(Nick Diaz and Carlos Condit exchange a respectful handshake at Gladiator Man‘s funeral.)

Weigh-ins for tomorrow night’s UFC 143: Diaz vs. Condit event are scheduled to get rollin’ today at 7 p.m. ET / 4 p.m. PT in Las Vegas. You can watch the action right here on CagePotato.com, in the video player after the jump. Will Nick Diaz start talking shit during the staredown? What can Roy Nelson possibly do to top his last weigh-in appearance? And will the Fabricio Werdum smirk of insanity make its UFC debut? Keep your browser parked right here to find out, and be sure to come back tomorrow night at 10 p.m. ET / 7 p.m. PT for our liveblog of the UFC 143 main card.

(Video courtesy of YOuTube/IronForgesIron)

If you missed the UFC 143 countdown show last night, don’t worry, we got you.

The more I hear Nick Diaz speak honestly and candidly, the more I’m a fan. This is a very tough fight to pick, but it will probably more than make up for last weekend’s snoozefest of a main event. I almost forgot that the rest of the card is as good as it is. Roy Nelson versus Fabricio Werdum and Josh Koscheck versus Mike Pierce both have “Fight of the Night” potential as well.

(This will either be a really great fight or a really boring 15-minute feeling out process.)

Well, it looks like Dana White had his fingers crossed when he promised everyone this week that there wouldn’t be any more Strikeforce fighters heading to the UFC.

MMAWeekly is reporting that Fabricio Werdum (14-5-1) will be returning to the Octagon for the first time since being knocked out at UFC 90 by current UFC heavyweight kingpin Junior dos Santos when he takes on Roy Nelson (16-6) at UFC 143 February 4 in Las Vegas.

(“I make this look good.”)

If you didn’t get a chance to watch the replay of the number two best MMA awards – The Fighters Only World MMA Awards Sunday night, don’t worry, we got you.

The highlight of the show were Chael Sonnen’s (likely scripted) one-liners. From poking fun at himself, to taking shots at Wand and Anderson, “The Gangster from America” was on his game.

“The Stoic Russian” is a hurtful stereotype, so we didn’t include it.  The more you know…..

People complain about “pro-wrestling bullshit” invading MMA, but it’s been demonstrated over and over again: personality will get you places in the fight game.  We’ve pointed this out before, like when we advised Jon Fitch on how to ensure a title shot.  Some fighters are talked about incessantly on forums, at lunch tables, and in interviews because they’ve managed to capture the interest of fans, and many times it is because of things that they have done or said while not in the cage.

Come on in and let’s talk about archetypes, drama, and personality.  Because there’s only so many technique videos out there.

(So, who IS Roy fighting next, then?)

Within the past 12 hours, Roy Nelson went from knowing who he would be fighting next to not having a clue.

The durable UFC heavyweight, who likely retired Mirko Filipovic in his last bout at UFC 137, tweeted last night that he would be facing Cheick Kongo at UFC 143 Superbowl weekend. According to the UFC, however, it has other plans for the French striker who handed Matt Mitrione his first loss on the same card that “Big Country” fought “Cro Cop” on .

(Leonard Garcia goes full zombie before his rematch with Chan Sung Jung at UFC Fight Night 24. Props: PlatformNation)

Man, it would have been awesome if we thought of this idea before Halloween. Ah well. Check out the gallery after the jump for 15 classic examples of MMA fighters playing dress-up before hitting the scale. Enjoy.

(Allow us to introduce you to Nelson Roy III, the brilliant hedge fund manager who has absolutely no relation to that fighting hillbilly you saw on Saturday. / Photo via MMAJunkie.)

