(Nope. Nothing suspicious here.) 

Fact: Next to the DMV and Detroit, airports are the most terrible places on the face of our dying planet. Fact: Stephan Bonnar is a dog-fighting, gun-toting, BAMF who is not afraid to to stare Death in the eyes and wipe that bitchy smirk off his face. Being the “gives not a fuck” type of guy that “The American Pyscho” is, the MMA apparel company he co-founded, NGAUGE, have found themselves in quite a bit of hot water lately, mainly due to the “gives not a fuck” attitude of their “Trash Talkin Kids” t-shirt line. Perhaps you’ve heard of it.

After getting into a little legal tossup with Josh Koscheck last summer, you would probably think that Bonnar’s t-shirt based troubles were over. You would be wrong, and I would implore you to stop being so Goddamn ignorant.

You see, alongside Rich Franklin and Keith Jardine, Bonnar was kind enough to travel all the way to Bahrain to visit some of the U.S. Troops recently. He was likely charming, and he likely brightened their day. But proving that no good deed goes unpunished, on Bonnar’s way out of the country, he was detained by airport security, interrogated for over a day, and bitten by a poisonous camel spider before finally being allowed to leave. Why, you ask? Because apparently airport security didn’t appreciate the subtlety of the Melvin Guillard “Young Assassin” shirt that Bonnar was wearing.

He recounted the ridiculous story on Tuesday’s episode of Inside MMA: 

We’re getting ready to leave Bahrain, and I get detained at the airport. Jardine and Franklin get on the flight, and they take me in the room. They’re asking me all these questions, and they’re furious. One guy’s comin’ in the room and pointin’ at me, all furious, like that. And, what I think is that, I had on the ’Young Assassin’ shirt, with Melvin Guillard, and there’s a guy with a turban with his brains spillin’ out. I don’t think they liked that too much.

Check out more from Bonnar’s interview, along with a nasty photo of the spider bite and two video updates taken by Bonnar himself while the ordeal was occurring, after the jump.

(Props: YouTube.com/TrashTalkinKids)

The wait is finally over. After keeping you guys on pins and needles for like a full month, we have a winner in our Urijah Faber t-shirt design contest with Punch Buddies. Watch the stunning conclusion above, in which Urijah, Stephan Bonnar, and Rachelle Leah take the finalists out to the desert and eliminate the losers one by one in the most hardcore way possible.

When the dust settles, they’re left with two designs that they can’t decide between — so Punch Buddies is producing both of them. Since the surfing California Kid shirt was created by one of PB’s own artists, our congrats really go to CagePotato reader Peter Starwalt, who went all the way with his beach/shark-themed design. Congrats, man! Your design is going to be on an actual MMA t-shirt, and you might actually see Faber wearing it someday! We’ll be dropping you a line shortly, because your wild ride is only getting started.

Also: Remember when I said we had a surprise for everybody whose design was featured in this contest? Well check it out: Urijah printed out and signed all your designs, and I’ll be sending them out to you guys over the next couple weeks. Keep an eye on your inboxes; we’ll be in touch.

(Props: YouTube.com/TrashTalkinKids)

At this point, I’m willing to admit that our t-shirt design contest with Punch Buddies and Urijah Faber has gone completely off the rails. In case you were wondering why the quarterfinal round didn’t happen last week, it’s because Faber and Stephan Bonnar were working on a unique method of separating the winners from the losers, and it involved firing assault rifles in the desert with UFC Octagon Girl hall-of-famer Rachelle Leah. See, isn’t this better than just having you dummies pick the winner?

P.S.: We also have a really cool surprise for everybody whose design was featured in the contest. Stay tuned for details, and please follow Punch Buddies on Facebook and Twitter!

In the final opening-round matchup of our epic t-shirt design tournament with Punch Buddies, UFC talent judges Stephan Bonnar and Urijah Faber send one more of your designs to the quarterfinals. Their choices are:

“Captain Butt Chin” by Bobby [who's misidentified in the vid, but whatevs]
vs.
“Urologist Faber” by Toby N.

