Quinton “Rampage” Jackson recently sat down with Gary Alexander of Fighter’s Only Magazine for an exclusive interview, and per usual, provided several insights into the enigma wrapped mystery that is the former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion’s mind. On the heels of an unsuccessful title bid against Jon Jones, Jackson has opted for a training camp that won’t cost him six figures for his upcoming UFC 144 bout against Ryan Bader. According to Jackson, he had originally planned on returning to MusclePharm for the bout with Bader, but upon coming to the realization that it would in fact be cold in that part of the country, decided to stay at his own newly formed gym in Southern California.

For the most part, the interview was standard Rampage fare, chocked full of paranoid delusions, incoherent rambling, and a complete disregard for the interviewer beside him. You know, the stuff we love about ‘Page. But things took an interesting turn when Jackson was asked how he saw the Bader fight going down in a perfect world:

In a perfect world, I step in the cage, and I yawn just like just I did on you and he fuckin’ faints. And then I get my check and walk out there like, ‘Thanks!’ and I don’t even gotta do the interview with Joe Rogan’s fake ass…after you fight, if you win, you gotta go and Joe Rogan’s gotta do an interview with you and most likely he’s been talking crap about you the whole time.

Join us after the jump for more from this interview, as well as an interesting tidbit compliments of Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva.

Some selected highlights from our friends around the MMA blogosphere…

-  Marijuana is Not a Performance-Enhancing Drug, It’s Simply Illegal (5th Round)

- UFC on FUEL TV Weigh-In Photos Gallery for ‘Ellenberger vs Sanchez’ on Feb. 14 in Omaha (MMA Mania)

- My First Fight: Diego Sanchez (MMA Fighting)

- Bader Not Intimidated to Face Rampage in Japan (FightLine)

- Image Matters: UFC Business & Media Politics  (MMA Payout)

- Mac Danzig Just Received His ‘Mix Marshal Arts’ license from the DC Athletic Commission (MiddleEasy)

- Britney Palmer Interview (BleacherReport.com/MMA)

- Tim Sylvia: I Can Beat 80 Percent of the Heavyweights in the UFC (Lowkick.Blitzcorner.com)

- Johny Hendricks: The Bigger the Fight, the Bigger I Come Out (Five Ounces of Pain)

-  Joe Rogan Thinks Weed is a Performance Enhancing Drug (MMA Convert)

-  A Fight Nerd’s Betting Guide: UFC on FUEL Edition (The Fight Nerd)

-  Is There a need for MMA Managers? (Fight Opinion)

(Video courtesy of Sapo/IronForgesIron)

If you weren’t excited about the next major Zuffa show on February 25 before, this 10-minute extended preview should get you pumped for the first UFC show in Japan in more than 10 years.

You know the card for UFC 144 is good when Yushin Okami, “Kid” Yamamoto and Hatsu Hioki are on the prelims. The card is stacked. Edgar versus Bendo will be a fast-paced chess match, Rampage versus Bader should be a slugfest, Hunt versus Kongo will be a K-1 bout in a cage and Pettis versus Lauzon is an interesting clash of styles. What’s not to like about this event?

(Video courtesy of YouTube/TUF)

Sure Anderson Silva has a date with Chael Sonnen the winner of Chael Sonnen and Mark Munoz this summer, but when you think about it, there really aren’t many fights left for the dominant UFC middleweight champion at 185, so why not have him move up?

Anderson has a plethora of reasons why he likely won’t fight at 205 and most of them concern loyalty to friends like Lil’ Nog and Jon Jones, but from a fan’s perspective, a move up in weight is the only one that makes sense for “The Spider.”

Look at how he toyed with Ryan Bader in the TUF sparring session, basically letting him punch him in the chin as hard as he wanted to. Granted, Bader has improved from his technique of charging forward with arm punches, but I really don’t see a match-up between the two going any differently now. Silva made one former UFC light heavyweight champ look stupid and he would likely do the same to most of the division’s top contenders, so why not have him step up?

We’ll tell you why.

(Ryan Bader has so much power in his hands, he only has to punch in the general vicinity of your head to knock you out. / GIFS via IronForgesIron)

All the knockouts and submissions from UFC 139: Shogun vs. Henderson, in animated GIF form. Lots more after the jump.

(“…and that’s the ‘bleeding robot’. For my next impression — the ‘bleeding hula girl’.”)

