(Props: YouTube.com/UFC)

Anderson Silva, Stephan Bonnar, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, Dave Herman, Fabio Maldonado, and Glover Teixeira were in attendance for the UFC 153 press conference in Rio earlier today, fielding questions from a multi-national conglomerate of media professionals. The full video is above, though as you can imagine, there’s a lot of translation involved. Short version: The UFC wants to host a stadium show in Brazil next year, Anderson Silva is seriously not interested in facing Jon Jones, and Dave Herman has pretty much signed his own death warrant by insulting jiu-jitsu before a fight against Big Nog. Bonnar looks pretty chill, considering the circumstances.

Be sure to swing by CagePotato.com Saturday night beginning at 10 p.m. ET / 7 p.m. PT for our liveblog of the UFC 153 main card!

(From left to right: Ronda Rousey, Blaze Ya Dead Homie. / Ronda image via CombatLifestyle)

With her Strikeforce title defense against Sarah Kaufman coming up this weekend, Ronda Rousey’s latest bit of fight-hype was so violently over-the-top that it made Frank Mir look downright sportsmanlike in comparison. Here’s what Rowdy told reporters during yesterday’s Strikeforce: Rousey vs. Kaufman press conference:

“Sarah Kaufman should be thanking her lucky stars that MMA is properly regulated in California. I respect her so much that I’m not taking any chances: If i get her in an armbar I’m going to try and rip it off and throw it at her corner, if I get her in a choke I’m going to hold it until she’s actually dead. And if I get a knockout I’m going to actually try and pound her face into the ground. She’s relying on the competence of the California athletic commission to walk out of that cage alive. That has nothing to do with whether I like her or respect her, she seems like a nice chick, but I go into every fight like my little sister’s life is depending on it. And in that kind of situation, no one can ever beat me.”

Wow. If this fighting thing doesn’t work out, Ronda might have a future as an artist signed to Psychopathic Records. Luckily, Kaufman was relatively cool and insightful about the whole thing, saying:

UFC president Dana White and the four headliners for Saturday’s UFC on FOX 4 event — Mauricio “Shogun” Rua, Brandon Vera, Lyoto Machida, and Ryan Bader — will be in attendance today for the “Shogun vs. Vera” press conference in Los Angeles; you can watch it live in the player after the jump beginning at 2 p.m. ET / 11 a.m. PT. We expect each man to make a perfectly logical and well-reasoned argument why he should be the next light-heavyweight title-contender. Personally, I think Jon Jones should just go down the row elbowing each fighter in the nose at full strength, and the last guy to start crying earns the shot. But what do I know — I’m just an unappreciated promotional visionary.

(Photo via ESPN)

Update: The press conference has been delayed an hour, and is now scheduled to start at 11 a.m. ET / 8 a.m. PT.

With the venue for UFC 147 in jeopardy because of some United Nations bullcrap, UFC president Dana White, middleweight champion Anderson Silva, and champion-in-his-own-mind Chael Sonnen will be hosting a press conference in Rio de Janeiro this morning to announce where and when Silva vs. Sonnen 2 will be taking place. Rumor has it the fight will be bumped to UFC 148, July 7th in Las Vegas, but you’ll just have to watch and see. The presser starts at 10 a.m. ET / 7 a.m. PT; check it out after the jump, courtesy of YouTube.com/UFC, and come back to CagePotato later for our recap of the important points.

(Props: crazycnote13)

After Kimbo Slice‘s scheduled boxing match against Mike Glenn fell through when Glenn didn’t send him the fight-footage he required — a rather unique thing for a fighter to have in his contract, but whatever — promoter Wes Slay has found a replacement opponent to throw them bungalows against the Miami Pound Machine tomorrow night. Slice will now be facing off against Brian Green, a middleweight MMA fighter with a record of 27-17. All of Green’s 27 victories have come by stoppage, with 22 by submission, which is completely irrelevant since this will be a boxing match. From what I can tell, Green doesn’t have any pro boxing experience, certainly not against guys who outweigh him by 40-50 pounds.