As you’ll see in the video, both Stephan and Urijah fail to recognize Nazi pedophile Brandon Saling on the Captain Butt Chin shirt. We’re not sure if that affected Bobby’s chances, but it’s worth mentioning. Still, I think they made the right choice, simply based on Toby’s chin-placement.

The competition is only going to get tougher next week as we enter the quarterfinals. Catch up on our previous t-shirt tournament videos here, follow Punch Buddies on Twitter and Facebook, and let us know who you think is going all the way!

It’s day 3 of our Punch Buddies t-shirt design tournament, and the competition is only getting hairier and more intense. In today’s installment, your hosts Stephan Bonnar and Urijah Faber evaluate a pair of movie tributes — Michael P.’s “Fast Times” tee vs. Toby N.’s “Karate Kid” design — and Carlos G. does battle with himself in two Faber-on-a-bear designs. Which talented Potato Nation artist is going all the way? And how can I get my hands on one of those Diego “Dirty” Sanchez shirts? Stay tuned, and browse through some of PB’s classic t-shirts at PunchBuddies.com.

Semi-related video after the jump: Forrest Griffin does the monkey-face in his “Furious Forrest” Punch Buddies t-shirt.

After yesterday’s opening ceremonies, Stephan Bonnar and Urijah Faber are back to evaluate four more of your Punch Buddies t-shirt contest designs. Today’s opening-round matchups are…

- Ben S.’s California Kid action figure vs. Mandy M.’s “No Shirt Nation”
and in the ultra-violence division:
- Erik F.’s “Chucky Faber” vs. Dante F.’s Cruz-decapitation

Congrats to everybody who made it this far, and thanks to Punch Buddies for hooking us up with these videos! Be sure to check in with CagePotato every day through the rest of the week to see how the opening round of March T-Shirt Madness plays out. Was your design good enough to earn a pair of tickets to UFC 148 and a potential spot on Urijah’s torso?

(Bonnar and Faber — the Reynolds and Boosler of MMA.)

When we sent all of your Urijah Faber t-shirt design contest submissions to Punch Buddies last week, we figured they’d just pick a winner and shoot us a cold, impersonal text message (“not the 1 w/the intestines, thx”). We weren’t expecting Urijah Faber and Stephan Bonnar to film a video series where they evaluate your submissions, tournament-bracket-style. Holy crap, thanks guys!

After the jump, in episode one: The boys give a bye to one of our frontrunners, and introduce a design by one of their hot-shot illustrators. Can our Potato Nation scribblers defeat the seasoned camel-toe-drawing professionals? We’ll be posting a new video every day until the winner is revealed, so stay tuned. Massive props to Punch Buddies, Urijah, and Stephan!

We have a very, very special guest on this week’s installment of the CagePotato Roundtable: UFC light-heavyweight legend Stephan Bonnar, who has agreed to join the CP gang for a spirited debate on the most epic rivalries in MMA history — something he knows a thing or two about first-hand. Follow Stephan on Twitter @stephanbonnar, buy some of his t-shirts at PunchBuddies.com, and if you have a suggestion for a future Roundtable topic, please send it to tips@cagepotato.com. Now then…

Stephan Bonnar

I’m here to talk about MMA’s most intense rivalries. Catering to the casual fight fan first, I’ll start with the most obvious one. (I know it’s not fair to you hardcore fans, but no one cares about you. We know that you will tune in no matter what. I still appreciate you, you obsessed lunatics, so just stay tuned.)

Chael Sonnen vs Anderson Silva. Chael recently received his PHD in the art of trash talking (TT), and was also the valedictorian of his class. He took TT to new heights. His words ripped not only through his adversaries intestines, but the intestines of his counterpart’s entire country. Trust me though, this brilliant TT’er has an outrageous yet adept plan to convert the hate of some of those countrymen to love and acceptance. Yes, I have inside info…but no, I won’t spoil Chael’s next scheme. Take it from me, “You’ll see what’s up Chael’s sleeve!”