Two pivotal light-heavyweight matchups have been added to UFC 139: Velasquez vs. Dos Santos, November 19th in San Jose. First, in the night’s “no pressure” match, Ryan Bader and Jason Brilz will both try to snap their two-fight losing streaks. Bader is skating on thin ice after being utterly ass-handled by Jon Jones in February, then getting choked out by Tito Ortiz in the upset of the year. Brilz kicked off his losing skid with a valiant effort against Lil’ Nog, followed by a far-less-impressive 20-second knockout loss to Vladimir Matyushenko at UFC 129. Winner keeps their job. Loser…well, who knows anymore?

They had all the momentum in the world — and then it fell apart. Whether it was due to poorly-timed losses, fan-unfriendly fighting styles, or both, these UFC fighters have reached a holding pattern in their careers, and will need a few dramatic performances to break out of it…

Demian Maia

After kicking his UFC career off with five-straight submission victories, Demian Maia began drawing comparisons to Royce Gracie Himself. A 21-second knockout loss at the hands of Nate Marquardt put the reins on his hype, and a bland stretch of five consecutive decisions — including his debacle of a loss to Anderson Silva and his most recent defeat by Mark Munoz — snuffed that hype out for good. It’s not just that Maia’s been relegated to the middle of the pack. With all the heat generated by outspoken middleweight contenders like Chael Sonnen, Chris Leben, Michael Bisping, and now Jason Miller, Maia is barely a blip on the radar these days.

Miguel Torres

(Photo props: Ed Mulholland)
From 2004-2009, Torres racked up 17 straight wins (15 by stoppage), won the WEC’s bantamweight title and defended it three times in breathtaking fashion. Not only was he one of the most dangerous fighters in the sport, he was also one of the most consistently entertaining. Back-to-back stoppage losses to Brian Bowles and Joseph Benavidez changed all that. Torres re-located his training camp to Tristar gym in Montreal and re-emerged as a more cautious, measured fighter who jabbed a lot. It was the right choice for his fight record, as he won his next two matches against Charlie Valencia and Antonio Banuelos, but it was clear that we weren’t watching the same mulleted buzzsaw that we knew and loved. Then, at UFC 130, he got outwrestled by undersized up-and-comer Demetrious Johnson. No more win streak, no more fan-favorite cred — Torres is back at square one.

(“What? A businessman is never honest when it comes to money.”)

When Tito Ortiz revealed last week that he was taking “a big, big, big pay cut” to stay in the UFC to get one last kick at the cat against Ryan Bader at UFC 132, we almost felt bad for the former UFC light heavyweight champ, what with his child support payments and the custom made hats he has to have made and whatnot. Being Tito ain’t cheap. Well, it turns out “The Huntington Beach Bad Boy” was just playin’ us. He actually made more for the bout than he did his last few fights.

According to the figures released by the Nevada State Athletic Commission (courtesy of MMAJunkie), Tito took home a $450,000 flat fee for his first-round submission win over Bader. He made $250,000 in his UFC 121 loss to Matt Hammil as well as his UFC 106 loss to Forrest Griffin.

Math, how does it work?

In his defense, maybe he used to receive a portion of the pay-per-view revenue and opted to forgo the percentage to keep his job. We’ll have to wait a couple years to read the details in his inevitable tell-all book.

Ortiz and Wanderlei Silva ($200,000) were the top earners on the card, accounting for 50.9 percent of the $1, 277,000 disclosed payroll.

Check out the full list after the jump.

(We know, Urijah. Sometimes we spend an entire hour working on a blog post, and our browser decides to crash just as we’re finishing it up, and when we go back into the CMS the post has completely vanished and we’re struck with that feeling of pure disappointment and frustration, knowing that we have to do it all over again. So, yeah, we can totally relate. / Photo courtesy of MMAFighting)

UFC 132 was as bizarre as it was thrilling. Now that we’ve wrapped our heads around it for the most part, it’s time to look ahead and see if we can think up some future matchups for Saturday’s notable winners and losers. Let us know how you feel in the comments section — and hey, happy 4th of July!

Dominick Cruz and Urijah Faber: Immediate rubber match. It’s not the most essential of immediate rematches, but the fight was close enough to warrant it, and there’s really no bantamweight contender right now who deserves it more than Faber. Brian Bowles thinks he’s the guy, but I can’t forget that two fights ago he was beaten up by Dominick Cruz worse than anybody’s been beaten up by Dominick Cruz, ever.

