(Props: CRE)

The best UFC highlight-reel of the week comes from BH, who has compiled some of the greatest Octagon moments of 2008-2009 (and Nick Diaz‘s 2007 PRIDE fight against Takanori Gomi, for some reason) — into this uplifting clip. Using Coldplay to soundtrack an MMA video is a risky move, but it actually works here, in a "Where the Hell Is Matt?" sort of way. From Akihiro Gono‘s legendary entrance at UFC 94 to the various disappointments of Chuck Liddell — it’s definitely worth a look.

After the jump: A Lyoto Machida-specific highlight reel from firelotus09. Just like Lyoto’s fights, the action doesn’t start right away; if you’re impatient, skip to the 1:43 mark and prepare to be Dragon’d.

(Does Houston’s abdomen remind anybody else of Kuato? Photo courtesy of jhiner.)

Bad news for fans who wanted to see Houston Alexander‘s do-or-die, for-real-this-time fight against Andre Gusmao at UFC 98 (May 23rd, Las Vegas). As confirmed on UFC.com, the Assassin has suffered a broken hand and has withdrawn from the match, making him the sixth big-name fighter to be scratched from the event. According to Fightlinker’s records, "Evans vs. Machida" is just one injury away from tying the all-time UFC record for unfortunate pull-outs, which is currently held by UFC 85. To recap the black cloud that has been hanging over UFC 98…

After a furious ten-day session in which 453 captions were submitted, it’s time to bring this thing home. Below are the 11 best entries in our Never Surrender caption contest. Read them all below, then vote for your favorite in the poll on the right. The five captions with the most votes win their authors a DVD copy of Never Surrender, and the five runners-up win CagePotato "Hall of Fame" t-shirts. The last-place caption earns the bitter frustration of coming so close to success but falling just short. Voting ends tomorrow at 4 p.m. ET, and the winners will be announced shortly after. Thanks to everyone who entered, and good luck!

Steve: Hey guys, after the movie, let’s go to my bedroom, take our shoes off, lie down on my bed, take about 20 to 30 minutes, and…

Rodney: This was taken just before BJ returned to his trailer and failed to come back out for the second half of the movie.

Til: Ok you can have him this weekend, but remember — lots of food and no Red Bull.

To commemorate the DVD release of Never Surrender on April 28th, LionsGate has given us five copies of the flick to give away to you wonderful people. Hit us with the plot summary, IMDb:

So it’s kind of like this, but with higher production values and a cast of actual MMA stars (Georges St. Pierre, BJ Penn, Anderson Silva, Quinton Jackson, and Heath Herring). You know you want to see that. And to score a copy of the movie, all you have to do is come up with an entertaining caption to the photo after the jump…

(Dana White tries to convince Quinton Jackson to fight Rashad Evans at UFC 98, following Rampage’s decision win over Keith Jardine last Saturday. Video courtesy of WatchKalibRun via TheGarv.)

SportsIllustrated has confirmed that former UFC light-heavyweight champion Quinton "Rampage" Jackson has turned down the opportunity to challenge Rashad Evans for the 205-pound title at UFC 98 (May 23rd, Las Vegas), due to the short turnaround and his lingering injuries. Taking his place will be Lyoto Machida, the undefeated — and virtually untouchable — Brazilian contender who most recently knocked out Thiago Silva at UFC 94 in January. Evans vs. Machida is the official main-event replacement for Mir vs. Lesnar, which was scrapped from the card thanks to Mir’s bum knee.

"Sugar" and "The Dragon" are very similar on paper. Both are undefeated in 14 professional fights — Evans is 13-0-1, while Machida is 14-0. Both have gone the distance in the majority of their UFC appearances, but are coming off of dramatic stoppage victories. And they have three opponents in common: Tito Ortiz (who Machida beat by unanimous decision last May and Evans drew with in 2007), Stephan Bonnar (who Machida won a cut-stoppage TKO over in 2003 and Evans beat via majority decision in 2006) and Sam Hoger (who Machida defeated by unanimous decision in 2007 and Evans took a split decision over in 2006).