If Chael was valedictorian of his class, then Anderson was the class buffoon. Anderson’s knowledge of the English language quickly evaporates when it’s his turn to retort to some of Chael’s verbal onslaught. This rivalry has had the most one-sided trashtalking in the history of the sport. When it comes to slanging rhetoric, is Anderson worse than Joe Frazier was against the great Ali? I’d enthusiastically say so. I’d also have to say that Chael would be able to hang with “The Greatest” when it came to sparring with verbs. Even in his native tongue, Anderson fails to even so much as hold Chael’s jock strap. Landslide victory for Chael in this event. And for those of you that say talking trash doesn’t do shit, I beg to differ. It has increased my anxiousness ten fold in anticipation of seeing this “rivalry” settled with extreme violence.

Just a friendly reminder for you to set your PVR for 9:00 p.m. ET tonight so you don’t miss the acclaimed two-hour Bruce Lee documentary SPIKE TV is airing.

The film, “I Am Bruce Lee,” is a theatrical release currently playing in select theatres in Australia, the U.S. and Canada this month, and by all accounts it’s definitely worth watching, especially if you’re a fan of the late great martial artist and actor’s work.

(How can you say no to that face?) 

Aside from its placement atop nearly every MMA fan’s “Favorite Fights” list, Stephan Bonnar and Forrest Griffin‘s war at the first TUF Finale is widely considered to be the fight responsible for popularizing MMA into the near mainstream sport it is today. Well, believe it or not, that fight almost didn’t happen on account of Bonnar’s uncontrollable desire for bottom shelf alcohol, specifically, Mad Dog. Although Bonnar has told this story with a slightly different spin before, Dana White recently discussed the craziness that was the first season of The Ultimate Fighter, and how Bonnar almost got himself kicked off the show:

The first season of the ‘Ultimate Fighter’ was the longest season we’ve ever done. It was something like 8 weeks and those guys were losing their (expletive) minds. I almost kicked (Stephan) Bonnar off the show. 

Bonnar turned the shower on, climbed out the window and went to find a liquor store. Remember we took all the liquor out after that big fight? These idiots…we had been driving these guys around for six or seven weeks and the house is in the middle of nowhere. There was no liquor store near there. The guy was walking around for an hour and thirty minutes. So much crazy (expletive) happened that first season. Imagine if I had kicked off him off the show for going to a liquor store? Forrest (Griffin) and Stephan would have never happened. 

No Dana, we would not like to imagine a world in which Griffin/Bonnar never existed. We’d rather imagine one in which Motley Crue serenades our lovemaking sessions with Adriana Lima, thank you very much.

(Similar to Georges St.Pierre, MMA pundits, and most fans heading into UFC 129, Dana White was looking right past Jake Shields.)

2011 is approaching it’s final hour, Potato Nation, and when we typically take a look back at the year that was, we often lump things in terms of the very best, and more often than not, the very worst. But even though it has been arguably the biggest year in the sport’s History, it hasn’t gone without it’s fair share of snoozefests, sparring matches, and fights that simply didn’t live up to their own hype. For every Rua/Hendo, there was a Torres/Banuelos, so to speak, that kept us from having a full-on Chuck Liddell style freak out. It’s not that these fights made us angry, it’s just that they failed to make us feel anything.

In a way, they were actually a good thing for the sport, as they raised our appreciation for the epic slugfests, the back and forth brawls, and the technical battles to new heights. So it is for these unsung heroes that we bring you The Ten Most Forgettable Fights of 2011, presented in chronological order.

#10: Jacob Volkmann vs. Antonio Mckee

We know what you’re thinking, Potatoites, you’re thinking, “My God, it’s only been a year since this clown (dis)graced the UFC with that performance?” Well the answer is yes, and almost to the exact date. On January 1st at UFC 125, Anthony Mckee made his long awaited debut in the UFC. And when we say “long awaited,” we mean by none other than Mckee himself. You see, Anthony Mckee followed the James Toney method of trolling his way into the UFC through a shitstorm of self absorbed and ridiculous claims, despite only claiming seven finishes in his previous thirty contests. Well, DW took the bait, and threw Mckee humble wrestler and future threat to Homeland Security, Jacob Volkmann, for his big debut.

