(Gus. Fucking. Johnson. Pic: LA Times)

It was with a somewhat heavy heart we brought you news recently that women’s middleweight face-wrecker Cristiane “Cyborg” Santos was playing footsie with WWE, assumedly about joining the company’s stable of “divas.” In light of that, we’re pleased to report that Santos tells Tatame this week that she’ll return to the world of legitimate fighting in August … except … not with Strikeforce. From what we’re able to gather from the written report, Cyborg’s contract has expired and she can’t fight in America until she re-ups with SF. Not sure why, maybe some sort of non-compete clause or because there is just no other place for top-level women’s MMA fighters to ply their trade on this god-forsaken continent.

Instead, she’s nearly set to fight at an event in Brazil, against an opponent to be named later. After the jump, Cyborg’s manager elaborates, plus some notes about the return of former UFC middleweight Ivan Salaverry.

(As if we need an excuse to use this picture. Props: ESPN)

Remember earlier this week when we discussed our worries that Randy Couture was already making qualifying statements about his planned retirement? Turns out, Dana White also has his doubts. To hear DW tell it, it sounds like Ol’ Captain America is starting to get more and more salty with all the questions he’s facing about his future this week and – true to form – during the official UFC 129 pre-fight presser the UFC Prez didn’t shy away from telling us how he really feels about Couture’s plan to make Saturday’s bout with Lyoto Machida his last. Props to MMA Fighting for the somewhat exhaustive quotes, which we trimmed down a bit.

“No,” White responded when asked if he believed Couture’s talk about hanging up his gloves. “I’m going to go out there and say it again. I know he was chirping, he was mad at me earlier, but … Randy Couture, I’ve been saying it and you guys have been standing in front of me when I said it. This guy is one of the top 10 best in the world … Who knows with this guy? I’m not saying it’s not time for him to retire but who knows? He’s such a competitor that every time there’s something out there and he says, ‘You know what? I think I can beat this guy,’ I think he’s going to come out and try to do it.”

It’s been less than a month since Ricardo Almeida announced his retirement from MMA competition, but so far, it seems to be treating him pretty well. Though nobody likes to go out on a loss, Almeida recognized it was time to hang it up. As he says in this revealing new video profile from Veazy Street Productions:

“I have a lot of things going on outside of my fighting career — my family, I have a jiu-jitsu school to take care of, I train other fighters — so perhaps I felt like I wasn’t giving 100% to everything and doing everything I could. To be in the Octagon not 100% focused, to be in there not giving 100% of everything that you have is a dangerous thing…I just felt that after the loss to Pyle it just pushed me a little lower on the ladder. I felt it was going to take too much time to climb back up. I can’t say that if I had won, that I would be retired…

I didn’t want to wait until I got knocked out 4-5 times in a row for people to tell me that I should quit. I wanted to walk out of it happy, I wanted to walk out of it healthy, I wanted to walk away with love, and I think the next step is to focus on myself as more of a diplomatic approach of being a coach, being an instructor, and being able to focus on my family.”

(Video courtesy of YouTube/UFC)

For all of you who thought Chuck Liddell’s new role of vice president of business development with the UFC was a paper position with the promotion, think again.

It turns out “The Iceman” does a hell of a lot more in a day than Jager shots and beer bongs at afterparties with Clay Guida and Chris Leben.

(“That’s a great question, Fabricio. Actually, Chuck and I have found that through careful investment research it’s possible to locate dependable mutual funds that can average as much as 12 percent annual growth over the long term.”)

Look, we gotta believe there are a limited number of fake jobs that Zuffa, LLC can possibly make up for aging former fighters as the company’s way of saying, “Thanks for getting punched in the head for so many years so Dana could buy a new Ferrari.” Chuck already has one, Matt Hughes obviously wants one and now MMA grandpa Randy Couture is making noise about wanting one too. Not for nothing, but if we were Liddell we might be getting a little nervous right now. I mean, if you could choose to have Couture as your phony Vice President of Business Development instead of THIS GUY, you’d do it in a heartbeat, right? Office politics can be a bitch that way.

