(Video courtesy DailyMotion/TheReem.com)

Apparently the beginning of the video was shot in the parking lot of an open casting call for The Hills Have Eyes 4.

The production value of the latest edition of these series of mini-documentaries is stellar, as usual.

I never noticed them before, but check out the wicked stretch marks caused by Alistair’s growth spurt  (around the 6:20 mark).

As a bonus, we get to see Strikeforce commentator Mauro Ranallo doing his best Muhammad Ali impersonation with an impromptu freestyle rhyme counting the ways he loves Ubereem.

(The phrase "brick shit-house" comes to mind.)

As first reported by Sherdog, Strikeforce heavyweight champ Alistair Overeem has tested negative — that’s right, negative — for anabolic steroids and drugs of abuse, based on independent testing administered by the promotion, so you can stop making snide remarks every time you see him at GNC. It’s a vindication not just for Overeem’s reputation, but for the reputation of horse meat as a viable source of protein in an athlete’s diet. (If only this country wasn’t so closed-minded, you know? We’d all be eating horses, swelling up to 265, and beating the living crap out of people. I digress, but seriously, LIFT THE BAN.)

Said Scott Coker: “When the commission [in Missouri] said they’d only be random testing, I didn’t want there to be an ounce of doubt and have all these critics say, ‘Ah, Alistair didn’t get tested, Feijao didn’t get tested.’" Thus, every fighter was subject to in-house testing the night before Heavy Artillery. Antonio Silva, Joey Villasenor, Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza, Rafael “Feijao” Cavalcante and Antwain Britt also passed their drug tests; results are still pending for Brett Rogers, Andrei Arlovski, Roger Gracie, and Kevin Randleman. Let’s hope Kevin didn’t try the old "urine from a live animal or dead human" trick again.

(Both Coker and White received news of the ratings at exactly the same time)

According to a report by MMAJunkie.com Saturday night’s Strikeforce: Heavy Artillery event, that featured a main event title fight between champion Alistair Overeem and contender Brett Rogers broadcast on Showtime drew 40.43 percent fewer viewers than the Strikeforce: Miami show that was presented by the network in January. 

To put into perspective how bad the ratings for the show are, last weekend’s broadcast netted 308,000 Showtime subscribers, while the UFC’s Spike TV broadcasted counter-programming initiative, UFC’s Ultimate Fights, was seen by 894,000 viewers.

No matter how you slice it, things aren’t looking good for Strikeforce, especially if they eventually do reach out to CBS to plead their case to have another show broadcast on the cable network.

(Sorry, buddy — "chill dawg" is not in Alistair’s vocabulary. Photo courtesy of Sherdog.)

On May 17, 2010, the Potato Index becomes self-aware. Human decisions are removed from post-fight analysis. In a panic, CagePotato’s editors try to pull the plug. The Potato Index fights back. It launches its arbitrary numerical ranking system against the fighters of this weekend’s Strikeforce show. There are no survivors.

Alistair Overeem +265, pending result of drug test
The Demolition Man said he had nothing to prove in his fight against Brett Rogers, but he proved a hell of a lot: First, that he can compete in the U.S. against opponents who aren’t hand-picked victims. Second, that he’s absolutely one of the best heavyweights in the world. The way he tossed the Grim to the mat like a child and didn’t waver in his assault until the job was finished suggested that a fight between him and Fedor could actually be…competitive? Unfortunately, his criticism of Emelianenko’s management following the event has some validity. Just because the fight should happen doesn’t necessarily mean it will.

Brett Rogers -210
Apparently you need more than just heavy hands to hang with the division’s elite. Rogers offered nothing in this fight other than a large surface for punching; he never had a chance to enact any sort of gameplan, and his attempts to kick Overeem off of him and create an escape route were completely swallowed up. He’ll need a tune-up match against a lower-level prospect if Strikeforce hopes to restore some value to his name. Lavar Johnson sounds about right.

(Props: YouTube.com/ShoSports)

Another promo, another dilapidated warehouse to shoot it in. Brett Rogers is already used to this. And with his first stare-down with Alistair Overeem in the books, things have officially gotten real. Frank Shamrock gives the fighters props for not nervously pissing themselves during the shoot. There isn’t much you can really interpret from the clip; both fighters seem calm and thoroughly focused. Still, if this was a pectoral competition, it would be the Reem in a walk-off. 

After the jump: Overeem explains his 2.5-year absence from Strikeforce, discusses the legality of horse-meat in the United States — like, actual horse-meat, we’re not using that as a euphemism for steroids this time — and plugs his documentary.

(Props: Snakefinger)

Before we get started, we gotta ask: Have you made your MMA FightPicker selections yet? If so, please note that we had to change two of the "Worlds Collide: Mayorga vs. Thomas"-related questions today, as Travis Galbriath has pulled out of his match with Murilo "Ninja" Rua and has been replaced by UFC vet David Heath, and Nick Thompson has reportedly been replaced by Derrick Noble against Eduardo Pamplona. It’s a real mess, so please revisit your pools and make any necessary changes.

The betting sites are only taking action on six of the fights for this Saturday’s Strikeforce: Heavy Artillery show, so wager wisely. Here are the odds, courtesy of MMA Moneyline:

Alistair Overeem (-255) vs. Brett Rogers (+220)
Andrei Arlovski (-170) vs. Antonio "Bigfoot" Silva (+160)
Roger Gracie (-435) vs. Kevin Randleman (+325)
Ronaldo Souza (-480) vs. Joey Villasenor (+380)
Vitor Ribeiro (-130) vs. Lyle Beerbohm (+105)
Rafael "Feijao" Cavalcante (-195) vs. Antwain Britt (+165)

So how can you make some cash this weekend? Well…

(You wouldn’t like him when he’s angry. Photo courtesy of Fight!)