(And that’s why I invented Twitter, Mr. Rampage, so men everywhere could express their feelings.) 

Though we reported earlier this week that it seemed as if Quinton “Rampage”  Jackson would not be getting his requested fight at UFC 144 in Japan, it turns out the former UFC light heavyweight champion will indeed be getting the wish he requested in the wake of his loss to Jon Jones at UFC 135. And though Stephan Bonnar was more than willing to face Page, the spot will be given to TUF 8 winner Ryan Bader instead.

Bader is coming off a first round knockout over Jason Brilz at UFC 139 that snapped a two fight losing streak to Jon Jones and Tito Ortiz at UFC 126 and UFC 132, respectively.

(I can’t see *why* they wouldn’t put him on the card. Video courtesy of YouTube/MMADigest)

It looks like the proposed light heavyweight bout between Stephan Bonnar and Quinton Jackson won’t be happening at UFC 144 in Japan as we previously predicted.

According to “Rampage,” who was told last month by UFC president Dana White that he would be on the February 25 card, he will not be fighting at the Saitama Super Arena that day and he’s not very happy about the news.

(“I’m gonna puke…I’m gonna puke.”)

Following his UFC 139 victory over Kyle Kingsbury Saturday night, Stephan Bonnar wasted no time in planting the seed for his next fight. “The Ultimate Fighter 1″ runner-up, who has racked up a recent three-fight winning streak, told reporters that he would love a step up in competition.

“I’ve always wanted to fight [Quinton] ‘Rampage’ [Jackson],” Bonnar said. “You know, I’ve got a few wins now and maybe (I can) get a big name [next].”

Earlier in the week, “The American Psycho explained to Heavy.com that facing Jackson would be his “dream fight.”

“He’s good, he’s a big puncher, he’s tough. But he does have holes in his game,” Bonnar pointed out. “He’s really famous. ‘The A-Team’ movie, talk shows – everyone knows who he is. Fighting him, it’s going to be a huge fight. Forrest [Griffin] got a close win over him, [Keith] Jardine fought a good fight with him. I feel like I could fight him good.”

(In a way, we were all the “Screaming PRIDE Lady” that night. / Photo courtesy of Esther Lin, MMA Fighting)

By Jason Moles

The suits on Wall Street keep whispering about a ‘Halloween indicator‘ and how now is not a time to sell; rather we should sit back and let our riches mount. Call it what you will, but millions watched UFC on FOX and UFC 139 and concluded the same thing: Most fighter’s stocks are rising steadily. Even if you’re not sure which is the true Fight of the Year from this weekend — Dan Henderson vs. Marucio Rua or Eddie Alvarez vs. Michael Chandler — you’ll know how to safeguard your hypothetical MMA portfolio’s worth after playing another round of ‘Buy, Sell, Hold’.

Stephan Bonnar: Buy

It’s hard to believe that any TUF veteran could take nearly a year off from the sport and return with the engine firing on all cylinders, but Stephan Bonnar did just that. The BJJ schooling he dished out was almost as surprising as his apology to Josh Koscheck for making those damn shirts. Even that wasn’t the most unexpected thing to happen; one judge gave the ‘American Psycho’ a 30-25 victory. Grab hold of any unclaimed stock before he starts getting big fights and Dana declares him “in the mix.”

Party Like a Rockstar also came out in 2007. Your mind = Blown. Props: Fox Sports

I’m willing to bet that more than a few sports writers have pointed out that four years ago, Dan Henderson vs. Mauricio “Shogun” Rua would have been just as worthy of main event status as it was last night at UFC 139. That four years later, we’re still willing to pay to watch guys like Wanderlei Silva, Cung Le, Urijah Faber, Stephan Bonnar and Miguel Torres. That last night’s event appropriately enough took place in Strikeforce’s old stomping grounds in San Jose. For that matter, I’m pretty sure you heard all of that stuff at some point from Mike Goldberg and Joe Rogan last night.