If you’ve ever wondered what UFC conference calls are like, they’re pretty much the same as the UFC pre and post-fight press conferences, featuring the same reporters asking the same questions and typically getting the same replies.

Today’s first half of the two scheduled UFC 129 conference calls which featured Mark Hominick, Jose Aldo, Lyoto Machida and Randy Couture, was somewhat overshadowed by Couture’s retirement announcement that made the rounds this morning. Most of the questions (and a few separate congratulatory messages) were directed at Couture from writers wanting to know if he would keep his word this time, why he made the decision and what he would do next. One even asked Machida how he felt being involved in “The Natural’s” last fight. I was surprised that some of the journos on the call didn’t ask Aldo and Hominick what they thought about Randy calling it a career.

I kind of felt bad for Hominick and Aldo, who, although aren’t quitting fighting ARE fighting as the co-headliners in a championship bout on the largest scale MMA card in North American history. Priorities people. Randy will be available to answer questions about his retirement plans after the fight.

A few tidbits and the audio from the call are after the jump.

(UFC 129 will be bittersweet for Couture fans.)

All good things must come to an end, and according to Randy Couture, so to must his career.

The 48-year-old UFC Hall-of-Famer who time and time again has defied the odds and laughed in the face of Father Time to win championships and fights he was meant to lose, says that win, lose or draw, his UFC 129 bout against Lyoto Machida will be his last.

“I believe this is my last fight,” Couture told ESPN.com’s Josh Gross on Monday. “I know the UFC is probably going to have other ideas, especially with acquiring Strikeforce and all that. They’re probably going to try to draw me into another fight but I don’t think that’s going to happen. I want to stick to my guns and this is the last one.”

(Almeida retires with a record of 13-5)

In 2008, after a near four-year absence away from fighting, Ricardo Almeida’s desire to return to compete in MMA coaxed him out of an unannounced retirement to sign with the UFC. Since then he has fought eight times, losing three and winning five.

At 34 years of age, Almeida has decided to walk away from the sport despite having a few good fights left in him to spend more time with his family and to focus on running his Brazilian jiu-jitsu academy.

It’s been a pleasure watching you fight, Big Dog. Props for realizing when it was time to call it quits.

Read Ricardo’s statement after the jump.

(“Why yes, I *am* getting too old for this shit. Thanks for asking!”)

During his 14-year MMA career, Randy Couture has ditched the UFC no less than three times — once in 1998 to pursue opportunities in Japan, the second time due to a short-lived retirement in 2006 following his second knockout loss to Chuck Liddell, and finally in 2007 due to a money disputes and a perceived lack of respect. Each time, the lure of competition has brought him back to his home in the Octagon. But there’s only so much a 47-year-old can take, and after a series of vague hints in recent months, it seems like Randy is preparing us for his final departure, seriously, for real this time.

During an appearance on the ESPN UFC podcast, Couture stated that his upcoming UFC 129 fight against Lyoto Machida will very likely be his last, win or lose. As he put it:

(Sure, he looks like a bum, but he’s got a golden radio voice. PicProps: SBNation)

More good stuff out on Sunday from MMA Fighting Japanese correspondent Daniel Herbertson, who debuts a new weekly, notebook-style feature chock full of overseas news tidbits. Item No. 1? According to D-Herb – citing those ever-present “sources close to the fighter” — Dream lightweight champion and notorious a-hole Shinya Aoki is considering hanging up the fingerless gloves after his embarrassing knockout loss to Yuichiro "Jienotsu" Nagashima at K-1 Dynatmite!!! 2010 on New Year’s Eve.

