It says a lot about the video production skills of allelbows.com that they can make a gum-flappin’ heel-in-training like Muhammed "King Mo" Lawal seem like a sympathetic character. Previously, we’ve seen AE document Mo’s professional debut and his squash match against Mark Kerr, but now the moneyweight contender approaches the biggest fight of his career — his first top-ten opponent, and his first shot at a title belt. Experience and hype are on the side of the champion, Gegard Mousasi, who has run through his last 15 opponents, 13 by stoppage. And yet, there doesn’t seem to be an ounce of doubt in Mo’s mind. He compares the fight to a video game, and one he plans on beating. Fittingly, the clip ends with a sequence of footage from EA MMA, with Mo and Mousasi throwing down. But how will it play out in real life?

(Tim Stout vs. Brandon Melendez, 5/16/08.) 

As first reported by MMA Junkie, a fight between colorful MTV host/middleweight contender Jason "Mayhem" Miller and some guy named Tim Stout (12-8) has been added to the preliminary card of Strikeforce: Nashville on April 17th. Stout, who has primarily competed as a welterweight in various southern regional promotions, is a Tennessee native who trains with Team Oxendine in Johnson City. He last competed in February, scoring a unanimous decision over Phillip Wyman at a Bangkok Fight Night event in Georgia, and his most notable victory was a first-round TKO over TUF 5 vet Brandon Melendez in May 2008.

You may be asking yourself how the hell one of Strikeforce’s biggest stars finds himself fighting a virtually-unknown 170-pounder on the dark portion of a CBS card on less than two weeks’ notice. Good question. Here’s what happened…