I tried to avoid those clichéd observations, but they’re too appropriate to ignore. As fans of mixed martial arts, we’ve been waiting at least four years for a fight between Pride legends Dan Henderson and Mauricio “Shogun” Rua to come together. Yet for as long as we’ve wanted to see this fight, what we were given last night was worth every second of the wait.

(Free shirt goes to whoever can pick out Dan Hardy.) 

This past weekend, the 21st annual K-9 Trials went down. What are the K-9 Trials you ask? Well, they are like the Westminster Dog Show, only points are awarded on each dog’s ability to tear you limb from limb. This year, UFC fighters Forrest Griffin, Stephan Bonnar, Dan Hardy, and Frank Mir got in on the action, because when presented the opportunity to be mauled by a dog, who wouldn’t jump?

UFC 137 is just a week away, featuring what some believe to be a welterweight number one contender match between B.J. Penn and Nick Diaz. If you weren’t convinced by our betting advice for the main event, then perhaps the words of Stephan Bonnar, Manny Gamburyan, Tyson Griffin, and Phil Baroni will do your thinking for you. And from the looks of it, you’re thinking B.J. Penn is going to come out on top, because that’s what the consensus seems to be for these pros.

(“…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?

Is it odd that Paulo Filho seems like one of the more normal aspects of this picture?

Just over a month out from the UFC’s Wisconsin debut, Stephan Bonnar has announced that he is no longer able to compete at UFC on Versus 5 in Milwaukee. Originally scheduled to face off against Karlos Vemola, Bonnar has suffered a torn MCL while training. According to MMAFighting.com:

Saturday, Bonnar told MMA Fighting the injury is a Grade II tear of his medial collateral ligament, or MCL. Bonnar said the injury will not require surgery, but will have him in a brace for six weeks. He said the injury is similar to ones that recently sidelined Rashad Evans and Kenny Florian.

Smug © (Pic: Zimbio.com)

Perhaps we were all a little quick to bag on Josh Koscheck for taking a legal dump on “Trash Talkin’ Kids“, Stephan Bonnar’s new irreverent line of MMA shirts. True, he does have a track record of being kind of a dick, but this wouldn’t be the first time that we’ve jumped to conclusions about the UFC Welterweight only to back track a little. Lesson learned. From now on, we’ll reserve judgment until all of the facts are in and give Kos the benefit of the doubt. Nah, not really, but here’s the latest on this story.

Koscheck sat down with the folks at BleacherReport.com to give his side of the tale. According to Kos, his problem with the shirt in question has nothing to do with being the butt of a joke, but rather stems from a preexisting exclusive contract.

(The ‘Josh Kosh M’Gosh’: Taken from us too soon. Props: facebook.com/TrashTalkinKids)

Due to his unauthorized depiction in the “Trash Talkin’ Kids” t-shirt line, UFC star Josh Koscheck is suing NGAUGE, the MMA artwork and apparel company co-founded by Stephan Bonnar. NGAUGE was officially served with notice of the lawsuit yesterday morning.

Though a source at NGAUGE told us that reaction from the other fighters depicted in the shirt series (including Georges St. Pierre and Brock Lesnar) has been uniformly positive, Koscheck apparently didn’t see the humor in being associated with a brand of children’s overalls. Which is too bad, because that shit is kind of hilarious.

(Stephan Bonnar — supermodel. Props: TrashTalkinKids)

[Update, 11:56 a.m. ET: The submission e-mail has changed; see below. If you've already submitted an entry, there's no need to re-submit.]

One of my favorite booths at the UFC Fan Expo in Toronto was Trash Talkin’ Kids, a brand-new t-shirt line that combines MMA fighters with one of the most horrible fads from the 1980s. As a dude who appreciates lowbrow humor more than skulls and wings, these shirts spoke to me.