You’ll remember this bout as the “special rules” contest that alternated a three-minute kickboxing round followed by a five-minute round under Dream rules. You know, kind of like they do it on “Bully Beatdown.” You’ll also recall that Aoki clearly came out with a game plan to just fuck around during round one, waste as much time as possible with copious rule-breaking and rely on the impotent Japanese referee to not penalize him for it. It was a strategy that worked like clockwork until the opening bell of round two, when Nagashima knocked him stiff with a knee as he shot in for a takedown. On this side of the Pacific, it seemed like an obvious case of karma being a complete bitch. At home, it doesn’t sound like Aoki is taking it too well.

(PicProps: MMAConvert)

On a personal note, we’d like nothing more than to see Jens Pulver at the top of the heap when it’s all said and done. Though we admit we’ve never met him, Pulver has always seemed like one of MMA’s truly stand-up guys. Exciting in the cage, straightforward and honest (maybe to a fault) outside of it, it’s hard not to root for him. It’s also been difficult to watch him slump through the last few years of his rapidly fading MMA career, including establishing his current six-fight losing streak and dropping eight of his last nine bouts overall. It’s that innate likability that additionally makes it downright heartbreaking to read Pulver’s latest interview with MMA Fighting.com on Saturday, where the aging former UFC champion indicates he’s just going to press on with his career until he “gets it right.”

"I’m trying to put ‘Lil’ Evil’ to bed, if that makes sense, so I can retire the right way, and so I can be done the right way,” Pulver says. “I can’t go out the way I’ve gone. Not from being a world champion to losing six fights in a row. I want to give it one more shot."

(Video courtesy YouTube/MMAPromo)

When Chuck Liddell isn’t looped on Nyquil and ether, or teary-eyed from announcing his retirement, he’s actually pretty well spoken and has incomparable knowledge about the sport of MMA.

In this interview with HDNet’s Mike Straka, The Iceman talked about his recently announced retirement, reflected on his career and talked about about how he can’t stand when non-fighters and reporters criticize the men who put it on the line in the ring or cage.

Well, that explains why he refused to do an interview with us last summer…that or he’s read the site.

Hopefully Chuck’s fancy new position with the UFC doesn’t entail him "having a word with" bloggers who aren’t a friend of theirs.

Part two is after the jump.

("Alright, one more. Then I seriously have to take off, you guys." PicProps: Las Vegas Sun)

Assuming you posses the ability to express normal human emotions – meaning everyone reading this except psychopaths, certain brain injury patients and Nicholas Cage – you should’ve felt a bit torn this weekend when rumors started to trickle out that Randy Couture has “verbally agreed” to fight Lyoto Machida, possibly at UFC 129 in Toronto.

First reaction: Pretty cool fight, right? The consummate game-planner versus the man who, despite recent back-to-back losses, remains the light heavyweight division’s most intriguing puzzle. It sort of makes sense for both guys too, I mean, as much as paying a 47-year-old man money to get punched in the head can ever make sense. For Machida, it would be a nice win for a guy who sorely needs to prove he still belongs among the 205-pound elite. For Couture, well, he said he wanted interesting challenges and opponents don’t get much more interesting than Machida.

Second reaction: Hold up. Should we really be excited about this? Like, aren’t we just enabling the old man now? And at what point do we all become complicit in Randy Couture’s demise?

("Well boys, it’s been fun, but I have some partying to do. It’s a tough job, but somebody’s got to do it." Pic props: Adam Fogarty)

It looks like Chuck Liddell’s retirement didn’t last long.

At today’s press conference for UFC 125 today, UFC president Dana White announced that Liddell was officially done with fighting and that effective immediately, the mohawked former fighter will be taking on the role of executive vice president of business development for the Vegas-based promotion.

When a fan requested a hug from and a photo with Liddell at the presser, White obliged, quipping that the embrace would be Chuck’s first official duty in his new role. Somehow, I don’t think that "The Iceman" will be doing a hell of a lot more than handshakes and photo-ops, which wouldn’t be a bad thing for the organization as he has arguably become the most recognizable fighter in the world and the face of the Zuffa-owned incarnation of the UFC similar to how Colonel Sanders did with KFC and Ronald McDonald did with McDonald’s.

