(“It’s called an ‘illusion’, okay? A ‘trick’ is something a whore does for money.”)

Leading up to her Strikeforce title fight against Miesha Tate on Saturday, Ronda Rousey bristled at the suggestion that she was a “one-trick pony” simply because she had finished all four of her professional MMA fights — and her two amateur fights before that — by armbar. Then, Rousey finished Tate by armbar anyway.

But being a one-trick pony shouldn’t be a derogatory term in MMA. If you’re so good at your specialized technique that you can finish top-flight opponents with it, even though they know it’s coming, then you should be applauded, not criticized. So let’s pay tribute to the seven greatest one-trickers in mixed martial arts. If we’ve left out any good ones, please let us know in the comments section.

RONDA ROUSEY
Trick: The armbar
Finishing percentage via that trick: 100% (5 armbar wins in 5 pro fights)
Does she have a nickname based on that trick?: No
How long can Ronda’s perfect armbar streak last? Unlike some of the other names on this list, “Rowdy” has proven that she can land her technique-of-choice against the elite of her division. Rousey faces former Strikeforce 135-pound champion Sarah Kaufman next, and it might be a good sign that Kaufman’s sole career loss — against Marloes Coenen in 2010 — came via armbar.

GIVA SANTANA

Trick: The armbar
Finishing percentage via that trick: 72.2% (13 armbar wins in 18 pro fights)
Does he have a nickname based on that trick?: Yes, “The Arm Collector”
Carrying an overall record of 17-1, Givanildo Santana has torqued elbow-joints all over the world. Santana picked up his 13th armbar win during his Bellator debut in October, and is a dark horse to sweep the promotion’s upcoming middleweight tournament.

And it was here, in this blighted place, that Strikeforce learned to live again… (Props: FoxSports.com)

The fact that a Strikeforce aftermath is being broken down into two separate posts is probably confusing most of our longtime readers, considering we’ve had so little to say about the organization leading up to last night’s Strikeforce card. Ever since Zuffa’s acquisition of the organization, our post-event recaps have focused on Strikeforce’s lack of a direction, now-meaningless titles and ever-diminishing roster. The organization clearly wasn’t going anywhere (i.e. going under), yet it also, well, wasn’t going anywhere (i.e. it wasn’t planning future growth). Yet last night, for the first time in a while, Strikeforce looked like an organization that could consistently provide MMA fans with intriguing, relevant matchups.

After all of the hype that Ronda Rousey and Miesha Tate managed to create for last night’s bout, the ending could not have possibly gone better for Strikeforce. Exciting fight? Check. Dramatic finish? Check. And most importantly, Sarah Kaufman’s victory over Alexis Davis on the undercard established a clear challenger for the new champion who actually stands a chance at beating the champion. The biggest problem with Strikeforce’s title fights as of late has been the fact that the champions are simply too much better than anyone that Strikeforce can match them up with (Rockhold vs. Jardine, anyone?). While Rousey continued to look phenomenal in her short MMA career last night, former champion Sarah Kaufman provides another intriguing matchup for her. Back to back championship fights in a Strikeforce weight class that will pit the champion against a formidable opponent who is coming off of a victory: Now that’s encouraging.

(Get it?) 

Heading into arguably the most anticipated women’s MMA match of all time (that’s right, I said women’s), former Olympic bronze medalist Ronda Rousey had a mountain of claims to back up, a mountain only made higher by the fact that her meteoric run to a bantamweight title shot had left the general public with more questions than answers in regards to her skill set. In her four fight career, the woman had never seen what the second round, let alone the second minute, of a MMA contest looked like. So we were left to ponder: how would her striking, stamina, and suffocating Jiu-Jitsu attack hold up against the more experienced champ in Meisha Tate?

Well, as it turns out, we still don’t know much about the newly crowned women’s 135 lb. champion, and that may just be the scariest thing about her. Tate tried to answer a couple of these questions early, coming out throwing wild haymakers with ill intentions. Rousey was able to ride out the storm and secure a takedown, drawing an ominous “Oh shit!” reaction from the viewing audience, at least where I was. That statement was echoed tenfold when Rousey managed to secure her first armbar, which I’m still pretty positive did most of the damage to Tate’s arm. However, where referee Herb Dean would have let out his own, “Oh shit!” before stopping the fight right there, referee Mark Matheny was determined not to find himself in the middle of a Steve Mazagatti/Sarah D’Alelio controversy, adhering to a strict “snap then tap” policy for Ms. Tate. That policy would come into effect just a couple minutes later, when Rousey managed to secure the fight ending armbar that can only be described as “Palharesian.”

