(Brandon Vera in Maxim. It was either this or another picture of Sokoudjou.)

As expected, Brandon Vera’s frank account of who turned down fights with him is making at least one fighter bristle. From Fighthype:

“It would have been stupid for me to take the Vera fight on short notice,” stated UFC light heavyweight contender [Rameau Thierry] Sokoudjou as he talked about why he wasn’t willing to fight Brandon Vera on the July 19th UFC Fight Night card. Sokoudjou explains that his management team is aware of the fact that he likes to have 8 weeks to prepare for his fights. Although he admits to being offered the fight, he says he was “on vacation and busy living it up in Europe” at the time it was offered and that he wasn’t training or thinking about fighting so soon…

“What has he done for me to fear him,” Sokoudjou stated in closing as he made it clear that he’s not afraid to face any fighter.

So there you have it — “The Truth” might have a new rival on his hands. Also on Fighthype today is this sort-of-bizarre interview with John Hackleman, where the “Pit Boss” says the following:

— Forrest Griffin “definitely” should have won the decision against Quinton Jackson, although the frst round should have been a 10-8 round for Rampage. Not sure how the math works out on that one, but that’s what he said.
— Juanito Ibarra was very un-Christian for vowing to retire if Rampage lost, and then not retiring.
— If someone makes a bad call at The Pit, they’re beaten, hogtied, and dragged behind a speeding car. But don’t worry, they don’t do that to black people. In fact, the last person they did it to was a Mexican. Feel better?

SpikeTV passes along this alert:

Tonight at 9PM on Spike TV, during a presentation of A History of Violence, Geoff Keighley, host of GameTrailers TV, will present exclusive new footage from THQ’s UFC® 2009 Undisputed, recreating the end of the UFC 86 light heavyweight title fight between Forrest Griffin and Quinton “Rampage” Jackson.

Might be worth a look, if you honestly have nothing going on tonight (and Amir Sadollah assumes you don’t in the above promo). We hear the new footage is pretty damn realistic, right down to Juanito Ibarra stamping his feet and crying little pixelated tears after the decision. Though we’d still rather see the Undisputed recreation of the end of the Koscheck/Lytle fight.

Also: It’s becoming apparent that Sadollah doesn’t always understand the subtle difference between “funny guy” and “smug prick.” Just a thought…

(Does Phil Baroni even have control over what comes out of his mouth?)

Following UFC 86 Sherdog ran a story featuring comments from notable MMA fighters regarding their thoughts on the Forrest Griffin-Quinton Jackson decision. It was a pretty standard reaction piece, with the most interesting comment coming from Mac Danzig, who seemed to disparage Rampage’s overall persona.

But then Fightlinker pointed out that Phil Baroni, who had been quoted calling the decision “some bullshit”, was claiming that he never actually gave a quote to Sherdog:

First off I never gave my opinion on the fight being scored wrong to anyone esp a reporter from Sherdog. I never spoke to any media about my opinion the fight. I think its bullshit that Sherdog quoted me. First off I think the fight was a great one. Second I feel the decision was a fair one. I think Forrest is an inspiration and fought his heart out. His career is an inspiration and story book. He did a great job fought like a true champion against Rampage and his entire career. He deserves to be UFC champion and I take my hat off to him.

Now, if that were any other fighter, this claim would be pretty shocking. It’s not like Sherdog to just make up quotes. But since it’s Baroni, there is always the possibility that he a) is just screwing with them, or b) has no idea whether he did or didn’t give that quote.

Steve Cofield has information that seems to indicate it’s the latter.

“I might be a little biased because Forrest is a good friend and training partner, but in my opinion Forrest won the fight hands down, three rounds to two. He outworked him from beginning to end, and even though not everything he threw landed, at least he fought the whole time instead of just looking for one big shot. You know, Forrest trained hard for this fight and it showed. He was training in the gym everyday, not running around with a chain around his neck, telling people he’s a thug.” — Mac Danzig, to Sherdog

“Look…to me, Quinton beat Forrest, but they gave it to Forrest. I think the UFC wants a champion that Chuck Liddell can beat, so he can win the belt again. He is an ex-champion, sells more and has more marketing.” — Lyoto Machida, to Tatame

(“No matter what happens, I want you to know that I love you.” Photo courtesy of UFC.com.)

