("Whaddya mean we got four more rounds? I thought this fight was supposed to be a boring wrestlefest.")

Well, UFC 125 is in the books and to say fans got a few surprises from the card that many had written off as being an inevitable snoozefest would be an understatement.

The main event lightweight championship bout between champ Frankie Edgar and apt challenger Gray Maynard, which ended in a hotly debated split draw, delivered the goods earning well-deserved Fight of the Night honors.

According to UFC president Dana White, because the fight, which he admitted could have been stopped in the opening frame, was so close and because so many fans want to see the rubber match, he reversed the announcement made by UFC vice president Craig Borsari at the post-fight press conference that Anthony Pettis is next in line for a shot at Edgar’s crown and says he will instead be slotting in Edgar-Maynard III for some time in early 2011.

(Video courtesy YouTube/MMAFighting)

(Above: "You’re lucky our dads are here, dweeb. I’ll just take that fancy little belt of yours next time." Below: Something old, something new… / Photos courtesy of the UFC 125 Weigh In Pics gallery on CombatLifestyle.com)

Good lord, is it really 2011 already? I’m still writing "PRIDE NEVA DIE" on all my checks! Another unpredictable year of MMA begins tonight in Las Vegas, as lightweight underdog-champion Frankie Edgar attempts to make title defense #2 against old rival Gray Maynard. Plus: Chris Leben and Nate Diaz try to keep their streaks going, Brandon Vera fights for his job, and a lightweight smash-up between Clay Guida and Takanori Gomi. Click through for round-by-round UFC 125 updates — beginning at 9 p.m. ET with the live prelims broadcast on ION — and remember to refresh the page every few minutes for the latest results. Let’s all try to be the best keyboard warriors we can be this year, okay guys?

(Forget money and fame – Phil was fighting back when the prize was a weird trophy and a semi-attractive Japanese chick. / Photo courtesy of Sherdog.)

When we learned that the match between UFC veteran Phil Baroni and 23-year-old prospect Brad Tavares would indeed be aired before the UFC 125 pay-per-view broadcast this Saturday, it reminded me of our last chat with the New York Bad Ass on episode 11.1 of the Bum Rush Radio Show. Baroni has reached that point in his career where youngsters are trying to make their names off of him, and he has to beat them if he wants his own name to retain its value. I asked Phil if he felt like the last in a bygone generation of fighters, considering that so many of his rivals are no longer competing. And I thought his response was worth sharing again…

 
(Marcus Davis and Ion: A match made in…convenience?)

Less than a week before UFC 125 goes down in Las Vegas, UFC president Dana White has revealed that there will be a "Prelims" broadcast before the pay-per-view card – good news, since it’s one of the most interesting undercards in recent memory. But it won’t be aired on Spike TV. For the first time, the UFC will put a broadcast on Ion Television, which is apparently cause for celebration, even though we only had a vague knowledge of the channel’s existence until this morning. Said Dana White: "These guys are considered a network. The FCC calls them a network. This is the first time we’ve ever been on network television, and the prelims are going to be aired. It’s a big deal. It’s in over 100 million homes."

Three fights will be scheduled for the broadcast – Marcus Davis vs. Jeremy Stephens, Josh Grispi vs. Dustin Poirier, and Phil Baroni vs. Brad Tavares – which is unprecedented in itself. "The prelims we do air, there’s only supposed to be two," White said. "Time-wise, it’s impossible to pull off three if they all go to the distance. I’m going to roll the dice on this thing. Not only are we going to bring the prelims to the fans, but everybody has been hammering me for the Phil Baroni-Brad Tavares fight, so I’m going to do three fights. I’m going to give them that fight, too."