(Props: shosports)

Last night’s Strikeforce card was a memorable one — even though there were a couple aspects of the show that we’d love to forget. Now that the dust has settled, let’s take a look back at Tate vs. Rousey’s thrilling highlights and awful lowlights…

The Good
- First and foremost, this gif from the weigh ins. Oh, Ronda. [*flexes butt seductively*]

- Ronda Rousey‘s title-winning performance against Miesha Tate. We finally learned what Rousey’s “Plan B” is when she’s unable to armbar you within the first minute — unsurprisingly, it’s another armbar. Rousey kept her head when Miesha stormed out at her in the beginning of the fight, calmly extracted herself from bad positions on the ground, and didn’t get discouraged when her first nasty armbar attempt failed to break Miesha’s elbow. Instead, she relied on the judo expertise that has carried her to a title shot in less than a year of professional MMA competition, and got the inevitable snap/tap at 4:27 of round 1. During her post-fight interview, Rousey proved that her heat-seeking personality doesn’t turn off just because the match is over. (Yes, she holds grudges, and yes, she still thinks Tate sucks.) A meeting with former champ Sarah Kaufman is next, but I can’t be the only one looking ahead to a possible 135-pound superfight against Cris Cyborg.

- Ronaldo Souza‘s striking. In the past, Jacare’s occasional tendency to keep fights standing has struck me as a frustrating betrayal of his bread-and-butter. (See also: Demian Maia.) But against Bristol Marunde, Souza’s striking looked just as dangerous as his grappling; his ferocious overhand rights and unconventional kicks brought to mind other Brazilian bangers like Rafael “Feijao” Cavalcante and Edson Barboza. Jacare is still evolving as a fighter, and Luke Rockhold should watch his back.

(Scott Coker: “Whooaa.” That other dude: “Niiiiiiice.” / Photo courtesy of facebook.com/StrikeforceMixedMartialArts)

Welcome, friends, to the most bonerrific highly-anticipated women’s bantamweight fight in MMA history. Seven months after winning the Strikeforce 135-pound strap, Miesha Tate will attempt to make her first title defense against arm-snapping fire-cracker Ronda Rousey. And that’s just the cherry on top of a loaded fight card that also features two former Strikeforce champions (Josh Thomson, Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza), a pack of crowd-pleasing sluggers (Paul Daley, Scott Smith, KJ Noons), and the return of former PRIDE welterweight grand prix champion Kazuo Misaki.

Handling our liveblog for this evening is Steve Silverman, who will be posting round-by-round results for the Strikeforce: Tate vs. Rousey main card after the jump starting at 10 p.m. ET. Refresh the page every few minutes for all the latest, and please toss your own brilliant opinions and observations into the comments section.

(Video courtesy of SI.com)

- The 20 Funniest Martial Arts Glamor Photos (WorldWideInterweb)

- 9 Things Bad Personal Trainers Say (MadeMan)

- 8 Things You Shouldn’t Do If You’re Dating Casually (Guyism)

- Will Ferrell Is Putting The ‘Step Brothers’ Sequel At The Top Of His To-Do List (ScreenJunkies)

- Aaron Landry’s Ridiculous Workout (BuzzerBeat)

- Crazy Couple Pranks Each Other While Sleeping (Break)

- Why Does George Lopez Keep Getting TV Shows? (TuVez)

- What to Do When You Hate Her Friends (AskMen)

- Brass Tacks Infographic: Danny DeVito (Clutch.MTV)

- Resident Evil ORC First Gameplay Trailer (TheRugged)

- 3D Chinese Porn to Get Sequel in 4D…Wait…What?! (FilmDrunk)

- Dana White Comments on TRT Use and Drug Testing (FightersOnly)

- Reasons to Watch UFC on FX 2 (BleacherReport)

- 25 Ridiculous Lip Tattoos (HolyTaco)

(Now that the evaluation is complete, Ronda will get out her black marker and circle your problem areas.)

While putting together their own lovely gallery of Ronda Rousey photos, our buddies at MensFitness.com asked the Strikeforce title contender to name her favorite body part on a man. Rowdy Ronda did not mince words:

“Honestly, my favorite male body part is the butt,” Rousey laughs. “One thing I can’t stand is if you see a guy and he looks great, but he takes off his jeans and he’s just got a jiggly flubberbutt…It doesn’t need to be a big butt, but it needs to be at least firm.”