The official payouts for “Jackson vs. Griffin” are below, courtesy of MMA Weekly. Unless otherwise noted, each winning fighter’s salary represents a doubling of their base salary.

Forrest Griffin: $310,000 ($100,000 base salary, plus $150,000 win bonus, plus $60,000 “Fight of the Night” bonus)
Quinton Jackson: $285,000 ($225,000 base salary, plus $60,000 “Fight of the Night” bonus)
Gabriel Gonzaga: $100,000
Melvin Guillard: $80,000 (includes $60,000 “Knockout of the Night” bonus)
Cole Miller: $80,000 (includes $60,000 “Submission of the Night” bonus)
Josh Koscheck: $70,000
Joe Stevenson: $60,000
Tyson Griffin: $40,000
Marcus Aurelio: $40,000
Patrick Cote: $32,000
Ricardo Almeida: $23,000
Chris Lytle: $14,000
Gleison Tibau: $11,000
Jorge Gurgel: $10,000
Justin Buchholz: $8,000
Corey Hill: $8,000
Dennis Siver: $7,000
Justin McCully: $5,000
Total disclosed payroll: $943,000

Underpaid: Chris Lytle, who was paid a mere $1,000 for every pint of blood he lost against Josh Koscheck. The UFC likely rewarded his gruesome effort with one of those undisclosed “locker room bonuses,” but his base salary still seems a bit low for someone who’s been through so many high-profile wars for the company. Buchholz, McCully, and Siver’s base salaries are hardly worth the time they spent training for their fights — though one could argue that Siver and McCully should have trained a little harder.

Overpaid: Tyson Griffin. As long as you’re unable to finish a fight, you should be getting Jorge Gurgel money.

The official judges’ tallies, from Dave Meltzer via Fightlinker:

Adalaide Byrd
Round 1: 10-9 Griffin
Round 2: 10-8 Griffin
Round 3: 10-9 Griffin
Round 4: 10-9 Jackson
Round 5: 10-9 Jackson

Nelson Hamilton
Round 1: 10-9 Jackson
Round 2: 10-8 Griffin
Round 3: 10-9 Griffin
Round 4: 10-9 Jackson
Round 5: 10-9 Griffin

Roy Silbert
Round 1: 10-9 Griffin
Round 2: 10-9 Griffin
Round 3: 10-9 Griffin
Round 4: 10-9 Jackson
Round 5: 10-9 Griffin

Personally, I don’t agree that Rampage was “robbed” in this decision whatsoever — I think Griffin clearly controlled rounds 1, 2, and 5 — but for all three judges to give round 3 to the challenger is very questionable; Rampage found his distance in that round and started landing his lead-fisted punch combos. But then again, all three judges gave round 4 to Jackson, which I saw as a very close frame that could have been scored for Griffin due to his triangle attempt, which came within a ball-hair of finishing the fight. I’m sure the argument will rage on, but there’s one thing we can all agree on: These judges are totally incompetent. Where’s Cecil Peoples when you need him?

As if there was any doubt, Rampage vs. Forrest won UFC 86′s Fight of the Night bonus, with both headliners picking up $60,000 for their event-saving performance. As mentioned earlier, Knockout of the Night went to Melvin Guillard for his 36-second destruction of Dennis Siver, and Submission of the Night went to Cole Miller for choking out Jorge Gurgel; those bonuses were also worth $60k. Full payout info to come as soon as we have it…

Rampage and Opie battle for the light-heavyweight belt, Cote and Alemeida scrap for the #1 middleweight contender spot, Joe Stevenson tries to keep his blood inside his head, Josh Koscheck and Chris Lytle try to make it two in a row…and that’s pretty much it. Not an awesome card, but UFN 14 is just two weeks from now, and sometimes quantity is quality. Results from the UFC 86 undercard and live updates from the PPV broadcast are after the jump; refresh your browser every few minutes to read all the latest, and share your reactions in the comments section.