By Jason Moles

If you decided to play the new CagePotato drinking game this weekend, you’re probably way too hung over to think about your financial future right now. But now that the dust has settled from UFC 137, you owe it to yourself to study our insightful and highly opinionated rundown of where to direct your hypothetical MMA investments. It’s “Buy, Sell, Hold” time once again, Potato Nation…

“The Prodigy” BJ Penn – Sell

Even if Baby Jay is pulling a Jamie Varner (man I hope that’s not a euphemism) as Mr. Falvo so eloquently put it, the writing on the wall has been there for a while now even if the majority of fans didn’t bother to read it. BJ announcing his retirement Saturday night may have been a moment of weakness when his emotions got the best of him which led to a rash decision, but let me remind you (just like every other single story you read today about “The Prodigy”) that Penn has went 1-3-1 in his last five fights. The Hawaiian may fight again to collect another paycheck but there is no more money to be made as a shareholder.

Business as usual. Props: MMAFighting.com

Let’s get the obvious out of the way as soon as possible: Last night’s UFC 137 was nothing that it was supposed to be. The odds of things playing out as they were supposed to with this card were slim from the beginning, with Nick Diaz compromising the initial main event with his decision to no-show press week and GSP having to withdraw from his match with Carlos Condit. But at least we could rest assured that BJ Penn would deliver some karma to Nick Diaz in the form of a quick beating, right?

Throughout the first round of last night’s main event, it looked that way. BJ Penn’s counter striking proved too much for Diaz early on, as Penn outworked the Strikeforce champion, managing a takedown as well. But by the second round, Nick Diaz came back to take complete control of the fight. His better conditioning allowed him to keep Penn against the cage and unleash strikes at will. By the third round, BJ Penn’s defense was completely ineffective, as Nick Diaz continued to batter Penn. With his eleventh straight victory, Nick Diaz looks as ready for Georges St. Pierre as anyone has in a while. The bout also earned both men the 75k Fight of the Night honors.

Perhaps BJ Penn was just pulling a Jamie Varner last night, and announcing his retirement out of frustration. But if he wasn’t, it’s hard to argue against his decision. BJ Penn is 1-3-1 in his last five fights, with his sole victory coming over the recently retired Matt Hughes. If it wasn’t clear from his draw against Jon Fitch that he would never be a champion in the UFC again, it became pretty obvious after watching him gas out and get picked apart last night. Penn’s legacy can’t improve at this point, but it can certainly diminish with more losses to contenders in the UFC. He’s making the right move by retiring; let’s just see if he actually sticks to it.

(It’s confusing, because in Strikeforce, standing elbow strikes during weigh-ins are totally legal. / Photo via CombatLifestyle. For more photos from this set, click here.)

After five years in the wilderness, Nick Diaz is finally returning to the Octagon tonight, at UFC 137 in Las Vegas. (As expected, Diaz is much, much less excited about this than we are.) His opponent is BJ Penn, a living legend and former two-division UFC champion whose future in the sport very much depends on his performance tonight.

Also on the card: Matt Mitrione and Cheick Kongo fight for a spot in the heavyweight title mix, Mirko Cro Cop and Some Fat Guy fight to save their jobs, and top ten featherweight Hatsu Hioki puts the reputation of Japan on his back.

Round-by-round results from the “Penn vs. Diaz” pay-per-view card will be piling up after the jump starting at 9 p.m. ET / 6 p.m. PT, courtesy of CagePotato liveblog assassin Matt Kaplan. Refresh the page every few minutes for the latest updates; as with our last UFC PPV liveblog, we’ll be including “next page” links to reduce spoilage, so click ‘em as the night goes on. Thanks for being here, and let us know how you feel in the comments section.

(Highlight video courtesy of MMAFighting.com)

 
It’s been a while since we brought you kids a good weigh-in video, and we’re truly sorry for that. It’s not that we don’t care, it’s just getting pretty rare that someone wears an elaborate costume to the scale, misses weight by an incredible margin, or a high-profile staredown gets personal. And if those are the criteria for a great weigh-ins, last night we hit the mother lode!

Roy Nelson’s been toying with us all about his new, streamlined look, and last night he dangled that carrot in front of us just a bit longer. “Big Country” stepped onto the stage concealing his new figure like the boys at Mercedes test driving a prototype in public. Even with the excess padding (and to be fair, we are just assuming that wasn’t his real physique), Nelson weighed only 252 lbs.