Got it? Now you know which pictures of yourself to send her on twitter. For the record, Men’s Fitness recommends these three exercises to get your ass in tip-top shape, should you ever have to disrobe in front of the sexy judoka. (Hey, it could happen.)

In the interest of equal time, MensFitness asked Miesha Tate the same question. Her answer was more traditional, but still very important:

By Crooklyn

                                                      (Photo courtesy of Getty/ForzaLLC)

As we wind down this frenetic week of anticipation for arguably the biggest fight in WMMA history, Ronda Rousey is taking a load off and catching some much needed rest. Despite being run down from days that start at 5 a.m. and end well past the hours of normalcy, she is still generous with her time, and graciously granted CagePotato.com another interview, among a seemingly unending stream of Q&A requests ahead of her first MMA title bout Saturday night. The focal point is always the same from one interview to the next: Miesha Tate.

In this latest visit with the former Olympian, “Rowdy” discusses several more topics, including Tate’s striking, and the misconceptions some may have about her ability to go into the later rounds if need be.

(Photo courtesy of Showtime. Full gallery is after the jump.)

This Saturday, Miesha Tate puts her Strikeforce bantamweight title on the line against sassy armbar-savant Ronda Rousey, in the first major MMA event to be headlined by two women since Carano vs. Cyborg. Will Tate’s experience and wrestling win the day, or will “Rowdy Ronda” continue her phenomenal rise? Check out these stunning promo photos from our buddies at Showtime and let us know what you think in the comments section. And don’t forget to come back to CagePotato.com on Saturday night starting at 10 p.m. ET to join our liveblog of the Strikeforce: Tate vs. Rousey main card broadcast on Showtime!

(Props: allencolombo via pegson123)

And here we have Ronda Rousey training for her March 3rd showdown with Miesha Tate, soundtracked by the hypnotic free-jazz strains of Colin Stetson’s “The Righteous Wrath of an Honorable Man.” See, aspiring MMA video-editors? See how much better this is than “Bodies“?

Related: Video: KahL-One’s ‘New York MMA, Episode 2: Two Perspectives’

By Crooklyn
Special to CagePotato.com

In case you’ve been living under a rock, Ronda Rousey and Miesha Tate have a Strikeforce title fight coming up in a little less than two weeks’ time. The tension between these two women is positively supercharged, and has led to some of the best pre-fight trash talk in MMA history. If the hype and media buildup surrounding their March 3 bout could be measured in monetary units, the United States national debt could be reduced to a zero balance, with a little spare change left over to place a wager on their fight.

Now, there is a new beef between these lovely ladies, and it all stems from comments made by Tate, regarding Rousey’s Olympic accolades.

In a recent TapouT Radio interview, Rousey spit hot fire and molten lava in Miesha’s direction, and gave a current chronicling of a variety of hot button topics.

Check out what “Rowdy” had to say after the jump.  

We’re not exactly sure where the correlation between mixed martial arts fighters and police dog demonstrations started, but man if it isn’t glorious every time. Released by the Network of Champions, this video is the first in a series that features current UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Jon Jones going through the Birmingham Sheriff Department’s training routine. Jones was also allowed to partake in some EVOC (Emergency Vehicle Operation Control) training, some simulated gun play, and even got to hip toss a fool who decided to get fresh with him. Don’t worry officer, it could have been worse.

As you may or may not know, Jones received a degree in criminal justice from Iowa Central Community College back in 2005, so perhaps he was a little more prepared to take a mauling than the average UFC fighter. Bones attests that the dog was racist, and history tells us that he was probably right.

Join us after the jump for a behind the scenes look at the awesome Rousey/Tate promo Strikeforce managed to muster up and more.

(Video courtesy of YouTube/ShoSports)

It looks like Showtime and Zuffa are going all-in with Strikeforce’s final push at staying alive.

The latest promo for the March 3 Strikeforce: Tate vs. Rousey event is fantastic. It might even be better than the “Sympathy for the Devil” UFC on Fox promo.