(Props: densetsug via MiddleEasy. Match starts at the 2:01 mark)

UFC Hall of Famer Mark Coleman hasn’t competed in a legit MMA fight since he was choked out by Randy Couture at UFC 109. What you see above is Coleman performing in a worked MMA-style wrasslin’ match at the IGF Genome 13 event back in September against Shinichi Suzukawa (who will be appearing against Bob Sapp on the Dynamite!! 2010 card). The thing is, this particular work was supposed to be worked in Coleman‘s favor. We’ll let Phil Baroni tell the story:

"It was supppose to be a pro wrestling match. It was suppose to be 3 min.
Coleman was suppose to win. The fat fucking douch scum bag didnt do the match the way it was suppose to be. That film was eddited. The Fat didck was suppose to tap from a head lock. He would not and kept rope escaping. Coleman squeezed hard a few times and burnt him self out trying to get the guy to tap.

("Come on Josh, don’t be pissed at me. I said you’re ‘HALF A DICK,’ not a full on dick.")

Veteran UFC welterweight Phil Baroni stopped by The Bum Rush Radio Show this week and while he was here he gave his thoughts on this weekend’s heavily-anticipated welterweight title bout between his American Kickboxing Academy teammate Josh Koscheck and dominant champion Georges St-Pierre.

Baroni took issue with Ben’s assessment that St-Pierre will be able to take Koscheck down at will en-route to a late submission victory.

"I disagree — not just because we’re friends. Koscheck’s the better wrestler. It’s not gonna come down to striking at all. I don’t think Koscheck needs to land a big shot to win the fight. Koscheck’s a better wrestler. He has a much better pedigree. GSP has a double-leg tackle — that’s about it," Baroni explained. "He’s more of a jiu-jitsu guy and I don’t see him getting on top. Koscheck’s gonna have to control where the fight goes and beat him in a wrestling match. If he does that, he’s gonna win the fight. GSP is mentally weak. He’s a great athlete, he’s got a huge gas tank, he’s strong, he’s fast, but between his ears, there’s a little bit of softness. I think if comes down to a gut-check, Koscheck will take care of him."

Realizing that we forgot to touch on UFC 124 on last week’s episode of The Bum Rush, we put together a pretty decent little show for this week, which although it clocks in at just over 30 minutes, is packed from top to bottom with goodness.

In this episode, which could be argued is our pound-for-pound best, perennial Potato Nation favorite, Phil Baroni stops by to talk about a number of topics, including his upcoming UFC 125 bout with Brad Tavares, the fact that he’s one of the last old school brawlers and his thoughts on his American Kickboxing Academy teammate Josh Koscheck’s championship bout with Georges St-Pierre Saturday night.

Stefan Struve also checks in with the guys to discuss his online rivalry and UFC 124 heavyweight scrap with Sean McCorkle, how he got his start as a fighter, which fighter he looked up to growing up and much, much more.

If you don’t have iTunes you can download the show HERE.

If you haven’t done so already, please subscribe to the show on iTunes and spread the word about our marginally entertaining and somewhat informative Friday time wasting show.

As always, we appreciate any input — good or bad — about the show. Let us know if there are any segments or MMA personalities you want to see on future episodes.

(Props: WorldMMAawards)

Remember when we told you that the Fighters Only World MMA Awards were last Wednesday on Versus? Well, what we meant was that the live online broadcast was happening on Versus.com, and the actual Versus television broadcast is this Thursday at 10 p.m. ET. (I know, we’ve done a great job of promoting it so far.) Even if you have no intention of tuning in, you may want to check out these sort-of-funny promo skits starring MMA fighters, which has become an annual tradition for the show. In the above clip, Randy Couture visits the Pawn Stars gang to get rid of some used property. Yeah, it’s kind of awkward when he sells Natasha Wicks into white slavery at the end, but come on, "eight year abs" is a good one. Ah, what do you know from funny, ya bastards.

After the jump: Find out what happens when a guy known for a hilariously thick New York accent tries to play a Texan. Plus: Amber Nichole Miller‘s heaving chest saves a "Shake Weight" parody from total failure, and Wanderlei Silva gets in touch with his warm-hearted bow-tied side.

