(Props: UFC)

The UFC’s next big event goes down May 28th at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, featuring the third meeting between champion Frankie Edgar and arch-rival Gray Maynard, as well as Quinton “Rampage” Jackson vs. Matt Hamill and Frank Mir vs. Roy Nelson. The UFC 130 lineup also includes Miguel Torres, Thiago Alves, Stefan Struve, and the return of Jorge Santiago. Start getting psyched now, because there ain’t a hell of a lot going on until then…

(I guess that would make Anderson Silva the other joker, and Randy Couture the “Rules of Poker” instructional card that always gets lost.)

By Anton Gurevich

After just three years of MMA competition, Jon “Bones” Jones became the youngest champion in the UFC’s history. Jones defeated the PRIDE legend Mauricio “Shogun” Rua in an impressive fashion to become the new UFC Light Heavyweight Champion, proving to everyone once again that “the hype is real.”

The Greg Jackson product is currently 7-1 in his Ultimate Fighting Championship campaign, defeating Andre Gusmao, Stephan Bonnar, Jake O’Brien, Brandon Vera, Vladimir Matyushenko and Ryan Bader on his way to the triumph against Shogun Rua at UFC 128. His only defeat came via DQ (“12-6 elbows”) against Matt Hamill at the TUF 10 Finale event on Dec. 5th, 2009.

And since the majority of Jacks, Queens and Kings of the UFC Light Heavyweight division are behind him, here’s the list of four aces who may be on their way to challenging “The Joker” Jon Jones for his belt…

Continue reading on Lowkick.com

Winning — it feels good, man. Lots more fighters enjoying the moment, after the jump.

(Knocking out Wanderlei Silva at PRIDE 33 was “definitely a much bigger accomplishment than anything else I’ve done.” / Photo courtesy of Sherdog.)

With 14 years of battles under his belt, Dan Henderson has bridged the gap between the old-school and the new-school. He started competing in 1997 — long before “Zuffa” and “the Unified Rules” entered the MMA lexicon — and his first four appearances were in single-night tournaments, where he was often pitted against seasoned fighters with years of experience. (Luckily, Henderson had his Olympic-caliber wrestling background to fall back on, and went 9-0 in those tournaments.)

Unlike many of his contemporaries, Henderson evolved with the sport, and has managed to remain one of the world’s top fighters. Coming off a first-round knockout of Renato Sobral in December, Henderson returns to the cage this Saturday in the main event of Strikeforce: Feijao vs. Henderson, where he’ll be challenging Rafael Cavalcante for the promotion’s light-heavyweight belt. We caught up with Dan to get some war stories about his long career and his thoughts on what lies ahead…

Becoming ‘Hendo’: The Brazil Open ’97 (6/15/97)
def. Crezio de Souza via TKO, 5:25
def. Eric Smith via technical submission (guillotine choke), 0:30

(Please, Rampage. Your fist-pose means nothing here.)

For those of you who like to plan ahead in your MMA gambling, listen up: Several betting sites are already offering odds on Rashad Evans vs. Rampage Jackson at UFC 130 — a match that is completely unconfirmed at this point — and the purely hypothetical superfight between Anderson Silva and Georges St. Pierre, which would depend on a GSP victory over Jake Shields. The most favororable odds right now are…

Rashad Evans (-185) vs. Quinton “Rampage” Jackson (+155)
Anderson Silva (-170) vs. Georges St. Pierre (+155)

(Props: MMA30tv)

This video has been making the rounds today mostly because of the part that begins at the 4:40 mark, in which Rashad Evans describes a physical encounter he had with Quinton Jackson recently at a Las Vegas nightclub. Basically, Rashad approached his TUF 10 coaching rival to congratulate him on his win over Lyoto Machida (and also bust his balls a bit). The conversation took a left turn, which led to Rampage slapping Rashad in the face. Rashad returned the slap, and then security stepped in. End of story.