(Ronda Rousey Continues Her Crusade to Become the Female Chael P. Sonnen — Video courtesy of MMA Fighting)

Some selected highlights from our friends around the MMA blogosphere…

-  Miesha Tate: ‘Ronda Rousey Sounds Like An Idiot Half the Time’ (5th Round)

- UFC on FOX 4 set for Staples Center in Los Angeles, Calif., on Aug. 4 (MMA Mania)

-  Tapout/UFC Announce New Sponsorship Partnership (MMA Payout)

-  UFC 143 Woulda, Shoulda, Coulda With Scottie Epstein (MiddleEasy)

-  Valentijn Overeem on Lesnar, JDS and Alistair (BleacherReport.com/MMA)

- UFC Announces Twitter Bonus Winners for Q4 (Lowkick.Blitzcorner.com)

- Sanchez Says He’d Be Willing to Fight Teammate Condit  (Five Ounces of Pain)

- Death of a Fight Club  (MMA Convert)

- Dr. PaulBowman on “Theorizing Bruce Lee” (The Fight Nerd)

-  UFC Message: Please Forget the outcome of Condit/Diaz I (Fight Opinion)

-  Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson’s Post-UFC 143 Blog (FightLine)

We haven’t seen or heard much from Brock Lesnar since his first round UFC 141 TKO loss to Alistair Overeem and subsequent retirement from MMA. Most of us assumed he was likely off on another possibly illegal hunting trip, or perhaps was spending day and night just getting on top of that smoking hot wife of his. In either case, the former UFC Heavyweight Champ recently popped up in Minneapolis to present Minnesota Gopher freshman wrestler Logan Storley with the 2011 Junior Hodge Trophy. Storley, who recently helped the Gophers clinch half of the Big Ten Dual Meet conference championship (along with Penn State), attended the same high school as Lesnar, who, as we all know, was a NCAA Division I Champion himself. After compiling an incredible 262-3 record, Storley was voted the nation’s best prep high school wrestler by the Amateur Athletic Union and WIN Magazine. Now start training those hands, son.

Join us after the jump for a plethora of videos from around the MMA blogosphere, including a nasty Thai Boxing KO, Thiago Alves‘ first (and incredibly brief) UFC on FX video blog, and more…

By CagePotato contributor Shawn Smith

Miesha Tate has been turning heads in mixed martial arts for as long as she’s been fighting. She has always received attention for her stunning good looks, but now she’s turning heads for another reason. The focus has switched from her looks to her skills, and there’s no denying that Tate is amongst the most talented women in the sport.

Few gave Tate a chance against submission phenomenon Marloes Coenen when they met last July, and ever fewer thought she`d be able to tap the 11 year veteran. This didn’t deter “Takedown” from dominating Coenen before getting the submission via arm-triangle choke in the fourth round, capturing the Strikeforce Women’s Bantamweight Championship, and cementing her spot as an elite level mixed martial artist.

Next up for Tate is the outspoken, abrasive, and ultra-talented Ronda Rousey. These two women don’t get along and the tension is sure to continue building heading into their March 3 bout.

CagePotato recently talked with Tate about her upcoming bout with “Rowdy” Ronda Rousey.
Check out the interview after the jump.

(Hey, I keep tons of random trash in *my* car too! SOUL MATES. / Photo via @RondaRousey)

On March 3rd, red-hot women’s MMA prospect Ronda Rousey will drop to 135 pounds for the first time to challenge Miesha Tate for her Strikeforce women’s bantamweight title. Rousey’s pro MMA career isn’t even a year old yet, and she’s already facing the world’s top-ranked 135′er, a woman who holds victories over such big names as Marloes Coenen and Zoila Gurgel.

And according to oddsmakers, Miesha Tate is dead meat.

Props to MiddleEasy for alerting us to the current betting odds for next month’s Tate vs. Rousey showdown in Columbus, Ohio. Due to her string of armbar victories within the first minute of her fights, Ronda Rousey is as high as a -375 favorite in the matchup, with Tate slated as a +275 ‘dog. That, my friends, is insane.

(Skip to the 4 minute mark for the true trash talking, and give your prayers to the poor man that is apparently being sodomized off camera.) 

It seems a day rarely goes by in the MMA blogosphere that doesn’t yield another hilarious, if somewhat polarizing quote from Ronda Rousey. She’s made dick jokes about her colleagues, she’s threatened to kill an entire audience with her bare hands, and now it seems she’s honed in on none other than that B-boying sonofabitch, Georges St. Pierre. About half way through the above interview, Rousey asks the reporter who his favorite fighter is, after declaring that hers is “The Last Emperor” himself, Fedor Emelianenko. When he states that his is GSP, Ronda reacts with a classic “Oh no you di-int” face before letting her feelings about the current welterweight champ be known:

I think [fighting] is about finishing your opponent. It’s about entertainment. It’s not the Olympics; it’s not about coming home and bringing a metal and just getting the win. It’s about pulling more fans in and be entertaining, and I think that fighters that just try to win by points and come away with a win are actually bad for the sport.