(We should all be that fired up, at least once in our lives. Props: UFC.com)

When BJ Penn knocked out Matt Hughes at UFC 123, one of the greatest rivalries in MMA history finally got its conclusion. And while not every two-fight series needs an immediate tie-breaker — the Internet has already informed Dana White what we think of Lesnar vs. Mir III — there’s something incredibly dramatic and satisfying about a good rubber-match. Off the top of our heads, here’s a few others we’d like to see…

Jason "Mayhem" Miller vs. Tim Kennedy

History: Kennedy def. Miller via decision @ Extreme Challenge 50 (2/23/03), Miller def. Kennedy via decision @ HDNet Fights: Reckless Abandon (12/15/07)
Why it needs to happen again: Look, I’m not going to hold my breath waiting for Jason Miller to agree to a catchweight fight with Nick Diaz under 185 pounds. Mayhem hasn’t even fought for Strikeforce since he squashed Tim Stout in April, and Kennedy is still without an opponent himself after dropping a decision to Jacare Souza in August — and he’s already mentioned that he wants another go-round with Mayhem. Strikeforce has two talented, unattached middleweights at their disposal with a storyline already in place. It doesn’t take rocket appliances to figure this out, guys.

Phil Baroni Sits down with Cagepotato.com – Watch more Funny Videos

With his fight against Brad Tavares booked for 1/1/11, Phil Baroni has two options in front of him — victory, or possible banishment from the UFC. Our friend Ruben Vera tracked down the New York Bad Ass at the American Kickboxing Academy in San Jose, and grilled him on everything from his brawl-based gameplans to his cardio problems to his fondest MMA memories. Honestly, it’s one of the most revealing interviews with Baroni that we’ve ever seen. Some highlights…

On his gameplan for Tavares: "You know me. I’ve been doing this for ten years, there’s no surprises. I’m gonna do what I do best."

On his conditioning struggles: "It’s genetic, dude. I’ve been training cardio for the last ten years, hard. It’s genetic. You got a guy like Cain Velasquez who just don’t get tired. He can just train all day. Even a guy like Koscheck…I don’t think there’s anything I’m not doing that other guys are doing. I have a lot better punching power than those guys. And I think I’m faster, I have more fast-twitch. I know I can beat them both in a race. But in a longer duration, those guys can keep going, and that’s one of the things that separates us…It seems like a lot of the Mexican guys have real good cardio, throughout history and in the UFC. Diego Sanchez has great cardio, Cain Velasquez, a ton of guys. I don’t know what it is, man, but I do the best with what I got."

(Image courtesy of ItalianSweatshop.com. If you decide to click that link, be advised that the "music off" button is in the upper-left corner.) 

After dropping his UFC return fight to Amir Sadollah at UFC 106, Phil Baroni (13-12, 3-6 UFC) was slated to come back as a middleweight against John Salter at UFC 118 — but a training injury changed his plans. According to MMA Junkie, Baroni has been re-scheduled to appear at UFC 125 on January 1st against TUF 11 semifinalist Brad Tavares (5-0, 1-0 UFC).

Tavares, who was eliminated on the show by eventual winner Court McGee, returned at the TUF 11 finale and scored a decision win against Seth Baczynski. Now he has a chance to make his name off a struggling veteran, while Baroni can keep his career alive by whipping the 22-year-old Hawaiian. The New York Bad Ass hasn’t tasted victory since outpointing Olaf Alfonso at a Palace Fighting Championship event in September 2008, and it’s a pretty safe bet that if Baroni loses to a barely-established upstart like Tavares, it’ll be the end of his current stint with the UFC. Can Baroni stage another career comeback, or will he catch one of these?

(Video courtesy YouTube/ClassyHands)

- GSP training with Roger Gracie in England (tatame)

– 4 hoax websites people fell for. (holytaco)

– Phil Baroni pours his heart out about his recent injury and his career (mmafighting)

- Fight lawyer’s take on Zuffa-Bellator/Pavia lawsuit (fightlawyer)

- Despite his targeted December return, Dana White won’t let Shogun fight until spring (Cagewriter)

– How to tell if a girl’s good in bed. (mademan)

- Randy Couture would fight Cro Cop in a heartbeat (fightersonly)

- Dan Hardy talks hate for Koscheck and Daley’s dumb move at UFC 113 (fight!)