The match will go down Saturday evening at the “Fight Night Returns” MMA/boxing card at the O’Reilly Family Event Center in Springfield, Missouri. Assuming you have better things to do than watch the press-conference video above, we’ll break down the highlights for you:

0:08-0:12: I guarantee you that the white-haired old lady was only there for the free coffee at Reliable Chevrolet, and probably jumped out of her seat when Kimbo emerged from the back.

1:57-2:28: According to Slay, Brian Green is “one of the top, elite MMA fighters in all the world,” with a “winning record against fighters currently in the UFC.” Okay, this is kind of funny. Slay is technically correct, in that Green is 1-0 against active UFC fighters, with a 2006 armbar win over Nik Lentz. Against fighters who used to be in the UFC, he’s a somewhat-less-impressive 0-8, with losses to Brock Larson, Chad Reiner, Joe Vedepo, Paul Georgieff, Crafton Wallace, Rob Kimmons, Rory Markham, and Nick Thompson.

(Dana’s just excited about the matchup, that’s all.)

Dana White, Brock Lesnar, Alistair Overeem, Donald Cerrone and Nate Diaz are scheduled to appear at a UFC 141 press conference today at the MGM Grand Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas. You can watch the proceedings live in the video player after the jump, beginning at 4 p.m. ET / 1 p.m. PT. Will Alistair insist on wearing a suit, even when everybody else will surely be wearing t-shirts? Will Cowboy and Nate make eye contact when they smush their foreheads together? Will the UFC continue to let the morons in the audience beg Dana for handouts? Answers inside!

(Props: YouTube.com/UFC)

Got an hour to spare? Then check out the full video of yesterday’s UFC on FOX 2 press conference, which was held at the United Center in Chicago and featured all six fighters that would be headlining the show. Here are some of the highlights, most of which belonged to the Gangster From West Linn:

Chael Sonnen on his checkered past: “I actually held public office, and I left the only way a person should — in handcuffs.”

Sonnen on his illegal kneebar during a college wrestling match with Mark Munoz: “Mark’s explanation of ‘heat of the moment’, I appreciate that but I can assure you it was a calculated and premeditated event, and I offer no apology. And secondly, I don’t even remember college. I’m driving around in a car with no insurance, a pocket with no money and the biggest thing on my mind was which kid to sit next to on exam day, so as far as a wrestling match, that was about the fourth thing on my mind. I assure you on January 28th, I will be ready. It will be one more in the win column, one more above the mantle, and one more for the bad guy.”

(“Don’t call me homey, brah.” “Don’t call me brah, homey.” / For more photos from the presser, visit Lowkick.Blitzcorner.com)

A lot of interesting developments coming out of yesterday’s “UFC 137: Penn vs. Diaz” press conference…

— UFC President Dana White confirmed that the first international edition of The Ultimate Fighter will be in Brazil, not the Philippines as previously reported. White described TUF Brazil as “a done deal,” though other details, including its host and where it will take place, haven’t been locked down yet. The series will air in Brazil, and possibly on FUEL TV in North America. White also said that the UFC will be actively working on booking “as many [events] as we possibly can” in Brazil.

— Meanwhile, the UFC is also working on putting together their first event in Hawaii, which is slated for 2012, and could be held at an outdoor venue. In the past, the UFC had been hesitant to promote a show in Hawaii due to an exorbitant promoters’ tax the state required, but that situation was later “fixed”, and rumors of a UFC show at the Aloha Bowl have circulated for the past two years.

— While only the main event is guaranteed airtime during the one-hour UFC on FOX 1: Velasquez vs. Santos broadcast on November 12th, Dana White confirmed that the entire supporting card will be viewable on Facebook and FOX.com. Notably, that includes the possible #1 lightweight contender match between Clay Guida and Ben Henderson.

(“Well at the very least, you’re paying me back for all this bottled water.”)

