(Covering up that neck tattoo before going to court would have been a good idea.)

If you’ve been missing War Machine’s acclaimed Big House Blogs, you’re probably the only group that is going to be happy about this news.

According to the fighter formerly known as Jon Koppenhaver, he has been sentenced to another year in jail in Las Vegas for an old charge, forcing him to withdraw from Bellator’s season six welterweight tournament that gets underway in March. He indicated on Twitter that he will begin serving his sentence in two weeks and that, as per usual, he isn’t happy with the system.

Announcement comes at roughly the 6:25 mark. Props: MMAFighting.com

We can end the speculation. After last night’s UFC 140, Dana White announced that flyweight MMA will debut in the UFC on March 3, 2012. The event is going to be broadcast on FX and take place in the land where people ride around in their kangaroos all day, Australia. Details, such as a specific venue and fights possible for the card, have yet to be officially released, though we’re willing to bet it’ll be at Sydney’s Acer Arena (just a wild guess).

The UFC is unveiling their newest roster editions with a bang. A four man flyweight tournament is set to begin on March 3, presumably in order to crown the inaugural flyweight champion, and will feature Ian McCall vs. Demetrious Johnson and Joseph Benavidez vs. Yasuhiro Urushitani. Demetrious Johnson and Joseph Benavidez should both be fresh in your mind, as they have had successful runs in the UFC at bantamweight yet are better suited for flyweight competition. As for McCall and Urushitani, we’ve got them profiled after the jump.

(“OK Shane, now make vacant, dead-eyed love to the camera … beautiful …” Pic: DwightMcCann.com)

Remember the clamor of self-righteous public outcry that sprang up a couple weeks ago – mostly from the vigilant moral watchdogs who write for this website – when it seemed like Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker was already angling to get Fedor Emelianenko back in his company’s heavyweight tournament mere moments after his loss to Antonito “Bigfoot” Silva via aura-shattering doctor stoppage? What about all those so-called alternate bouts, we shrieked, voices cracking. What about 10-1 Chad Griggs and poor, overlooked Valentijn Overeem? What about Shane del Rosario, who we thought clearly put himself in the pole position with his slick submission on Lavar Johnson during the closing minute of the first round? We were fucking outraged. Oh, the hypocrisy!

Yeah, as it turns out, del Rosario told Sherdog this week he’s actually not that worried about it. Like, at all. Quotes after the jump.

(Rebney’s thinning patience with Coker showed in this recent Twitter posting.)

By CagePotato contributor S.C. Michaelson

CHICAGO — With the recent announcement from Strikeforce that it will put on a 2011 heavyweight grand prix tournament, the MMA community has been abuzz with excitement and intrigue. Many analysts predict that a successful tournament could be the catalyst to Strikeforce becoming more of a major player in today’s market. However, not everyone is as excited about the prospect of the proposed tournament — enter Bellator CEO Bjorn Rebney.

"Tournament schmurnament," spat Rebney. "Hello, does anybody remember what Bellator is? Our whole company is based around tournaments. Hell, we just had a heavyweight tournament last year!"

(Photo courtesy United Glory/MixFight.nl)

United Glory held an MMA and kickboxing hybrid tournament event in Holland over the weekend and by the video and photos we’ve seen of the show, it was very good and the production value was better than some mainstream promotions pull off.

The event was streamed free of charge via United Glory’s website and even the quality of the video feed was incredible.

The next event, which will include the second round bouts of UG’s $120,000 welterweight MMA and heavyweight kickboxing tournaments will be held January 30 in Belgium and will also be streamed live.

Here’s a video recap of the event, which was promoted and produced by the owners of Golden Glory:

(Video courtesy YouTube/United Glory)

The MMA portion of the card was sanctioned by Europe’s Shooto commission and featured a number of notable fighters including UFC veterans Roan Carneiro, John Alessio, David Bielkeden and Derrick Noble as well as Shooto champion Siyar Bahadurzada.