TTK was cool enough to hook us up with a couple shirts for the Potato Nation. It’s been a long time since we’ve done a t-shirt design contest, so we thought we’d give it another shot. Your challenge is this: Create a t-shirt design in the style of Trash Talkin’ Kids. (Basically, a well-known MMA fighter, a weird Garbage Pail-esque pun using their name, and a gruesome visual representation of that pun.) Details continue after the jump…

(The “American Wacko” t-shirt, from TrashTalkinKids. Still waiting on my “Snot Jorgensen” tee, guys.)

Riding high on a two-fight win streak against Krzysztof Soszynski and Igor Pokrajac, Stephan Bonnar will likely take on yet another dude with a weird European name in his next appearance. Multiple sources reported today that the American Psycho will face aggressive Czech prospect Karlos “The Terminator” Vemola at UFC on Versus 5, August 14th in Milwaukee.

Vemola (8-1, all wins by first-round stoppage) made his name competing in England as a heavyweight, Donkey Kong-ing most of his terrified opponents in under two minutes. He suffered his first defeat in his Octagon debut at UFC 116, getting slept on by Jon Madsen for three rounds. Wisely, the 6-foot fireplug immediately dropped to light-heavyweight, and beat the living crap out of Seth Petruzelli, picking up a Knockout of the Night bonus in the process. Vemola was slated to return against Luis Cane at UFC 128, but had to withdraw due to a mouth infection.

Killer matchup, if you ask me. Battle-tested vet vs. young juggernaut — who ya got?

Sometimes an MMA fight is so close — or controversial — that matching the fighters up again a few months later is the only logical option. In honor of the upcoming immediate rematches between Leonard Garcia and Nam Phan (at UFC Fight Night 24 on March 26th), and Edgar vs. Maynard 3 at UFC 130, we decided to round up our favorite “do-over” fights of all time…

6. STEPHAN BONNAR vs. KRZYSZTOF SOSZYNSKI
UFC 116, 7/3/10

Why it was necessary: A clash of heads during their first fight at UFC 110 opened up a nasty gash on Bonnar’s forehead; the referee didn’t see the illegal impact, and awarded a TKO victory to Soszynski due to cuts. Furious at taking his third-straight loss in such an unjust manner, Bonnar filed a formal appeal with the Combat Sports Authority of New South Wales. Unfortunately, it fell on deaf ears, but the UFC hooked Bonnar up (as they often do) by giving him an immediate rematch with K-Sos on the blockbuster “Lesnar vs. Carwin” card.
What happened: Bonnar/Soszynski 2 turned out to be a meat-and-potatoes brawl reminiscent of Bonnar’s first war with Forrest Griffin. The American Psycho and the Polish Experiment both appeared to gas out by the middle of the second round, but Bonnar was able to keep throwing and landing until he overwhelmed K-Sos with strikes at the 3:08 mark. The fight netted both men $75,000 Fight of the Night bonuses, and produced one of the greatest victory poses in UFC history.

5. FRANKIE EDGAR vs. BJ PENN
UFC 118, 8/28/10

(Dude. Yikes. Photos courtesy of UFC.com)

Ladies and gentlemen, we’ve just received word that Cody "The French Revolution" McKenzie has agreed to take on Yves Edwards at UFC Fight for the Troops 2 on January 22nd, after Edwards’s original opponent was drafted for the main event. (It should be noted that Edwards has never lost by guillotine choke in 56 career fights.) McKenzie’s big return made us wonder — what does the future hold for the other winners of last Saturday’s UFC event? Well gather around, kids, and we’ll tell you what should happen…

Jonathan Brookins: You know how this works. In his first post-TUF outing, Brookins needs to be built up against a relatively established vet who happens to be vulnerable against his skill-set. So, who’s a chokable, lateral-droppable lightweight who you’ve heard of, but who doesn’t have the kind of striking skills that will make Brookins look foolish? Huh. That actually doesn’t leave a lot of options among the UFC’s current roster.

