There are a lot worse things you could spend 42 minutes doing today, so you may as well listen to The Bum Rush. Hell, you could make any menial task a bit more enjoyable if you do it WHILE listening to the show.

On this short and sweet episode, Mike and Ben get right down to business breaking down UFC 133, recapping Strikeforce: Fedor vs. Henderson and giving their takes on the week’s hot button news stories.

(Fedor Emelianenko, immediately after his loss to Dan Henderson on Saturday night. Photo via Darren Shuster, PR Representative for Dragon Door/RKC)

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…

- Dan Henderson Gets Caught on National Television Spanking Dat Ass at a Cardinals Game (MMA Mania)

- Herb Dean Defends Controversial Stoppage in Fedor Emelianenko vs. Dan Henderson Fight (5thRound)

- After Release from Prison, War Machine Looking for Fresh Start (MMA Fighting)

- Leonard Garcia out of UFC Live 5 With Injury; Jim Hettes to Replace Against Alex Caceres (Five Ounces of Pain)

- UFC’s Rich Franklin Discusses Career, Life and Fans Asking for His Underwear (BleacherReport.com/MMA)

- Photo Gallery: Vitor Belfort Prepares for UFC 133 Bout With Yoshihiro Akiyama (LowKick)

- Video: 20 of the Most ‘WTF?’ Moments in UFC History (MiddleEasy)

- A Conquistador Story: Looking Back on Jorge Rivera vs. Travis Lutter (MMA Convert)

- Dan Henderson’s Win Over Fedor Builds Momentum for TRT Usage/Acceptance (FightOpinion)

- Ben Askren on Season Five of Bellator, Nate Marquardt and Fight With Hector Lombard (TheFightNerd)

- Following Burger King Deal, Anderson Silva Inks Sponsorships With Nike and Brazilian Soccer Club (MMAPayout)

- What’s Next for ‘Fedor vs. Henderson’ Winners and Losers? (NBC Sports MMA)

(Full gallery is after the jump.)

Following her upset submission win over Marloes Coenen at Strikeforce: Fedor vs. Henderson, it’s clear that Miesha Tate is the hottest thing going in women’s MMA. While the “Face of Women’s MMA” title doesn’t mean a whole lot to the new 135-pound Strikeforce champion, she’s now the sport’s de facto female star, in light of Gina Carano and Cristiane “Cris Cyborg” Santos‘s long absences from the cage. So how far can Miesha Tate’s growing stardom take her? And can she help sustain interest in women’s MMA in the face of an uncertain future? Those are very important questions to consider as you gawk at the photo gallery after the jump…

The Hendo Alarm Clock ($19.95): Guaranteed to wake you up from the deepest of sleeps. (Pic: Strikeforce.com)

Waking up this morning I had no idea of the war being waged in comment sections and MMA forums throughout the night. I should have expected it, really, given the inexplicable fervor with which fans both exalt and denounce Fedor Emelianenko. My two cents on the stoppage: Dan Henderson hit Fedor with several full-force, illegal punches to the back of the head. They were to the back of the head because Fedor’s face was buried in the canvas. They were full-force force because Fedor’s arms lied limply at his sides, gently tucked below his slightly-less-chubby-than-usual torso. We can argue about “The Last Emperor” recovering and rolling over as Henderson was waived off, but there’s no debating what led referee Herb Dean to step in. Watch it in slow motion, watch it a lot.

That’s all the time I’ll devote to the main event; both men’s legacies were built long before they entered Hoffman Estates, and what transpired last night did little to change that. The real story is what’s ahead for last night’s winners and losers, and where Strikeforce as an organization is headed.

(Props: YouTube.com/StocktonHeybuddy)

The wild opening and the dramatic finish. For a full rundown of last night’s Strikeforce: Fedor vs. Henderson, check out our liveblog.

(“Fedor, it’s an honor to fight you. And Scott, no matter what happens tonight, I’ll be violently sodomizing you later.” Photo courtesy of CombatLifestyle. For more photos from this album, click here.)

There might not be much on the line in the grand scheme of things, but make no mistake — Fedor Emelianenko vs. Dan Henderson is a superfight. It’s rare that two MMA fighters with so many combined accolades step into the same cage to do battle. Thanks for coming by tonight and watching it with us.

Also on the card: the 135-pound women’s title fight between Marloes Coenen and Miesha Tate, and a pack of heavy-hitting supporting players like Robbie Lawler, Tim Kennedy, Paul Daley, and Scott Smith.