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So Ronda Rousey was on some program called Attack of the Show the other night, and the first thing we gotta say is daaaaaaammmnnnn. We’ve been hearing blasphemous claims of Ronda being a 5 at best around here as of late, and it’s time to squash this beef. Anyone who claims this woman is below a 7 must either email us a photo of their current or previous girlfriend, or send one to our Twitter or Facebook page. Otherwise…LIFETIME BAN.

Now that we’ve moved past her body, perhaps we can discuss her mind, as it is beginning to look like the witty, boisterous apparition that once inhabited Chael Sonnen has chosen Ronda as its next victim. Rousey, despite never fighting at bantamweight, is currently listed as a 4-to-1 favorite over current champ Meisha Tate, and the hype might just be getting to her head. When asked on how dangerous she saw herself, Rousey responded:

I think I am the most dangerous unarmed woman on the planet. [Looks to audience] I could literally kill every single person in this room with my bare hands if I had them one at a time. I wouldn’t do that, but I’m just saying, I could do it. 

(Oh, Ronda, you really might want to consider keeping that beautiful mouth shut for a while.) 

Ronda Rousey is a dead woman walking, ladies and gentlemen. In the midst of preparing for her title shot against newly crowned Strikeforce women’s bantamweight champion Meisha Tate, you’d think the Olympic Judoka’s focus would remain solely on the tassk at hand. But apparently Ms. Rousey is taking a book out of Chael Sonnen’s chapter, as she is stirring up some serious shit with former Strikeforce women’s featherweight champion Cristiane Santos.

It all began when “Cyborg” tested positive for steroids in the wake of her 16 second victory over Hiroko Yamanaka, which gave Ronda all the ammunition she needed to lob a hell storm of insults at the former champ. But Cyborg, who was somehow able to find a working computer WITH internet access in Brazil, recently tweeted the following photo as a warning to Rousey:

For those of you who don’t speak Goldbergian Japanese, Cyborg’s tweet reads: Next victim…Ronda!! No mercy!!

Now, where that tweet would have been enough to make most of us kiss our loved ones goodbye and flee the country in fear, it only fueled the fire for Rousey, who responded:

(Alistair Overeem vs. Junior Dos Santos fan-made trailer via TheAzyunyh4)

Some selected highlights from our friends around the MMA blogosphere…

- Anthony Johnson Finds New Life at New Weight, Thanks in Part to ‘Blackzilians’ (MMA Fighting)

- Strikeforce Champ Luke Rockhold Suffers Broken Hand in Win Over Keith Jardine (MMA Mania)

- 50 Random MMA Facts You Never Knew (BleacherReport.com/MMA)

- Ronda Rousey on Cyborg: ‘I Always Knew She Was a Cheater’ (FightLine)

- Review: ‘Haywire’, Starring Gina Carano (MMA Convert)

- Atlanta to Host UFC 146 on April 21st (5th Round)

- A Running Journal of MTV’s ‘Caged’ (Five Ounces of Pain)

- Chael Sonnen: My MMA Career Will Be a Colossal Failure Without That 12 Pounds of Gold (Lowkick.Blitzcorner.com)

- Here’s Video of Keith Jardine’s Mom Confronting Luke Rockhold’s Brother After Strikeforce (MiddleEasy)

- Rampage and King Mo Still Want to Fight Each Other — Can the UFC Make It Happen? (The Fight Nerd)

- Is the Pro-Wrestling Influence in UFC Unattractive to Female Sports Fans? (Fight Opinion)

- Update on Zuffa vs. New York: NY Files Motion (MMA Payout)

(I bet even those scientists from the future who put me together couldn’t have predicted that old #643227 would become a future champion!) 

Success is a double edged sword. On one hand, it brings fame, fortune, and an immeasurable sense of self confidence, one that can only be gained by the awareness that you are truly the best at what you do. On the other, it brings crushing, tireless scrutiny from everyone around you, including those who helped build you up in the first place. And it is when you allow those naysayers to affect your daily routine, your mental state, or, in Christiane “Cyborg” Santos‘ case, your training regimen, that you have begun the inevitable fall from grace that follows.

