(Props: YouTube.com/UFC)

During Thursday’s UFC on FX 8 pre-fight press conference, Vitor Belfort did that thing he loves to do where he held his right fist out to Luke Rockhold‘s chin during their photo-op staredown. Luke was not amused. So, after the two headliners weighed in today at Arena Jaragua in Jaragua do Sul, Santa Catarina, Brazil, Rockhold just walked straight through Belfort’s fist-pose, making body contact with the Brazilian fighter. Belfort shoved Rockhold, and Bootleg Dana had to separate them.

Video of that incident is above, and the full “Belfort vs. Rockhold” weigh-in results are after the jump. Be sure to come back to CagePotato.com tomorrow night at 9 p.m. ET for our liveblog of the main card!

If there’s one thing that Michael Bisping knows how to do, it’s convincingly sell each and every one of his fights as a “grudge match.” If there’s a second thing Michael Bisping knows how to do, it’s make a bunch of promises about said fights that he has no intention of following through with. Set to face Alan Belcher at UFC 159 this weekend, Bisping has already made sure to check both of those items off his list. First, he promised fans that he will knock Belcher out in the first round — something he has promised ad nauseum over the years yet hasn’t actually done since 2008 — and at today’s UFC 159 presser, he successfully convinced us that his fight with Belcher really is a grudge match. Touche, Mee-kale.

Granted, Bisping is facing a guy who has been calling him out for years now, but it’s starting to seem like Bisping needs to hate the guy he’s fighting in order to get motivated — commonly known as The Diaz Initiative. There’s nothing wrong with that, but if Bisping was truly confident that he could finish Belcher so easily, wouldn’t it have been nice to see him actually take Belcher and Wallace Gilberry up on their bet? Knocking out Belcher would be impressive, sure, but knocking him out and costing his buddy a $300,000 Rolls Royce? That is walking away from an explosion in slow-mo and not looking back levels of cool. 

In either case, Bisping and Belcher made sure to get the shit-talking started early at today’s presser, and we’ve thrown the video above for your enjoyment. So check it out, then let us know how many times you think Bisping will point at Belcher’s face and scream “You’re dead!” come weigh-in time. He seems to enjoy doing that.

-J. Jones

(Quick poll – Which is funnier: Miller’s hair or Shields’ attempt at a mean mug?) 

You can hate on the over-the-top theatrics of professional wrestling all you want, but there’s no denying the sport’s influence on the world of MMA. Do you think we would have ever seen Jonathan Ivey break out “The People’s Elbow” in a fight if The Rock hadn’t done it first? And how about that Chael Sonnen character, who we would all just write off as another boring wrestler if not for his Billy Graham-esque heel routine? The list goes on and on, but greater than the signature moves, greater even than the whimsical trash-talking pro wrasslin’ has inspired in our great sport, is the post-fight cage confrontation.

It has been responsible for some of the most unintentionally hilarious highs and Gus Johnsony lows that MMA has ever seen, yet we can’t seem to look away when such an inherently silly situation is presented in the aftermath of a fight. The UFC clearly understands this, and in an effort to set up everyone’s dream match of Anderson Silva vs. Jon Jones Georges. St. Pierre, both the UFC and Silva’s manager have hinted that not only is the middleweight champ going to be in attendance at UFC 154, but should St. Pierre emerge victorious, the two will face off in the cage and lay the foundation for the next great MMA superfight. So with that in mind, we’ve compiled a brief, albeit memorable, video tribute to the post-fight confrontation. Enjoy.

(The Jon Jones vs. Vitor Belfort staredown from today’s UFC 152 weigh-ins, via YouTube.com/UFC. The Benavidez/Johnson and Bisping/Stann staredowns are after the jump.)

