(Make no mistake — when Edgar’s at his best, he’s capable of losing a close decision to any fighter in the world. Photo via Getty Images)

UFC 162: Silva vs. Weidman is turning out to be a can’t-miss showcase for featherweight talent. With Ricardo Lamas vs. Chan Sung Jung already on the lineup, the UFC has just added two more big-name 145-pound scraps to the July 6th card in Las Vegas…

- Frankie Edgar vs. Charles Oliveira: Following his unsuccessful title challenge against Jose Aldo — which gave Edgar his third decision loss in a row — “The Answer” returns to the featherweight division to face dangerous grappler Charles Oliveira. Though Oliveira hasn’t competed since his knockout loss to Cub Swanson at UFC 152, his two previous fights resulted in submission victories over Jonathan Brookins and Eric Wisely. It’s a logical rebound fight for Edgar, and a huge opportunity for Oliveira.

- Cub Swanson vs. Dennis Siver: Speaking of Swanson, the Jackson’s MMA product is red-hot lately, with four straight victories in the UFC (three by KO/TKO). Fresh off his recent decision win over Dustin Poirier, Swanson will try to add to his streak against the hard-striking Dennis Siver, who is 2-0 since dropping to featherweight, with decision wins over Diego Nunes and Nam Phan.

In other notable UFC 162 news…

(Pierce celebrates after successfully thwarting Mario’s plans with a well-timed barrel.) 

We here at CagePotato have literally taken every possible step in order to rid the MMA world of the great injury curse of 2012: we’ve prayed (lol!), we’ve had our cleaning lady Concepcion rid the office of evil spirits, we’ve resorted to Pagan rituals involving pentagrams, we’ve even had Rex track down “thisredengine” and sacrifice his virginal body to the Gods. And after all that fell flat, we tried to go Freddy Kruger on the curse and simply stop talking about it in the hopes that it would eventually just leave us be and move on to some other, less important sport. Like women’s ______.

But alas, our efforts were a complete failure. In the past few days, at least four fighters have come down with a case of the injury bug, leading to some small yet noticeable changes in several of the UFC’s upcoming cards. And we wonder why even Canadian fans are cautious to buy a ticket these days. (Author’s note: You see, Dana? THIS is what happens when you read from the Necronomicon. Side effects include nausea, meniere’s disease, Saturday night palsy, and possessed hand.) 

We shall begin today’s trip down injury lane with Kyle Noke…

(Who did this to my brother? I WANT HIS NAME!!) 

Another pair of interesting matches at 170 lbs. have recently been added to UFC 143′s already welterweight-stacked card. If you are anything like us, then you likely expected Matt Brown would receive his walking papers after dropping his fourth loss via submission (and second via guillotine) in his past five fights to Seth Baczynski at UFC 139. Well, it turns out Brown will be given another shot at UFC glory, and will be fighting for not only his Zuffa contract, but the chance to keep his record above .500 when he takes on TUF 13 cast member Chris Cope.

Cope will be looking to rebound from the devastating 40 second TKO loss he suffered at the hands (and more specifically, knees) of Che Mills in Mills’ UFC debut back at UFC 138.

(Props: TachiPalaceFights. Fight starts at the 2:03 mark.)

Two months after he barely survived his first post-UFC outing against Angel DeAnda, James Irvin was back in action last night at "Tachi Palace Fights 7: Deck the Halls" in Lemoore, California — and he wasn’t so lucky this time. In the main event of the evening, Irvin took on 5-2-1 Chute Boxe product Jorge "Van Damme" Oliveira, who holds victories over Shonie Carter and Mike Van Arsdale. After failing on a takedown attempt, Oliveira wound up on his back, and did his best to defend Irvin’s ground-and-pound. At the video’s 3:24 mark, Irvin’s gets enough space to rain down some nasty blows, and Oliveira kicks him off. Irvin dives back in, and is immediately caught in a triangle/armbar. Fun fact: Irvin hasn’t been out of the first round in over four years.

Maybe Oliveira is just an affectionate guy in general, but the dude lays it on a little thick in his post-fight show of respect, hugging and kissing Irvin on the mat, raising the Sandman’s arm in faux-victory, bowing to him in a "we’re not worthy" pose (dude, it’s James Irvin, you’re worthy), getting up to hug him some more, then hugging him again after a brief visit with his corner. Now we know why they call him "Van Damme."

The Tachi Palace event also featured an insane bout between TUF 11 castmember Seth Baczynski and WEC/UFC vet Tim McKenzie, which ended with Baczynski getting his left arm snapped in an armbar, then elbowing McKenzie into unconsciousness with his non-broken arm. 2010 Finish of the Year candidate, for sure. Check it out after the jump…

(The Chosyn1′s UFC hype train got Yager-bombed)

Well it appears that Jamie Yager really is "The Chosyn1" as the UFC have selected him as one of four "The Ultimate Fighter 11" contestants whose three-year exclusive contracts options they will not pick up.

According to a report by rankingmma.com, the UFC has released Yager, Josh Bryant, James Hammortree and Seth Baczynski following losses by all four fighters on the TUF 11 Finale.