Ever since her introduction to the public MMA circuit, Santos was looked at as a fighter who was simply on another level than that of her female counterparts. Her strength, striking ability, and general physique was shocking to even the most devoted MMA fans, and after she handled Gina Carano to take the Strikeforce women’s featherweight title, we knew she would be there for a long, long time.

And as with any case of athletic dominance, steroid accusations were immediately lobbed at the champ. Though there was little evidence to suggest any truth to these claims, pundits and keyboard warriors alike ruthlessly pursued them nonetheless. And as it turns out, behind the rumor was a fair bit of truth.

…and fillilng out nicely, we must say. (Pic: StandThemUp.org)

At the post-fight presser for “Strikeforce: Rockhold vs Jardine”, promotion CEO Scott Coker artfully dodged questions about the demise of Women’s Featherweight Champion Cris Cyborg, offering up some good news for the media to focus on instead. His announcement confirmed the pending showdown between Champion Miesha Tate and rising star Ronda Rousey. Additionally, Coker unveiled three more bouts for the card, which will go down in Columbus, Ohio on March 3^rd.

With their women’s Featherweight division in shambles, Strikeforce will look to further develop the scene at Bantamweight with a pairing of Sarah Kaufman and Alexis Davis. Kaufman formerly held Strikeforce’s 135lb strap–her only loss came in a title defense against Marloes Coenen back in October of 2010. Since that time she’s rattled off wins over Megumi Yabushita and Liz Carmouche. Davis is on a three-fight streak, picking up her last two wins over Julie Kedzie and Amanda Nunes under the Strikeforce banner. Given the caliber of competitors and their placement on this card, it’s safe to assume that the winner of this fight could go on to challenge the victor of the Tate-Rousey bout.

(Watch out for that metal thing? / Props: Maury Povich via ScreenJunkies)

God damn you, ReX13. His running gag this week inspired us to revive an old, dead CagePotato feature, in which we take a moment to recognize some of your efforts in the comments section. Will we forget about this by next Friday? Maybe. Maybe not. All we have is this moment. And now, the eight greatest comments of the week…

ReX13 on “Report: Miesha Tate to Defend Strikeforce Title Against Ronda Rousey on March 3rd” [selected highlights]:
- “If you weren’t pretty, it wouldn’t matter what you said or didn’t say. That’s why you’re getting this attention.” – Miesha Tate
- “Man, Stalin was a real asshole, killing his own people like that.” – Pol Pot
- “Wow, that Bachmann chick is stuck on turbo-crazy. The only reason people are giving her the time of day is because she’s a relatively attractive woman in the Republican party. Does she hear the words that are coming out of her mouth?” – Sarah Palin
- “Goddammit, I’ve spent fifteen years in this neighborhood trying to increase property vaules, and a whole fucking passel of kettles just moved in next door. With their hippity hop music and Tyler Perry movies…..we better get a dog, honey.” – Pot
- “Bobby Flay is kinda a douche, you guys.” – Guy Fieri
- “The Duggars should stop having children. Can they even handle the children they already have?” – Nadya “Octomom” Suleman
- “That Octomom is such an attention whore.” – Kate Gosselin
- “Fuck you, bitch.” – Nadya Suleman

ElDandy on “Video of the Day: Fabricio Werdum Is as Inappropriate as We Are and Fedor Isn’t Impressed“
Fedor’s high priest looks like every dude I’ve ever seen at a Widespread concert.

Fried Taco on “Aw Geez, Now BJ Penn is Calling Nick Diaz a Cheater“:
At least BJ is right about one thing. No one will ever accuse him of being the bigger man.

(Before she became MMA’s sweetheart, Ronda battled through some tough personal bouts growing up.)

We’ve all read stories about how Ronda Rousey became a beast on the mats training with the tough Armenians like Karo Parisyan and Manny Gamburyan as a girl at Gokor Chivichyan’s gym, but few actually know the real battles the bubbly Strikeforce number one bantamweight contender has gone through in her life.

In a recent feature by SI’s Loretta Hunt, Rousey revealed that her precarious life path began early in life as she could not speak until she was six due to complications at birth.

Of any fighter, it’s fitting that Rousey knows the value of making her voice be heard — she couldn’t put together coherent sentences until the age of six.