Evans/Machida may not turn out to be Fight of the Year — we’re expecting more of a cautious and technical match than a thrilling one — but it’s also not the easiest fight to predict, which makes it compelling. Will Evans and the Team Jackson camp be able to come up with a gameplan that solves the confounding riddle of Lyoto Machida? Will Machida still look invincible against a true top-of-the-food chain light-heavyweight? 

Props to UFC.com, MMAWeekly, Sherdog, and CombatLifestyle.

(He’s gettin’ that belt back — eventually.)

Even though he wasn’t one of the six fighters who received medical suspensions after UFC 96, Quinton Jackson reportedly injured his hand during his decision win against Keith Jardine, making a May title fight against light-heavyweight champion Rashad Evans even less likely. Adds Sportsnet.ca:

Rampage’s hand injury adds to a lingering jaw injury that he sustained while training for his UFC 92 fight against Wanderlei Silva. It’s hard to imagine he’d be anywhere close to 100% by May 23rd. But that doesn’t seem to bother Rashad Evans, who is already mentally preparing for the UFC’s other top light-heavyweight contender, Lyoto Machida. As Sugar told Sherdog:

(Shane Carwin — one of the ten best heavyweights in the world. Photo courtesy of UFC.com)

In the wake of UFC 95, WEC 39, and UFC 96, we’ve tidied up the heavyweight, light-heavyweight, middleweight, welterweight, and featherweight top ten lists in our Power Rankings section. Some notable changes…

— Shane Carwin enters the heavyweight list at #9 after taking out his first Top 20 opponent in 69 seconds.

— Keith Jardine leaves the light-heavyweight list (temporarily, at least) after his loss to Quinton Jackson on Saturday. He may have beaten a post-peak Chuck Liddell and a pre-peak Forrest Griffin, but it’s unclear if he has what it takes to beat a high-level opponent when they’re at their best.

— Robbie Lawler and Jake Shields drop a spot due to inactivity. Not their fault, but whaddya gonna do. Luckily, their stints in Strikeforce begin soon.

— Josh Koscheck falls to #8 on the welterweight list after being upset by Paulo Thiago. Kos definitely still has the talent of a top-ten fighter — he’s just made some unfortunate choices.

— Jose Aldo ascends to #6 on the featherweight list after his fourth brutal stoppage win in the WEC.

Check ‘em out and let us know if you see things differently.

Unrelated, but important: Thanks so much for all your awesome nominations in our Best MMA Bars forum thread. We’re going to start compiling our list soon, so if you have any others to share, please let us know!

(‘Page vs. Keef. Props to MMALinker.)

After a wild, occasionally bizarre night of action which once again proved that weak-on-paper cards often turn out to be the most entertaining ones, the UFC released $60,000 end-of-night bonuses to UFC 96‘s standout fighters. Taking home the extra cash are…

Fight of the Night: Quinton Jackson and Keith Jardine, who put on a surprisingly competitive three-rounder in the main event; in fact, the fight was one of the few matches on the card that wasn’t a one-sided squash.

Knockout of the Night: Matt Hamill, obviously, for his Cro Coppian head-kick obliteration of Mark Munoz. 

Submission of the Night: No bonus was given out, even though Tamdan McCrory did technically make Ryan Madigan tap due to strikes. We’ll let you know if he decides to file a complaint with the athletic commission.

UFC 96 drew a very-impressive 17,033 spectators to Nationwide Arena, for a gate of $1.8 million. 

After the jump: The Hammer’s nasty KO, Carwin’s ownage of Napao, the Brown/Sell fiasco, and Kendall Grove’s job-saving beatdown of Jason Day.

(Only one thing could make "The Dean of Mean" smile like that: ice cream sandwich.)

Need some money and don’t want to go through the tedious motions of acquiring it through work?  Man, I sympathize.  That’s why I’m moving to an internet gambling-based personal financial model.  Yes, literally every piece of financial advice I read strongly suggests I not do this, but if those people know so much why are they still working as financial advice writers instead of living it up in limos with a bunch of Armenian strippers?  Riddle me that, suckas.