- 7 grooming habits that can kill you (modernman)

– MC Hammer starts MMA firm (mmaweekly)

– Stallone pondering Rambo prequel. (screenjunkies)

– Ben Rothwell out nine months with torn ACL. (fiveouncesofpain)

- Annoying San Diego weather girl interviews Matyushenko and Hardonk (fox5)

(Remember, bend at the *knees* when you’re beating the crap out of Keith Jardine.)

Bad news for Team Brazil at UFC 117: Due to a back injury suffered in training, Thiago Silva has been forced to withdraw from his preliminary card matchup with Tim Boetsch. Silva had previously injured his back while preparing for his UFC 108 main event against Rashad Evans. After losing that fight by decision, the American Top Team light-heavyweight began a physical therapy program, but apparently it wasn’t enough to protect him from re-injury; no word yet on how long he could be sidelined. Stepping in to face Boetsch on 11 days notice is UFC newcomer Todd "Bulldog" Brown, who has compiled an 11-1 record in midwestern promotions. Boetsch is returning to the UFC after being cut last March, then winning three consecutive fights in smaller promotions.

Speaking of luckless s.o.b.’s, Phil Baroni is out of his UFC 118 fight with John Salter due to a collarbone injury. The fight was to mark Baroni’s return to middleweight after dropping two straight at welterweight, including a decision against Amir Sadollah at UFC 106. Baroni, who tends to get emotional on his Twitter account even in the best of times, had this to say: "I cant take it anymore. Im freaking out. anxiety im shot. beaten." Stay strong, NYBA…

(Phil Baroni: Here for the orgy. / Props: sports.sho.com)

MMA Junkie confirmed yesterday that veteran slugger Phil Baroni will be competing at UFC 118, August 28th in Boston. No opponent has been named yet, but as the New York Bad Ass told BJPenn.com, his next fight will see him return to middleweight. After compiling a journeyman’s record of 10-10 over the first eight years of his career, Baroni dropped to 170 pounds in 2008 and won his first three fights against Scott Jansen, Ron Verdadero, and Olaf Alfonso. Those wins were followed by unanimous decision losses to Joe Riggs in Strikeforce and Amir Sadollah in Baroni’s Octagon return at UFC 106. Once again, it’s time to regroup:

"I’m going to go back up to 185 for this fight…The cut [to welterweight] was rough; I think I made the cut wrong the last couple times I made the weight (to 170). I lost some strength and I lost some of my speed and explosiveness and I think those are some of my strengths. So I think that in the future if I made the cut again I would do it slower and go about it a different way. But right now I’m more focused on getting my strength and power back and getting my explosiveness back and in order to do that I’m going to have to gain weight. So it’s going to be a cut right now to 185. I wouldn’t be able to make 170 right now and be able to perform at a higher level. But at 185 I think I’ll be able to get my strength and explosiveness back and be able to perform at a higher level. In the future I’m not ruling out 170 but right now I’m going to fight at 185. I’m not sure where the best weight class is for me and I’m not sure where I will be best at but right now it’s not 170, 185 is the place. 179 would probably be the best weight class for me, but I don’t have that luxury."

So who can the UFC give Phil at 185 who will contribute to a good brawl, and who’s also hanging on to his job by his fingernails? Start getting in shape, Tom Lawlor…

With the help of our buddy Josh G., CagePotato has been officially recognized by that ultimate source of online knowledge, Wikipedia. Gone are the days when our only presence on that site was a reference to how cursed Phil Baroni’s wife is. Now we’re ready to be listed alongside such thought-provoking topics as Other Roles Played by Martin Lawrence on the TV series Martin and the Lloyds Bank turd. As you can see from the screen-cap above, there are still some doubts as to how serious of an operation we are. So if you have anything positive to add to en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CagePotato (preferably sourced to a respectable third-party), send your suggestions to feedback@cagepotato.com and we’ll get ‘em up. This should go without saying, but page-vandalism won’t be appreciated, even if it’s funny page-vandalism. Do us this one favor, okay?

