(Video courtesy of Sapo/IronForgesIron)

If you weren’t excited about the next major Zuffa show on February 25 before, this 10-minute extended preview should get you pumped for the first UFC show in Japan in more than 10 years.

You know the card for UFC 144 is good when Yushin Okami, “Kid” Yamamoto and Hatsu Hioki are on the prelims. The card is stacked. Edgar versus Bendo will be a fast-paced chess match, Rampage versus Bader should be a slugfest, Hunt versus Kongo will be a K-1 bout in a cage and Pettis versus Lauzon is an interesting clash of styles. What’s not to like about this event?

(‘No, it isn’t funny. What happened to the dress I bought you? The one with an actual neckline? It’s like you want people to stare or something. Oh, now I get it.’)

You know what time it is.  Time to get serious about the important questions surrounding UFC 97.  Questions like, ‘What the hell are we getting for our money here?’ and ‘What’s up with your stupid face, stupid?’  That’s right.  It’s Ben vs. Ben time.

What exactly does Chuck Liddell have to do to prove that he’s still got it?  Is anything less than a devastating KO going to be enough?
 
BG: It’ll either have to be a knockout, or an incredibly dominant decision victory where all three judges score it 30-24 and Shogun Rua‘s face looks like hamburger afterwards. Here’s the deal: There’s no way that Shogun could have magically set the clock back to 2005 in the three months since he barely defeated Mark Coleman at UFC 93, and I think we all expect a shabby performance out of him tomorrow night. So Chuck basically has to prove that although he may no longer be able to hang with younger, more complete fighters, his skills haven’t deteriorated as much as Rua’s have.

If both fighters turn in mediocre efforts, the UFC will have a hard time figuring out what to do with them. (You can’t cut the winner and the loser. Can you?) That was probably Dana White’s motivation for calling out Liddell in public and demanding a dazzling performance — if Chuck fails again, there’s no obvious next step with him, promotion-wise. Do you throw him against talented up-and-comers like Luis Cane and Jon Jones, who might smash his old ass?  Do you try to build him back up against complete cans? Either way, he won’t be in important fights anymore, and that may not be an option for the UFC, or for Chuck himself.

BF: The only way a decision victory would be enough for Liddell is if a) Rua fights like it’s the 2005 Pride GP all over again, b) Chuck still comes close to finishing him several times, and c) after the fight all we can talk about is what amazing heart and conditioning Rua showed in merely surviving that assault.

With the Nick Diaz/Frank Shamrock Strikeforce bout just a few days away, now seems like as good a time as any to look back on some of the notable moments from the career of each man and then speculate irresponsibly as to who will take this one.  Above, you see Nick Diaz’s crowning achievement – his victory over Takanori Gomi.  What a shame that those facists at the athletic commission insisted on drug testing him afterwards and then changing the result to a no contest because of a little shitload of weed in his system.

Nonetheless, we know what happened.  Diaz proved two important things in this fight: 1) he can take a beating, and 2) he’s always a threat to submit you, especially in transition and off his back.  However, in this fight we also see the patented Diaz striking style.  His hands out in front, his head a stationary target, coming forward and wearing you down with accumulation of strikes more than with power.

Now let’s take a look at something recent from Shamrock’s portfolio.

(All that hype couldn’t even get Davis and Lytle a spot on the poster.  What a shame.)

As the deadline nears to get your picks in for The Great Cage Potato UFC 93 Pick-em Contest (man, we have got to come up with a shorter name for that), we’ve been perusing the forums and checking out some of your entries.  Sometimes we’re impressed with what we see.  Sometimes we’re just confused (Cronk is taking Coleman, Horn, Belcher and Egan – now that’s a guy who loves underdogs), and sometimes we marvel at how lazy you can be (yeah, that’s a shot at you, Clever_Username).