Betting lines come to us via BestFightOdds.com, as usual.

Quinton Jackson (-281) vs. Keith Jardine (+261)
Gabriel Gonzaga (-160) vs. Shane Carwin (+150)
Matt Hamill (-160) vs. Mark Munoz (+150)
Pete Sell (-131) vs. Matt Brown (+121)
Gray Maynard (-160) vs. Jim Miller (+155)
Tamdan McCrory (-290) vs. Ryan Madigan (+275)
Kendall Grove (-160) vs. Jason Day (+165)
Tim Boetsch (-130) vs. Jason Brilz (+130)
Brandon Vera (-500) vs. Mike Patt (+450)
Aaron Riley (-205) vs. Shane Nelson (+190)

Thoughts…

(Props: BloodyElbow)

Well, we’re nine days away from the most-anticipated [Columbus, Ohio-based] UFC card in history since last March. No, the lineup isn’t exactly knocking anybody’s dick off. But people bitched about UFC 95, and that turned out to be insane from top to bottom, so who really knows? Above is the extended promo clip for the night’s two main events. Quinton Jackson says Keith Jardine‘s chin is suspect, and vows that somebody’s gonna pay for making him go back to the chilly U.K. to train. Jardine says he an overall better fighter that Jackson, and plans on testing his spirit.

Meanwhile, both Gabriel Gonzaga and Shane Carwin take pride in the fact that they finish fights. The undefeated Carwin still hasn’t been out of the first round in his career, which is both a good thing (can anybody make it to the second bell against this guy?) and potentially a bad thing (will he gas out if it goes to rounds two and three?). But now that Carwin is training with Greg Jackson’s camp, he’ll be able to draw from the wisdom of guys like Keith Jardine, Nate Marquardt, Rashad Evans, and GSP, and the brilliant gameplans of the team’s namesake. Deal with that, Team Link.

Semi-Related:
— Quinton Jackson is not Lyoto Machida’s biggest fan: "I mean, he’s good, he’s undefeated, but he’s boring. If I was the promoter of a show I wouldn’t have guys like that fighting on my show.” And so the trash-talk for an eventual face-off begins…

— Sore as hell from his three-round burner against Troy Mandaloniz last Saturday, Rampage’s Wolfslair teammate Paul Kelly is dropping to lightweight.

— Keith Jardine’s friendship with Rashad Evans would prevent him from fighting "Sugar" for the UFC light-heavyweight title. If it comes to that. Which it won’t.

(Courtesy of youtube.com/UFC.)

Between his exceptionally bright red shirt, his constant nut-slapping, and his lap dance for ring girl Logan Stanton, Quinton Jackson is the true star of this game-day edition of the Danavlog. Rampage is in good spirits throughout, and his March 7th battle against Keith Jardine seems to be the furthest thing from his mind. Other important points from this episode: Dana bought that instant snow just to mess with Lorenzo Fertitta, Diego Sanchez‘s hand isn’t broken, and GSP makes a very accurate observation about the way his training partner Nate Marquardt finished off Wilson Gouveia ("It looks like he took this move from a video game").

Below: The accents in this video are as thick as they come, but if you’re a fan of Demian Maia, you might be interested in this look at his training with Wanderlei Silva and strength/conditioning coach Rafael Alejarra.

(Props: WandFightTeam via MMA Mania)

(When people start comparing your mugshots, rarely do they reach a conclusion that says anything positive about you.)

After first reporting that former UFC fighter Kimo Leopoldo was arrested for meth and maybe attempting to impersonate a police officer, TMZ.com has provided pretty conclusive photographic evidence that the would-be CSAC Executive Officer has a little bit of a problem.  As is often the case with meth, the mug shot tells the whole story.  He doesn’t even look like the same guy anymore, and Sherdog adds this detail about the Long Beach Police Department jumper he was sporting when cops spotted him: “It had a badge in the front and the word ‘Police’ across the back, except he was wearing flip-flops and playing with a yo-yo.”  Dude.  Just…wow.