The other name being thrown around in the aftermath of UFC 132 is Demetrious Johnson, who’s coming off decision wins over Miguel Torres and Kid Yamamoto. Impressive? Of course. Still, Johnson has never been on the main card of a UFC event, and promoting him as a headliner could be a tough sell. Give Mighty Mouse one more fight to establish himself — or hurry up and create that long-rumored flyweight division so the diminutive Johnson can dominate there.

Chris Leben: There’s no limit to the brawling abilities of a sugar-free Cat Smasher. Leben vs. Wandy was a bit of a stunt-fight, and now that Leben has emerged victorious, he should return to a more conventional contender track. The first name that comes to mind is Mark Munoz, who’s riding a three-fight win streak, most recently outpointing Demian Maia last month at UFC 131 — although Vitor Belfort could also be a great matchup for Leben, as long as the Phenom can get past Yoshihiro Akiyama next month in Philadelphia.

For all the grief we give the guy, we owe him a second photo of this submission. (Pic: UFC.com)

There were a score of unofficial bonuses dealt out last night. Tito got to keep his job and shut up his many, many detractors. Cruz evened the scorecards against Faber and avenged his only loss. Chris Leben bounced back from a crippling Gummi Bear addiction to score a vicious 27 second KO victory over Wanderlei Silva. As if that weren’t enough, the UFC handed out a quartet of its official, more financially lucrative $75k bonuses as well.

First win since 2006? Yeah, we’d probably savor the moment a little longer than we should as well. (Pic: MMAWeekly.com)

Just a few fights into last night night’s card I was looking at my watch. It wasn’t because the fights were boring, nor because my wings had yet to arrive. It was the pace at which the fights, and fighters, were dropping. For the first time ever, I was concerned that the UFC didn’t have enough lame movie and video game promos to spam throughout the event. In more ways than one, time was the theme of UFC 132. The evening’s bouts marked the end of a long run, good and bad, for many of the fighters on the card.

(4 Years, 3 Months) Tito’s last taste of victory

Have you ever seen anyone so elated to win a fight? Rightfully so, as there was no ambiguity as to “The Huntington Beach Bad Boy’s” position in the UFC: win, or get the fuck out. Few gave him a chance against Ryan Bader, a guy who seemed to hold every advantage and who’d amassed an impressive 11-1 record, all during Tito’s infamous slide down the rankings. Ortiz quickly connected with a short right hook, dropping his opponent to the mat, and less than two minutes into the fight Bader was quite literally choking in his second consecutive defeat. As much as we give Tito a hard time—and it is almost always deserved—it was nice to see him finally get a win in the organization that he helped carry for many years. Now, can he do it again?

(After three days of utter confusion, Arianny finally realizes what ‘Chocolate Al’ means. Photo courtesy of CombatLifestyle. For more photos from this album, click here.)

As you make plans for your various drunken 4th of July celebrations, keep in mind that some of the men you see tonight may be too injured to grill burgers on Monday. Appreciate their sacrifice, ladies and gentlemen. Now then, who wants to see some dudes get kicked in the head and choked unconcious?

Manning the liveblog duties for this evening is CagePotato rising star Jason Moles, who will be providing round-by-round updates from the UFC 132 pay-per-view card beginning at 9 p.m. ET. Travel past the jump to join our little liveblog party, and refresh the page every few minutes for all the latest. Thanks for being here, and may God bless this great nation.

If you caught last night’s weigh-ins and aren’t amped up for this event, something is wrong with you. No, it wasn’t as eventful as last weekend’s affair, but that’s a good thing as all bouts are expected to take place this evening.

Everyone lived up to their contractual agreements and made weight, and everyone lived up to societal expectations and played their respective roles to a tee. If psychotically tense staredowns are an accurate predictor of fights, only time stands between Chris Leben, Wanderlei Silva, and a brawl for the ages. Tito did his best high school bully impression, unsuccessfully trying yet again to make his opponent flinch during the face-off. As for Faber and Cruz, there’s nothing to be said between these two that a few hundred kicks and punches couldn’t say better.

After the jump, check out the Cruz-Faber and Bader-Ortiz weigh-ins and get the full results from the scales.

(That week off made Dana look 10 years younger. PicProps: MMAMania)

Just a friendly reminder that you can check out the UFC 132 weigh-ins right here starting at 7:00 pm ET.

This could be the last time we see “The Huntington Beach Bad Boy” flexing in his underwear — unless of course you’re one of his Twitter followers (am I right, ReX?). Let’s place our wagers now who will get into a heated nose-bumping match and who won’t make weight.

Expect the staredown of the decade between Leben and Silva.

Check out the stream after the jump.