White gave few details about what the role will entail and Liddell made only a brief acceptance/retirement speech in which he thanked the fans for their support and White and UFC owners Frank and Lorenzo Fertitta for ensuring that he has an active role in the company that he helped cross over to the mainstream.

(Couture definitely should’ve checked with his attorney before putting those trunks through the wash. That shit was dry clean only. PicProps: Heavy)

So, it turns out the obvious retirement message Randy Couture posted to his Twitter account yesterday was definitely, absolutely, totally not a retirement message. This according to Couture’s lawyer/handler Sam Spira, who had to do some damage control last night after Couture appeared to electronically call it a career, obviously without checking with Spira, his contracted employers and/or even considering the potential merchandising opportunities inherent such a major declaration.

"There’s been no official announcement," Spira insisted to multiple sources. "There’s been no decision. Any announcements or decisions would be likely coordinated with the UFC."

Do you realize what this means?  Randy Couture uses emoticons.

It’s been anticipated and speculated upon for some time, but it looks like "The Natural" has officially called it a career via Twitter.  He actually seems kinda surprised that we expected him to fight again.

If he doesn’t get tempted to try it again maybe just one more time, Couture will ride off into the sunset with a 19-10 record and a Hall of Fame legacy.  He will presumably continue running gyms, training fighters, and making movies  "when something interesting comes up".  (Ed. note:  He’s come a long way since "Fighter #8".)

Years from now, you will probably slap a kid who says "Who is Randy Couture?" in a snotty tone you won’t care for, which will of course make Thanksgiving 2031 awkward for everyone involved, especially when your daughter shows up, drunk, and with that loser again.  She could clearly do better, but at that point she’s only keeping him around to annoy you, and predictably, it works.  I tell you, those kids in the future, they won’t have any respect. 

Feel free to share your warmest memories of Captain America in the comments, or, if you’re really brave, you can venture over to the forums. 

("See Brett, if you just marry them first, they can’t be compelled to testify against you." PicProps: XtremeCouture)

With each new piece of news that emerges, it’s starting to feel more and more unlikely that we’ll ever see Randy Couture in the Octagon again. After a 12-month period that saw him go 3-0 in the UFC – with wins over Brandon Vera, Mark Coleman and James Toney  — and score significant screen time alongside Mickey Rourke’s man boobs, Steve Austin’s emotive grunting and Sly Stallone’s extremely troubling facial hair in “The Expendables,” Couture’s been playing it pretty coy these days about his status as an active fighter. Even though he won’t be making an official retirement announcement, he says he’ll only strap on the 4-ouncers for future fights that are “interesting” (read: winnable) enough. Now the 47-year-old’s non-fighting schedule could keep him busy until the Spring of next year.

Couture appeared on local Las Vegas radio recently – no family commitments to keep him occupied during the holidays, you understand – to reveal he’s landed a role alongside fellow baldster Bruce Willis in a movie that will film in early December and that he hopes everybody else can clear their calendars in time to crap out an “Expendables” sequel in March. With all that going on, Couture will have a very limited window in which to squeeze in any actual MMA before he turns 48 next June. Still, he maintains that if the UFC brings him something juicy, he’ll give it a sniff.

(Video courtesy YouTube/MMA30tv)

When Randy Couture’s manager and lawyer Sam Spira was quoted in an interview last week as saying that Randy may have fought his last battle inside the Octagon, people weren’t buying it, but it looks like "The Natural" is considering retirement from MMA for real this time. 

When asked by MMA30 Radio  host Dave Farra during his show last week whether or not he is going to fight again, Couture hesitated before answering.

"Uh. I don’t know. I’m not sure. I’m not sure what the UFC has in store for me. I’ve been working on trying to find a new movie part recently, but little success there," Couture explained. "So we’ll just kinda wait and see."

I guess Hollywood felt the same about his performance in The Expendables as everyone else.

(Hawk or no hawk? That’s the question.)