- Another recently arrested substance-abuser is in the news for good reasons today.  Josh Neer has signed a new four-fight contract with the UFC following his submission victory over Mac Danzig at Fight Night 17.  That’s a relief for the guy who was looking at potentially being dropped from the organization following his arrest for DUI, hit-and-run, and evading police on New Year’s Eve.  But he won his fight, so it’s okay now!  Looks like beating up a vegan is still worth something in this country.  Thank God.

- Lyoto Machida is hoping Keith Jardine will beat Quinton Jackson at UFC 96 in March and grant him a title shot, but he’s not kidding himself.  Talking to Tatame, Machida said, “I’m cheering for Jardine, but I think that Quinton is stronger, hits harder… I think Quinton is the favorite. I think I’ll have to wait a bit more.”  The undefeated Brazilian said he’d consider another fight before challenging for the belt, since he’s always done what the UFC asked, but added, “now is time for me to start to ask a bit too.”  Twenty bucks says he asks for the UFC to get him one of those TapouT caged beds.  If not, he’s missing a golden fucking opportunity.

(Props: MMA Mania) 

The UFC has released the official fight order for UFC 96 (March 7th; Columbus, OH). Here’s what we’re looking at:

MAIN CARD
Quinton Jackson vs. Keith Jardine (LHW)
Matt Hamill vs. Mark Munoz (LHW)
Pete Sell vs. Matt Brown (WW)
Gabriel Gonzaga vs. Shane Carwin (HW)
Gray Maynard vs. Jim Miller (LW)

UNDERCARD 
Tamdan McCrory vs. Ryan Madigan (WW)
Kendall Grove vs. Jason Day (MW)
Tim Boetsch vs. Jason Brilz (LHW)
Brandon Vera vs. Mike Patt (LHW)
Aaron Riley vs. Shane Nelson (LW)

Your eyes do not deceive you: Brandon Vera is deeeeep on the dark card, fighting a dude who got wrecked by Tim Boetsch in his UFC debut last September. If this isn’t a your-last-chance kind of situation, I don’t know what is. But while I understand that match’s placement — losing three of your last four fights will generally earn you some sort of punishment from the UFC — I don’t see how Sell vs. Brown is a PPV-main-card-caliber fight, especially when a promising bout like Grove vs. Day is on the undercard. Ah well. Weak lineups have surprised us before, and as long as the main event and Gonzaga vs. Carwin deliver, how bad can it be? 

Discussion topic for your MMA study groups: Who will remain conscious longer, Jardine or Gonzaga?

    
(GSP’s brilliant Superman-jab, and Jon Jones’ spinning elbow to the back of Stephan Bonnar’s head, which caused Joe Silva to freak the fuck out. Props to NbleSavage and Smoogy on the UG.) 

— Last night around 9 p.m. PT, the MGM Grand Garden Arena slipped through a cosmic wormhole and landed in Bizarro World. How else would you explain Lyoto Machida picking up UFC 94‘s "Knockout of the Night" bonus in one of the two fights that didn’t go to a decision? The Dragon earned an extra $65,000 for putting Thiago Silva‘s lights out at the very end of round 1. There were no submissions last night (unless you count BJ Penn quitting in his corner), so the UFC decided to hand out two sets of "Fight of the Night" bonuses instead. John Howard and Chris Wilson both earned $65k for their exciting undercard match, which UFC newcomer Howard won by split decision. Nate Diaz and Clay Guida also picked up bonuses for their classic striker vs. hugger battle that ended with Guida getting his hand raised in a Split D.

— The UFC announced that last night’s show drew 14,885 attendees for a live gate of approximately $4.3 million. If that gate figure is accurate, it would make UFC 94 the sixth-highest-grossing UFC event of all-time in terms of ticket revenue. 

— Though the show was short on thrilling stoppages, the fans certainly got their money’s worth when it came to total fight time. UFC 94′s eight decisions broke the previous record of six, held by UFC 33, Fight Night 4, Fight Night 7, UFC 76, UFC 87, UFC 89, and UFC 90. No previous UFC event has ever featured more than two split decisions — UFC 94 had five, a record that hopefully will never be broken.