This is going to sound random as hell, but I think the UFC needs to bring back Matt Veach. Though the H.I.T. Squad fighter was released by the UFC earlier this year after consecutive losses to Frankie Edgar and Paul Kelly (both by submission), he’s gone on to win three straight in smaller promotions; he was also undefeated before he came to the UFC, scoring stoppages in nine out of ten fights. I think we all want to see Brookins developed slowly in winnable matchups; still, Veach is far from a pushover.

(Props: MMA Weekly)

Can’t exactly blame Stephan Bonnar for showing up at the postfight press conference of the “TUF 12” finale this weekend looking like the cat that ate the balding, 6-foot-tall Croatian canary. Something tells me Bonnar isn’t great with secrets, but leading up to his co-main event bout with Igor Pokrajac he did a pretty good job keeping a lid on the fact he wasn’t going to go out there and fight like the same, old swing-for-the-fences “American Psycho” we’ve all come to know, love and worry about. Nope, Bonnar looked every bit the smart and savvy vet in there on Saturday and the result was a unanimous decision win. Weird, huh?

“Everyone expected me to brawl,” says a half proud, half sheepish Bonnar in the above vid. “I knew what I was going to do, but I kind of let on that I was going to brawl. I feel sneaky, I feel surreptitious. It feels good, though. I felt a little guilty out there for not going toe-to-toe but hey, I got the win.”

Indeed. Also, someone should tell Bonnar that it’s not “sneaky” to analyze your opponent’s strengths and weaknesses in order to devise a strategy you think gives you the best chance to win. That’s just called, you know, professional fighting.

(Above: "Remember, remember, the fourth of December, the Gunpowder Treason and plot. I know of no reason why the Gunpowder Treason should ever be forgot, brah." 
Below: You know what to do, honey. / Photos courtesy of UFC.com)

Welcome, fight fans, to the first leg of a liveblog double-header on CagePotato.com. The TUF 12 Finale gets rolling on Spike at 9 p.m. ET, with Team GSP lightweight finalists Jonathan Brookins and Michael Johnson battling for the highly coveted glassware, Stephan Bonnar trying to build a winning streak against Igor Pokrajac, and Demian Maia tangling with rangy TUF 3 winner Kendall Grove. Plus, five other TUF 12 vets will do their best to hang on to their UFC contracts, including Nam Phan, who clashes with hardy slugger Leonard Garcia in the UFC’s first-ever televised 145-pound feature. (Yes, the UFC has featherweights now!)

Round-by-round results await you after the jump; refresh the page every few minutes to get all the latest. Please toss in your two cents in the comments section, and don’t forget to check in at our viewing party at PlayPhilo.com for a chance to win a UFC: Ultimate 100 Greatest Fights DVD set. 

(See, Forrest? You used to *love* microphones… / Photo courtesy of milwaukeemma.com)

When we hosted Stephan Bonnar on the latest edition of our Bum Rush Radio Show, we ran through the standard set of questions about his training for tomorrow night’s fight against Igor Pokrajac, his opinions on TUF 12, and his future as a broadcaster. But considering Bonnar’s long history with Forrest Griffin, we couldn’t resist asking for his take on the question that’s been plaguing us lately: "Why is Forrest such a dick to reporters?" Bonnar’s candid and insightful answer is after the jump. If you haven’t already, please give the new episode a listen, and subscribe on iTunes!

This week’s episode of The Bum Rush is a jam-packed one featuring a double dose of fighter interviews, a rundown of some of this week’s hot MMA news topics as well as pre-fight breakdowns of this weekend’s TUF 12 Finale and Strikeforce: Henderson vs. Babalu events.

Roy Nelson stops by the show to talk about where his contract status stands and what he hopes to accomplish in 2011, and as always, "Big Country" has plenty to say about these topics and more. The guys also catch up with Stephan Bonnar ahead of his TUF 12 main card bout with Igor Pokrajac to talk about training and his thoughts on everything from the MMA media to the UFC-WEC merger.

As per usual, you can listen to the entire episode in the player below, but for the best listening experience we suggest you subscribe to The Bum Rush on iTunes. Alternatively, for those of you staunchly opposed to supporting anything that puts money in Steve Jobs’ bank account, you can download the show HERE.