(Video courtesy of YouTube/MadeMan)

- MMAFighting.com’s future uncertain (FightOpinion)

- Suddenly Battlefield 3 doesn’t look as good as we thought (Complex)

- Oh jeez..MMA JayT fancies himself an MMA manager now (WarshFighterManagement)

- Viewer’s Guide to UFC 137 (Sports Illustrated)

- 8 slutty Halloween costumes and what they say about the girl (Guyism)

- 50 most beautiful women in sports (DoubleViking)

- Hatsu Hioki ready to wow American fans (Five Ounces of Pain)

- Nick Diaz: ‘Fight with BJ Penn could be my last (LowKick)

- Reporter with the worst timing ever (BREAK)

- Bill Murray to be the Yin to Charlie Sheen’s fucked up yang in ‘Charles Swan’ (Screen Junkies)

- Dana White: Carlos Condit Guaranteed Next Shot at Georges St-Pierre (5thRound)

- Career-defining moment for every UFC 137 fighter (Bleacher Report)

- Rejected Peanuts specials (HolyTaco)

- The not so unreasonable $25 UFC 137 bet that will put $12,631.70 in your pocket (MiddleEasy)

- This kid is going to be a beast (YouTube)

- Roy Nelson talks about his belly, beard and secret ninja training (Clutch.MTV)

(Video courtesy of YouTube/0fficialbjpenn)

(Video courtesy of YouTube/LayzietheSavage)

Just a friendly reminder that the weigh-ins for UFC 137 will be live from the Mandalay Casino and Events Center at 7:00 pm ET tonight and you can watch the stream live right here.

Until then, enjoy some BJ Penn and Nick Diaz highlight reels to get you pumped for tomorrow night. Is anyone actually not excited for this fight?

Tonight we will get to see which BJ Penn showed up in training camp — the one with abs or the one who doesn’t give a shit. We’ll also get to see how effective Roy Nelson’s diet of toilet paper and castor oil was this camp.

It will be a telling if Nick looks Penn in the eyes during the staredown. Hearing him talk all week about how BJ is one of his idols and that he really looks up to him reminded me of when GSP said the same thing about Matt Hughes right before losing by an armbar to “Country Breakfast.” He said similar things about fighting Karo before they squared off, about how he didn’t want the fight. Look what happened in that one.

Check out the stream at 7 after the jump.

(Stream courtesy of YouTube/UFC)

Just a friendly reminder that we will have the live stream of today’s UFC 137 pre-fight presser for you right here starting at 4:00 pm ET.

If you’re at home today or somewhere your boss won’t catch you getting shit-faced, we’ve created a little drinking game for you to enjoy it a bit more.

Check it out after the jump.

(The Interweb never lies)

We can be pretty critical sometimes, but it’s that snarky candour that prompts most of the Potato Nation to navigate over to our site several dozen times a day. As harsh as our observations may be at times, they are nothing compared to the frank and biting results returned from Google search’s autofill.

Check out our gallery of 14 UFC 137-related searches after the jump, and if you’re Cheick Kongo remember: it wasn’t us this time; it was the Internet. Tell JayT to call off the hit.

This week’s edition of UFC Ultimate Insider, unfortunately absent of our second most bangable octagon girl, attempted to end the great debate over whether Roy “Big Country” Nelson was truly trimming down for his UFC 137 bout with Mirko Cro Cop, or if he was rather trying to prove that photoshop does wonders for the figure. Well, from what we can determine, it is the former, as Nelson seems to have “beefed up” his weight training regimen in an effort to shave off some extra pounds. As Roy puts it, “I’ll be Roy 2.0, just a faster version of windows, hopefully it’s not Vista.” Zing! And even Dana White seems relatively impressed with Roy’s effort, relatively.

Also on this week’s episode, Matt Mitrione answers the fan’s questions in his segment, “Ask a Meathead,”a statistical breakdown of why B.J. Penn is  badass even by UFC standards, and we go inside the mind of Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone, who admits to being “a complete wreck” come fight night.

