(Photo courtesy of UFC.com.)

In the wake of UFC 100 — and UFC 99, the TUF 9 finale, the Bellator finals, and the last Strikeforce show — we’ve updated the heavyweight, light-heavyweight, middleweight, welterweight, lightweight, and pound-for-pound lists in our Power Rankings section. Some notable changes:

— Due to recent accomplishments, Georges St. Pierre supplants Fedor Emelianenko as the #1 pound-for-pound fighter in the world. Over the last two years, GSP has taken out Josh Koscheck, Matt Hughes, Matt Serra, Jon Fitch, BJ Penn, and Thiago Alves. In the same time frame, Fedor has beaten Matt Lindland (middleweight), Hong Man Choi (freak), Tim Sylvia (fat slob), and Andrei Arlovski (glass chin).

— Urijah Faber and Thiago Alves fall out of the P4P top ten, while Jake Shields and Dan Henderson come in. I’d still give the #11 spot to Faber, with Gegard Mousasi directly behind him.

— Diego Sanchez, Rich Franklin, Hector Lombard, Yoshihiro Akiyama, and Nick Diaz enter the rankings, either for the first time or in new weight-classes. You’re welcome, guys.

Give ‘em a look and let us know what you think.
(BG)

 
"I’m not his father, okay, he can do whatever the hell he wants to do. I’m his friend, and I care about him a lot, and I’d really like to never see him fight again."

So said Dana White on the TUF 9 Finale edition of "Inside the Octagon", perhaps loosening on his stance that Chuck Liddell will never fight again. Could it be that one more go-round for the Iceman is in the works? According to an Inside Fights report on potential main events for UFC 103 (September 19th, Dallas), yeah, maybe:

All fighters made weight today in Cologne, Germany, for tomorrow’s UFC 99 event — though things got off to a tense start for the undercard fighters. During the heavyweight faceoff between Stefan Struve and Denis Stojnic, the much-taller Struve leaned in to rest his forehead on Stojnic’s face, and the much-fatter Stojnic shoved him off; Dana White had to jump in to separate them. Then it happened again in the very next staredown, as Paul Kelly pushed his forehead against Roli Delgado‘s, and the Crazy Cuban angrily pushed Tellys off of him. The meeting between Dan Hardy and Marcus Davis was disappointingly cordial. The numbers are after the jump…

(It’s a bad day to be a focus mitt.  Photo courtesy of our friends at Fight! Magazine.)

I met Wanderlei Silva for an interview in his new gym in Las Vegas a couple of weeks ago, and to my surprise he showed up only a half-hour late.  He was sporting one hell of a black eye from a recent training session, but despite his busy schedule the always-gregarious Wanderlei was kind enough to give me a little of his time to talk about his upcoming bout with Rich Franklin at UFC 99 on Saturday, his thoughts on the rivalry and proposed bet with former friend Anderson Silva, as well as what he thinks about Dana White threatening to “pull the trigger” on him like he did to Chuck Liddell.  Enjoy.

CagePotato.com: Thanks for talking with me Wanderlei.  Looks like you have a pretty nice shiner there.

Yes, I was training with one of my partners here the other day and, you know, the fight is never like the training but I try to train like the fight.  The last two movements he hit me in each of my eyes.  It was the last few seconds even, and now I have this.  He got me and time was up before I could get him, but next week…(laughs)

What do you think of Rich Franklin as a fighter?

He’s a very professional guy.  Every guy who comes to fight me, they are going to train hard and train more.  This is real.  Because of this I know I need to train more too.   I train every day, two or three times a day.  So I will be ready too.

And what do you think of him training with Anderson Silva before his fight with you?

(Please, guys, there are kids watching. Photo courtesy of UFC.com.)

"I believe I won that fight. I’ll stand behind that for the rest of my life. On the feet, it’s clear I dominated the fight. I didn’t just win, I dominated on the feet. I did not get hit flush on the face or the body one time the whole fight. Dan took me down on several occasions, most of which I was able to stand back up. While I was on the ground, he was not capable of mounting any kind of damage…He had to resort to kneeing me on the back of my thigh because he had no other option and didn’t know what else to do…

Couple that with the fact I was head-butted twice and poked in the eye once. I would think that maybe the first one was incidental. I would assume that after you have a couple head-butts and then you poke me in the eye, perhaps as a referee you’d think about taking away a point. I don’t see how a judge should give him that decision."
— Rich Franklin, still salty about his split-decision loss to Dan Henderson at UFC 93.