In this talk with Fox News’s "Fight Game" it’s difficult to tell whether Phil Baroni is drunk or just on the downward slope of a career spent getting punched in the head.  It’s like that time you did a terrible karaoke rendition of "Little Red Corvette" before throwing up all over your girlfriend’s shoes.  There’s only one acceptable explanation, and it’s ‘I was drunk.’  Let’s hope the seven-dollar beers at the Mandalay Bay were to blame for how this interview turned out, and not ten years worth of abuse in the cage.   

The catalyst for this particular discussion is the UFC 109 victory by fellow New Yorker Matt Serra over one of Baroni’s Xtreme Couture training partners, Frank Trigg.  Apparently, gym loyalties are nothing compared to regional ones.  Plus, Serra goes into the Starbucks where Baroni’s mom works and gives her good tips, while all Trigg has ever done is make an awkward pass at her at Baroni’s wedding.  Yet another situation where ‘I was drunk’ is the only explanation that will suffice.   

After the jump, Eddie Bravo discusses his path to jiu-jitsu, and subtly overstates his own importance.

What do you do when you have two guys who can’t win big fights but who always put on entertaining matches? Throw ‘em in a cage together and hope for a Fight of the Night, obviously. According to MMA Mania, Phil Baroni and Marcus Davis have verbally agreed to whip the New Jersey crowd into a frenzy at UFC 111 (March 27th, Newark), supporting a card that will feature Georges St. Pierre vs. Dan Hardy and (hopefully) Frank Mir vs. Shane Carwin.

After nearly five years away from the UFC, Phil Baroni returned to the Octagon at UFC 106 last month to take on TUF 7 winner Amir Sadollah. Baroni came out strong in the first round, but his familiar struggles with cardio cursed him once again, and Sadollah dominated the last two rounds en route to a unanimous decision. Marcus Davis is currently on a two-fight losing streak, dropping matches to Dan Hardy (via split-decision at UFC 99) and Ben Saunders (via Thai clinch execution at UFC 106).

As a more well-rounded fighter with a much better gas tank, Davis should be a strong favorite to win this one. The question is, will Baroni be cut after losing another match, or will the UFC keep him around a while longer for their further amusement?

Update: Baroni tells MMA Weekly that he has not agreed to the fight, and may take a longer hiatus to re-evaluate his training methods.

(‘Best eva!’ just doesn’t have the same ring of authority when you say it through a bunch of gauze.)

Dana White posted this picture of a battered Phil Baroni to his Twitter account today, remarking "Phil baroni sent me this today and said ‘welcome back to the ufc’ phil is tough as nails!"  True, but he might also be a tough-as-nails fighter who’s worried about losing his job, hence the subtle reminder that he endured this beatdown for the UFC’s benefit, while only pocketing $25,000 for his trouble. 

If you needed a reminder that fighting other people in a cage was a tough way to make a living, this ought to do it.  Baroni has been in the sport for nearly a decade, and, after taxes, training costs, and management, he comes away with not even enough money to buy a new Toyota Camry.  That’s ironic considering that he now looks like someone who’s been in a pretty bad car accident.  Let’s hope his sponsors came through for him.  Let’s also hope that he’s been putting some of that money away for his retirement, which might be right around the corner.

(Bruce Buffer is fairly confident that Griffin will outstrike Ortiz to a unanimous decision. Joe Rogan is peaking on a DMT trip and is desperately trying to keep his shit together as Tito’s head explodes into a screaming ball of golden phosphorescence. / Photo courtesy of the UFC 106: Weigh In Pics set on CombatLifestyle.com.)