But the way Rashad sets up the story is a little strange. He says: “I seen him at XS, right? And I go up to him and give him his props for his win, y’know, he beat Machida, I beat Machida, and I was like ‘good job,’ you know. And I said ‘but you know, you kind of used a little bit of my strategy in that fight.’ [Rampage said] ‘Whatchu talkin’ ’bout?’ And I said, ‘well I mean, you were taking him down a lot, and you said that I wrestled you a lot, so, you said I was kinda weak for doing that, but then you go and do the same thing.”

Rashad, if you’re reading this, maybe this will help jog your memory…

(Video courtesy of YouTube/wallenrichard)

Tatame is reporting that Jon Jones was not the UFC’s first choice as Mauricio "Shogun" Rua’s replacement opponent for UFC 128. According to the UFC light heavyweight champion, Quinton "Rampage" Jackson was offered the title shot in place Rashad Evans, who injured his knee training last week in Albuquerque, but the A-Team star declined the fight for undisclosed reasons.

“The UFC had another opponent in mind, but it didn’t work out. For some reason [Qinton Jackson] didn’t accept the title shot," Shogun explained. “I’ll have to change my training because [Jon Jones] is a lot different than Rashad. He’s much taller, which will present a great challenge. He’s been surprising everybody in the UFC — defeating everybody with ease, and it’ll be a tough fight for me."

"Smell it!"

Maybe Rampage is still waking up in cold sweats from the recurring nightmare of getting his head soccer-kicked into the fifth row by Shogun.

As we recently learned, the next season of The Ultimate Fighter will be coached by a grumpy mountain man who probably won’t spend any more time on set than he absolutely needs to, and a Brazilian dynamo whose grasp on the English language is limited to simple phrases like "I believe too much in my boxing" and "tub you are a cold — so we’re not expecting a verbal rivalry on par with Tito/Ken or Rampage/Rashad. Still, it’s TUF, so somebody’s gonna get told at some point. Can this season’s insults possibly stack up to some of our past favorites?

#5: "You’re like an expert swimmer who’s never been in a pool."

Matt Serra’s epic dress-down of Marc Laimon was his star-making moment — and a firm bitch-smack to every sideline-hater who talks tough without any intention of actually backing up his words. A year later, Serra was coaching that damn show.

#4: "Bro, you’re a male nurse."

Like a Katy Perry song, it’s annoying as hell, and yet you can’t get it out of your head. "Bro, you’re a male nurse" — I say that to all my friends now, no matter what their professions actually are. And it aggravates them too.

(Yeah, kind of!)

Everybody likes to be recognized for their work — even if it’s the "work" they do on MMA-blog comment sections when they should be actually, you know, working. And so, our first order of business: The winners of Wednesday’s impromptu Rampage-on-Dr.-Phil caption contest.

hotsaucemonster [winner]: and i guess at that moment i realized that perhaps it was me that had the nasty ass stank breff the whole time

Dana_Plight [first runner-up]: "Every guy I went to high school with, except for one, is dead. Someone poisoned the grape soda at the high school reunion. The one survivor was diabetic, he couldn’t drink grape soda…and that’s why you shouldn’t join a gang."

Maine Blazer [second runner-up]: James Toney sees two rednecks.

hotsauce, please shoot me your address and I’ll send you something nice. Dana and Maine, you guys are eligible for some CP shirts (see the end of this post). We’d also like to take some time to pay tribute to some of the week’s other comment-section power-players…

(Video courtesy YouTube/KennethGuye)

If you missed the above episode of Dr. Phil yesterday featuring Quinton "Rampage" Jackson, you might be surprised when you hear how thoughtful and well-spoken the former UFC light heavyweight champ came off.