(Props: MMA Mania)

Rivalry is the over-arching theme in this in-depth video preview for UFC 99 (Cologne, Germany; June 13th). First we have Rich Franklin vs. Wanderlei Silva, with much being made of Franklin’s decision to train with Wandy’s anti-BFF, Anderson Silva. Ace considers the Axe Murderer to be just as dangerous now as he was in PRIDE, and looks forward to a stand-up war. Wanderlei just wants to get past Franklin so he can settle up with Anderson once and for all.

In a card that’s moderately stacked with names like Mirko Cro Cop, Cain Velasquez, Cheick Kongo, and Caol Uno, it’s suprising that Marcus Davis vs. Dan Hardy is being treated like the co-main event here. But these two got beef. Hardy thinks Davis is a fake Irishman, and Davis thinks Hardy is a douchebag with a stupid red mohawk. Will their combined hatred produce a Fight of the Night?

After the jump: Some vintage California Kid from December 2005, in honor of his rematch with Mike Brown being just nine days away…

("Stitch" Duran runs down the list of the bloodiest fights he’s ever worked.)

- Lindsay Lohan’s dad starting up a new MMA promotion for TV. (KIMT.com)

- Chuck Liddell refuses to say he’s done fighting. (MMA Madness)

- Mario Lopez is surprised to hear that people have seen his fights. (Fight Magazine)

- Rich Franklin talks about training with Anderson Silva. (MMA Weekly)

- Matt Hughes passed his UFC 98 pre-fight drug test. (Fighters Only)

- Bob Reilly talks nonsense on Fox News Fight Game. (MMA Payout)

- More "Strikeboxing" in Canada’s future? (Fight Opinion)

- Forrest Griffin admits he was getting a little bored. (Cage Writer)

- What’s wrong with the Lakers? (Scores Report)

- Sumo wrestling game results in million-dollar lawsuit. (CBS Denver)

- The Adult Friend Finder experiment takes a turn for the weird. (Holy Taco)

- 5 movie robots that didn’t work. (Screen Junkies)

- Nascar drivers want to know what drugs they can’t take. (All Left Turns)

- Hangover recovery kit. (Ask Men)

- Brutal muay thai knockout. (Nothing Toxic)

(Props: MMA Mania)

If you were an MMA fan four years ago, you can probably imagine what your reaction would have been had someone, preferably Scott Bakula from “Quantum Leap,” gone back in time to show you this poster for UFC 99.  For one thing, you would have been blown away that the UFC even made it to UFC 99, and that they hadn’t yet transitioned to an all-robot fighting organization.  Then there’s the shock of seeing Pride bad-ass Wanderlei Silva in the Octagon to face UFC middleweight champ Rich Franklin, and in Germany for fuck’s sake. 

Basically, your head would have exploded right then and there, all over Scott Bakula, which is why time travel is dangerous to begin with and should probably be avoided until we are responsible enough to not use it for stuff like showing fight posters to people.

Now think about how you view this poster in the present day.  It’s still a credible fight, and still interesting, though for entirely different reasons.  Let’s just say no one’s head is in any danger of exploding here, with the possible exception of Wanderlei.  And if you weren’t an MMA fan back in 2005 and you don’t really get what I’m going on about here, allow me to derisively say, noob!

(Props: these guys, who should really look into a less obnoxious watermark for their photos. Just saying.)

Well, Anderson Silva is officially dead to Wanderlei Silva now.  Here he is training Rich Franklin, who will fight “The Axe Murderer” at UFC 99 in Germany, and also presumably whispering to him about where to find the secret Brazilian “off-switch” to put Wanderlei’s lights out.  Hint: it’s located somewhere in the chin region.  In the past Brazilians have often balked at the idea of training a foreigner to fight one of their countrymen, but Anderson is like Bruce Lee: he teaches whoever wants to learn.  Especially if that person is about to fight someone he’s not particularly fond of at the moment.

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.”

(Brothers don’t shake hands. Brothers gotta hug.)