From Sherdog, here’s a video of Quinton Jackson working out at the gym and running down Saturday’s matchup with Forrest Griffin, including why he thinks Forrest’s win over Mauricio “Shogun” Rua wasn’t impressive. Juanito Ibarra stops by to say that Forrest will go back to bad habits, and Zach Light attests to Jackson’s hatred of training. We look forward to seeing if Rampage-with-hair is just as fearsome as shiny-domed Rampage.

Check out the intro to SpikeTV’s “Countdown to UFC 86″ special, which features Juanito Ibarra vowing to retire if Rampage loses. Finally, this fight matters!

Here’s a segment on Patrick Cote from the “Countdown” show, which details his hard luck in the Octagon before putting together consecutive wins against Scott Smith, Kendall Grove and Drew McFedries.

And finally, a slam-packed Rampage Jackson highlight clip, courtesy of the UFC.

Forrest Griffin may have started in the UFC as the original “Ultimate Fighter,” but since then he’s proved himself in several tough bouts and endeared himself to fans. This Saturday he faces his first title bout against Quinton “Rampage” Jackson at UFC 86 and another career-defining moment.

In this exclusive interview, Griffin spoke with CagePotato about his experiences coaching drunken fighters, his plans for “Rampage,” and much more.

CagePotato.com: Thanks for talking with me, Forrest. Tell me, how have you been getting ready specifically for “Rampage”?

You know, a little of this, little of that. I’ve just been having people scowl at me a lot. That’s the first thing you’ve got to prepare for with Rampage. He’s got a good scowl. If you’ve ever watched him fight, have you ever watched him fight?

Yes, I’ve seen him fight.

He’s got a nice little scowl, doesn’t he?

It’s not bad. What else do you think he has in his arsenal, aside from the scowl.

He’s got a good chin. He’s a powerful guy, very explosive. He hits hard.

His trainer mentioned that he expected you to try and stay away from “Rampage” for most of the fight.

Sounds good. I think I’ll do that. Stay on the move. I like that. No, but I don’t want to stand in front of him for too long. Unfortunately he hits harder than I do and has a better chin than I do, so that’s not a good idea.

As debuted on SpikeTV Friday night, here’s the first gameplay trailer for the UFC’s new PS3/Xbox 360/etc. jammy-jam, featuring Rampage vs. Forrest, and commentary by Joe Rogan and Mike Goldberg. According to a preview on IGN:

There’s no HUD or health bar, so fighters don’t get worn down till they’re eventually tapped out or KO’d. A fighter can be finished at any time, depending upon the situation. On the other hand, there are more defensive moves and blocking and countering in the game, with a design more similar to traditional fighting games than old MMA or wrestling games. THQ specifically stated that “…button mashing will make you lose.”

Furthermore, the happenings of the fight actually have an effect on fighters during the fight beyond simply wearing them down. When Rampage used punches to the body to weaken Forrest, purple welts similar to what was seen on Liddell’s body when he fought Keith Jardine appeared near Griffin’s kidney. A small cut had formed over the former Ultimate Fighter’s eye, while Rampage had his left eye nearly swollen shut by a series of excellent Griffin knees. All the injuries looked authentic, but also affected how successful each fighter was at accomplishing what they wanted to as the fight wore on.

Reportedly the game will feature an 80+ fighter roster — which still doesn’t explain how War Machine and Saunders made the cut.

…and Stitch and Juanito look awesome.

(Images courtesy of 1up.com via BloodyElbow)

Tonight at 1 a.m. ET/PT, Spike TV’s GameTrailers TV with Geoff Keighley will unveil the first gameplay footage trailer from THQ’s UFC 2009 video game; UFC prez Dana White will be on hand to introduce the clip. 1up.com has a gallery of screen-shots for the highly-anticipated game, and a behind-the-scenes featurette with Rampage and Cheick Kongo getting their motion-capture on is after the jump.

(Amir gets all “Rocky” on us.)