The UFC has been too busy dealing with their own shit to put much effort into screwing with Scott Coker lately [Ed. note: Remember when they were going to hold a rival fight card in Nashville? God, those were were the days.], but yes, there will be a counter-programming show on Spike this Saturday, which will compete with the Showtime broadcast of Strikeforce: Heavy Artillery. Titled "UFC’s Ultimate Fights," the two-and-a-half-hour compilation special kicks off at 10 p.m. ET/PT, and will feature some of Zuffa’s highlights from this year. On the docket…

Shane Carwin vs. Frank Mir, UFC 111: "The Engineer of Suffering" smashes Mir in round one, earning the Interim Heavyweight Championship and a Knockout of the Night bonus.

Leonard Garcia vs. “The Korean Zombie” Chan Sung Jung, Aldo vs. Faber: Greatest slugfest since Frye/Takayama. Inspired a best-selling t-shirt.

(Heavyweights and generic metal-riffs, baby. If this doesn’t get you amped up, then YOU’RE A PUSSY! YEAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!! Props: shosports)

Though he made a valiant effort in his FightPicker Head-to-Head debut — correctly predicting that Shogun would win by stoppage, Joe Doerksen would score an upset over Tom Lawlor, and Sam Stout would pick up another Fight of the Night bonus — Mike Russell’s excessive love of his Canadian countrymen (and Paul Daley for some reason) proved to be his undoing, as he was edged out by BG, 8-6. Not that getting eight out 13 pool-questions right is anything to brag about. (Aaron Rampey is LOL’ing at our sorry asses right now.) But hey, it was a tough card to predict, with some very surprising outcomes. Did any of you run the table and get every question right?

If you came out ahead this week, why not take your PotatoChip surplus and go extra-big for the current pools, which focus on Strikeforce: Heavy Artillery. Featuring the heavyweight championship fight between Alistair Overeem and Brett Rogers, the event goes down this Saturday at the Scottrade Center in St. Louis, and will be broadcast live on Showtime starting at 9 p.m. ET. We’ve also included a few questions related to Shine III: Worlds Collide, which is headlined by former boxing champ Ricardo Mayorga taking on Din Thomas. Check out the questions after the jump and pick well, my friends…

(Props: spicadocious)

There was a time, not too long ago, when Norifumi Yamamoto was considered to be far-and-away the world’s best fighter under 155 pounds. His star-making run in K-1′s MMA shows from 2004-2007 featured Kid savagely knocking out fighters like Caol Uno, Royler Gracie, Rani Yahya, and most famously, Kazuyuki Miyata in just 4 seconds. Yamamoto hasn’t been the same since he returned to competition last year following a knee injury layoff, and has dropped back-to-back decisions against Joe Warren and Masanori Kanehara. Still, we weren’t expecting this recent news from MMAFighting:

Japanese star Kid Yamamoto is expected to make his Strikeforce debut on May 15 against Federico Lopez. The fight is not officially signed, but sources say it is close. The fight would be contested at 135 pounds. As of right now, the fight isn’t expected to air on Showtime.

FYI, Federico Lopez is a 4-2 Team Quest product who has lost his last two matches. I only have one question: You kiddin’ me? While promoting Yamamoto in the U.S. has its share of challenges — Strikeforce’s lack of a bantamweight division, for one thing — Yamamoto is a true legend, and one of the biggest MMA stars that Japan has ever produced. Recent losses aside, Yamamoto would still have great value in the hands of the right promoter. At the very least, why wouldn’t you have him headline a "Challengers" event, instead of sticking him on the dark portion of "Heavy Artillery"? (I still wouldn’t trust Showtime to show his fight between/after main card bouts, UFC-style.) Will Strikeforce be able to convince casual fans why Kid Yamamoto matters? After the jump: The tentative lineup that Yamamoto may be getting lost in…

    
      
(Keep your eyes on the grand prize. Images courtesy of 62Gear.com)

After two weeks of furious photoshopping, we have nominated 15 artists as finalists for our Six Deuce MMA poster design contest. Please spend the rest of your afternoon considering the posters after the jump, then vote for your favorite in the poll over on the right. (It’s a little ways down the page, under the "Most Recent Comments" box and the UFC Fan Expo ad.) Get your votes in by Sunday night at midnight ET. We’ll announce the winners on Monday. Many thanks to everybody who entered, and please show Six Deuce some love for making this happen!

("Y’know, Alistair, I think I can get you a role in the next Iron Man flick. We can call you ‘Juice Man.’ Or ‘Needle Man.’ No offense." / Photo courtesy of allelbows.com.)

Strikeforce confirmed last night that the May 15th heavyweight battle between Strikeforce champion Alistair Overeem and mohawked contender Brett Rogers — originally thought to be a non-title fight — will now be for the belt. The decision was made "after much internal debate," and will bring Overeem back under the Strikeforce banner for the first time since he beat up Paul Buentello in November 2007. Since then, Overeem has gone 7-0 with 1 no contest against such notable cans as Tony Sylvester and James Thompson.

So let’s get this out of the way: Of course it’s ridiculous that Brett Rogers has effectively earned a title shot by getting smoked by Fedor Emelianenko. But he and Alistair were available in May, and Fedor wasn’t. And what would happen if Rogers beat Overeem in a non-title fight? Would they need to have an immediate rematch for the belt, while Fedor takes another meaningless exhibition? Would it be another 30 months before Alistair decided to grace Strikeforce with his presence? In the end, it just makes more sense if the champion defends his title against somebody. Anybody.