(Image courtesy of MMA Weekly.)

This must have happened when I got up to take a piss after the Hathaway/Egan fight, but apparently it was announced during the UFC 93 broadcast that Keith Jardine and Quinton Jackson are fighting at UFC 96 (March 7th, Columbus). Not the most awesome main event, but that’s what they’re giving us. Maybe Rashad Evans isn’t quite ready for another fight ten weeks after his last one; maybe the UFC just wants a little more time to promote the next light-heavyweight title match; maybe Lyoto Machida’s at the head of the line after all. Who knows. Will Jackson score a first-round KO, or will Jardine leg-kick his way to a decision? Oh, why can’t it be March 7th already?!?

(Rashad’s match with Rampage won’t be nearly this friendly.)

We’re less than two months out from UFC 96 (March 7th, Columbus), and so far the biggest match on the card is Shane Carwin vs. Gabriel Gonzaga. Which means it’s desperation time for the UFC — a time to call up old friends and tell them they’ll only have a ten-week layoff between fights. This just in:

Evans and Jackson emerged from their last bouts relatively unscathed, so it seems feasible. It also might be the only main event available at this point, so it kind of has to happen unless the UFC is cool with Carwin/Gonzaga toplining the event. Even better, it’ll mean that the winner of the Lyoto Machida/Thiago Silva match at UFC 94 could challenge for the title in his next fight, as long as he’s willing to wait like five months for it. Damn…just how many times could the 205-pound strap change hands this year?

Semi-related: Remember when we said that Forrest Griffin’s hand injury would sideline him until the fall? Bad information, apparently. According to Forrest’s people, he’ll be back this summer.

(Not his finest moment. Photo courtesy of UFC.com.)

Following UFC 92, deposed light-heavyweight champion Forrest Griffin received a medical suspension for a left hand injury, blocking him from competition until late June unless the hand was cleared by an orthopedic doctor. But according to The Sun, the situation has become a little more serious:

Tough break. But on the bright side, this makes a championship bout between Evans and Quinton Jackson even more likely. Though Rampage originally said he wanted to avenge his UFC 86 loss to Griffin before taking another shot at the title, he has since changed his mind, and it’s highly unlikely that he’d want to wait 9+ months for Griffin to heal up anyway. But who knows, maybe Lyoto Machida can pull off some insane finish against Thiago Silva at UFC 94 and convince Dana White than his 14-fight win streak is more title-shot-worthy than Jackson’s one-fight win streak. Unfortunately, Machida will likely be passed over again if he picks up another decision win.

(UFC 97: Big Building vs. Lightning Bolt. Tickets now available at ConvolutedMetaphor.com.)

Hey, sorry we haven’t done t-shirt giveaways in a few weeks — that’s on us, player. But there’s been a lot of commenter brilliance happening lately, so let’s do this…

Lysol on "Rampage Pleads Guilty to Reckless Driving…": I want to see two guest lectures in the near future: The Importance of Sleep, Nutrition, and Exercise by Rampage Jackson and Black Belt Jiu Jitsu Grappling by Tank Abbott.

??? on "Kimbo Slice Has a ‘Boxing Machine’":
http://i713.photobucket.com/albums/ww133/CrushCo/Kimbo.jpg
[Ed. note: This comment somehow disappeared from the post, so we don't know who sent it in or what the exact setup was, but it was something along the lines of "Check out the prize I got from playing this game," and it was kind of amazing.]

John Kimble on "This Just In: MMA Is Finished, XARM to Take Over": Lyoto Machida and Kalib Starnes would be awful at this.

And finally, this idiot-savant-like exchange on our current poll:

If you happen to be any of these people (except for the multiple Anonymouses, because if you can’t come up with a clever screen-name, you’re ineligible to win) and you want a CagePotato "Hall of Fame" t-shirt, send your name, size, and address to feedback@cagepotato.com. And have a great day!