The theme of the episode was "teens in trouble," and according to Jackson, he once fell under that category having carried a gun and run drugs for dealers in the neighborhood in Memphis, Tenn. from the time he was eight years old. Jackson told the kids on the show that needed to heed the advice given to him by an uncle when he was 17. The elder Jackson apparently told him that if he continued down the path he was on, he would end up in jail with convicts who, "hadn’t been with a woman in a long time."

The fear of being someone’s prison bitch was apparently all Rampage needed to be put on the straight and narrow, at least until he became addicted to energy drinks and the movie The Secret.

(Props: DrPhilShow)

…at least in New York, he will be. Not sure what time it airs over by you, but I’d suggest checking your local listings and setting your DVR, because Quinton "Rampage" Jackson is about to be on Dr. Phil‘s daily scold-fest, where he’ll be lecturing some kids about gang violence. Hopefully Phil won’t butcher Quinton’s name, like he did to poor Kenny Florini.

Look, we don’t really have anything to give away right now, but Rampage tweeted out a photo from the taping, and it has "caption contest" written all over it. Hit us with a clever caption to the pic after the jump, and maybe I’ll send the winner a Starbucks card or something. (You pussies drink fancy coffee, right?)

Sometimes a fighter connects with his opponent so perfectly that he can confidently peace out to collect his check before the ref even stops the fight. It’s called a walk-off knockout, and it’s what all other knockouts aspire to be. Here, presented with limited commentary, are our favorites.

#8: Brad Kohler vs. Steve Judson @ UFC 22 (9/24/99)

(Seriously, who let that mouse into the Octagon? Props: UFC.com)

Here’s what we know: BJ Penn and George Sotiropoulos already have dates at UFC 127 in Australia. Karo Parisyan has been fired (again), and Matt Brown will surely be let go as well after suffering his third-consecutive submission loss. (Tyson Griffin also lost his third-straight on Saturday, but will remain in the promotion, as the judges’ decision in his fight against Nik Lentz was utter horseshit.) So where do UFC 123‘s other winners and losers go from here? As usual, we have a few suggestions…

Quinton Jackson: This one’s fairly obvious, assuming that nobody really wants to see an immediate rematch between Jackson and Machida. Rampage should get the winner of Jon Jones vs. Ryan Bader at UFC 126. The winner of that fight gets a title shot. Bada-bing, bada-boom.

Lyoto Machida: Once an unstoppable force in the light-heavyweight division, it’s now been a year and a half since the Dragon has put on a dominant performance against anybody. At this point, the UFC needs to re-build Machida against a mid-level contender. Give him Matt Hamill, who deserves a step up after handling Keith Jardine and Tito Ortiz. Alternately, you could throw Machida in against Randy Couture, and see if the Natural’s gift for game-planning can carry him through against the Dragon. Of course, that matchup might not be pointless enough for Randy, so don’t get your hopes up.

Just a reminder that we’ll be streaming the UFC 123 weigh-ins today live from the Palace of Auburn Hills in Auburn Hills, Michigan.

Check out the main card preview videos while you wait and the UFC media player of the weigh-ins after the jump.

(Video courtesy YouTube/UFC.com)

(Video courtesy YouTube/UFC.com)

If you aren’t familiar with the general consensus at CagePotato.com that when a fighter whose career has been sagging claims to be bringing back an incarnation of his or her former self, it’s usually bullshit and nine times out of 10 said fighter loses in dramatic fashion in their next fight.

Hopefully for Quinton Jackson’s sake there’s a loophole in the rule that says when a fighter’s trainer makes the comment, it doesn’t have the same repercussions or else he’s going to be in for a long (or short) night on Saturday night at UFC 123 against Lyoto Machida.

In an interview with MMA Fighting’s Mike Chiappetta Jackson’s new coach Lance Gibson says he is bringing back the old Rampage, only a new and improved version — so we’re not quite sure which one it is: the old one or the new improved one.

"I’m bringing back the old Rampage, but new and improved plus more," Gibson said. "The guy with takedowns, slams, punches, kicks. The man’s got vicious kicks and elbows, and nobody’s seen it yet because he had a manager and trainer who was just a boxer, and he got him in that state of mind. But now he’s ready to go."