(Video courtesy of YouTube/IronForgesIron)

Well, we can add Tito Ortiz’s name to the growing list of UFC fighters who have accused MMA Fighting reporter Ariel Helwani of starting shit in recent months.

During today’s UFC 132 press conference, Helwani asked Tito’s upcoming opponent Ryan Bader what he thought about Ortiz saying he had weak wrestling and before he had a chance to answer, “The Huntington Beach Bad Boy” interrupted to inform Ariel that he said no such thing.

In the interview we posted earlier today on the site, Ariel asked Tito if he saw any holes in Bader’s game that he was looking to exploit Saturday night, to which he replied, “His takedowns and his takedown defense,” before describing how he saw some holes in both areas that could leave openings for him to capitalize. He didn’t actually use the term “weak wrestling,” but he did point out that certain aspects of Bader’s wrestling game were lacking in his opinion.

“I never said he had weak wrestling. What are you starting shit for, dude? I never said that. I never said he had weak wrestling. I said I seen holes in his game, but I never said he had weak wrestling. Don’t be putting words in my mouth, dog.”

(Tito is not impressed about being at the back of the line)

Just a friendly reminder that we will be streaming the the UFC 132: Cruz vs. Faber II pre-fight press conference starting at 4:00 pm ET.

Will there be any face-to-face drama between Faber and Cruz?

Will anyone recognize Wanderlei Silva?

Will Tito Ortiz put together more than two coherent sentences?

All of these questions and more will be answered after the jump.

(Video courtesy of YouTube/IronForgesIron)

Even if you aren’t looking forward to the main event of Saturday’s UFC 132: Faber vs. Cruz this upcoming long weekend, there is much more to excite you about this card even with BJ Penn and Jon Fitch out with injuries.

Check out what goodness 132 has in store for you and the remainder of the countdown show after the jump.

(Wanderlei Silva: You couldn’t last five minutes in this man’s world.)

UFC 132: Cruz vs. Faber goes down Saturday night in Las Vegas, and in case you’re feeling some MMA fatigue after five consecutive weeks of events, let us remind you — this card has the potential to be a real son-of-a-bitch. Familiarize yourself with the lineup here, and get your juices flowing again by watching some career highlights from the fighters on the card. Enjoy…

(Ryan Bader vs. Keith Jardine, UFC 110, 2/21/10)

(Melvin Guillard vs. Dennis Siver, UFC 86, 7/5/08)

(The exact moment Tito’s fighting career jumped the shark.)

It’s amazing that with the UFC’s longtime policy of cutting fighters who lose three fights in a row, that Tito Ortiz, who is 0-3-1 in his past four fights hasn’t been fired yet. One would assume that “The Huntington Beach Bad Boy” was being kept around because of his past merits and pay-per-view sales, but apparently his job isn’t as secure as we assumed.

According to Ortiz, the UFC was ready to let him go after his UFC 121 loss to Matt Hamill, but instead urged the former UFC light heavyweight champion to follow in the footsteps of longtime nemesis Chuck Liddell and retire to save them the trouble of sending him to the unemployment line. Tito says he basically begged Dana White and Lorenzo Fertitta for one more kick at the cat and they begrudgingly agreed, throwing him in against a young lion in Ryan Bader at UFC 132.

“Dana White and Joe Silva [the UFC's matchmaker] told me they wanted me to retire, but I knew I still had the fight inside me.  I pretty much begged for my job, to show how much I want to fight, but I still have it in my heart to compete, to fight,” he told the UK Telegraph. I told them I want to still fight against the top guys, I want to put on a show. I’ve just turned 36, but when they put me against the top guys, I think I can still compete.”

(Props: MMATrailers6)

Okay, so it’s not the next UFC event on the docket — that would be this Sunday’s UFC Live: Marquardt vs. Story show — but we might as well start getting hyped for the next pay-per-view card. UFC 132 goes down July 2nd in Las Vegas, featuring a bantamweight title fight, a fan-friendly matchup of sluggers, and Tito Ortiz‘s ongoing quest for redemption. The extended video preview does a decent job of explaining why you should care, but as is usually the case with these things, the hype is based on a series of well-worn fight cliches. Lets run ‘em down…

“I’m not the same fighter I was then. Things are just different. It’s not the same anymore.” (Dominick Cruz)
When Dominick Cruz and Urijah Faber first met in March 2007, the California Kid was the WEC’s reigning featherweight champ and the promotion’s first home-grown star. Cruz was a promising contender, but he was still a little green, and wound up getting choked out in under two minutes.