 
Our highlight-video-making buddy Facey has launched a new site called FightFace, where he’ll be compiling the best MMA moments of every month into a single convenient clip. As far as source material is concerned, it doesn’t get much better than December 2008, which is the subject of Facey’s first installment. See above for the craziest stoppages from the TUF 8 finale, UFC’s "Fight for the Troops," WEC 37, UFC 92, and Fields Dynamite!! 2008. It’s an awesome project so keep your eye on it and show some support.

Also: If you don’t think it’s too early in the day to watch bikini-clad chicks gyrate at an MMA ring girl competition, you may want to watch the clip after the jump.

#5: Affliction: Banned, 7/19/08

(Photo courtesy of Sherdog)

Sure, the pacing was a little shaky, and the picture quality for the pay-per-view broadcast was kind of dark, and apparently some of you don’t think that Megadeth’s Rust in Peace is one of the most kickass records ever released. But you shouldn’t look a gift horse in the mouth. Affliction’s debut MMA show gave us a supernova of heavyweight star power, featuring Fedor Emelianenko’s 36-second destruction of Tim Sylvia, Andrei Arlovski’s beatdown of Ben Rothwell, and Josh Barnett’s redemptive KO of Pedro Rizzo; elsewhere on the card, we got to see Matt Lindland, Babalu Sobral, Vitor Belfort and Antonio Rogerio Nogueira in action. The organization has since turned into a bit of a shit-show, but with Banned, they gave us nearly everything we could have hoped for.

#4: UFC 87: Seek and Destroy, 8/9/08

(Photo courtesy of ESPN)

The UFC’s visit to Minneapolis proved the following…
— Brock Lesnar is an absolute beast. His takedowns can’t be stopped, and his punches tend to break facial bones. He will mock you after he beats you.
— Kenny Florian is a fantastic fighter, and worthy of a title shot; Roger Huerta maybe had a little more hype than substance.
— Demian Maia is one of the most talented submission specialists in MMA, in any organization, in any weight class. His choke-out of Jason MacDonald gave him his third-consecutive Submission of the Night bonus.
— Ben Saunders might actually be a contender one day.
— Jon Jones is athletic and explosive. I’m sorry, but the clichés are true sometimes.
— Jon Fitch is one tough son-of-a-bitch.
— If you’re fighting Georges St. Pierre, tough ain’t enough.

(Photo courtesy of UFC.com)

The UFC handed out $1,561,000 in disclosed salaries and bonuses for Saturday’s "Ultimate 2008" card, with the fighters in the three main events taking home the lion’s share. Quinton Jackson came out on top, adding a $100,000 win bonus and $60,000 Knockout of the Night bonus to his $225,000 base salary, while Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira came in second place simply on the basis of his meaty quarter-million-to-show payout. Complete figures are below: 

Quinton Jackson: $385,000 (includes $100,000 win bonus, $60,000 Knockout of the Night bonus)
Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira: $250,000
Wanderlei Silva: $200,000
Rashad Evans: $190,000 (includes $65,000 win bonus, $60,000 Fight of the Night bonus)
Forrest Griffin: $160,000 (includes $60,000 Fight of the Night bonus)
Frank Mir: $90,000 (includes $45,000 win bonus)
Cheick Kongo: $90,000 (includes $45,000 win bonus)
Yushin Okami: $32,000 (includes $16,000 win bonus)
Antoni Hardonk: $28,000 (includes $14,000 win bonus)
CB Dollaway: $20,000 (includes $10,000 win bonus)

("And when can I meet famous retard Kevin James?" Props to BloodyElbow.)

A few more stories coming out of the Octagon this weekend…

— The UFC has begun exclusive contract negotiations with Olympic gold-medalist judoka Satoshi Ishii, who attended Saturday’s event. Said Dana White: "Satoshi Ishii has the potential to be very successful in mixed martial arts…we look forward to helping him with his training, his career, and his eventual debut in a professional fight." Ishii reportedly planned on starting his MMA training with Fedor Emelianenko’s Red Devil team in St. Petersburg, Russia, but White talked him out of it, and encouraged him to train at Xtreme Couture in Las Vegas. White also suggested that the 238-pound Ishii drop down to light-heavyweight for his MMA debut.