Live round-by-round results from the Showtime broadcast of Strikeforce: Fedor vs. Henderson will be piling up after the jump beginning at 10 p.m. ET. Refresh the page for all the latest and let your thoughts be heard in the comments section, even if they’re relatively stupid thoughts like, “DAAAAYYUM HE GOT NOCKED THE FUGGOUT!!1!” Come on in…

It may be five years too late for the winner of tonight’s Fedor vs. Henderson bout to gain anything other than bragging rights, but that isn’t stopping us from being excited. Those of you who saw yesterday’s link dump already know that Fedor is only seven pounds lighter than he was when he fought Antonio Silva. Even though the scale doesn’t show it, Fedor looks more athletic than we’re accustomed to seeing him. Of course, if you’ve been paying attention you aren’t too surprised. Dan Henderson made weight as well, tipping the scales at 207 pounds.

To get an idea of how small Fedor is for a heavyweight, skip to about the two minute mark. Even though Fedor has the sixteen pound weight advantage, you wouldn’t know it by looking at him standing next to Hendo. Henderson, who pretty much came into this fight at light heavyweight, appears to be the same size as Fedor. And remember, Dan Henderson isn’t exactly the Anthony Johnson of the light heavyweight division.

Everyone else on tonight’s card made weight for their fights. Yes, this includes Paul Daley, who weighed in at 171 pounds for his fight against Tyron Woodley. Full results, courtesy of mmafighting.com, are after the jump.

Photographic proof that ReX tried to end Jason’s baby making days.

Strikeforce: Fedor vs. Henderson goes down tomorrow night at the Sears Centre just outside of Chicago.  To help get you in the proper spirit, Doug “ReX13” Richardson and Jason Moles have returned to eloquently debate some of the more important storylines surrounding this historic event. Will Fedor go 0 for 3?  If so, will the internets asplode?  Are we nearing the end of women’s MMA on the big stage? Who gives worse gambling advice, ReX or Jason? Do us a favor and slog through this painfully long column, then let us know your own thoughts in the comments section.

(Screen-cap via ProMMANow)

From a ShootMedia video profile on Miesha Tate (starting at the 4:44 mark):

“I’m gonna try to kill her. [laughs] I really am. I’m gonna try to get to the point where the referee is fearful of her life and stops the fight. That’s my goal.”

Miesha Tate leaves no room for ambiguity when discussing her title fight against 135-pound champ Marloes Coenen at Fedor vs. Henderson this Saturday. It’s a good thing that Dana White has zero interest in Strikeforce or its fighters, or else Tate might be getting chewed out right now, Frank Mir-style.

(H-Bomb vs. The Last Emperor — who ya got? Illustration courtesy of Maor Tzadoc at Lowkick)

By Anton Gurevich

This Saturday, Mixed Martial Arts fans around the world will hold their breath, as MMA legends Fedor Emelianenko and Dan Henderson go toe-to-toe inside the Strikeforce cage.

Fedor and Hendo share 12 Championship and Tournament titles between them. Both men fought for the now-defunct Japanese RINGS promotion, with Fedor winning the Openweight Championship, Absolute and Heavyweight Tournaments. Henderson won the 1999 Kings of Kings Tournament, by defeating the likes of Gilbert Yvel and Minotauro Nogueira en route to his triumph over Renato Sobral in the final.

Their journey continued in the mythological PRIDE Fighting Championship, where both men made their mark as some of the best Mixed Martial Artists on the planet. Emelianenko continued his reign of terror by winning 14 consecutive fights in PRIDE, which resulted in the prestigious World Heavyweight and 2004 PRIDE Heavyweight GP titles. Henderson won 13 fights in PRIDE, but lost five. Nevertheless, “All-American” managed to become the only fighter to hold titles in two different weight classes — the PRIDE Welterweight Title and PRIDE Middleweight Title.

After PRIDE went out of business, Fedor and Henderson went in different directions…

CONTINUE READING THIS ARTICLE ON LOWKICK.BLITZCORNER.COM…

(Smile advantage: Hendo.)

According to our homepage poll, 56% of you think Fedor Emelianenko will come away with a victory when he meets Dan Henderson in the headlining bout of Strikeforce: Fedor vs. Henderson on July 30th. Fair enough. But have you considered all the factors involved in the matchup — and I mean all of them, even the stupid ones? Check out our head-to-head rundown and let us know if we change your mind.