After an ancient curse claimed Brock Lesnar, Mark Coleman, Ricardo Almeida, and Karo Parisyan — and even threatened the velvet voice of Mike Goldberg — we’ve finally arrived at tonight’s bedraggled UFC event, which will be headlined by a do-over between Tito Ortiz and Forrest Griffin. Guiding us through the action this evening is special guest liveblogger Chad Dundas; please make him feel welcome. Round-by-round results from the UFC 106 pay-per-view broadcast are after the jump, beginning at 10 p.m. ET / 7 p.m. PT. Refresh the page every few minutes for all the latest, and say a little prayer that Josh Koscheck doesn’t accidentally gouge his eye out in the locker room while putting on his cup.

(Don’t miss next week’s episode of ‘My Baroni,’ when Phil accidentally makes a date with two different ring girls on the same night!)

You may have been so excited about Tito Ortiz bringing his one-man Schadenfreude act back to the UFC that you forgot all about it, but another Octagon veteran returns at UFC 106, and it’s the NYBA himself, Phil Baroni.  When last we saw Baroni he was fending off allegations that he was pharmaceutically-enhanced before losing a one-sided decision to Joe Riggs in Strikeforce.  Now he’s one of the rare fighters to get another shot in the UFC immediately after a loss, and he takes on Amir Sadollah this Saturday night in a contest between two guys in desperate need of a win. 

So go on, Phil.  Tell us all about how bad you’re going to beat this mamaluke, or maybe something about how you’ve been avoiding having sex with your wife lately.  Come on and dazzle us.  It’s been too long and we can hardly wait to hear your new material:

“Look, I’ve said it all already,” Baroni said. “The trash talking is starting to sound like a broken record, even to me. Nothing that I say is going to affect the outcome of the fight. Nothing he says is going to affect the outcome of the fight. There is no need to hype it up because he is a big name among the fans after winning the reality show. I’m coming to reestablish myself in the UFC at his expense, and I’m sure he is coming to do the exact same thing at my expense, since he lost his last bout. …I’m done with all that, at least for now.  I’m not focused on that stuff. I’m focused on my training. I’ve got a tremendous opportunity in front of me, and I’m doing everything that I can to properly prepare so that I can take full advantage of it.”

Phil, it’s like I don’t even know who you are anymore.

(Being a champion has its benefits. Props to caliphornia for the image, and props to imakeutap for the headline inspiration.)

Look, I gotta go catch a flight so let’s just get right into it…

agentsmith on "Phil Baroni Possibly Starring in MMA Werewolf Movie":
I guess they wanted someone who had experience in rapidly becoming stronger and more muscular via unnatural means. My advice for his potential victims is to just run… he won’t keep up for long.

Terminator on "Phil Baroni Possibly Starring in MMA Werewolf Movie":
I added something extra thanks to agentsmith’s comment. this won’t last long, so enjoy it guys.

Ed M on "Videos: Rodney King’s Next Opponent, Juan Manuel Marquez Drinks Pee + More":
Unbeknownst to Rodney, the promotion plans to allow another officer into the cage at each minute mark of the first round.

parchy mcthirst on "Tito Ortiz’s Self-Deception Skills Are Still Second to None":
he looks like a monkey that bashes its cymbals together
[Ed. note: QFT, MF]

Are you a winner? Then send your name, shirt size, and address to feedback@cagepotato.com and we may be sending you a shirt if we have any left!

Vampires: Old and Busted.
Werewolves: New Hotness?

According to ScreenJunkies, music video director Sxv’leithan Essex [sic] is teaming up with the producer of Rise of the Silver Surfer to bring us Growl, a story about an underground MMA fight club hunted by a family of werewolves. It’s like Fighting meets The Lost Boys meets My God This Movie Is Going to Be Terrible. Here’s the synopsis, via ShockTillYouDrop:

Well sure, Mr. Lost Boy himself being a part of the production is cool and all, but does anyone else notice that the shadowy figure in the poster image on the right bears a striking resemblance to the New York Badass? We’ll let you know if Baroni can take a break from training for Amir Sadollah and beating up nerds long enough to confirm our suspicions.