As much as Anderson Silva used to enjoy kicking the absolute dogshit out of Rich Franklin, it was clear that the Spider respected the hell out of Ace. After his UFC 82 title fight against Dan Henderson, Silva told the Columbus crowd something along the lines of "it feels good to win, but there’s only one true middleweight champion, and that’s Rich Franklin," which struck me as both incredibly humble, and kind of insulting to Dan Henderson, who was standing right next to him at the time. So I guess this recent blurb from the Dayton Daily News shouldn’t be all that surprising:

Dana White’s UFC 96 video blog, ep. 2 – Watch more free videos

In this edition of the UFC 96 video blog, Dana White and the rest of the traveling circus dazzle Deutschland in their promo tour for UFC 99 this summer.  ‘But wait a minute,’ you’re saying to yourself, ‘isn’t this video blog supposed to be about hyping this weekend’s event on an entirely different continent?’  To which Dana White would respond: “Fuck yourself, it’s only Wednesday you pussy.”

Highlights of this episode include a touching conversation between White and Wanderlei Silva, who displays the ability to laugh at himself and his Borat-like grasp of the English language, as well as a trip to a weirdo German talk show with a moving stage, and of course an obligatory shot at Tito Ortiz.  In other words, a good time is had by all.

After the jump, a strange, quick knockout from an amateur MMA bout in Scotland.  Dude’s going to need an ice pack when he wakes up.

(Sometimes Wanderlei uses Lil’ Wanderlei to say things he can’t, such as ‘I’m sorry,’ and ‘I love you,’ and ‘What’s this catchweight shit about?’)

UFC.com today officially announced Rich Franklin/Wanderlei Silva as the main event for UFC 99 in Cologne, Germany on UFC 99, which has been dubbed “The Comeback.”  Yes, they already used that one for a season of “The Ultimate Fighter,” but so what?  It’s Germany.  They’re too busy screwing around with soccer and modernist architecture to know what’s happening on American TV.

As previously rumored, the bout will take place at a catchweight of 195 pounds, which is kind of odd since both Franklin and Silva last fought at 205 pounds.  But it only seems to make no sense because you haven’t heard Dana White’s explanation yet:

“Everyone knows Rich moved up to light heavyweight a couple of fights ago while Wanderlei is planning on fighting at 185lbs from now on, but this fight is too exciting a match not to happen and both these guys deserve a ton of credit for taking this fight at 195lbs.”

(Here goes Wanderlei, telling another one of his obviously bullshit fishing stories.)

The UFC’s summer venture into Cologne, Germany on June 13 is beginning to take shape, and that shape is already pretty intriguing — much like a dodecahedron, only not as pretentious.

MMA Weekly reports that Rich Franklin and Wanderlei Silva are likely to meet at a catchweight of around 195 pounds or so.  While it’s not the kind of fight that would determine a title contender – and even if it did we wouldn’t know for sure which weight class that contender might be in – it is the kind of bout that is interesting just ’cause.  Franklin and Silva are both on a sort of downward slope in their careers, so why not fight each other and see how it turns out?

Also a possibility for UFC 99, at least in his own mind, is Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic.  Fresh out of surgery on an injured knee, Cro Cop told a Croatian website (which was then translated by our friend Robert at Betwwx.com) that he was “very confident” he’d be fighting for the UFC in Germany this June.  As for potential opponents, Cro Cop mentioned Randy Couture and sounded pretty pumped about the idea.  

Sounds good to us.  If the UFC can add Cro Cop-Couture and Franklin-Silva to a card that already has Caol Uno-Spencer Fisher and maybe, possibly even B.J. Penn-Kenny Florian, Germany’s world will officially get rocked, as The Scorpions might say, like a hurricane.

(‘Whoa, guys, I just had the worst dream.  Dan Henderson poked me in the eye and head-butted me and I lost the decision anyway and then…why are you all looking at me like that?  Where am I?  And why do I suddenly have no depth perception?’)

It’s all fun and games until somebody gets poked in the eye.  Word from Rich Franklin’s official website is that he will not need Anthony Johnson-esque surgery to repair the eye that Dan Henderson got knuckle-deep into, which is always good news. 

In addition to the eye-poke injury, Franklin also needed stitches in his head on account of the Hendo head-butt that opened up a nasty cut on his forehead, as well as stitches on his shin to close a cut resulting from one of his many kicks in the fight.  Basically, it was a rough night.  At least he had his special pink travel pillow to comfort him on the long journey home.

More pics of the damage “Ace” suffered are after the jump.  Take a look at those and then ask yourself anew, ‘Do you want to be a f*cking fighter?!’