- Manny Pacquiao Will Take A 45-55 Split, So It’s Time For Floyd Mayweather To Stop Being A Baby And Fight Him Already (Deadspin)

- Vitor Belfort Talk Blackzillians, Representing The Old School (HeavyMMA)

- Roy Nelson, Fabricio Werdum, Andrei Arlovski Open To Facing Daniel Cormier (MMAConvert)

- Tim Kennedy vs. Trevor Smith Added To November Strikeforce Card (Fightline)

- Chris Weidman ‘A Little Shocked, Confused, Disappointed’ Over UFC 153′s Silva-Bonnar Booking (MMAJunkie)

- TUF 16 Looks to Bounce Back After Lowest-Rated Opener (MMAFighting)

- Is Facebook Making You Fat? (MensFitness)

- The 50 Most Infamous Criminals in Sports History (Complex)

- The Ultimate Pole Dancing Fails Compilation (WorldWideInterweb)

- 5 Things You Remember If You’re a 90′s Kid (DoubleViking)

- The Best Aged Whiskeys And Why They’re Better…And So Expensive (MadeMan)

- 25 Awesomely Hilarious Children’s Homework Answers (EgoTV)

(Props: YouTube.com/UFC)

Yes, Anderson Silva initiated contact. Yes, he appeared to lunge in for a kiss at the 1:05:35 mark. Yes, it took Dana White and two other dudes to hold him back. By comparison, Chael Sonnen was cool as a cucumber during the climactic staredown at today’s UFC 148 press conference. Congrats, buddy, you’re in his head. Now what?

Update: An edited version with audio is after the jump, courtesy of MMAFighting.

(Photo courtesy of MMAFighting.com / Click image for larger version.)

Jon Jones vs. Rashad Evans, this Saturday night — rivalries will be settled, swagger will be jacked, special nights will be ruined. The two light-heavyweights met face-to-face yesterday at a press conference in Atlanta, and though Jones and Evans are all talked out at this point, their staredown was enough to get us hyped up in the home stretch to UFC 145. After the jump: Video highlights from the press conference.

(Always with the forehead contact, eh Mike?)

Staredown gif via ‘unfilter’ on the UG. The full UFC on FOX 2 press conference video is after the jump, in which Dana White clarifies that Chael Sonnen is not actually the middleweight champion, nor will he be challenging for the light-heavyweight or heavyweight titles after this fight.

(Props: MMARecap via MiddleEasy)

XFO 39 goes down tonight at the Sears Centre Arena in Hoffman Estates, Illinois, featuring Jeff Curran’s “win or retire” match against Billy Vaughn, Jamie Varner‘s first post-WEC match against Tyler Combs, and a women’s bout between the lovely Felice Herrig and 7-4 Tulsa-based scrapper Nicdali Rivera-Calanoc. At yesterday’s weigh-ins, Felice and Nicdali produced one of the greatest staredown photos in recent memory. (Whether you prefer this one or Anderson Silva vs. Vitor Belfort pretty much depends on if you prefer chicks or dudes. Sorry. That’s the deal.) XFO 39 will be streamed live on alienwarearena.com/mma; the card kicks off at 7 p.m.

(From yesterday’s UFC 127 press conference in Sydney. Props: Facebook.com/UFC via MMA Mania)

Congrats, Jorge, you’ve gotten under Bisping’s skin. And now we’ve got ourselves a grudge match. So who takes it and how?

(Oh, I’d say it’s beyond ‘real’ at this point. Props: SurferKenTV3 and Biggie Smalls)

In case you missed it at Wednesday’s press conference, here’s video of the rather intense staredown between UFC 126 main eventers Anderson Silva and Vitor Belfort. Silva claims there’s nothing personal about Saturday’s match with "The Phenom," although Silva was reportedly upset that Belfort accepted the fight in the first place, considering they were former training partners. Weigh-ins for UFC 126 go down tonight at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas at 7 p.m. ET / 4 p.m. PT, so brace yourself for more uncomfortable closeness between the two Brazilian stars.

After the jump: Belfort tells his hero Ariel Helwani that Anderson’s attitude is just giving him more motivation for the fight.

Swanson might not be talking so much shit after this one. If you missed our WEC 31 recap, click here. I’d also like to point out that as of 5:04 p.m. ET, 41% of CagePotato poll-takers thought that the show was ridiculously, insanely awesome, while 59% of CagePotato poll-takers are idiots. Good to know!