AGE
Fedor: 34 years old, 11 years in the sport
Henderson: 40 years old, 14 years in the sport
Advantage: Fedor

NUMBER OF TIMES THEY’VE BEEN KNOCKED OUT COLD
Fedor: 0 times in 35 fights
Henderson: 0 times in 35 fights
Advantage: Dead freakin’ even

LAST TWO FIGHTS RESULTED IN
Fedor: Humiliating losses to Fabricio Werdum and Antonio Silva
Henderson: Thunderous KO’s of Renato Sobral and Rafael Cavalcante
Advantage: Henderson

By Anton Gurevich

On July 30th, Fedor Emelianenko will step inside the Strikeforce cage for the 4th time in his career, this time facing fellow MMA legend and former PRIDE Champion Dan “Hendo” Henderson at the Sears Centre in Hoffman Estates, Illinois. The fight against Henderson will be a defining moment in Emelianenko’s illustrious MMA career, as he will look to bounce back from two consecutive defeats, against Fabricio Werdum via submission and Antonio Silva via TKO (doctor’s stoppage).

One of the men behind Fedor’s success as a Mixed Martial Artist is his eternal Sambo coach and mentor Vladimir Voronov, who has trained “The Last Emperor” since the age of twelve. Voronov holds numerous honors as a Sambo specialist and coach, including the prestigious “Honoured Coach of Russia”. We had an opportunity to speak to the Sambo legend about Fedor Emelianenko’s preparations for Dan Henderson, motivation, the state of Russian MMA and much more…

Everyone was surprised to see Fedor and Alexander Emelianenko training together recently. What kind of effect did it have on Fedor’s preparation?
Well, first of all, they are brothers. Alexander wanted to train and he joined us for this camp. I consider him to be the second best Russian fighter after Fedor. And that’s exactly why having him as a sparring partner was a very positive thing for Fedor.

Henderson recently stated that he thinks Fedor has problems with motivation. What can you say about Fedor’s motivation coming to this bout?
Right now, he’s very motivated. It’s hard to say what will happen during the fight, because it all depends on Fedor. As coaches, we have done and are doing everything in our power to help Fedor reaching the peak of his physical and psychological condition. Now, everything depends on Fedor

Continue reading this article on Lowkick.blitzcorner.com…

Continuing in its latest trend of breaking news before the media outlets can jump on the story, Zuffa announced last night that it had added a lightweight bout between Gesias ‘JZ’ Cavalcante and Lyle ‘Fancypants’ Beerbohm to its July 30 Fedor vs. Henderson card in Chicago.

Once thought to be one of the world’s best 155-pound fighters, Cavalcante’s stock has dipped the past few years thanks in part to a less than impressive 1-3 (2 NC) record in his past six fights. In his defense, each of those losses was a close-fought decision against top-tier opponents  Shinya Aoki, Tatsuya Kawajiri and Josh Thomson. A win over Beerbohm could put him back on track.

“Gone to weigh in with Fedor, BRB. -Danny” PicProps: CombatLifestyle.com

Ladies and gentlemen, it is now an appropriate time to start geeking out about the next Strikeforce card — you know the one. Fedor-Hendo goes down at the end of the month and every MMA diehard will be sitting on the edge of their seats to see two PRIDE legends finally come together. Will The Last Emperor regain his classic form? Will Henderson score a victory that would likely be the highlight of his career? Will Fedor’s hilariously bad website gain something new and terribly translated?

(Seriously; the website is worth a look. Engrish motherfucker, do you speak it? An excerpt: “2003 ?. After competitions with Sam Shilt (Holland) and Hiz Hiring (USA), Fedor had a wrestling with Antonio Rodrigo Nagiera; Fedor gained the champion title. Later he gained the upper hand over Kazyuki Fudgita (Japan) and Gary Gudridg (Canada).”)

When Scott Coker first announced the matchup, he said it would be a catchweight bout at 220 pounds — possibly a gambit to get Fedor moving down in weight. Henderson contradicted Coker, saying that according to his contract the fight was at heavyweight, all the way up to 265, so Fedor can go ahead and eat all the ice cream and pickled elk or whatever it is that those Ruskies eat up there in Antarctica.

When fans booed the first women’s MMA match promoted by Zuffa, most of us assumed we were witnessing the beginning of the end for women’s MMA under the Zuffa banner. Strikeforce allowing their women’s middleweight champion Chris “Cyborg” Santos to become a free agent seemed to confirm that. However, it seems that Strikeforce still intends to keep women’s MMA around for the time being. On Friday, Strikeforce announced that Olympic judoka Ronda Rousey will be making her promotional debut on the prelims of the July 30 Fedor vs. Henderson card against 4-1 Sarah D’Alelio.

At 24 years old, Rousey is a very interesting prospect. She became the first American woman to earn an Olympic medal in judo, winning a Bronze medal at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. She celebrated this by becoming a vegan. Seriously. She is currently 2-0 as a professional MMA fighter, with both fights ending in under a minute by armbar. For that matter, all of her amateur fights ended that way as well. To say the least, the odds are pretty good that her fight against Sarah D’Alelio won’t last too long.