(Mark "Frankenstein" Coleman staggers into an uppercut.  Photo courtesy of NBC Sports.)

Thanks to our psychic abilities, we know exactly what two questions went running through your precious little head immediately after the curtain dropped on UFC 93: 1) How did I fare in the Cage Potato UFC 93 Pick-em Contest?, and 2) What will the Potato Index’s arbitrary numerical ratings system say about this event?

The answer to the first question is coming soon.  There are, after all, a lot of entries to sort through, and for that we thank you.  The answer to the second question begins…now!  Potato Index!!!!

Dan Henderson +23

He won the fight.  That’s the good news.  He didn’t look spectacular doing it, and we aren’t dying to see more of that particular style in the future, but a win is a win.  Now we have Hendo-Bisping to look forward to.  And that’s, you know, okay…

Rich Franklin -8

Honestly, this decision easily could have gone the other way (just ask the judge who scored it 30-27 Franklin), but it didn’t.  This loss isn’t a sign that Ace is washed up and he didn’t want to coach TUF anyway, so it’s not the end of the world.  It is, however, an indicator that he’s just treading water in the UFC for now, going neither up nor down.  There are worse fates.  At least this one pays.

Mark Coleman -54

Poor, poor Coleman.  Literally.  He says he didn’t have the money for a proper training camp, hence the non-existent cardio and an enthusiastic but misinformed Phil Baroni in his corner.  But what did we expect?  The man was great once, but nothing lasts forever, even cold November rain and explosive wrestling ability.  Please, either fight someone else in your age bracket, or call it quits.  We say this because we care.

("Wait a minute, *Dan* Henderson? I totally thought I was fighting someone else! Well good luck to you, sir!" Photo courtesy of Combat Lifestyle. More photos from the weigh-ins here.)

We’re coming up on 3 p.m. East Coast time, and I gotta tell you, it’s a little weird to be up this early on a Saturday. But no worries, because I’ve got a six of Guinness, a half-bottle of Jameson, Thin Lizzy blasting on the stereo, and I’m pretty much ready to liveblog the crap out of the UFC’s first event in Dublin. We may not all be Old and Bald, but just for one afternoon, can’t we all be a little Irish? Hit that "Read More" link and refresh the page every few minutes to get round-by-round updates and commentary for UFC 93. Sláinte… 

(Weigh-in video courtesy of the UFC via The MMA Post. Looks like Octagon Girl Edith will be making her return, joined of course by Arianny and Logan.)

All fighters hit their mark comfortably today at the UFC 93 weigh-ins in Dublin — quite comfortably, in fact. Dan Henderson came in a full three pounds under the 205-pound limit for his main event bout, while Rich Franklin weighed in at 203. More surprising was former middleweight Martin Kampmann, who weighed in at trim 168 for his first fight at welterweight. Mark Coleman was able to land within the one-pound allowance for his debut match at light-heavyweight, though if you check out the video above starting at around the 17:47 mark, you’ll see that the Hammer looks way thinner now that he’s a LHW, and might be a little jet-lagged. Check out the full results below, and don’t forget to come back to CagePotato.com tomorrow at 3 p.m. ET/noon PT for our thrilling liveblog of the fights. 

MAIN CARD
Rich Franklin (203) vs Dan Henderson (202)
Mark Coleman (206) vs Mauricio “Shogun” Rua (205)
Jeremy Horn (185) vs Rousimar Palhares (184)
Alan Belcher (186) vs Denis Kang (184)
Marcus Davis (169) vs Chris Lytle (171)

UNDERCARD
Alexandre Barros (170) vs Martin Kampmann (168)
Antonio Mendes (204) vs Eric Schafer (205)
Ivan Serati (204) vs Tomasz Drwal (203)
John Hathaway (171) vs Tom Egan (169)
Dennis Siver (155) vs Nate Mohr (156)

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

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

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

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

(Hold up, Chris.  You wore a t-shirt that says "Ireland" to the UFC 93 press conference in Ireland?  That’s cheap heat, bro.)

We know you’re excited about UFC 94 after the premiere of “Primetime” this week, and you’re also pretty pumped about the new season of “Rock of Love Bus” (it’s the same show, but on a bus!), though that’s no excuse for losing sight of more pressing matters, like UFC 93.  We haven’t.  We even have some questions swirling around in our heads, and our couples therapist keeps telling us we shouldn’t keep that stuff bottled up, so here we go…

Who wins the Dan Henderson-Rich Franklin bout and how?  Will the UFC make a big deal out of the victor being the TUF 9 coach, and will whoever it happens to be even pretend to be excited about the job?