— Following the kind-of-late stoppage of the Evans/Griffin fight, and the ludicrously late stoppage of the Kongo/Al-Turk fight, the UFC may no longer be requiring the services of referee Steve Mazzagatti.

— Though MMA fans are already clamoring for Evans vs. Jackson, Rampage would rather settle some business with Forrest Griffin first.

— At UFC 92′s post-event press conference, Dana White confirmed that Diego Sanchez vs. Joe Stevenson would indeed be the main event of UFC 95 (February 21st, London). Sorry, mates.

— Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira is open to a fight against Randy Couture. “It would be a nice match,” Nogueira said. "He lost his last fight, but he is still a legend." Likewise, buddy.

— The UFC is looking to return to Chicago in July.

— Of all the fighters who have left the UFC, the only one that Dana White regrets losing is Andrei Arlovski. Could he be welcomed back if this Affliction thing doesn’t pan out?

(Rampage mean-mugs his way back to #2. Photo courtesy of the Las Vegas Sun.)

In the wake of UFC 92′s wild string of upsets, we’ve updated the light-heavyweight and heavyweight top ten lists in our Power Rankings section. Some notes:

— Rashad Evans takes the #1 spot at 205 pounds. The UFC’s light-heavyweight division is still a shark tank where almost any fighter could be the best on a given day, but I think Sugar has the skills to defend his belt at least once. Evans/Rampage could be epic; let’s hope it happens soon.

—Frank Mir jumps to #4 following back-to-back wins over the UFC’s two best heavyweights. That is just craaaaaazy. If Mir can beat Brock Lesnar a second time and unify the heavyweight title, it’ll be one of the most miraculous career comebacks in MMA history.

— I’d love to get some new blood into the bottom of the heavyweight list, but it’ll have to wait until Shane Carwin and Gabriel Gonzaga have their fight in March, or until Dave Herman, Antonio Silva, Alistair Overeem, or Sergei Kharitonov beat a highly-ranked opponent.

Head over to the rankings page to toss in your own opinions, and keep an eye on the lightweight list this week, as four of the top ten fighters will be competing in MMA matches at Fields Dynamite!! 2008 on New Year’s Eve.

Props to CombatLifestyle, Sherdog, UFC.com, Fight! Magazine, TMZ, and the Las Vegas Sun.

#12: Wanderlei Silva celebrates his destruction of Keith Jardine at UFC 84.

#11: Urijah Faber bags himself a couple of sasquatches.

#10: Rashad Evans rushes in to finish an already knocked-dead Chuck Liddell at UFC 88.

#9 (tie): Paul Taylor knocks Chris Lytle’s jaw loose; Taylor gets his foot lodged in Lytle’s mouth.

After the jump: A naked Gina Carano, a punch-drunk Kimbo Slice, and a rather disappointed Joe Stevenson.

(In some cultures, that’s considered a compliment. Props to IrishLew)

Following a shocking night of fights in which Quinton Jackson exacted revenge against his arch-nemesis, two new champions were crowned, and my sure-thing parlay bet was shit all over, the UFC handed out $60k bonuses to the following fighters…

Knockout of the Night: Quinton Jackson, obviously. Though eight of the Ultimate 2008′s ten fights ended in stoppages due to strikes (seven within the first two rounds), Rampage’s left-hook stiffening of Wanderlei Silva was a picture-perfect one-punch KO, and represented a dramatic return to form. Will Jackson/Griffin 2 be next?

Fight of the Night: Forrest Griffin and Rashad Evans for their light-heavyweight championship main event. After an even first round, Griffin found his groove, landing strikes with regularity and ending the second frame with an on-the-button superman punch. But Evans proved just how "athletic and explosive" he really is when he knocked Forrest to the ground in the third and finished him off with some devastating punches from the top — becoming the second consecutive TUF winner to hold the 205-pound strap.