According to InsideFights.com, Phil Baroni will make his return to the UFC at UFC 106 (November 21st, Las Vegas) against cursed TUF 7 winner Amir Sadollah. It will be Baroni’s first Octagon appearance since his submission loss to Pete Sell at UFC 51. After leaving the UFC in 2005, Baroni competed in PRIDE, Icon Sport, and Strikeforce, among other promotions, going 5-5 as a middleweight, then 3-1 as a welterweight. He most recently dropped a decision to Joe Riggs at Strikeforce: Lawler vs. Shields.

Amir Sadollah’s MMA career hasn’t quite lived up to the promise of his storybook run on TUF 7, where he scored stoppage victories over Steve Byrnes, Gerald Harris, Matt Brown, and CB Dollaway (twice), despite coming into the show with a 0-0 professional record. After two separate injuries suffered in training, Sadollah finally made his return to the cage at UFC 101, 14 months after the TUF 7 finale, came in way underweight, and was TKO’d by Johny Hendricks in 29 seconds. Needless to say, both guys have a lot to prove, and the loser of their match will have to decide if he really wants to continue in a profession that’s treated him with so much cruelty. No word yet on whether this match will be on UFC 106′s televised card. Any early predictions?

(Kickin’ asses, breakin’ hearts, and stealin’ robes from Courtyard Marriotts. Props: sports.sho.com)

Strikeforce distributed a press release yesterday evening announcing that Phil Baroni had been released by the organization, citing Baroni’s "one-sided defeat" at the hands of Joe Riggs in June, and the fact that he’s lost four of his last seven fights. (Kind of harsh, since he’s also won three of his last four.) Said Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker: "We wish Phil the best of luck and hope he can revive his career. If he can, maybe one day, he can return and fight for us." The news was surprising for a couple reasons. First, have you ever heard of Strikeforce releasing a big name due to poor performance? It’s not like their welterweight division is so deep that they can be picky, and Baroni is a draw whether he wins or loses. Also, the vaguely negative tone of the press release seemed out of character for Strikeforce. Did something else happen behind the scenes?

The answer: Yeah, maybe. Immediately after the press release hit our inboxes, it was reported that Baroni had verbally agreed to a new contract with the UFC. The New York Badass compiled a 3-5 record in the UFC as a middleweight from 2001-2005, and was released after taking four consecutive losses. During his recent stint as a welterweight, Baroni has yet to defeat a fighter who currently holds a winning record, which seems to imply that the UFC’s offer to Baroni had more to do with sticking a thumb in Strikeforce’s eye than acquiring a promising 170-pounder. It also gives more credence to yesterday’s wild speculation about an upcoming season of TUF featuring old guys. Call us crazy now, but you’ll see.

Brett Rogers at Strikeforce Press Conference – 6/6/09 – Watch more Funny Videos

I wanted to get this stuff up yesterday but technical issues got in the way; better late than never, right? Anyway, here are some highlights from the Strikeforce press conference following "Lawler vs. Shields" on Saturday night. Above, Brett Rogers takes the mic to discuss his victory over Andrei Arlovski, shake his head about the Kimbo Slice/Ultimate Fighter situation, and call out Alistair Overeem. ("I was planning on picking [Overeem's championship belt] up today," he says. "Hopefully he’s keeping it good and clean for me.") Later, Grim says he’d be open to a big-money fight with Fedor, shouts out his new gym, and of course, promises to keep on doin’ work.

After the jump: Nick Diaz publicly humiliates a reporter, while Phil Baroni says he just wanted to win for his dad — while his long-suffering wife has been working two jobs to support him — in another emotional press conference appearance.

(Props: MMA Scraps)

("Guys, you can get some of those cupcakes *after* we take this face-off picture, okay? Guys?" Photo courtesy of Sherdog.)

