothe was never informed that his scheduled bout against Ricco Rodriguez was supposed to be at a catchweight, instead of at heavyweight.
Result: The Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation disallowed Knothe from competing due to the large weight-gap and concerns over excessive weight-cutting. Knothe was paid a portion of his salary anyway, while Ricco Rodriguez instead faced 5-12 replacement Doug Williams. Rodriguez won via rear-naked choke in the first round.

Ricardo Mayorga @ Omega MMA: Battle of the Americas
Weigh-in date: 5/2/13
Weight: 175.9 pounds, 20.9 pounds over the limit for his contracted lightweight match against Wesley Tiffer, who came in at 153. Needlessly to say, shoving ensued.
How was this fight even allowed to happen?: The match took place in Managua, Nicaragua — which is Mayorga’s hometown, by the way — and the Nicaraguan combat sports commission that was overseeing the event didn’t seem to have a problem with the ludicrous weight discrepancy. (I hear they’re much more stringent when it comes to cock-fighting.)
Result: Mayorga by TKO after two rounds, aided by a fairly illegal knee to the spine. Stay classy, Ricardo.
Update: The result was overturned to a no-contest the following week due to the illegal blow, and Mayorga was suspended from MMA for three months. Mayorga was last seen smoking an entire pack of cigarettes and giving less than half a fuck.

(Regrets? Does it look like I have any regrets??)

After announcing they had taken a gamble in signing perennial positive drug test denier, Josh Barnett Monday, Strikeforce is letting the questionable bet ride as the promotion revealed today that it has also inked post-bell puncher, Paul Daley to its roster for six fights.

Daley, whose story of why he was dropped by the UFC has been re-told ad nauseam, fought twice since receiving his Zuffa walking papers, finishing Daniel Acacio with elbows in the third round of a July Impact Fighting Championship clash and winning by razor-thin decision to Jorge Masvidal at Shark Fights 13 last weekend.

(Props: picturelab1)

Whether or not Shark Fights 13 is worth $29.99 of your pay-per-view budget is up to you to decide. But you have to admit, the prospect of Keith Jardine, Sokoudjou, Houston Alexander, and Paul Daley on the same card is pretty damn compelling, especially on a weekend when nothing else is going on. After four straight losses in the UFC, Jardine calls his fight with Trevor Prangley this Saturday the beginning of his comeback. A strong performance from Paul Daley against veteran Jorge Masvidal might help Semtex get back in the UFC’s good graces as well. (Yeah, we know he was banned from the Octagon for life, but so was Karo Parisyan, and all Karo had to do was agree not to screw Dana White any more.) And sure, the Assassin vs. the African Assassin? Should be a classic banger, unless Houston decides to dance around in circles again.

Check out the extended video trailer for "Shark Fights 13: Jardine vs. Prangley" above, in which a cast of fighters and analysts (and Don Frye) break down the event. And if you’re an MMA FightPicker supporter, please head on over to fightpicker.cagepotato.com or apps.facebook.com/fightpicker to make your picks for the ten-fight card. The pool questions are after the jump. Note: Due to injuries, Drew McFedries and Marcus Hicks have dropped off the card and have been replaced by Danillo Villefort and Daniel Straus. The event’s preliminary card will be streamed on Sherdog.

( UFC contract: $Millions,  30-day suspension: $0, Becoming a bigger heel than Josh Koscheck for sucker punching him after the bell: PRICELESS)

Paul Daley is lucky he didn’t sucker punch Josh Koscheck in Nashville.

Otherwise, he likely would have received a much heftier punishment for the May 8 infraction than the 30-day suspension the Quebec athletic commission — the Régie des Alcools des Courses et des Jeux (Regulators of Alcohol, Racing and Gaming) — sentenced him to in his absence at a hearing in the French-Canadian province today.

Sherdog’s Loretta Hunt is reporting that the suspension may not even affect the British welterweight who fought on the July 18 Impact Fighting Championships card where he submitted Daniel Acacio and who is slated to take on Jorge Masvidal at Shark Fights 13 on Sept. 11 — two days AFTER his suspension ends if it begins immediately.