On the kickboxing side, the show featured K-1 standouts Gokhan Saki, Mourad Bouzidi and Brice Guidon.

If you missed the show, videos of all of the fights are after the jump.

(The "1" represents the % chance that the event will actually go down)

Well, we can’t say we didn’t see this one coming.

SHINE Fight Promotions’ planned Friday night lightweight tournament is looking less and less likely to happen by the day.

Forget the fact that the event was moved less than two weeks out from its original location of the Patriot Center in Fairfax, Virginia to a Native-owned and operated casino on a reservation in Oklahoma, what is likely to cause the show’s kibosh is the fact that there is no commission to oversee the event, which means it is essentially non-sanctioned or underground event.

(Maybe they should change their name to "Unlikely Fights.")

I’m not sure why Shine Fights keep trying to put together these long shot cards after their last event got scrapped, but the promoters are apparently a stubborn lot as they are planning a one-night lightweight tournament for September 10 at the Patriot Center in Fairfax, Virginia.

According to a report from fiveouncesofpain, the winner of the tournament, which will feature a cast of notable fighters including Guillaume DeLorenzi, Marcus Aurelio, Drew Fickett, Richard Crunkilton, Carlo Prater and Charles "Krazy Horse" "Kid Kaos" Bennett, will take home a $50,000 purse.

(Main-eventers Ronnie Mann and Hatsu Hioki. Image courtesy of allelbows.)

Attention insomniacs and members of the undead: HDNet is hooking you up tonight with a live broadcast of "Sengoku Eighth Battle," which kicks off at 3 a.m. ET/midnight PT. Though the card lacks big names, it will feature the quarterfinals of their ongoing featherweight grand prix — and if the fights are as entertaining as the FWGP’s first round, we’ll be in for a treat, so DVR this bitch at the very least. Here’s what the matchups will look like…

FEATHERWEIGHT GRAND PRIX BOUTS
Hatsu Hioki vs. Ronnie Mann
Michihiro Omigawa vs. Nam Phan
Masanori Kanehara vs. Chan Sung Jung
Marlon Sandro vs. Nick Denis

(Wilson Reis vs. Henry Martinez)

If you’re one of the proud, multi-lingual subscribers of ESPN Deportes, this is old news to you, but the second weekly installment of the Bellator Fighting Championships went down Friday night (and was broadcast on Saturday), with former EliteXC 140-pound champ Wilson Reis extending his record to 7-0 with a decision win over Henry Martinez, and IFL/Ring of Combat vet Lyman Good scoring his eighth consecutive win after choking out Hector Urbina. Also on the card was Jorge Ortiz (aka "The Naked Man"), who scored a decision win over Aaron Romero. You can watch the entire broadcast (in English!) starting this Wednesday on Bellator.com. Full results are below…

TOURNAMENT BOUTS
Wilson Reis def. Henry Martinez via unanimous decision (bantamweights)
Eric Reynolds def. Thomas Schulte via TKO, 4:18 of round 1 (lightweights)
Lyman Good def. Hector Urbina via submission (rear-naked choke), 3:22 of round 2 (welterweights)
Omar de la Cruz def. Victor Meza via unanimous decision (welterweights)
Jorge Ortiz def. Aaron Romero via unanimous decision (welterweights)

NON-TOURNAMENT BOUTS
Jesse Juarez def. Mikey Gomez via TKO, 4:23 of round one (welterweights)
Matt Makowksi def. Aaron Tregear via unanimous decision (lightweights)
Jimmie Rivera def. Willie Gates via submission (triangle choke), 3:17 of round 3 (bantamweights)
Josh Laberge def. Chris Simmons via unanimous decision (lightweights)

Bellator’s staggered four-weight-class tournament system may seem confusing at first, but basically here’s what’s going to happen…

("I used to be an AFC like Shinya. Now that I’ve learned the Mystery Method, I pull more tail than Hayato.")