Cruz hasn’t lost a fight since, and now the roles are reversed; he’s the reigning champion (now at 135 pounds), looking to stave off a title challenge by his old rival. Admittedly, Cruz is a much better fighter in 2011 than he was four years ago. His footwork has developed into a dynamic, utterly unique style of controlled chaos; his integration of boxing and wrestling has become seamless, and maddening for his opponents.

The reason that “I’m not the same fighter” is a lame cliche, even when Cruz says it, is that it implies your opponent is the same fighter. Which he’s not, obviously.

(At that moment, Bader’s whole life flashed before his eyes, and the part about fighting Tito Ortiz at UFC 132 made him say, “No way, you gotta be shittin’ me!”)

Guess you have to give Ryan Bader partial credit for admitting to MMA Weekly on Friday that one of the reasons he wanted to fight Tito Ortiz was to erase from his mind the nightmarish memories of his UFC 126 fight with Jon Jones. On the other hand, we have to kinda call disingenuousness (aka bullshit) on the way Bader sort of tries to make it sound like this bout just fell into his lap (as we recall, he specifically called Ortiz out) and saying that he took the fight because he’s “an MMA fan” who just wanted to take on a legend. Check it out:

“Although it’s a step down in competition from Jon Jones and (Antonio Rogerio) Nogueira, I got a chance fight a guy like Tito, a legend of the sport, and we took it,” Bader said. “It’s almost like a novelty fight for me going in there and (fighting) a guy I grew up watching. I’m a fan and a fighter. I want to be a part of his legacy and vice versa. I want to have Tito Ortiz in my win column.”

(You should have seen Tito driving this thing with his head out the window like Ace Ventura. It looked like a bobblehead in a HotWheels car. Photo credit: TMZ)

You would think that the UFC would have a clause in the contract of its fighters that restricts them from partaking in any dangerous activities like skydiving, attending a barbecue thrown by Mike Whitehead or living with Kim Couture. Apparently Zuffa is too busy writing up their new journalism policies to worry about fighters like Tito Ortiz wrecking race cars when they should be concerned with training for upcoming bouts.

(If only he put as much time and energy into choosing a barber. Hi-yo! Pic: Dan Hardy.org. Wait, Dan Hardy is an org?)

Well, this is getting pretty goddamned transparent. First everybody and their dog wants a coin-flip fight against Wanderlei Silva, then Ryan Bader responds to the first loss of his career by calling out Tito Ortiz and now – fresh off his own third consecutive defeat in the Octagon — Dan Hardy is suddenly very interested in fighting Chris Lytle. You know, just for the purposes of putting on “an old school shootout with a guy that wants to throw down” and stuff like that. We’re sure it has nothing to do with Hardy desperately needing a win.

“Screw the rankings, records are for DJs,” Hardy tweeted on Sunday, as part of a Twitter barrage expressing his frustration with losing a “boring” fight to Anthony Johnson at UFN 24. Once again the whole “mixed” part of mixed martial arts bit another standup-oriented fighter in the ass as Johnson first toppled Hardy with a head kick, then dominated him with his wrestling skills en route to a unanimous decision. After the trio of losses, Hardy’s job was saved only by the fact Dana White “fucking loves that kid” (his words) and now Hardy just so happens to fancy a matchup with one of the throw-downiest guys who ever threw down, yet doesn’t have a ton of knockout power. Must be coincidence.

Anyhow, after the jump we took the liberty of condensing Hardy’s irritation into one easily-digestible quote. Plus, find out what fights Johnson and Johny Hendricks also envision for themselves …

(“Is ‘March’ with one ‘e’ or two?”)

Former UFC light heavyweight champion Tito Ortiz posted a video of himself signing his contract to face Ryan Bader at UFC 132 July 2 at the Mandalay Events Center in Las Vegas, NV.

The fight will likely be Ortiz’s last chance to prove the UFC that they should hold on to him in spite of the fact that he has not won a fight in the past five years or in any of his past five fights. UFC president Dana White has said recently that he thought about letting “The Huntington Beach Bad Boy” go after his loss to Matt Hamill in October at UFC 121, but decided to give Ortiz, who still has some drawing power, one more kick at the cat.

When Tito Ortiz tweeted the message above Wednesday night rumors began swirling that the injury-plagued former UFC light heavyweight champion may be walking away from the sport of MMA in spite of an impending UFC 132 bout with Ryan Bader.

It now looks like “The Huntington Beach Bad Boy” was referring to his relationship with former adult film actress Jenna Jameson and not his mixed martial arts career when he said he was out.