I’m assuming that most of you watched last night’s episode of The Ultimate Fighter — which, hype aside, was easily one of the greatest episodes in the show’s history — so I won’t bore you with extraneous details. But here’s a quick recap:

— CB Dollaway and Amir Sadollah square off in the last semi-final fight. Aside from a couple of hard body kicks and a close armbar attempt from Amir, the first two rounds are all CB, who controls the action from the top, and delivers a Rampage-style body slam as well as some brutal elbows that open up a large gash under Amir’s right eye. CB nearly locks in a rear-naked choke in the third round, but Amir spins out, momentarily tries to figure out a toe-hold, then catches CB in another armbar that immediately causes him to tap. With his professional MMA record still 0-0, Amir Sadollah has battled his way to the TUF 7 finale.

(Afterwards, getting sewn up.)

Well, it’s Tuesday, which means you’ve probably been biting your nails all day wondering when Dana White is going to drop his huge, mind-blowing announcement that may or may not define the future of the sport. Dave Meltzer, who broke some news earlier about EliteXC’s next CBS show — which has the working title of “Unfinished Business,” by the way — now has this to say via f4wonline.com:

Dana White has moved the meeting for UFC employees to Noon tomorrow (Wednesday) for the big announcement. So word should break shortly after that time.

MMA Mania points out that the New York Tourism, Arts and Sports Development Committee is slated to vote again tomorrow on legislation to legalize MMA in NY. That could just be a coincidence — White previously denied that his announcement was related to New York MMA regulation — but we’ll update you when we know more.

And hey, just so this post isn’t a total waste of your time, here’s a rather-awesome UFC 86 hype video, running down the matchups between Forrest Griffin and Quinton Jackson, as well as Cote vs. Almeida. By the way, if you tell Rampage he’s not going to win this fight, you can kiss his natural black ass.

UFC 86: Jackson vs. Griffin Preview

(Props: MMAMania)

Above is the first video promo for UFC 86: Jackson vs. Griffin (July 5th, Las Vegas). The main event should be fantastic, but it doesn’t bode well that Cote vs. Almeida is the only other match that warrants a mention in the clip. And even if the winner will technically be “moving up the ranks toward a middleweight title shot,” it’s not like they won’t have to beat 2-4 more guys to get there. The current lineup is below; is it better or worse than UFC 85′s?

MAIN CARD
Quinton Jackson vs. Forrest Griffin
Patrick Cote vs. Ricardo Almeida
Joe Stevenson vs. Gleison Tibau
Josh Koscheck vs. Chris Lytle
Tyson Griffin vs. Marcus Aurelio

UNDERCARD
Gabriel Gonzaga vs. Justin McCully
Jorge Gurgel vs. Cole Miller
Melvin Guillard vs. Dennis Siver
Corey Hill vs. Justin Buchholz

Unrelated, but important: The earth-shattering news that Dana White was promising to deliver tomorrow has been pushed back to this coming Tuesday. My guess? The UFC needs a little more time to obtain rights to “The Hex”…

Whoa…Rampage has the ability to grow hair? And he’s doing it because he has an audition to play B.A. Baracus in a John Singleton re-make of The A-Team? Consider our minds blown. Big ups to Jimmy for continuing to bring MMA fighters to his couch.

(Props: Bloody Elbow)

(Jesse Taylor pisses his shorts on national television.)

Every Thursday morning, Team Rampage member Gerald Harris blogs his reactions to each new episode of The Ultimate Fighter 7 on CagePotato.com. Here’s what he had to say about last night’s ep, in which retard-strong (and retard-smart) Jesse Taylor pounded his way to victory, and Amir Sadollah and Matt Brown put on the best fight of the season.

***

By now everyone should know that Jesse Taylor is for real. He’s not the most exciting fighter in the world, but he’s solid and gets the job done. I can’t hate, because I respect winners and he’s also a Team Quest fighter so I was rooting for him. Dante just laid there and took a beating. He’s a veteran in the game and also a brown belt under Ricardo Almeida, so I assumed that he would catch Jesse, but Jesse just punched the [blank] out of him for two full rounds.