BF: The more I think about it, the more I can’t see this fight ending in anything other than a decision.  Both these guys are tough to finish (unless you’re Anderson Silva, in which case, all the middleweight division is your playground), and neither of them is likely to be fighting with the kind of reckless desperation that would lead to a quick ending.

That said, I think Franklin is the better all-around fighter.  All he has to do is keep Henderson from taking him down and holding him there while peppering him with elbows, which is undoubtedly Hendo’s game plan.  “Ace” is going to end up on his back once or twice, but he’ll take over in the second and third rounds and start picking Henderson apart.  Franklin by unanimous decision, 29-28 on all three scorecards.

Afterwards, Rogan will make cursory mention of Franklin being the next TUF coach, and Rich will be unable to completely hide his total lack of enthusiasm, despite his best efforts to be polite.  The UFC will be anticipating this, so instead they’ll focus their attention on Michael Bisping’s grinning reaction to the proceedings.

BG: Tough, tough fight to call, but I agree with your assessment of the matchup. Dan Henderson is a little further past his prime than Rich Franklin is, and Ace’s striking is a little sharper. In fact, I say Franklin gives Henderson the first TKO loss of his career around the 3:30 mark of round three, after controlling the standup and stuffing a few takedowns in the first two rounds. Between Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, Wanderlei Silva, and Takanori Gomi, former PRIDE legends seem to be cursed lately, and Hendo will be the next to go down.

(High on the list of the last places you want to see Demian Maia: mounted on top of you.  Photo courtesy of NBC Sports.)

The UFC seems committed to offering the remaining “Ultimate Fighter” coaching spot to the winner of the Rich Franklin-Dan Henderson bout at UFC 93 this weekend, despite the fact that neither of them seem excited about getting the job, least of all Franklin.  That makes for not only an anti-climactic main event (just picture Franklin, if he wins, standing in the Octagon afterwards and making a face like your dad used to when you’d give him a tie for Christmas every year), but it’s also likely to carry over into making the inevitable season-ending coach fight into something of a bore.

The hell of it is, the solution to this problem is right in front of the UFC, and it’s Demian Maia.  He wants a shot at Michael Bisping, and probably wouldn’t mind the low pay and Vegas exile that comes with the coaching job.  What’s more, Bisping can’t seem to stop talking about Maia despite the fact that a fight with him isn’t on the horizon at the moment.  

Just check his comments to the UK’s Telegraph in a story published yesterday:

Rising star Damian Maia [sic], a submission expert with great striking skills, unbeaten in 10 fights, has been making loud noises within Bisping’s earshot.

“I don’t like the sound of those noises, and I will pacify him,” said Bisping. “Damian is a really nice guy, a gentleman and a sportsman. He wants to go as far as he can in this sport.  …A lot of people seem to want to call me out. I don’t want to sound arrogant but they get beaten or knocked out when they come up against me. Damian is a submission expert, but he won’t get me down, and he’ll get knocked out. He’ll just have to get to the back of the queue for now.”

(Anyone else feeling suddenly very uncomfortable?)

Odds for the five televised bouts at UFC 93 are out on all the big betting sites.  Since the undercard (with the possible exception of the Martin Kampmann-Alexandre Barros bout) is made up mostly of guys you don’t know well or at all, it’s probably best that the off-shore experts don’t entice you to guess your money away.  Then again, maybe you have a hot tip on Tom Egan that you’re just dying to act on.

The most favorable odds on the ‘net are compiled, as usual, from our friends at BestFightOdds.com.  

Rich Franklin (+115) vs. Dan Henderson (-125)
Mark Coleman (+320) vs. Mauricio "Shogun" Rua (-336)
Alan Belcher (+275) vs. Denis Kang (-271)
Jeremy Horn (+275) vs. Rousimar Palhares (-455)
Marcus Davis (-131) vs. Chris Lytle (+121)

Thoughts…

UFC Primetime on Spike

If you’re watching this preview of "UFC Primetime" — the 24/7 type show that the UFC has put together to hype the Georges St. Pierre-B.J. Penn fight — and thinking that it looks like the best piece of MMA promo you’ve ever seen, you’re probably right.  Our good buddy Ariel Helwani has been working on it and he swears we’ll like what we see when the first episode premieres this Wednesday night, so don’t miss it.