I was in high school during the height of the "grunge" music scene, and like many guys my age, I had long hair, was in a band and had earrings. That was 17 years ago and I’ve since cut my hair, quit the band and mysteriously while I was at jiu-jitsu class one evening, my earrings disappeared.

After a bit of questioning, the truth came out. "You’re not a kid any more," my younger wife explained to me as if I were ancient. "You’re almost 34. You don’t want to be "that guy."

By "that guy," she meant the guy we’d often elbowed each other in the ribs about while walking through the mall or while eating dinner. You know the type: mullet, dangly cross earring, leather cowboy boots and head to toe denim and leather. Dressed exactly like he did in high school…35 YEARS AGO.

Needless to say, the "missing" earrings have not been located.

When photos and video surfaced last week of former UFC light heavyweight champion Chuck Liddell getting his iconic mohawk shaved off for charity, I couldn’t help but wonder if "The Iceman" will become "that guy" or will he say, "Enough is enough" and grow out his hair into a more age appropriate hairstyle for a 40, 50 or 60-year-old?

(Although it’s admittedly understated, I think his campaign poster works)

M-1 has announced that Fedor Emelianenko is following in the footsteps of fellow fighters Mirko "CroCop" Filipovic, Matt Lindland and Chael Sonnen and is running for a congressional seat as state representative in the Russian senate.

(15% off that creepy Chuck cut-out?  Why, I’d be losing money if I didn’t buy it!)

Subtlety has never been something the UFC does particularly well, so I suppose it’s only fitting that they approach Chuck Liddell’s forced retirement with the same lack of sensitivity and tact.  According to an email sent out by the UFC earlier today, just about everything in the UFC store with the words “Chuck” or “Liddell” or “Iceman” on it is hitting the clearance rack.  Consider it their way of saying, ‘Thanks for the memories, Chuck.  Now help us move all your shit into storage so we can make room for the new line of Amir Sadollah baby tees.’ 

Is it a little cold-hearted?  Yeah, but that’s life in the UFC.  One day you’re on top of the world, and the next they’re giving away your signature tank tops to bewildered villagers in Africa.

ATT boxing coach Howard Davis Jr. talks Chuck Liddells retireme – Watch more Funny Videos

American Top Team boxing coach and Olympic gold medalist Howard Davis Jr. spoke with me about his work with Chuck Liddell prior to his UFC 97 loss against Mauricio “Shogun” Rua.  Contrary to what some people believe, Davis said he really did work with Liddell for about two and a half months, and while he didn’t change his style he did try to add a couple tools to Liddell’s game.  Here Davis talks about what Liddell’s recent loss means for his career, and whether he thinks the former UFC champ should call it quits like Dana White is insisting he do.  He also touches on the addictive “drug” of being a world champion fighter, and why he thinks Liddell has seemed more vulnerable in recent bouts – and it’s not because he’s getting old.

Rashad Evans may be the UFC light heavyweight champ, but the title doesn’t seem to have gone to his head.  Talking with him last week he mentioned that it’s both humbling and sobering to be at a point in his career where he’s the headlining attraction on a card with legendary UFC fighters he came up watching.

“Seeing a guy like Matt Hughes, it makes me kind of wonder, how did I get to be headlining over Matt Hughes on a UFC card?  I mean, Matt Hughes?  It’s Matt Hughes, man.  It just makes you really stop and think.”

(When he told her it was time to retire and give up the game for good, a tearful Paris Hilton told Dana: "But I am the game!" Only then did he fully understand the devils of fame and the ransom they demand. True story.)

- UFC president Dana White talked with Inside Fighting about the disappointing main event at UFC 97, and he also reiterated his commitment to keeping Chuck Liddell firmly in retirement, saying, “Believe me, it will be a fucking war if he tries not to retire, believe me.”  When pressed on other rapidly aging fighters who might need to be nudged into retirement, White admitted that Wanderlei Silva and Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira “are right there too and yes, I will pull the trigger on them too.”  Dear God, he’s not going to kill them, is he?!