Now, let me get to the action! Matt Brown vs. Amir Sadollah was crazy. That’s a fight that people would pay money to watch. I think the first round could be given to Brown for the aggression and last second takedown. Amir seemed to pick up steam in the second round, took Matt down, punished him from the top, and eventually sunk in a triangle choke. I liked the fight because it wasn’t a sloppy slugfest. Brown has a great boxing background and Amir showed his Muay Thai and ground game with the strikes and sub finish. It’s crazy that the more you pressure him, he gets stronger and doesn’t fold — that’s the quality of a good fighter. I can say the same about Brown plus he was very humble in his loss and showed respect for his opponent.

(“The foulest stench is in the air / the funk of 40,000 years / And grisly ghouls from every tomb / are closing in to seal your doom.”)

Every Thursday morning, Team Rampage member Gerald Harris blogs his reactions to each new episode of The Ultimate Fighter 7 on CagePotato.com. Here’s what he had to say about last night’s ep, in which CB Dollaway got his first inevitable win and the quarterfinal matchups were announced.

***

Let me start by apologizing for not speaking on the Yarbrough-Schultz fight in last week’s blog. I was really going through some things — it’s hard to walk around knowing the outcome of the show and holding it from your friends and family. You’re drowned with questions and angry people wanting to know what happened, and also claiming to know the outcome. Last week was a shock to a lot of people close to me but not to many outside of that circle. I learned a lot from the experience and took the loss as motivation. I was also mistaken on my words threatening to hurt Amir after the bout. I was being very sarcastic and I’m very humble about the incident.

Now, it was no surprise that CB was fighting Nick Klein this week. The only surprise was “who the hell is Nick Klein?” Well, let me fill you in. Klein is a tough dude — we were actually respecting him a lot, because he was very quiet in the house. Quiet people are unpredictable and are usually hiding something…like talent. Klein had a lot of it and even earned the name “Killa Klein” for his random funny outbursts. I hate to use the word “underdog” on this show because we’re all at the bottom of the mountain trying to become UFC fighters. In this case even Klein felt like an underdog because of CB’s high profile and #1 pick status from Rampage.

Most of you already know about CB. I didn’t know much about him other than his great wrestling before the show, but I would soon find out about his grappling and Muay Thai skills. I thought that he was just another wrestler, but after training with him I noticed that he was well rounded. He hits hard as hell, has great subs, and he’s meaner than a muthaf*$#a when it’s time to fight. He has this alter ego called the “DOBERMAN” and I saw that as he entered the cage.

I wish I could embed this — but you’ll have to click the picture above to see a “leaked” clip from this Wednesday’s episode of The Ultimate Fighter, in which C.B. Dollaway playfully kicks Rampage during a training session, which spurs Rampage to take his pants off and challenge Dollaway to a submission grappling match. We’ll just say that he should have kept his pants on, and that Nick Klein is a dead man.

Speaking of The Ultimate Fighter 7, the undercard for the season finale (June 21st, live at 9 p.m. ET on SpikeTV) has been officially announced. Right now, the lineup looks like this:

Evan Tanner vs. Kendall Grove
Diego Sanchez vs. Luigi Fioravanti
[match between the show's two middleweight finalists]
Spencer Fisher vs. Jeremy Stephens
Josh Burkman vs. Dustin Hazelett
Marvin Eastman vs. Drew McFedries
Jeremy Horn vs. Dean Lister
Matt Arroyo vs. TBA?
Rob Yundt vs. TBA?

Other bouts featuring the show’s castmembers are also expected to be included in the three-hour telecast. I’ll sell my third testicle if Dollaway isn’t involved.

Another must-see: Remember that thing about Kimbo Slice presenting at the CMAs on Sunday? Well, it was even more awkward and uncomfortable than we thought it would be. Vid is after the jump…click if you dare.

(“Sic semper tyrannis, bitch!”)

Every Thursday morning, Team Rampage member Gerald Harris will be blogging his reactions to each new episode of The Ultimate Fighter 7 on CagePotato.com. Here’s what he had to say about last night’s ep, in which Jeremy May got his comeuppance and Team Rampage finally pulled out a win.