Video of her June 17 fight against Charmaine Tweet after the jump.

(Video courtesy of YouTube/MMAHeat)

According to a report by MMAPrime.tv, Evangelista “Cyborg” Santos has pulled out of his upcoming bout with Paul Daley due to a shoulder injury, leaving Strikeforce scurrying to find a suitable replacement for the durable Brazilian for the July 30 Fedor vs. Henderson card in Chicago.

If we were the SF matchmaker (no offense, Sean Shelby), we’d already have a new opponent for “Semtex” before we hung up the phone with Cyborg’s camp when we got the call that he was pulling out of the bout.

“Tyron, get training. You got your shot. Daley July 30,” the text would read, to which a “smiley-face” reply would be sent back a few moments later.

Zuffa has yet to confirm the rumor that the Daley-Cyborg bout was for the welterweight title vacated by Nick Diaz’s unceremonious departure to the UFC, but since a Woodley-Daley fight was on the table before Cyborg was shuffled in from a planned bout with Tarec Saffiedene, why not give the undefeated American Top Team prospect his due. Strikeforce has been promising Woodley a shot for a while. Now is the time to deliver.

Do your worst, comments section: The most terrifyingly unnatural part of this photo is _____________.

Well that didn’t take long, did it? Before we can even finish analyzing the action from last night, Strikeforce has announced the addition of another fight on its July 30^th card, headlined by Fedor vs. Henderson. That fight, according to MMAWeekly.com will be a welterweight scrap between Paul “Semtex” Daley and Evangelista Santos. Santos, as you may remember, was initially scheduled to meet up with Tarec Saffiedine on this card. No word yet on whether Saffiedine withdrew from the card, or if Strikeforce decided to pull him in order to make this fight.

Come on Internet, where are all the awesome fan-made promos? VidProps: mleqs

Damn, we’re glad we didn’t make plans this summer, because we’re going to be typing our hands off over the next few weeks. After the warm up-act of the TUF 13 Finale, we enter one of those fun times when there’s always another show coming up to talk about: we’ll have some big MMA event every weekend. That’s good for you, since we’re less likely to try something new and different. Also good for us, because ideas are hard.

This Weekend

Friday, 10 June — MFC 30: Up Close and Personal The biggest MMA promotion in Canada returns for action, featuring Drew Fickett vs Brian Cobb, Marcus Davis vs Pete Spratt, Thomas Denny vs Sheldon Westcott, and the other Lima brother in welterweight action. Stay tuned for a full preview of the card.

Saturday, 11 June — UFC 131: Carwin vs Dos Santos. More like UFC 131: Snakebit, right? (Just kidding. But seriously.) Carwin vs Dos Santos; plus a pretty nice list of compelling names, but not a lot of intriguing matchups (Poirier vs who?) On the other hand, we couldn’t agree on many predictions while discussing this for the Bum Rush, so no telling how the card goes. Plus, Nick Ring vs James Head jokes will write themselves for a week, easy. Success!

(Well, it’s the thought that counts, I guess.)

Showtime has confirmed that Marloes Coenen will defend her women’s welterweight (135 pounds) title against top contender Miesha Tate on the main card of Strikeforce: Fedor vs. Henderson, July 30th in Hoffman Estates, Illinois. The two fighters were originally supposed to meet up at Strikeforce’s “Feijao vs. Henderson” event in March, but Tate withdrew due to a knee injury less than two weeks before the fight — an excuse that Coenen questioned during an interview on our own Bum Rush Radio Show. Coenen wound up defending her title against late-replacement Liz Carmouche, but it wasn’t easy.

(The official ‘Fedor vs. Henderson’ poster, via Strikeforce. Click for full-size version.)

By Anton Gurevich

MMA legends Fedor “The Last Emperor” Emelianenko and Dan “Hendo” Henderson will meet on July 30th at the Sears Centre in Hoffman Estates, Illinois. Emelianenko and Henderson share numerous MMA titles, and are widely considered two of the most influential fighters in the sport.

Currently 1-2 in his Strikeforce campaign, Fedor stands at the crossroads of his career, after suffering a devastating defeat against Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva earlier this year. The thirty-four year old Russian announced his retirement, but later changed his mind and declared that he would continue fighting. Here’s some of the most important quotes from the Russian media over the past weeks, with Fedor Emelianenko talking about what could be the biggest fight of his illustrious MMA career…

Continue reading this article on Lowkick.com