UFC 93 video blog, episode 2 – Watch more free videos

Here’s the next installment in Dana White’s UFC 93 video blog, where the UFC prez and Rich Franklin commiserate over England’s shitty food, Dana confronts Dan Henderson on his perceived shit-talking, and more fun with the British TUF 9 tryouts.  Man, that Dana White sure loves his Guitar Hero, doesn’t he?  Guess you need something to do when you spend so much time traveling, and it’s either that or read fucking books.

(Props: BloodyElbow)

Though it won’t be televised in the U.S. for some inexplicable reason, the UFC taped a "Countdown" special for #93 that is airing in the U.K. on Setanta Sports and on UFC.com. Here’s part one, which covers the long-awaited meeting of Rich Franklin and Dan Henderson. 8:56-9:33 is pretty priceless; Ace seems to be taking interview cues from the Forrest Griffin school of deadpan humor. You can check out parts 2-5 on the UFC Direct Videos YouTube channel for more pre-fight trash-talk, as well as the origin story of Mauricio Rua and the improbable comeback story of Mark Coleman.   

(Props: TheGARV)

Even though TUF 9 still hasn’t locked down their Team U.S. coach, Dana White reveals in his new video blog that taping of the first two episodes is already kicking off at Wolfslair Academy. Also, this Wednesday will see the premiere of UFC Primetime, the hype-show for St. Pierre vs. Penn 2. (Also known as "The Baddest Motherfucking Countdown Show You Will Ever See.") Now that that’s out of the way, we can focus on the action — a wild, driving vs. walking race through the streets of Manhattan, Dana making an appearance at a SpikeTV conference (notice how unamused he looks when he’s introduced to the crowd with a highlight reel of him dropping F-bombs), editing of the aforementioned Primetime special, a visit to Pinkberry, and a glimpse inside Wolfslair before the elimination fights.

Bonus, after the jump: Mike Tyson’s ill-fated appearance as an MMA ref at a World Cage Fighting Championships event in March 2006. I have to say, that first stand-up due to inactivity on the ground might have been a little premature… 

(It was going fine until the 1:57 mark. Then things get really uncomfortable.)

- Affliction can’t stop talking about how awesome they are. (Yahoo!)

- Thiago Silva is expecting a track meet against Lyoto Machida. (Tatame)

- Is the UFC phoning it in for UFC 93? (Fightlinker)

- Neil Grove to make UFC debut against Justin McCully. (Fighters Only)

- Tim Kennedy talks war and MMA. (Five Ounces of Pain)

- HIT Squad Dodgeball.  (Matt-Hughes.com)

- Rich Franklin trains for Dan Henderson. (MMA Mania)

- Gina Carano says she doesn’t get paid what you think. (AskMen.com)

- This is why you don’t run from the cops. (Break.com)

- 7 TV shows that really need to exist. (Screen Junkies)

- 10 things Tim Tebow should have put on his eye black. (Holy Taco)

- Skater owns bully. (Nothing Toxic)

- This is too adorable to ignore. (Hip to Code)

(Honestly, what’s not to love?)

During today’s media conference call for UFC 93 the talk inevitably turned to the perceived stakes of the Dan Henderson-Rich Franklin bout on January 17 and whether the winner would really end up as a coach opposite Michael Bisping on season nine of The Ultimate Fighter, as has been discussed.  The answer, it seems, is that nobody knows for sure.  But Rich Franklin sure didn’t sound excited about the idea:

"I have not personally spoken to Dana, the UFC or any of the production people about the show," Franklin said. "Six weeks in Vegas, I’ve gotten to the point where I could care less for staying in Vegas for that period of time. It’s time away from my family and time away from doing the things I can do to make money. The show doesn’t pay very well. … But anything the UFC asks me to do, I’m always on board for."

Franklin also pointed out the absurdity of taking two former middleweights, like he and Henderson, and having them fight at light heavyweight to see who will take on Bisping at middleweight.  But Franklin’s main gripe seems to be that coaching the show isn’t such a good deal for a fighter – and he would know, seeing as he’s done it before. 