***

I don’t think too many people were surprised by the punishment dished out by Matt Brown. People ask me about him all the time — they think he’s a serial killer and mean as hell. To tell you the truth, I thought the same thing, but he’s actually one of the coolest dudes in the house. He opened up a lot about how fighting kept him alive and changed him in a positive way. He earned a lot of respect by doing that and whoopin’ ass in practice.

May definitely asked for it, but I gotta give it too him for coming out strong. The only thing that pissed me off is that the admitted to faking the knee injury. Now, if you don’t already know, I’m probably Jeremy’s only friend and I didn’t even know that. A lot of people were cautious of overtraining, but to sandbag is another story. The fight went well — it was all emotion, so they got tired pretty quick. But Brown had the better cardio and weathered the storm, then finished May with a kick to the nose. As bad as some people wanted to see Jeremy lose, I hated to see Team Forrest in control again.

Reminder: A new episode of The Ultimate Fighter: Team Rampage vs. Team Forrest airs tonight at 10 p.m. on SpikeTV, and Team Rampage member Gerald Harris will be blogging his reactions to it right here tomorrow morning. To commemorate this occasion, here’s an outtake clip from episode three of Rampage laying down the law on his team’s jokesters following Mike Dolce’s loss to Jesse Taylor. Yes, that’s Gerald receiving the totally accidental bitchslap at the end.

(Tim Credeur takes a brain-scrambling illegal upkick.)

One of TUF 7‘s brightest prospects had to work his ass off to keep his place in the house on last night’s episode of The Ultimate Fighter, as Tim Credeur battled his way through a very game (but ultimately too inexperienced) Matthew Riddle. The fight was one of the best in recent TUF history, but before it went down, the following happened:

— Jesse Taylor, who we’ll henceforth refer to as “Mongo,” followed up his brilliant can’t-figure-out-the-dishwasher performance from last episode with a sequence of him not being able to figure out how to open a bottle of beer, then accidentally breaking some wooden window blinds. He also has “questionable spots on his body,” and with Paul Bradley’s herpes scare still fresh in their minds, Mongo’s housemates spray him down with Tinactin. Mongo is unfortunately poised to be the Private Pyle of the house.

— Matt “Chipper” Riddle is chomping at the bit to fight. His goofy enthusiasm rubs Dante Rivera the wrong way, and some trash talking ensues. Rivera claims he’ll retire from fighting if Riddle ever beats him, and after it’s announced that Riddle has been picked to face Tim Credeur, Rivera tries to bet Riddle $500 that he’ll lose the fight. Riddle refuses, and accuses Rivera of trying to get inside his head. “I live inside your head,” Rivera says. “You’re my son right now.”

— Tim Credeur knows that the Ultimate Fighter experience is a do-or-die moment in his career; if it doesn’t work out, he may need to find a different line of work. And the fact that he could be derailed by some punk-ass mama’s boy visibly upsets him. “For [Riddle], it’s a cool time, it’s neato mosquito,” Credeur says. “But for me, this is not neato.” He then says “let the good times roll” in French.

— Rampage tries to instill hatred of Team Forrest in his guys by suggesting that “Team Brown Nose” gets better treatment. “I bet their gloves fit them,” he says. In one scene, he goes to CB Dollaway for his take on what the next matchup might be; Dollaway may be emerging as Rampage’s consigliere.

So, Tim Credeur (Team Forrest, 10-2) and Matthew Riddle (Team Rampage, 1-0) finally go toe-to-toe, and it’s a wild one.

When we reported that Quinton Jackson had scored a part in the upcoming horror flick Midnight Meat Train, we assumed that his role would be larger than “Black Guy Who Gets Killed #4.” But from the looks of the above trailer, the only speaking roles belong to Brooke Shields, Ricky Bobby’s wife, and the dude who played the asshole boyfriend in Wedding Crashers. Do not blink at the 1:36 mark or you’ll miss him. So…totally worth your time, right?

Seriously! We can’t embed it, but go to their website and brace yourself. Just look at the partial cast of characters:

Ozzy!

GSP!

Quinton “Money” Jackson!

This terrifying clown!