- A crazy rumor on the information superhighway says that Fedor Emelianenko and Shinya Aoki will square off against each other in a special grappling match at the “Deep M-1 Challenge 3rd Edition” in Japan on April 29th.  I’ll pause a moment and let that one sink in.  If true this would be completely insane, but to deny that we would totally want to see it would be to deny the very curiosity of the spirit that makes us human, and we aren’t about to do that.

(Chuck picks the exact wrong time to go to his happy place.)

I know, I know — more Chuck Liddell stuff.  But remember Howard Davis Jr. saying that Liddell needed to work on avoiding right hands and keeping his eyes open when the punches are coming at him?  Well, Zak over at Watch Kalib Run found this picture of him doing neither, and it really drives Davis Jr.’s point home.  Turns out keeping your eyes open is pretty crucial to avoiding punches, and avoiding punches is pretty crucial to winning fights.

If you want to feel even worse for Liddell, TMZ has a somewhat strange video of his pre-fight warm-up (thanks to OB&I for the tip) and Fightlinker has a gif of Dana White nearly knocking Chuck down with a friendly slap on the back in the Octagon. 

If you want to be reminded that it wasn’t always depressing losses and the inevitable ravages of age for "The Iceman," we got you covered after the jump.

(Retired man walkin’. Props to MMA Scraps.)

Among the notable writers and fighters currently eulogizing Chuck Liddell’s career is UFC light-heavyweight champ Rashad Evans, who gave some quotes to FightHype about what the Iceman’s UFC 97 loss meant to him personally (props to BloodyElbow for the tip):

I’ll refrain from making any young lion/old lion analogies, but yes, we’ve finally seen the last gasp of the Tito/Randy/Chuck era of the UFC, and it’ll be a somber week for some MMA fans. The new generation has taken over in full force, led by fighters like Rashad Evans, Lyoto Machida, GSP, and Brock Lesnar. And maybe one of these days, Jon Jones is going to spinning-backfist Rashad Evans into a living death, and we’ll start talking about how great Sugar used to be until he started slowing down just enough for younger guys to pick him apart. It’s the circle of life. Still, this claim that Liddell was just frontin’ about working on the holes in his standup game? Well damn, dude. If you hope to hang with fighters who are more than ten years younger than you, you have to put in the work. The UFC front office doesn’t need any loafers.

(Fine, I’ll say it.  We missed you, Jason.)

When MMA iconoclast/showboat Jason “Mayhem” Miller announced he was retiring from active competition, we treated the news the way you’d treat Aerosmith walking off the stage at the end of a concert in 1994.  You know they’re going to come back.  They know they’re going to come back.  Hell, they know that you know they’re going to come back, because they haven’t even played “Walk This Way” yet.  It’s a given that there will be at least one encore, but probably more like five.  So everybody waits for the inevitable.

Well, “Mayhem” Miller will bring his predictable retirement to a similar end in March when he faces Kala Kolohe Hose (who you might remember from such ass-whippings as ‘Phil Baroni gets painfully exhausted‘) in the newly formed Hawaiian fight promotion, Kingdom MMA, a creation of former Icon Sport president T. Jay Thompson, also known as the guy who confirmed what we all suspected about Jared Shaw’s ineptitude.

Instead of getting mad at “Mayhem” for wasting our time with this retirement charade that lasted less than six months, we’ll just say that we’re glad to have him back.  For those of you in Hawaii and looking to take some time out from trying to get on the BJPenn.com show in order to go see some fights, the event is expected to take place “either March 28 or 29 at the Blaisdell Center Arena.”  You know, just whenever they get around to it.  Oh, those laid back Hawaiians.

Just Barely Related:
– "Mayhem" Miller vs. Tim Kennedy Video
– "Mayhem" Miller Slaps Danny Bona-douche
– Fight! Magazine Exclusive: "Mayhem’s Best & Worst"

(Photo courtesy of The Fight Network.)