BJ Penn, Nick Diaz, Matt Mitrione, and Cheick Kongo were scheduled to participate in a UFC 137 media call at 2 p.m. ET today, and three of them called in on time. The other one, obviously, was Nick Diaz. According to twitter updates from Ariel Helwani, the UFC and Diaz’s manager/trainer Cesar Gracie began frantically searching for the former Strikeforce welterweight champ when he no-showed the call. Gracie was surprised by his fighter’s absence, but offered the explanation that he only found out about the media call 24 hours in advance and he wasn’t sure whether it was still on after GSP pulled out due to injury.

(Props: YouTube.com/UFC)

UFC 139 goes down November 19th at the HP Pavilion in San Jose, and the major players are convening at the San Pedro Square Market right now for a little press-conference action. Click “play” on the live YouTube player above to see Mauricio “Shogun” Rua, Dan Henderson, Wanderlei Silva, Cung Le, and UFC president Dana White field questions from the media in attendance beginning at 1 p.m. local time.

(“…In situations that the Planeteers cannot resolve alone, they can combine their powers to summon ‘Prime Sakuraba‘, a magical entity who possesses all of their powers magnified.” / Photo via BloodyElbow)

The UFC held a press conference earlier today in Tokyo, formally announcing their plans to host an event at the Saitama Super Arena on February 26th, 2012. No matchups were announced, but Japanese stars including Yushin Okami, Yoshihiro Akiyama, Takanori Gomi, Norifumi “Kid” Yamamoto, Hatsu Hioki, and Michihiro Omigawa were all mentioned as likely participants. Former PRIDE stars like Wanderlei Silva, Mirko Cro Cop, Quinton Jackson and Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira are also possibilities.

Though the UFC held four events in Japan from 1997-2000, this will be the first Japanese show organized by the UFC while under Zuffa ownership. The prelims will begin at 10 a.m. local time (with the main card starting at noon) so that the event can be broadcast live at the usual time slot for North American viewers. It’s not clear yet whether UFC Japan 2012 will be a pay-per-view or “Fight Night” card, and no details were given regarding the event’s local broadcast plans.

Following a recorded video message from Dana White at the press conference, Zuffa LLC Asia Executive Vice President and Managing Director Mark Fischer addressed the media in attendance, saying:

(Pic via MiddleEasy)

Rejoice, fight fans, because the UFC has finally made it to network television. It was announced today in Los Angeles that the world’s premier MMA promotion will begin hosting live events on FOX beginning November 12th. And that’s just the beginning.

While following the live video stream of today’s UFC/FOX press conference, I — like every other MMA writer who wasn’t actually in the building — was intently monitoring people’s reactions on twitter and chipping in my own two cents when it seemed appropriate. So much information was released in the hour-long session that instead of transcribing the whole mess myself, I’ll just cherry-pick the most important bits that were coming through on our Freaks of the Industry feed. (Future of journalism, people.) All the good stuff is contained right here, so read on…

@stevecofield: UFC/FOX makes it official with a 10:02am PT press release. First event airs on Nov. 12 at 9pm ET. Spring 2012 TUF 15 on FX

@jordanbreen: You’ll never see another sport where so many people are excited for the symbolism of a guy from Newsradio wearing a jacket.

@benfowlkes: Fox cameramen apparently confused about the difference between GSP and Frankie Edgar. Rough start, but okay…

@mikechiappetta: FOX exec says TUF will move to Fridays. “We’ll literally own Friday nights,” he says.

(Also, Glenn Beck’s old spot will be permanently replaced by BJ Penn tackling people.)

As reported earlier this week, the UFC and FOX have been finalizing a new broadcast deal that will place up to four annual fight events on the network and move weekly programming (like The Ultimate Fighter) to cable subsidiary FX. The partnership will be made public today at a press conference in Los Angeles, scheduled for 10 a.m. local time. (Or at least that’s what we think will happen. I mean, what else would they announce? Their mutual love of It’s Always Sunny?)