"How did he do it?" you might ask. The answer is simple according to Gibson: he made training fun.

"The difference between last camp and this one is apples and oranges," Gibson told MMA Fighting. "His mentality, everything is superb. He’s having more fun, you notice he’s smiling more. He’s enjoying himself. He trained really hard for this fight and he’s excited to show it."

Translation: "We didn’t work him too hard and we didn’t push him during conditioning training, which he always says he has hated so don’t expect his cardio to be great for the fight."

("I’m actually preparing for my next movie role right now. It’s called ‘This Muhfucka Breff Stank: The Machida Story’." Props: twitter.com/danawhite)

With Bellator on hiatus, Friday mornings have gotten a little lonely around here. So I decided to reach out to Doug "ReX13" Richardson and see if he felt like reviving a classic feature on CagePotato, and engaging in some spirited debate on a few UFC 123-related topics that we didn’t get to cover in last week’s podcast. Will this be the beginning of a new era, or the raping of an old legacy? Read on and decide for yourself. And don’t forget to come back tomorrow night for our liveblog of Rampage vs. Machida!

Between Rampage, Machida, Hughes, and Penn, who would most deserve a title shot after a win on Saturday?

BG: Matt Hughes by a country mile. Hughes has already built up three-straight wins in his division — which sets him apart from the other headliners on the card who are all coming off of losses — and a win in his rubber match against Penn might generate interest in the revival of another big-money rivalry from the past: Hughes vs. GSP. (Yes, Georges would need to get past Josh Koscheck at UFC 124, but who are we kidding here?)

No matter who holds the 170-pound strap at the end of next month, it’s clear that the UFC’s welterweight division is short on exciting title challengers, while the light-heavyweight division almost has too many of them. Once the Mauricio Rua vs. Rashad Evans title scrap finally goes down, the winner of Jon Jones vs. Ryan Bader could legitimately be slotted in for a shot ahead of Jackson or Machida. Meanwhile, a Hall of Famer like Matt Hughes making another unlikely title run would be a lot more compelling than Jon Fitch or Jake Shields getting their dutiful turns at bat. In fact, Fitch and Shields should have to fight each other to establish the UFC’s Alpha Blanket before either of them get a whiff of championship gold.

RX: Wow, really? Country Breakfast was the first guy I eliminated. His last win over a guy under thirty years old was five years ago, and he hasn‘t shown any interest in actually fighting top 5 fighters at 170. Both Hughes and Penn are looking to win this fight so internet assholes like ourselves don’t start saying they’re washed-up bums.

(Props: GollyIE)

UFC 123 may not feature any title fights, but it does feature four hungry ex-champions. Headliner Rampage Jackson says he’s seen it all in his long career, and he’s not expecting any surprises from Lyoto Machida. Tiki Ghosn chimes in, predictably: "It’s Karate. Karate we found out sucked years ago. I think everybody got mesmerized with [Machida's] movement. Nobody cuts him off, nobody tries to cut him off." We hear more about Rampage’s decision to move his camp closer to home in Orange County, but no real explanation for the specific presence of Lance Gibson. Coincidentally, Machida has been preparing not too far away in San Diego, at Team Nogueria Gym. He says this fight is all about who imposes their gameplan. As opposed to other fights, where gameplans don’t really matter.

After the jump: ’Countdown’ continues, with a nice history of the rivalry between Matt Hughes and BJ Penn — from Matt’s "big man on campus" prime, to the loss that threw him into a Sin City tailspin, to his rematch redemption. Hughes has now eaten up three-consecutive Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belts, and is looking to make Penn #4. Meanwhile, Penn is in Honolulu, with a head full of smoking needles, trying to clear his head after two upset losses to Frankie Edgar. To see the segment on Sotiropoulos vs. Lauzon, head to UFC.com.