Hello, and welcome to a special "From Press Row" edition of the CagePotato liveblog. That’s right – I’m typing to you from the Scottrade Center in St. Louis tonight, not from my usual spot on my couch in Brooklyn. The good part? I’m about 25 feet from the cage and wedged between some of the brightest minds in MMA journalism. The bad part? Slamming beers, eating wings, and loudly showing bias towards my favorite fighters is frowned upon here, apparently. But we’re gonna try to have a good time anyway. Live round-by-round results are after the jump, starting at 9 p.m. CT. Hit that "read more" link and refresh the page every few minutes to get all the latest. Time to do work, son.

(Kevin Randleman is athletic *and* explosive! Photo courtesy of Sherdog.)

All fighters successfully weighed in today for Saturday’s Strikeforce event, which will be held at the Scottrade Center and broadcast on Showtime. CageWriter passes along this little detail from the weigh-in:

Yeah, that sounds about right. The numbers are after the jump. Don’t forget to swing by tomorrow night starting at 10 p.m. ET / 7 p.m. PT as we liveblog the televised card. Fire up, Potato Nation!

(Those are the Chinese characters for "best" and "eva." Photo courtesy of Strikeforce.)

The idea of a spiritually grounded Phil Baroni kind of freaks us out, to be honest. But the NYBA you knew as a young, brash, self-destructive middleweight is gone, and in his place is an older, wiser, fired-up welterweight who won’t quit until he’s a world champion. With his fight against Joe Riggs scheduled for the main card of Saturday’s Strikeforce show, we called Phil yesterday to chat about sex, steroids, destiny, being reborn at 170, and what he really wants to be remembered for…

***

CAGEPOTATO.COM: So I’ve been watching some of your recent interviews — do you really believe that not having sex helps your athletic performance? I thought that was just some bullshit myth.
PHIL BARONI: Yeah, I believe it. I know it to be a fact, man, especially when it comes to taking punches. You take punches better when you abstain from, ah…punching your own loads out.

How do you explain the science behind that?
Aw man, I’m not a scientist. It makes you fuckin’ mean, I’ll tell you that much. I’m lean and mean right now. It fuckin’ works. You don’t think so, then don’t do it — you’re not a fighter anyway, so who cares?

Don’t you think your wife’s needs should come before your job?

(My God, the animosity between these two. It’s like the entire room could burst into flames at any moment.)

MMA fans have a full dance-card this weekend, with Strikeforce putting on a stacked Showtime event on Saturday night (10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT), and the WEC following it up on Sunday night with a show on Versus headlined by featherweight champion Mike Brown’s second meeting with Urijah Faber (9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT). Be sure to come back here Saturday night for the Strikeforce liveblog — and get psyched for the whole shebang by reading the latest installment of the longest-running MMA argument on the Internet. Ben vs. Ben starts right now…

Brett Rogers says he wants to stand and bang with Andrei Arlovski on Saturday. That sounds like a horrible idea for "The Grimm," given that Arlovski is just as big and strong as he is but with much more technical striking. Does Rogers stand a chance with that strategy, or is he an unconscious man walking at this point?

BG: WTF? Is Rogers supposed to take Arlovski down and sub him out with his battle-tested Grimjitsu? I’m not trying to hate on Brett’s ground game, because none of us have actually seen it; he’s a brawler, and thus far he’s only had to face other brawlers. Arlovski, on the other hand, actually has some submission skills in his back pocket. So while we know that Rogers will be fighting an uphill battle on Saturday night, I’d say his odds decrease even further if the fight goes anywhere else besides stand-and-bangville.

Brett’s only shot is to stick to his bread-and-butter and swing those hamhocks. The fact that Arlovski’s hands are far more technical means that the Grimm will probably get picked apart. But Arlovski’s unreliable chin makes him vulnerable to what Rogers brings into the cage. That’s what makes this fight compelling for me: Brett Rogers definitely should not be able to beat Andrei Arlovski — but he just might.

BF: With regard to the submission skills in Arlovski’s back pocket, I hope your finger slipped and you really meant to type ‘submission skill.’ As in, his straight achilles lock. That’s all the dude’s got on the mat and he goes to it like it’s his signature killer move, so let’s not pretend that there any Arlovski-platas in the near future.