Nicknames are like tattoos — badass when you first pick them out, generally embarrassing ten years later. And yet for some reason, they’re often the only things that MMA fighters keep forever, even as they change camps, change fighting styles, and change their hair. And while every fighter sends a message with their choice of nickname, it may not always be the message that they’re trying to send. For example, let’s say your nickname is…

A RHYME

Notable examples: Mike “Quick” Swick, “Bad” Brad Blackburn, Shannon “The Cannon” Ritch, Marvin “Beastman” Eastman
What you think it says: You’re straightforward and to-the-point. You want your nickname to stick in people’s heads.
What it really says: You spent no more than five seconds coming up with that weak bullshit.

A REFERENCE TO YOUR COUNTRY OF ORIGIN

Notable examples: Kamal “Prince of Persia” Shalorus, Efrain “Hecho en Mexico” Escudero, Sako “The Armenian Psycho” Chivitchian, “The Korean Zombie” Chan Sung Jung
What you think it says: You’re proud of your heritage and want to represent the fighting spirit of your people.
What it really says: You will be met with boos and “U.S.A.!” chants every time you fight, even though you’ve lived in Glendale your entire life.

("It seems me stay in the colonies has been extended …" PicProps: SBNation)

MiddleEasy.com is at it again, reporting on Sunday morning that Paul Daley has signed a six-fight deal with Strikeforce and will face Evangelista “Cyborg” Santos in his first bout with the American promotion.

Since getting excommunicated from the UFC for punching Josh Koscheck after the bell at UFC 113 in May, Daley appeared on the inaugural pay-pay-view of the Australia-based Impact FC promotion in July – notching a win over Daniel Acacio — and had been rumored to be in contract talks with Bellator as well as slated to fight in the European United Glory welterweight tournament this fall.

No date is yet known for Daley’s Strikeforce debut. Middle Easy cites an anonymous but “very reliable” source with the news.

(The locals are going to be pissed when they realize that it’s just a bunch of dudes fighting, and not actual sharks. Buyer beware! Props: SharkFights.com)

Helping Keith Jardine transition into post-UFC life will be a familiar cast of characters who couldn’t quite hack it in the Octagon either. It was announced last week that a light-heavyweight battle between "The African Assassin" Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou and Houston "The Assassin of Non-Specific Origin" Alexander would co-headline Shark Fights 13: Jardine vs. Prangley (September 11th; Amarillo, TX).

Sokoudjou has gone 4-3 since being released by the UFC in 2008, and most recently scored a quick TKO over Joaquim Ferreira at Impact FC Brisbane. Alexander was cut by the UFC after dropping a decision to Kimbo Slice at the TUF 10 Finale, and has gone 1-1 in 2010 so far, suffering a TKO loss to Joey Beltran and notching a decision win over David Griffin. Also on the Shark Fights 13 card…

 
(Rooting against these guys will be easy, but who do you root for in this one?)

United Glory recently announced that it will be putting on a pretty decent eight-man welterweight tournament that will include guys like former BoDog Fight champion Nick "The Goat" Thompson, DREAM 170-pound tournament winner Marius Zaromskis and Roan Carneiro.

Although the line-up is decent, one hypothetical match-up that could materialize may be more intriguing than the fight card itself.

(A face made for pay-per-view. PicProps: Middle Easy.com)

As if you needed any reminder. For whatever reason – probably psychologically rooted in our inability to look away from the scene of a car crash – the MMA media has covered the shit out of Impact FC’s rapid fire debuts in Australia during the last couple of weeks. Last Friday’s show – in which Josh Barnett crushed some can named Geronimo Something-or-other — was just a subtle aperitif before tonight’s main course, which is available on pay-per-view for all to see, beginning at 10 p.m. EST/7 p.m. PST.

Look, we’re not going to beat around the bush here. Impact FC needs you to buy this card. For evidence, look no further than the promotion’s refusal this week to buy Bob Sapp a plane ticket from Bulgaria to Sydney because it allegedly couldn’t afford it. If true, that’s not the mark of a cash-rich business, people.

(Ladies and gentlemen, I present you with Paulo Filho’s next tattoo)?

When the upstart Impact Fighting Championships organization announced it would be putting on a series of events in Australia anchored by a cast of controversial WEC, PRIDE and UFC castaways like Karo Parisyan, Ricco Rodriguez, Paulo Filho, Ken Shamrock, Paul Daley and Jesse Taylor, Ben and I figuratively high-fived each other in anticipation of the sheer amount of material for the site the event would undoubtedly produce.??

The fact that the first show basically went off without a hitch would have lost us both money if we trusted our predictions enough to bet that there would be problems with the show.??