-Danga 

(Props: @roynelsonmma)

Look, I understand that a good deal of Roy Nelson‘s size is contained in his belly, which has been compared to the moon both for its shape and density. And I know that black is a slimming color in general. But check out this recent picture of Roy standing next to light-heavyweight Forrest Griffin and tell me that Big Country isn’t fighting way, way out of his natural weight class. I know, that’s not exactly a ground-breaking observation, but good Lord, those chicken legs.

After the jump, two more examples of Roy standing next to other fighters who look surprisingly large compared to him. Related question: Is Nelson really walking around near 265, or has he been trolling us, Semtex-style?

(Yes, that’s Kimbo Slice at the 0:30 and 0:48 marks, painted up like Kamala the Ugandan Giant. Good to see that Bob Sapp hasn’t taken all the “Barbarian Warrior” roles from hard-working fighter-actors. Props: FilmDrunk.)

This week’s featured stories…

- Carlos Condit: Disappointed but Understanding Regarding UFC 137 Changes (LowKick)
“As a professional fighter, it is my job to be prepared for any and all circumstances, positive and negative, that come my way during training and the actual fight. Georges is a great competitor and I know that he will want to return to 100 percent health as soon as possible so that this fight can be rescheduled.”

- Why “Superfights” Are a Bad Idea (BleacherReport/MMA)
“While the term superfight sounds great on paper and the matchups make the fans salivate, they just don’t make much sense other than for a short-term gain.”

- Interview With UFC 137′s Roy Nelson as He Prepares for Mirko Filipovic (MMA Mania)
“I feel standing, like I think I’ve stood up with some of the best heavyweights in the world. I stood up with Junior [dos Santos] so like, I think I might regress for this fight and go back to my roots, go back to my first five or six wins were all submissions. Maybe I’ll regress in the chain of being an MMA fighter.”

- Interview With Dan “Punkass” Caldwell From the Tapout Crew at NYCC 2011 on Comics, Toys, Kenny Florian, & Jones vs. Machida (The Fight Nerd)
“I think Kenny [Florian] is a really exciting fighter in his past matches, he just needs to fight the right people…me personally, I think the 155 lb. division looks a little more inviting again. I think he should go back to 155 and try his hand there. Some of those guys would match up better with his style.”

(Video courtesy of YouTube/Oliboz)

It usually takes a lot to upset Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic, but the Croation fighter seemed to have reached a boiling point while doing a live chat on Croation sports news website Gol.hr this week. Although he made mention a handful of times during the interview of the fact that he wasn’t mad at Chael Sonnen for the recent comments “The American Gangster” made about PRIDE fights being fixed, you can tell that Chael struck a nerve with his offhand remarks.

“There is an old proverb that says: ‘Don’t argue with a fool. People won’t be able to tel the difference.’ I’ve always upheld to that. I never wanted to lower myself to that level…I’m not the first one he has taken a shot at. I had the opportunity when I was in the United States to ask some people who work for the UFC, ‘Is this man crazy or is he just craving attention?’ A man higher up in the UFC told me, ‘He’s both,’ which means he is crazy and is also craving attention,” Filipovic explained. “I’m not mad at him. I’m really not mad at this Sonnen character.”

(Unlike the rest of us, the eye candy in the back decided to open her eyes for Cyborg.)

By Jason Moles

While suffering through The Change-Up this weekend, I started thinking about the hypothetical situation of MMA fighters switching bodies. Obviously, one fighter would get the short end of the stick, like in all relationships, but other than that, it’s all good news from there. Imagine the man with a warrior spirit and broken body upgrading for a newer model. Imagine the heavy-duty gas-guzzler being replaced by a tiny, eco-friendly, electric car. Imagine experience and youth joining forces to reign terror on anything that steps in its way. So who most deserves a cinematic body-swap? Read on and find out…

BJ Penn and Brock Lesnar

Advantage: Baby Jay

For years, Penn has been criticized for his lack of self-discipline and willingness to stay in shape. Switching bodies would solve that problem and create what might be the best heavyweight in UFC history. A Nova Uniao Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt with explosive striking and a granite chin, Penn has everything that Lesnar wishes he had. The Prodigy would be a wrecking ball at heavyweight if he had Brock’s body — as long as the viking took the diverticulitis thing with him. If he had to keep the illness during the switch, then I guess we could all agree that we’d like to see Josh Koscheck trade bodies with Brock.