Angry Randy!

A metal singer (the dude from Lamb of God, maybe?) with some truly breathtaking dreads!

I mean, fucking look at those things!

Babyface Barnett!

Again with the clown!

Fedor “Sleepy Boy” Emelianenko!

…and Dave Mustaine! WAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!

(Perfectly legal, mind you.)

Ah, the good old days — when men were men, women were women, and ballsacks could be repeatedly pummeled inside the Octagon without Big John McCarthy doing a damn thing about it. Above, of course, is the fateful UFC 4 fight between Keith “By Any Means Necessary” Hackney, and Joe Son (who later appeared as Random Task in the first Austin Powers movie). By the late ’90s, rule changes had made mixed martial arts look somewhat civilized, and dozens of attacks/holds/gouges were deemed verboten. But regrettably, accidents still happen. And now, our favorite “accidents” ever…

7. Anderson Silva upkicks Yushin Okami

Before The Spider was the deadliest dude in the UFC, he was just a guy trying to get Yushin Okami the fuck off of him at Rumble on the Rock 8. His knockout kick was a crowd pleaser, but unfortunately he was DQ’d on a technicality — Okami’s knees were down.

6. Andrei Arlovski rabbit-punches Marcio Cruz
After back-to-back losses at the hands of Tim Sylvia, Arlovski was dying for a win, and he wasn’t above fighting dirty to get it. When the opportunity presented itself at UFC 66, the Pitbull started whaling on the back of Marcio Cruz’s head. Herb Dean gave him a warning. Arlovski kept doing it. Herb Dean warned him again. Arlovski kept doing it. Herb Dean stopped the fight and gave Andrei the win. Love that Herb Dean.

The UFC recently allowed Las Vegas’s ABC affiliate to poke around the set of The Ultimate Fighter 7. Though an unusually reserved Rampage questioned the mental capacity of himself and his rival coach, Forrest Griffin was able to correctly use the word “curmudgeon.” You be the judge:

Update: The video embed went fubar. Watch it here. (Windows Media Player required)

Another classic Rampage jam from PRIDE, this one against Ikuhisa “The Punk” Minowa at Shockwave 2003 (12/31/03). I’d argue that Quinton Jackson officially became a star when he brushed away the hand of the referee who was checking his junk at the beginning. (The man certainly does not play that shit!) It’s an exciting fight from start to finish, featuring no less than three body-slams from Jackson, repeated knees to the head, and a sort-of-early stoppage that compels Minowa to get up in Jackson’s face then immediately think better of it.

Apologies for the lack of updates this morning — CP was experiencing major server eff-ups. But we’re back in business now, and to reward your patience, we’d like to present this video of Quinton Jackson’s classic battle with Ricardo Arona at PRIDE Critical Countdown in June 2004. Watch as Jackson is knocked out cold at around the 5:30 mark; luckily, the referee allows the fight to continue, and Rampage regains his faculties enough to deliver a WWE-caliber power-slam that immediately ended the fight. You’ll also notice that at this point in his career, Rampage dog-barked after a victory, Arsenio Hall audience-member-style, as opposed to his current wolf-howl.

A copy of the lawsuit against Quinton “Rampage” Jackson and his bone head manager, Juanito Ibarra, is now floating out in cyberspace. White Chocolate Management (WCM) president, Reed Wallace, is seeking $10,000,000 in damages for the company, alleging that Ibarra talked shit about WCM and road-blocked some deals the company brought to him with the plan of going after the same deals later and keeping the spoils for himself. Doesn’t seem like something a colleague of the uber-classy Rampage Jackson would do, now does it?

MMA Fightline has some choice quotes from the pissed-off Wallace:

“Rampage has lost literally millions of dollars in deals that Juanito [Ibarra] just sent away because he didn’t want someone else taking credit for those deals,” Wallace explained. “Juanito tried to go back to those companies and do the deals on his own and it just didn’t work out. I know of two of [these deals] that he’s still working on right now and one of these deals is a deal whereby Juanito will only agree to allow the deal to happen with Rampage if the company in question agrees to do a deal with him personally as well.”