Will "Rampage" finally pull out the "stank piss breff" joke he’s been dying to use on Machida?

Will Lyoto praise Steven Seagal for bringing back the old "Dragon?"

Has BJ Penn given up conventional training and gone back to carrying rocks under water and diving off of cliffs?

Will Matt Hughes ever be humble?

These questions and more will be answered within the hour as the UFC 123 pre-fight presser from Auburn Hills, Michigan hits the web via the UFC streaming web player after the jump.

This Saturday in Detroit, two former light-heavyweight champions — both coming off of losses — will battle to retain their top-contender status. To better predict the outcome of Rampage vs. Machida, we look to the stats, which never, ever fail us. Check ‘em out below, and don’t forget to make your picks in this week’s MMA Fightpicker pools!

# OF SUCCESSFUL TITLE DEFENSES AS CHAMPION
Jackson: 1
Machida: 1  
Advantage: even

FINISHING RATIO
Jackson: 55% (21 stoppage wins in 38 career fights)
Machida: 41% (7 stoppage wins in 17 career fights)
Advantage: Jackson

CURRENT CAMP AFFILIATION
Jackson: It’s kind of a secret.
Machida: Black House
Advantage: Machida

UNFORTUNATE BEVERAGE CHOICE
Jackson: Energy drinks
Machida: Pee-pee
Advantage: Jackson

(There’s an ad for a sports drink if I ever saw one.)

Lyoto Machida isn’t taking anything for granted in preparing for his upcoming bout with Quinton Jackson at UFC 123 November 20.

The former UFC light heavyweight champ says he’s preparing for every scenario that "Rampage" may present him with during the fight — even the unlikelihood that Jackson may demonstrate some newly developed kickboxing skills.

"Well, I always think for a MMA fight, despite the specialties of each fighter, you have to be prepared for anything, because we can never know what the guy is up to. A guy who doesn’t know how to kick may be kicking on the following fight, you can’t tell for sure. The need leads the frog to a jump. We have many examples of people who are good on areas that aren’t theirs specialties: Georges St. Pierre has improved a lot his Wrestling, people that didn’t kick are now kicking and so it goes… I don’t underestimate any fighter," Machida told Tatame.com. "I think that, just as I’m prepared for anything during the fight, so are they: the stand-up game, the takedowns and the ground game. Of course we have our game plan set, our strong point is Karate and the exchanges, but if we need to use the other skills, we will do the takedowns and the ground game that I train here with Valter Broca, who’s a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt, graduated by De La Riva, who always help me on this area."

As far as Jackson’s gameplan, Machida doesn’t think Quinton will shy away from standing with him, despite his tough to defend against unorthodox karate striking prowess.

(Props: FoxBroadcasting)

After trying to sit through an episode of American Dad one day, I made a vow to myself that despite my appreciation for Family Guy, I’m pretty much done with Seth MacFarlane side-projects and spin-offs. I’ve never watched The Cleveland Show. I kind of assumed it was just an outlet for all the cringe-worthy racial humor that was left on Family Guy‘s cutting-room floor, and that MacFarlane will eventually create The Joe Swanson Show, so that he can make more jokes about handicapped people. Maybe that’s an unfair bias. I wouldn’t know. 

Anyway, here’s a clip of Quinton "Rampage" Jackson doing a guest turn on The Cleveland Show as an avenging super-slave named Kunta Kinte 9000 who shoots missiles out of his arms. Jackson thinks it’s hilarious. He also thinks this is funny, so take that with a grain of salt.