Yager, who became this season’s resident heel logged a decisive loss to Cage Potato’s resident TUF 11 blogger Rich "The Raging Bull" Attonito, succumbing to strikes at 4:25 of the second round.

If all else fails for the 2-2 Huntington Beach native who denied a public Twitter feud with his coach on the show, Tito Ortiz, he could always try his hand and mouth at professional wrestling.

You already know that Court McGee vs. Kris McCray will be the co-headliner at next Saturday’s TUF 11 Finale show (Spike TV, 9 p.m. ET/PT), and we also told you that Rich Attonito won the "who gets to kick Jamie Yager’s ass" sweepstakes. So who else will join them at the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas? Spike has confirmed the following bouts for the event…

Josh Bryant vs. Kyle Noke: No, Bryant won’t be facing off with fellow semi-finalist Brad Tavares in a third-place match. Instead, he has drawn Kyle Noke, the Australian veteran who was upset by Kris McCray in the TUF 11 quarterfinals.

Brad Tavares vs. Seth Baczynski: You see what they did there? Tavares and Baczynski get to have a rematch after their quarterfinal match ended abruptly via soccer kick disqualification.

(Gif of Tavares getting kicked in the "chest," courtesy of smoogy.)

Kris McCray vs. Kyle Noke. Brad Tavares vs. Seth Baczynski. Tito Ortiz vs. Everyone’s Patience. Last night’s episode of The Ultimate Fighter was a wall-to-wall struggle. Here’s what happened.

After Team Liddell’s Court McGee became the first TUF 11 semi-finalist, following his submission of James Hammortree, it’s time for two more quarterfinal matches. First up is Kris McCray vs. Kyle Noke, two guys who used to be training partners. Dana White cares not for your personal relationships: "One of the things I want these guys to learn early? There are no friends in the UFC."

Tito Ortiz might be looking at neck surgery. There’s a disc pressing on his spinal cord, which is causing numbness in his legs and daily headaches, among other symptoms. He’s not going to let Chuck beat him because he wasn’t 100%. Instead of fighting injured and jeopardizing his health, he wants to get this taken care of. It’s basically the same story we heard last week from Nick Ring, who by the way, is out of the competition for one day and already has a full-on Freddie Mercury ‘stache.

Noke has two inches in height, 4.5 inches in reach, and a hell of a lot more fights under his belt than McCray. It’s time to bang.

In the latest installment of his TUF 11 guest-blog for CagePotato.com, Team Liddell’s Rich Attonito breaks down the Seth vs. Joe matchup from last night’s episode, his chess rivalry with Charles Blanchard, and his self-destructive method of coping with being sidelined. We hope you get into treatment soon, Rich…

After Court McGee and Nick Ring’s fight, we catch a glimpse of Nick’s emerging knee problem. How bad was it, only time will tell. But it definitely was a cause of concern for him. Especially when it gave out and brought him to the ground during training. At the time, no one on our team had any idea of Nick’s injury.

The last of the preliminary fights is announced: Seth Baczynski and Joe Henle will close out the first round of competition in the house. Seth definitely seemed like the favorite in this matchup due to his experience and well-rounded skills. I remember the fight him and Court had to get into the house being a war. Seth looked like The Terminator; he never stopped coming forward the entire fight like a machine. When Chris was forced to leave due to his broken jaw, I knew they were going to bring Seth back. He was the best guy out of all of the fighters that lost, and I knew Tito wanted to bring back a guy who would only strengthen his team.

Joe, nicknamed the Geico Caveman, had only started fighting six months earlier and was very new to MMA. He pulled out a late submission in his fight to get into the house, in which he was losing. Because of that Joe was perceived to be the weak link in the house. But perception can be deceiving. While he didn’t have some of the polished skills that a lot of the guys had, he had a ton of heart and potential. You could see him absorbing the techniques we learned daily and improving rapidly. Joe’s grappling is definitely his strength and we knew that if he could ground Seth and get on top, that he could definitely win. The Terminator versus The Caveman was certainly gonna be a fight to watch.

(Anybody feel like dining in hell tonight?)

Nick Ring is in bad shape after his fight. He felt his knee slip on him, and he tells the doctor that his ligaments are loose. This house is becoming a ghost ship. Court McGee hopes he can come back as Rich Attonito’s replacement after getting robbed last week in his fight against Nick, but will Nick need to be replaced himself?

The last fight before the wild card match is Team Liddell’s last pick Joe "Caveman" Henle against Team Ortiz’s injury replacement Seth Baczynski. "I don’t see how Seth doesn’t win this fight," Dana says, which feels like bad foreshadowing, but we’ll see.

Henle has only been a pro fighter since last July. He got into it "by accident" — finding an MMA gym randomly, trying it on a whim, and winning his first fights. Now he’s on TUF, completely outgunned by some of the more experienced fighters in the house. A substitute teacher and coach when he’s not fighting, Joe has an MBA in financial planning, but doesn’t want to be in an office all day. "I’m not the best fighter in the world," he says. "I will be, that’s for damn sure." Good attitude, but he might be too raw.