When asked last night about what Ortiz meant by his cryptic message, the mother of his twin two-year-old sons, Journey and Jette, played coy.

It looks like Ryan Bader will getting the fight he wants for his next bout.

Bader mentioned last month in an interview with ESPN on the heels of his UFC 126 loss to Jon Jones that before he retires, he would like to square off with Tito Ortiz and according to MMAWeekly he will get his wish.

“I would want to fight Tito Ortiz,” Bader told ESPN.com. “Just because I grew up watching him. I want to have one of those guys on my résumé like a Randy Couture or Chuck Liddell. Purely out of respect, he’s one I’d like to fight before my career is over.”

Both fighters confirmed the bout was a go on Twitter today, but did not name a date or venue. The MMAWeekly report states that the pair will square off at UFC 132 at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, NV.

(Video courtesy of YouTube/UFCFightZone1/ZuffaLLC)

If you really can’t wait until the UFC 128: Shogun vs. Jones countdown show is on tomorrow night, we’ve got you covered with part one of the program above.

For those of you who can’t watch the video at work and want the Cliffs Notes version, here’s what “Bones” and “Shogun” had to say about their light heavyweight title fight Saturday night.

(In his next fight, Bader would like to face someone of great historical significance. Anybody got Kimo’s number? Pic: MMA Convert.)

Contrary to popular belief, the UFC middleweight division has not quite cornered the market on making strategically advantageous call-outs. While the world’s 185-pound fighters are lining up to let everybody know how much they’d all love to fight Michael Bisping – which is like so 2010 – their light heavyweight brethren are also making requests of UFC matchmaker Joe Silva. It seems that at least a couple of 205-pounders have been spending some time on the “Fighters” page over at UFC.com and thinking to themselves, “Let’s see here, who can I beat?”

Ryan Bader, for one, emerged this week from whatever dark room he’s been huddled in, rocking back and forth since UFC 126 to tell ESPN.com he’d very much like to fight Tito Ortiz. Cuz, why not? Sure, just a withered shell of his former self, Ortiz hasn’t won a fight since 2006, is barely clinging to his career and seemingly can’t make it to the cage without a serious back injury, cracked skull or giant laceration over his eye, but still … fighting him would mean A LOT to Bader. You know, on a personal level.

(“Left kick, Brock Lesnar’s Canadian hospital.”)

Undefeated in the past four years, at 13-1 Ryan Jimmo is one of Canada’s most promising MMA prospects. The Big Deal is in the thick of training camp for a championship bout with fellow Canadian Dwayne Lewis at MFC 28 — a fight Sherdog.com has deservingly named one of this month’s 10 Tussles Worth Watching — on February 25 in Edmonton Alberta and has offered to write about his preparations for the biggest fight of his career via a weekly training blog published every week leading up to the fight here at CagePotato.com.

Check out Ryan’s latest entry after the jump.

(Above: "…and I’m gonna wear one of those stupid jester-hats in the Octagon. And you’re not going to do a damn thing about it." 
Below: Jon Jones knows that the best way to deal with a bully is to ignore him, Michihiro Omigawa does that ridiculous duck-face thing, and Miguel Torres and Antonio Banuelos face off for the unofficial Mexican Bantamweight Championship. All photos courtesy of the UFC 126: Weigh In Pics gallery on CombatLifestyle.com)
  

Fuck football. Unless you were cursed enough to grow up in Green Bay, or you’re a supporter of dudes who get accused of rape a lot, you know as well as I do that this weekend belongs to cage-fighting. And if you don’t, you can piss off right now. Seriously. The rest of us will wait. 

Now then. Tonight’s ultra-stacked lineup features the longest-reigning champion in UFC history defending his middleweight title for the eighth time against a power-punching dynamo who used to be a UFC champion himself, seven years and one weight-class ago. Supporting the main event will be a scrap between two Octagon icons and former belt-holders (Franklin vs. Griffin), a fight that could produce the future of the 205-pound division (Jones vs. Bader), Miguel Torres’s breathtaking mullet, and the UFC debuts of some exciting imported talent from Japan.

Live UFC 126 results will be stacking up after the jump, beginning with a quick recap of the Yamamoto/Johnson Facebook match at 8:25 p.m. ET, leading into the Spike TV prelims broadcast at 9 p.m., and finally the pay-per-view broadcast at 10 p.m. So we’ve got a long night of fighting in front of us — but hey, nobody ever said being an MMA fan would be easy.