Rousey was born with her umbilical cord wrapped around her neck; her body was blue and she wasn’t breathing. She was revived in the delivery room, but when her communicative skills quickly fell behind the norm, the doctors thought she’d suffered brain damage or that she might be deaf.

When she began to talk, Rousey’s words were jumbled and she was sent to speech therapy classes. Frustration was a daily occurrence, as nobody could understand her.

(Can you train yourself to be double-jointed? I’m just wondering, y’know, for Miesha’s sake.)

Though the match has yet to be confirmed by the fighters or the promotion, MMAWeekly and MMAJunkie are both reporting that Miesha Tate will defend her Strikeforce women’s bantamweight title against fast-rising prospect and Olympic judo bronze-medalist Ronda Rousey in Columbus, Ohio, on March 3rd.

Tate is riding a six-fight win streak, but hasn’t competed since July, when she won her belt by submitting Marloes Coenen via fourth-round arm-triangle choke. A relative newcomer to the sport, Rousey had all four of her professional fights last year, winning each one by armbar in under a minute. But all those fights took place at featherweight or above, and this will be the first time she’ll compete at 135.

Because Rousey’s first fight in her new weight class is a title fight (see also: Keith Jardine), Miesha Tate has made it clear that she doesn’t think Ronda deserves the opportunity, telling FightHubTV:

If you’re anything like us, then your obsession with the gorgeous and deadly Ronda Rousey has grown greater with each passing day. You’ve likely written no less than twenty Shakespearean sonnets declaring your love for the woman, and though you won’t admit it, in the back of your mind you know that this obsession is destined to end with a restraining order and a harai goshi to boot.

The video, taken from one of Ms. Rousey’s recent training sessions, demonstrates a couple of the “impact conditioning” exercises the Olympic Judoka goes through on a daily basis. Now that she’s been rallying for a match against Strikeforce women’s featherweight champion Christiane “Cyborg” Santos, we imagine the purpose of this drill is to prevent our girl from immediately BM’ing after eating one of the champ’s ruthless body shots. Good luck, Ronda, because being in the same room as Cyborg is enough to make us try out our best Tim Sylvia impression. <— WE WILL NEVER STOP MAKING THIS JOKE.

(Can someone say SUPERFIGHT?!!!) 

It’s a new year, Potato Nation, and aside from an endless number of Mayan-themed jokes that will undoubtedly punctuate most of our content, we’ve decided to kick off 2012 with you, our esteemed followers, in mind. And while we had more than our fill of exciting brawls in 2011, things like injury curses, excessive title shots, and sudden desires for film careers left us with hunger pains that could only be satiated by the announcement of another marquee match-up. That, or one of your wife’s famous steak sandwiches.

Call us greedy, call us insensitive, but we’re the type of fans that simply must have our every fantasy fulfilled, and it is with that in mind that we ask you, our fellow fanatics, to join us in a discussion of the five fights we NEED to witness this year, if only to end a few of the never ending arguments that constitute the CP comments sections. Here are our picks…

#5 – Anderson Silva vs. Chael Sonnen

Why?: Because if we have to hear how lucky Silva got one more time, we are going to round up all of our writers and perform a full reenactment of Death of a (Real Estate) Salesman. Goldstein will play Willy Loman, the elderly and dillusional salesman (Obvs.). CrushCo will play Biff, the former football star who yearns for a life as a farmhand, and Seth will play Happy, the slacking womanizer, leaving none other than myself to play Linda. What can I say, it sucks being the new guy.

(“Get that trip takedown shit outta here, homie.”)

MMA H.E.A.T. provided us with the footage of Ronda Rousey training with Nick Diaz for today’s GIF goodness.

As Manny Gamburyan and Nate Diaz explain, Ronda’s judo — which earned the 24-year-old a bronze medal at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing — is on a whole other level than other women they’ve trained with. Here is the proof.

Also of note is Nate’s revelation that he would don a gi and pretend he was Karo Parisyan when he helped Nick train for his UFC 49 fight with “The Heat.” back in 2004. It’s safe to say he definitely knew who Karo was when they butted heads on the set of TUF.

Check out the full video spot after the jump.

#10: Not everybody was prepared for the intensity of the UFC on FOX promo trailer.

Damn we love us a good GIF. 2011 provided us with dozens of memorable ones, but these ten stood out a little more than the rest. If we’ve left out one of your favorites, shoot us a link in the comments section. Props to ZombieProphet, Gordo on the UG, and everybody else who spends time making these things.

#9: Honey badger don’t care.