Strikeforce‘s upcoming “Destruction” card will feature such well-known fighters as Josh Thomson, Yves Edwards, Renato Sobral, Joe Riggs, and Kim Couture, but the biggest star will surely be the third man in the cage. Sherdog reports that beloved MMA referee “Big” John McCarthy is returning to what he does best after a year-long hiatus that saw him retire from the UFC, take an analyst spot at The Fight Network, then leave it when things went FUBAR — and his first stop will be San Jose’s HP Pavilion on November 21st. The last match McCarthy reffed was the main event bout between Roger Huerta and Clay Guida at the TUF 6 finale last December; it was his 535th since his debut at UFC 2 in March 1994. As he told Sherdog:

“I missed doing it. Sometimes when you walk away from something and you think it’s time, once you’re away you realize what you’re missing — it’s kind of like why guys come back to fighting. It’s what I like doing. It’s what I was meant to do.”

Though he didn’t rule out an eventual return to the Octagon, it’s clear that his days as the UFC’s mascot are pretty much over. On where he might be reffing after “Destruction,” he said:

From FightHype via MMA Mania:

“I got plenty of money. I don’t even care…I love fighting, but I’m just doing it for fun. I don’t feel like doing it right now, so I’m not going to do it….I might come out of retirement in a little while, but right now, I’m retired…There is no need for me to fight, so I’m just happy to have lived such a fun career inside of MMA, so if it ends now, it was fun…

Oh, I will be in the MMA world. I can’t really escape this land of tacky skull T-shirts and spics chicks with bad tattoos. (Ed. note: FightHype now says that “chicks” was originally misunderstood to be “spics” due to background noise.) I can’t get out of here that easily, but with that being said, I don’t need to fight…

I’d like to be remembered as a man who fought primarily for the fans. Regardless of the outcome of the fight, I always fought to put on a show.”

First off, I just want to give a thumbs down to FightHype and MMA Mania for presenting this story with no judgment whatsoever on Miller’s use of the word “spics.” Mayhem’s generally wacky persona shouldn’t give him a free pass to drop racial slurs at will. Is that too much to ask? I’d love to hear Miguel Torres and Roger Huerta’s take on the matter.

All that aside, it seems like a slightly premature retirement, in the vein of Melvin Manhoef’s. Miller lost his last bout — a decision against Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza at DREAM.4 in June — which snapped a four-fight win streak. His career was highlighted by wins against Denis Kang, Robbie Lawler, and Tim Kennedy, and he lost his sole UFC appearance to Georges St. Pierre at UFC 52 in April 2005. So, whatever. Shilling for Triumph United will have to pay the bills for now…

Check out this revealing interview that Sherdog did with Anderson Silva in Rio de Janeiro, in which the Spider delves a little deeper into his motivations for retiring next year. First, he repeats his claim that he’ll be gone after the six remaining fights on his UFC contract are up, but he estimates that he’ll be finished with those fights in June 2009 — which would mean he’d fight almost every month next year. “Everything has its time,” he says, “and I believe my time is already over.”

When asked if financial concerns were behind his desire to leave the UFC, and whether he was bothered by the fact that some UFC fighters who aren’t even champions get paid much more than he does, Silva says “It has nothing to do with money because I’m a humble person who has an ordinary life. Actually I never did it for money…Everything I could do for MMA, I already did. Now it’s time to help the new generation.”

By the end of next year, Silva says he’ll already be retired. “You will not see myself pinching a fly anymore…I’m going to be fat, with a big belly by the side of the Octagon, eating popcorn behind the scenes, making my imitations and screaming for the fighters: ‘Go there! Kick his face! Put him down!’ It’s going to be really funny!”

As for his upcoming UFC 90 fight against Patrick Cote, Silva had this to say: “I’m not able to predict the future, but I can say it’s going to be fun. He’s going to beat me a little bit, and I’m going to beat him a little bit…If God permits, I’ll keep my belt.”