Submission of the Night: Nobody, since no fight ended in a tapout. But hey, you don’t like that gay foreplay stuff anyway.

UFC 92 drew 14,103 spectators for an impressive (though not record-setting) live gate of $3.47 million.

If big, beaming smiles were an indicator of mental health, then Dana White’s latest video blog stands as proof that Quinton Jackson is fully recovered and ready to rock. Unfortunately, that’s not always the case. In this clip, DW checks in with UFC 92′s marquee fighters before a press conference on Monday, including Rashad Evans, who is apparently dressing for the job he wants rather than the job he has. We also learn that Dana can never sleep in Japan ("oh, fuck no"), ‘Page and Wandy find endless amusement in bodybuilder underwear, and Brock Lesnar still can’t deal with modern technology. Later, Dana shows off some of his totally sweet Christmas gifts, introduces us to Arianny Celeste’s sister (!), and has his bald head markered up by a mischievous Lorenzo Fertitta. But don’t worry: He gets his revenge by electrocuting an underling. Merry Christmas!

After the jump: Highlights from the aforementioned press conference, courtesy of ESPN.

(Props: MMA Scraps)

Anybody else psyched that Jackson/Silva III is just eight days away? Sure, it could be a one-sided stomping like their first two matches, but their upcoming meeting at UFC 92 has serious heat behind it. It’s no made-up storyline — these guys genuinely dislike each other. In the ESPN clips above, Rampage says that Wanderlei was lucky in PRIDE, but he hasn’t looked lucky in a while. He wishes Silva a good Christmas, because he isn’t going to be too happy come New Year’s. Silva, for his part, is upset with all of Jackson’s Internet-hatin’, which he doesn’t consider "a man’s attitude."

After the jump, fellow UFC 92 competitor Frank Mir works on rubber-guard techniques with the very-excitable Eddie Bravo. If Mir manages to catch Big Nog with one of these subs next weekend, Joe Rogan will not be able to stop screaming.

(Photo courtesy of CombatLifestyle)

It’s good to see some people have honor when it comes to competition. Too bad not everybody does. From Fighters Only:

Appearing on Brazil Combate TV yesterday, [Wanderlei] Silva said: “I’ve received a letter from someone offering training with Juanito [Ibarra] to me, but I didn’t care to accept it.

The letter “contained phone numbers that I could use to get in touch with Juanito, but I threw it away,” he added.

“I think it’s unethical to accept the former coach of my opponent, and if Juanito is doing this with Rampage, he may do the same with me later.”

It’s pretty despicable to think of Quinton Jackson‘s former coach selling secrets to the enemy, so to speak. (Not that Silva needs much help as far as game-planning for Jackson. Repeatedly kneeing him in the face has worked like a charm so far.) It’s particularly unfortunate because Jackson’s little meltdown last July was spurred by some perceived betrayal by Ibarra, and hearing that Ibarra wants to join up with his arch-nemesis can’t be good for Rampage’s psyche.

But hey, if Rampage is interested in the "formula" to beat Silva, Ibarra’s got that too…

Hey, welcome back! Did you have a nice holiday? Well, you didn’t come here to talk about your mom’s stuffing. Let’s start the work-week off right with some Rampage vs. Wandy video-hype. Above is an original HL by MMA Scraps, which shows how their first two meetings went down in PRIDE — including some great behind-the-scenes footage of ‘Page dropping multiple MF-bombs — and what the two fighters have been up to since then (i.e., destroying people). As you’ll see, Jackson blames his first loss against Silva on not being able to breathe because of a cold; similarly, he now blames his first PRIDE loss against Kazushi Sakuraba on being poisoned.

But in the Telegraph UK interview video below, Jackson acknowledges that his past defeats at the hands of the Axe-Murderer were only due to him being "a terrible fighter." Of course he believes that he’s improved a great deal since those two ugly losses — though we already know how Wandy thinks the third fight will end. Silva/Jackson III co-headlines UFC 92 (December 27th, Las Vegas).