If you missed Keyboard Warriors Monday, hey thanks. Nice to know someone actually appreciates all I do to entertain you jerkfaces. For the rest of you: hey guess what i did?

Yup, prepare yourselves for KBW #3! In the aftermath of the weekend’s Strikeforce action, Dana takes the time to address the heavyweights, evaluate their performances, and fill them in on his short terms plans. And his long term plans. Say what you will, but Big Daddy White dreams big, son.

If you are interested in 100% made up conversations between characters that are mostly fabrications, come on in and enjoy. Feel free to comment your little hands off. If you don’t like comedy … well, i’ve got nothing for you.

Why do you keep coming here again?

As always, thanks to Christopher and those jokers at WithLeather.

[RX]

(Time sure does fly…)

WEC 49 went down 1 year ago.

Why it matters:

Josh Grispi earned the next shot at WEC featherweight champ Jose Aldo with his win over LC Davis at this show held in Edmonton, Alberta. Because of an injury, Aldo had to pull out of their planned UFC 125 bout. Rather than wait for his shot, Grispi took a fight with Dustin Poirier on the January card and lost via unanimous decision. As a result, another fighter who impressed on the UFC 49 card earned the next shot at Aldo.

Mark Hominick was en route to a unanimous decision loss to fellow Canadian Yves Jabouin in Edmonton, but pulled out one of the most impressive come from behind wins in WEC history.

Stunned and dropped by a stiff right hand, Hominick weathered the ensuing ground and pound onslaught, swept Jabouin and forced a TKO stoppage via punishment from the mount.

A quick first round TKO win over teammate George Roop in his next bout earned him a shot at Aldo at UFC 129 this past April. Although he couldn’t finish the Aldo, Hominick showed the heart of a champion by fighting through a massive, disgusting hematoma to give Aldo the fight of his life and finishing the last round in dominating fashion.

(We would have also accepted ‘extreme-constipation’. Photo courtesy of HeavyMMA.)

Breaking away from his usual “fat guy who can throw down” persona, Roy Nelson just looked like your garden-variety fat guy last weekend at UFC 130, wheezing through three rounds, too exhausted to do anything besides absorb blows from Frank Mir. Was it a sign that Roy should finally hook up with a nutritionist and get his BMI in order?

The obvious answer is yes, definitely. Just because you can drag around a barrel of adipose tissue around your midsection and still compete at the highest levels of MMA doesn’t make it a good idea. Nelson is literally weighing himself down in the Octagon, and putting himself at a profound competitive disadvantage; even most 205-pounders in the UFC outsize Nelson at this point. But according to a new report, there was another factor in play on Saturday that made a victory for Big Country even less likely:

(Meanwhile in Roy’s stomach, a dozen undigested cheeseburgers cried for mercy. Photo courtesy of UFC.com)

Look, I was all for sweeping UFC 130 under the rug and never mentioning it again, but since ReX has shamed me into doing this, it’s time to look back at Saturday’s big winners (and big, big losers) and see if we can devise some future matchups for these guys that will actually produce interesting fights. Make it happen, tiny atheist.

Quinton Jackson: Dana White seems dead-set on giving Rampage a title shot if his hand is healthy enough to accept it. Ugh, terrible. Why the UFC isn’t interested in promoting the hottest rivalry in the sport is anybody’s guess. (And don’t give me that bullshit about “timing”; it’s more likely related to White’s personal feelings about Rashad Evans.) In a perfect world, Rampage sits out for a few months and faces the winner of Shogun vs. Forrest at UFC 134 in Rio. With losses to both on his record, I don’t think motivation would be an issue.