But is coaching the show really that bad?  So it doesn’t pay much (how much is not much, anyway?  Ten grand for six weeks?  Less?  More?), and it keeps Franklin from other lucrative opportunities, such as making movies with former Saved By The Bell stars, but it is publicity and the chance to build back up to a big main event bout.  That’s all good stuff, right? 

UFC 93 goes down January 17th in Dublin, Ireland, and while most people are understandably psyched about the Rich Franklin/Dan Henderson light-heavyweight main event, I’m just as interested to see what happens between Mark Coleman and Mauricio Rua. Who will be rustier after their long layoff? The injury-prone Shogun, whose last cage appearance was his choke-out loss to Forrest Griffin in September 2007? Or Hall-of-Famer Mark Coleman, who hasn’t notched a victory since his TKO-via-broken-arm win over Rua almost three years ago? Will Coleman really try to turn their grudge match into a stand-up war? Will Phil Baroni and Wanderlei Silva jump in and start brawling after the fight is stopped, like last time? You gotta admit, the match has potential.

Also at UFC 93, Denis Kang makes his UFC debut against Alan Belcher, and Marcus Davis and Chris Lytle have their long-awaited "takedowns are for pussies" match.

 
(Props: MMA Mania)

Nine bouts have been officially confirmed for UFC 93 (January 17th; Dublin, Ireland) — though there are some surprises in the card’s arrangement. Here’s what we have so far:

MAIN CARD
Rich Franklin vs. Dan Henderson
Mark Coleman vs. Mauricio Rua  
Alan Belcher  vs. Denis Kang 
Antonio Mendes vs. Andre Gusmao
Dennis Siver vs. Nate Mohr 

UNDERCARD
Marcus Davis vs. Chris Lytle
Jeremy Horn vs. Rousimar Palhares 
Tomasz Drwal vs. Ivan Serati  
Thomas Egan vs. John Hathaway

How you gonna leave the Irish Hand Grenade off the main card in Dublin? It’s blasphemy, especially when he’s already promised the fans a pussy-free slugfest with Chris Lytle. It’s also strange to see Horn/Palhares on the untelevised card, when you consider who actually did make the cut.

First off, Antonio Mendes vs. Andre Gusmao. Both of these guys got owned in their UFC debuts; Mendes was steamrolled by Thiago Silva at UFC 84, and Gusmao was overwhelmed by Jon Jones’s explosive athleticism at UFC 87 and lost a unanimous decision. So we’re letting them fight each other on the main card? No, this has to be some kind of mistake.

(How ’bout a nice Hawaiian Punch? Image courtesy of ko.susumug.com.)

"After holding the welterweight title once, I was like, I need it again, I need that welterweight title one more time, and look, I get to beat one of the best fighters of all time to do it. The opportunity is just trememdous…I’m going to crush him, don’t worry guys." — The ever-confident BJ Penn predicts the outcome of his UFC 94 superfight against Georges St. Pierre during a couple of recent Hawaiian TV appearances.

"Sean Sherk, that’s a fight I would love to take. That fight is one of the ones I really want to show everyone how far I’ve come. My wrestling’s a lot better than that and I’m going to continue to get better at it…[A rematch] would be ten times better and I believe with a different result." — Kenny Florian gives MMA Weekly the old "I’m not the same fighter I was back then" line. Ken-Flo is content to wait for BJ Penn as he chases his welterweight championship dream, but if Penn’s hiatus goes on for too long, Florian would be open to avenging a past defeat.

"A [Rich] Franklin vs. [Michael] Bisping fight would be amazing. I’d love to fight him. But I’d love to fight Henderson too. They’re household names and legends of the sport and it would be an honour and a privilege to fight one of them. I think I stack up well against them…I think I can beat both of them. It wouldn’t be easy, but my confidence is growing with every fight." — Michael Bisping talks to The Sun about who he’s eyeing for his next match. For the record, Bisping thinks Franklin will have the edge on Henderson during their fight in January. 

After the jump: The gloves come off and the talk gets trashy.

(Props: Bloody Elbow)

Here’s a short preview clip of Virtual Mike and Joe discussing Brock Lesnar in the upcoming UFC 2009 Undisputed video game. For more sample clips of Lesnar, click here. A promo video for UFC 93: Franklin vs. Henderson is below, and grainy, hand-held footage of Fedor Emelianenko’s Sambo loss to Blagoi Ivanov awaits you after the jump.

(Props: Fightlinker)