Expected for the press conference are Dana White, Lorenzo Fertitta, Georges St. Pierre, Frankie Edgar, Rashad Evans, as well as FOX Sports Media Group Chairman and CEO David Hill, Co-Presidents and COO’s Randy Freer and Eric Shanks, and FX President John Landgraf.

fxnetworks.com will host a live stream of the press conference at 10 a.m. PT / 1 p.m ET. Keep your eye on it, and we’ll talk later.

(Dana White runs down some current events with Ariel Helwani following the press conference. Props: MMAFighting)

The UFC hosted a press conference in Vancouver yesterday in advance of UFC 131, but the most interesting announcements had nothing to do with Saturday’s “Dos Santos vs. Carwin” event. Here’s a recap…

Five-round non-title fights: UFC president Dana White announced that the UFC will make non-title main event fights five rounds from now on; previously, only title fights were worthy of the five-round distinction. The rule doesn’t apply to non-title main events that are already booked — Dos Santos vs. Carwin, or Rashad Evans vs. Phil Davis at UFC 133, for example — but it will apply to every non-title main event signed in the future, even for UFC Fight Night and UFC Live events.

Flyweight division in the works: According to White, the UFC will be adding a 125-pound division “really soon,” possibly by the end of 2011. He expected that some of the UFC’s current bantamweights would make the drop.

("Well…I’m not much of a foot guy, but I guess they’re alright, Mrs. Ryan." / Photo via MMAWeekly)

At 2 p.m. ET today, the UFC will hold a press conference at New York’s Madison Square Garden to formally announce their intent to bring MMA to the Big Apple as soon as possible. In attendance will be UFC president Dana White, Zuffa co-owner Lorenzo Fertitta, lightweight champion Frankie Edgar, light-heavyweight contender Rashad Evans, and Madison Square Garden Sports president Scott O’Neill.

A new economic impact study is scheduled to be released in the hopes that New York will join the 44 other U.S. states that currently regulate the sport — even though cash doesn’t seem to be a big motivator among MMA’s stubborn critics.

Despite our long history of promoting the "MMA in NY" cause, CagePotato has unfortunately been barred from attending the event due to the whole Arianny Celeste Playboy leak fiasco. Their loss. When the first media question is from some spaz asking if he can sit in Dana’s lap, they’re gonna wish they had some real freakin’ journalists in the building…

The video player is after the jump.

As is tradition during UFC fight week, the major players of UFC 121 are about to assemble for a public press conference at the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles. Beginning at 5 p.m. ET / 2 p.m. PT, Brock Lesnar, Cain Velasquez, Jake Shields, Martin Kampmann, Tito Ortiz, Matt Hamill, and Dana White will be fielding questions from the media. You can watch the proceedings in the UFC’s media player, which is waiting for you after the jump. And if you need any more help in getting hyped up for this event, be advised that Spike TV will be airing UFC 116: Lesnar vs. Carwin tonight at 7 p.m., followed by the third and final episode of UFC Primetime: Lesnar vs. Velasquez at 9:30 p.m. 

(This is actually where the UFC press conference is being held. No kidding. Inside that historic room, in front of the busts of those great American patriots, James Toney will tell Randy Couture "I’mma whip y’muhfuckin ass, prinsiss, y’fill’me." Photo courtesy of twitter.com/ArielHelwani)

Dana White, Frankie Edgar, BJ Penn, Randy Couture, James Toney, Kenny Florian, and Gray Maynard will appear and take UFC 118-related questions from the media at the Faneuil Hall in Boston today beginning at 3 p.m. ET. You can watch the proceedings live in the player after the jump. Go Red Sox.

(Will Shane bring the pain, or does Brock have this on lock? Anybody want a peanut?)

UFC president Dana White, heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar, interim champ Shane Carwin, and middleweights Chris Leben and Yoshihiro Akiyama are all about to take the stage at the MGM Grand Garden Arena’s Hollywood Theatre for a UFC 116 press-conference. You can follow the presser live on CagePotato.com via the media-player after the jump, starting at 4 p.m. ET / 1 p.m. PT. If you’re watching, let us know your thoughts in the comments section…

(Photos contributed by Serafin Santiago Jr.)