Matt Hamill: Sure, on paper Hamill was coming into the fight against Rampage with a five-fight win streak — but considering that the most impressive victory in that streak (by far!) was his knockout of Mark Munoz, you have to wonder where the Hammer really sits in the light-heavyweight pecking order. My first thought was that Hamill should face the resurgent Vladimir Matyushenko next — but Vlad already has a date in August. So give him the winner of Kyle Kingsbury vs. Fabio Maldonado at this Saturday’s TUF 13 Finale. Either Hamill rebounds, or a rising prospect gets a big-name notch on their belt. Seems win-win to me.

(Photo courtesy of UFC.com. Rampage’s victory reaction gif is now after the jump.)

When the anticipated rematch between Frankie Edgar and Gray Maynard was scrapped from this card, we were left with a few big names and a lot of hope. Despite a few stellar knockouts earlier in the evening, UFC 130 ended much like my date to see “No Strings Attached”: a lot of booing, a disappointing 15 minute fight, and I was out $50.

Every UFC card has to be about something, and with no gold up for grabs the storyline for this event became Quinton Jackson’s climb back up to the top of the Light Heavyweight division. Dana White declared and Rogan and Goldberg echoed that an impressive, entertaining victory over Matt Hamill would land Rampage a title fight with champ Jon Jones. Rampage secured the win, but his shot at the belt is still up in the air.

(Man, Edith LaBelle has really let herself go.)

After sorting out some technical difficulties with my satellite company, I am set up to get this b*tch blogged for y’all.

Let’s get to it.

Spoilers are after the jump. You’ve been warned, yo.

(Video courtesy of YouTube/UFC)

In this episode of his UFC 130 vlog, Dana  spends some time with his son, attends the UFC Fighter Summit and gears up for this weekend’s event.

If you don’t have time to watch it or your boss is a tight ass who banned YouTube in your workplace, the key points in a nutshell are after the jump.

(“Okay everybody, act like your medical benefits were just revoked.”)

Just a friendly reminder that we will be streaming the UFC 130 press conference from Las Vegas today starting at 4:00 m ET.

Will Rampage tell Hammill he has a soft head? Will Hammil try to get Rampage to make him a peanut butter and jelly sandwich? Will Nelson bring Mir a Whopper? Will Mir rub Nelson’t belly for good luck?

These questions and more will be answered after the jump.

(Props: UFC)

The UFC’s next big event goes down May 28th at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, featuring the third meeting between champion Frankie Edgar and arch-rival Gray Maynard, as well as Quinton “Rampage” Jackson vs. Matt Hamill and Frank Mir vs. Roy Nelson. The UFC 130 lineup also includes Miguel Torres, Thiago Alves, Stefan Struve, and the return of Jorge Santiago. Start getting psyched now, because there ain’t a hell of a lot going on until then…

(The sad part is, they both think they’re the cute one.)

Some selected highlights from our friends around the MMA blogosphere. E-mail feedback@cagepotato.com for details on how your site can join the MMA Link Club…

- UFC 129 Moved Up One Hour to 9 p.m. ET; Change to All PPV Start Times Being Considered (MMA Fighting)

- Exclusive Interview With UFC Fight Night 24′s Phil ‘Mr. Wonderful’ Davis (BleacherReport.com/MMA)

- Chad Ochocinco Continues to Call Out Anderson Silva (Versus MMA Beat)

- Strikeforce ‘Feijao vs. Henderson’ Ratings Down 44% From ‘Fedor vs. Silva’, Bellator Delivers Target Demos In MTV2 Debut (MMA Convert)

- A Memo to Strikeforce: Fighters Need To Fight (Five Ounces of Pain)

- UFC Inks Four-Year Broadcast Deal with Rogers Sportsnet in Canada (5thRound)

- Brendan Schaub: I’m Two Fights Away From a Title Shot (LowKick)

- Don Frye and Shark Fights Have Parted Ways (MiddleEasy)

- Watch the Wrestling Chops of this 8-Year-Old and Hope the Parents are Enrolling Him in MMA in the Near Future (MMA-Scraps)

- FIGHT! Ranking: Hendo Is #2, M-1 Global Champs Hold Ground, Bellator Welterweights Pick Each Other Off (FightMagazine)