("The guy has titties. I couldn’t do a comedy bit next to a guy with titties. For real." Props: Spike.com)

Comic actor Kevin James has long been a familiar face at UFC events, so we suppose it was only a matter of time before this happened. According to a report on deadline.com (via MMAMania) the star of such critically acclaimed films as Grown Ups and Paul Blart: Mall Cop has his next masterpiece in the works, and yep, it’s MMA-related:

James is attached to play a physics teacher whose school faces drastic cutbacks. In an attempt to save his best friend’s job and the music program his students love, he moonlights in the octagon as a mixed martial arts fighter, ultimately leading to brawling in the UFC. The film is on a fast track, and production presidents Matt Tolmach and Doug Belgrad hope to get it into production next year.

I know what you’re thinking — the idea of shlubby-ass Kevin James getting a UFC contract is way too far-fetched, even in the context of a screwball comedy. But remember, Roy Nelson was an untrained paralegal with no MMA experience before going on TUF 10, and you all saw how well that worked out. One more thing: The music-teacher best friend in the movie? I’m willing to bet that the role will be an embarrassing gay stereotype played by Rob Schneider. Seriously, you all have to pay me five bucks if I’m right.

(Some fan-made video hype from SandmanMMAPromotions)

MMAFighting has confirmed that the previously reported bout between former UFC light-heavyweight champions Quinton Jackson and Lyoto Machida will headline November 20th’s UFC 123 card, which will take place at the Palace of Auburn Hills in Auburn Hills, Michigan. It will be the UFC’s first event in the Great Lakes State since the spectacularly bad UFC 9, which was marked by an official ban on head-punches and a 30-minute Superfight Championship between Ken Shamrock and Dan Severn, in which both future Hall of Famers refused to engage, circling each other for the majority of the bout. That ill-fated event was held at Detroit’s Cobo Hall; now that Detroit has returned to wilderness, the UFC will instead head north to the suburb of Auburn Hills and the longtime home stadium of the Detroit Pistons.

At this point, the only other match reported for the event is a welterweight scrap between Matt Brown and Rory MacDonald. Brown is coming off consecutive submission losses against Ricardo Almeida and Chris Lytle, while MacDonald most recently succumbed to a TKO with just seven seconds remaining of his UFC 115 fight against Carlos Condit. You could say it’s one of those "must win" fights for both sides. And yet one of them will inevitably lose. Doesn’t seem fair, does it.

(A megamix of every amazing thing Chael Sonnen said at yesterday’s UFC 117 press conference. Listen to all of it. You will never be the same. Props: MiddleEasy)

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…

– Famed Ref ‘Big’ John McCarthy to Return to Octagon at UFC on Versus 2 (MMA Fighting)

– Top 5 UFC Fighters Who Never Became Champions (LowKick)

– Mark Munoz Preparing for Three Round Battle Against Yushin Okami (Versus MMA Beat)

– Machida upcoming, Rampage eliminates key part of gameplan (Watch Kalib Run)

– John Howard, His 1994 Accord, And Sleeping Under A Ring (Heavy.com/MMA)

– At home with Dan Hardy and his cute, tatted-up girlfriend. (FIGHT! Magazine)

– Top Secret Ubereem: Public Misconceptions of MMA Fighters (MMA Scraps)

– Video tour of Fedor Emelianenko’s "Palace of Sport" (MMA Convert)

– Grappling With Issues: Jake Shields’s title prospects, Brock Lesnar’s star power, and Ken Shamrock’s legacy (Five Ounces of Pain)

(The belt is now being gently caressed by Shogun as he relaxes at home watching SOAPNet. How does that make you guys feel?)

According to a new report on MMA Junkie, the rumored fight between former UFC light-heavyweight champs Quinton Jackson and Lyoto Machida has been targeted for a yet-to-be-announced event on November 20th. As Rampage tweeted last night, "almost ready 2 sign the bout agreement! i would tell yall who im gonna get down with, but i cant spell his name….hahaha." As always, Quinton, your near-illiteracy is hilarious. (Come on, it’s not like he’s fighting Vinicius Kappke de Quieroz.)