In honor of the UFC throwing a card in Newark this weekend, the UFC hype-train made a big stop in New York City yesterday to hold a public press conference at the legendary Radio City Music Hall. Though the four headlining fighters were supposed to be in attendance taking questions and posing for pictures with fans, Shane Carwin was stuck in Long Island finishing up his medical licensing paperwork. Oddly enough, welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre seemed to get the least love from the raucous mass of NY/NJ fans. They loved Dan Hardy for being an underdog who trains with Matt Serra. They loved Frank Mir for embodying the Jersey Shore juicehead ideal, even though he’s a lifelong Las Vegas resident.* They swung off of Dana White’s nuts, uncomfortably.** If you live in the New York area but can’t make it to UFC 111, Radio City will be hosting a viewing party on Saturday night, featuring appearances by Chuck Liddell, Matt Serra, Stephan Bonnar, and a freakin’ ginormous screen. Some important notes from yesterday’s presser are after the jump…

(Props: FightersOnlyMagazine)

At WEC 47‘s post-event press conference, MMA legend Jens Pulver discussed the pride he feels in watching the lighter weight-divisions develop into popular, exciting products — even if the level of competition in those divisions has officially passed him by. "I’m just a proud old man," Pulver said. "I’m a proud poppa, I guess, I’m the godfather of this stuff, and it’s a good place and a good way to go." The younger fighters in attendance took some time to talk about what Jens meant to them as featherweights and bantamweights following the trail that Lil’ Evil blazed…

Scott Jorgensen: "Jens is one of the guys that kind of got me interested in MMA as an actual sport that I could compete in…The guy’s the greatest guy ever. He’s sincere, he’s from the heart, what he says he means. I don’t have a bad word to say about him, he’s the best, man. I wouldn’t be where I’m at today without people like Jens."

(‘Wait, this Mousasi? The dude that’s been beating the hell out of everybody, that’s the guy ya’ll want me to fight? Gentlemen, I think there’s been a misunderstanding.’)

Greetings from the City of the Rising Sun, Potato Nation.  Yours truly is spending New Year’s in Tokyo to attend the Fields Dynamite!! show (you’ll be able to read all about the experience in a future Fight Magazine issue), and already it’s been quite a learning experience.  For instance, I just got back from the press conference where I was surrounded by a horde of teenage girls who waited for over an hour just to fawn over Masato.  Alistair Overeem, Gegard Mousasi, and Shinya Aoki?  To these girls they barely seemed worth the effort to flip open their trinket-laden cell phones and snap a photo.

The event organizers expect to draw at least 35,000 fans to the Saitama Super Arena for the show, and representatives from both Dream and Sengoku did their best to pump up the lukewarm rivalry between the two organizations, though without much apparent interest from the fans.  A couple things worth noting:

Like King George III and Hugh Grant before him, Michael Bisping is quickly establishing himself as a Brit who Americans love to hate. During a post-fight press conference, Bisping was asked how he felt about the way the crowd reacted to him during UFC 78. His witty response: “They can all go to hell.” Listen to the audio here. As Mr. Sunshine reports, “it did put a slight grimace on the face of UFC president Dana White, who was standing behind Bisping.” Though we imagine if Dana was in Bisping’s shoes, he’d probably say something more along the lines of “Basically, Jersey can go fuck itself.”

Today at 4 p.m. ET, the UFC will hold a media conference call to announce a new television deal, as well as the signing of Brock Lesnar and the UFC 79 fight between Chuck Liddell and Wanderlei Silva.

A half-hour later, Randy Couture will be holding a press conference in Las Vegas to explain his disassociation with the UFC — and hopefully comment on his future plans. Couture’s press conference will be broadcast live on HDNet as well as on ProElite.com. (Hmm…could this mean a signing to EliteXC is a possibility? Could a Randy Couture/Kimbo Slice fight be far behind?)

Stay tuned for live-blogging madness…

UPDATE: The UFC media announcement will be broadcast here.