Just for fun, we thought we’d go ahead and post our picks for this event.  No, we aren’t eligible for any of the awesome prizes, but at least you can see how you scored in relation to total bad-ass experts like ourselves.  And when you beat us by one point because you had enough of a lack of respect for Jeremy Horn to pick Palhares by first-round submission, Geriatric Peon, this will give you something to hold over our heads for years.  You jerk.

Our predictions are after the jump.  If you haven’t already, make sure you get yours in before Saturday at noon EST.  We ain’t playin’ about that deadline, either, so don’t come crying to us when your inability to follow instructions causes you to go without a t-shirt that is both stylish and an interesting conversation-starter at parties.

(Ed Herman)

CBSSports.com has a great preview of Saturday’s UFC card, where all of the match-ups (including the ones in the undercard) are analyzed by MMA writers Denny Burkholder, Sam “WAMMA” Caplan, Todd Martin and Ben Fowlkes. If you have some free time, check it out. If not, we’ll summarize:

— Nobody thinks Michael Bisping stands a chance against Rashad Evans.
— Ditto for Thiago Silva against Houston Alexander.
— Even though Joe Doerksen beat him when they met at SF 7 in 2004, Ed Herman gets the edge in their rematch tomorrow.
— Todd Martin calls a Karo Parisyan victory over Ryo Chonan his “lock of the night.”
— Sam Caplan predicts Edgar/Fisher will be the best fight of UFC 78.
— Thiago Alves, Joe Lauzon, Marcus Aurelio and Akihiro Gono will be sure things in their respective fights. (Man, it’s like these MMA writers share a brain…)

The International Fight League’s World Grand Prix goes down tomorrow in Hoffman Estates, IL, showcasing the top four fighters from their lightweight, welterweight, middleweight and heavyweight divisions, as well as a championship bout between the two best light heavies, Vladdy Matyushenko and Alex Schoenauer. MyNetworkTV will broadcast the first hour of the card live beginning at 8 p.m. CST.

The two fights that are guaranteed to go down in that hour are the light heavyweight match, and a lightweight meeting between undefeated 20-year-old Chris Horodecki of the L.A. Anacondas and Bart Palaszewski of Pat Miletich’s Quad City Silverbacks. Horodecki and Palaszewski fought earlier this year at an IFL event, with Horodecki eking out a split decision despite being dominated by the Silverback in the first round:

Weigh-ins are today at, of all places, B-Dubs. CagePotato strongly recommends the cheeseburger dippers, pulled pork sandwich and Blazin’ sauce.

EliteXC held a conference call yesterday to discuss their upcoming “Renegade” event, with live events president Gary Shaw and fighters Kimbo Slice, KJ Noons and Jake Shields in attendance. (The audio is here; dig that funky hold music.)

Obviously, the call belonged to Kimbo. Give this guy a few years and he’ll be operating on Tyson-esque levels of verbal entertainment/insanity. Some of his highlights:

[On training with Bas Rutten]: “Every aspect of my training has improved. My whole life has improved. I don’t even smoke any more. I haven’t had sex in four months. I haven’t had a cocktail in five, six months. So I’m pretty pure and backed up, and I’m ready to fight. My focus is on point. I’m accurate. I know how to use my power. My wind is outstanding. I’m ready for anything coming my way. My groundwork is superb. I’m an all?around fighter. I’m no longer one?dimensional. I’m not going to stand there and bang. Working with Bas, that’s like, man, he’s like the Jimmy Johnson, the John Madden of [MMA].”

Today at 1 p.m. PT, UFC prez Dana White and UFC co-owner Lorenzo Fertitta will hold a press conference to address recent statements made by Randy Couture and answer questions for the media. MMAjunkie.com reports that UFC’s chief financial officer John Mulkey will also participate in the press conference, hopefully to illuminate some of the mystery behind the UFC’s signing bonuses, “locker-room bonuses,” and pay-per-view percentages. The press conference will be streamed live on UFC.com; stay tuned for wild liveblogging action, which will hopefully run a lot smoother than last time.