Both fighters are coming off of tough defeats, with Jackson suffering a unanimous decision loss to Rashad Evans at UFC 114 in May, and Machida getting KTFO’d by (and losing his belt to) Mauricio Rua earlier the same month at UFC 113. The winner of this fight would rebound to the top of the light-heavyweight pile, while the loser would plummet out of title contention. Can Rampage follow the Shogun game-plan and smash the Dragon, or will he be a sitting-duck for Machida’s unorthodox attacks?

No other matchups are currently rumored for the 11/20 event, which would come just a week after the UFC’s return to Germany at #122.

(Todd S.)

(Adam F.)

Thanks to everybody who submitted entries for our first-ever Facebook photoshop contest! Y’all gave us some legit LOL’s, for real. And if we could give CagePotato t-shirts to all of you, we totally would, but instead we’re just going to choose our eleven favorites, which continue after the jump. If your work has been posted, hit up contest@cagepotato.com with your shirt size and address, and we’ll get you sorted. We hope your summers are going this well…

("I pity the fool who makes fun of my scarf and inability to ignore the camera.")

It didn’t take Quinton Rampage Jackson long after his unanimous decision loss to Rashad Evans at UFC 114 to pull a Tito Ortiz. Just two and a half weeks after the bout and Rampage has already formulated his own "cracked skull" defense.

(I’m not sure if I can pull off a playing a brash, cocky hoodlum, but I’ll give it a shot.)

Now when people talk about the "Michael Bisping soap opera," there’s a good chance they’ll be talking about a television show, not the drama the perpetual smack-talker usually creates leading up to his UFC bouts. 

The 31-year-old Cyprus-born Liverpudlian revealed during The MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani today that he will play a gangster on an unnamed British daytime drama.

"I’m expecting to get a lot of grief from the Internet," Bisping told Helwani. "It’s not a novel soap opera, it’s a daytime soap opera. I play a bit of a bad guy."

(Video courtesy YouTube/WWE)

If you missed Quinton "Rampage" Jackson’s foray into the world of professional wrestling on Monday night’s WWE RAW Viewer’s Choice show, count yourself lucky. Let’s just say that Rampage and his A-Team co-stars fit right in with the calibre of acting that was featured on the show, which isn’t saying much. Hopefully his lines in the A-Team are few and far between.

Losing isn’t always the end of the world. Sometimes, taking an ass-kicking — or getting screwed out of a well-deserved victory — can be the best thing for a fighter’s career. Don’t believe us? We’ll start with one that should still be fresh in your minds…

#7: Jason Brilz‘s split-decision loss to Antonio Rogerio Nogueira
UFC 114, 5/29/10

(Early front-runner for Punch Face of 2010. Photo courtesy of UFC.com)

What happened: Lil’ Nog was originally supposed to face Forrest Griffin at UFC 114, until Griff was struck down by a shoulder injury three-and-a-half weeks before the event. The UFC had to book a replacement, and fast, so they called up wrestling specialist Jason Brilz. Like a true warrior, Brilz put down his beer, blew off his 10-year wedding anniversary, and stepped up to the plate. On paper, he should have been destroyed by the sharp hands and top-flight experience of Nogueira. Instead, Brilz nearly choked Nog out with a guillotine in the second round, wobbled him with strikes, out-wrestled him, and arguably controlled the majority of the fight. But after the last horn sounded and the scores were added up, only one judge saw it his way.

Victory in defeat: If you didn’t know who Jason Brilz was before last weekend’s show, you do now. Brilz picked up even more classy-points by not bitching about the decision: "I’m not upset. Sure, I’d have liked to win. Everybody likes to win. I think I went out there and I proved to people, but more importantly I proved to myself, that I can compete with the top dogs. That’s sort of what I’ve been aiming for my whole career.” We don’t know exactly what Jason’s future holds, but it’s looking a lot brighter now. The $65,000 bonus check probably doesn’t hurt either.

#6: Jon Jones‘s disqualification loss to Matt Hamill
TUF 10 Finale, 12/5/09