DREAM’s 2009 welterweight grand prix kicks off April 5th at DREAM 8, and four of the tournament matchups have just been announced, along with a few features in other weight classes. The event will be headlined by a rematch between Shinya Aoki and Hayato "Mach" Sakurai; Sakurai previously won a decision over Aoki at a Shooto event in August ’05. Check out the current lineup below, and keep in mind that the opening round kicks off ten days from now, and only half the field is assembled. Not that this is the first time that DREAM hasn’t had all their GP participants locked down before the opening round, but this is really pushing it…

I don’t see how the winner of Aoki/Sakurai doesn’t just pwn the fuck out of this field, which is easily the weakest of any DREAM GP to date. Shirai and Ikemoto are local jobbers, and UFC/WEC-castoff John Alessio is only slightly better. High just got owned by Jay Hieron at Affliction: Day of Reckoning; too bad the Thoroughbred isn’t available for this tournament. And while Andre Galvao is a stud when it comes to jiu-jitsu, he’s underexperienced in MMA. There’d better be some big names attached to those last four spots, or the tourney could be a gigantic bust.

And the other bouts on the card aren’t much better. The Kharitonov/Monson clash could be entertaining, but of the six men in the other non-GP bouts, only Minowaman and Ninja have winning records. Seriously. DREAM is hoping for a big ratings resurgence when they return to a decent time-slot, but it’ll be hard to get fans interested — especially in the U.S., where once again, HDNet is airing the event days later on tape-delay.

(Hey, if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em. Photo courtesy of Sherdog.)

FEG has finalized the lineup for this Sunday’s DREAM 7 in Saitama, Japan, which will feature the opening round of their featherweight grand prix. Even though the card contains such big names as Shinya Aoki (in a welterweight tune-up match), Tatsuya Kawajiri, and Mitsuhiro Ishida, the show’s main event will be the tournament’s most anticipated first-round bout, between #5-ranked featherweight Masakazu Imanari and Krazy Bee standout Atsushi Yamamoto. Here’s how the fights will go down: 

9. FW GP: Masakazu Imanari vs. Atsushi Yamamoto
8. FW GP: Hiroyuki Takaya vs. Kim Jong Won
7. FW GP: Yoshiro Maeda vs. Micah Miller
6. Lightweights: Tatsuya Kawajiri vs. Ross Ebanez 
5. Welterweights: Shinya Aoki vs. David Gardner
4. Lightweights: Mitsuhiro Ishida vs. Daisuke Nakamura
3. FW GP: Akiyo Nishiura vs. Abel Cullum
2. FW GP: Chase Beebe vs. Joe Warren
1. FW GP: Takafumi Otsuka vs. Bibiano Fernandes

You might have noticed that DREAM 7 will only produce six quarterfinalists for the featherweight GP. The other two will be Norifumi "Kid" Yamamoto, who’s getting a bye to the second round, and the winner of the Daiki Hata/Hideo Tokoro match at DREAM 8 (April 5th, Nagoya, Japan). Unfortunately, Sunday’s event won’t be broadcast on HDNet until next Saturday, but we’ll post the best fights on Sunday and Monday, so stay tuned.

(Sometimes you have only one friend, and he’s somewhere at the bottom of that next mug of beer.)

In a recent interview with Sportsnavi (via Suki) Takanori Gomi talks about his fall from the top of the lightweight division and his loss to Satoru Kitaoka (video here, and it doesn’t take long) in the Sengoku lightweight Grand Prix.  Give him credit for owning up to his poor performance, as Gomi more or less says that he has sucked lately and doesn’t seem entirely hopeful that things will get better.

As you saw, I couldn’t do anything. I suppose fans who knew me since PRIDE considered that I looked like a totally different person. I don’t even know why. I didn’t feel any energy in the ring. After the fight, I felt like I was free. I thought I fulfilled my duty.
- Do you mean that you resigned from a representer of the top lightweight fighter?
I suppose so. I hadn’t proven myself in the last few fights. I was training, yet everything was fall in apart. I couldn’t put together because my training wasn’t enough. My skills went down in the last 2 years. I experienced a lot in the last 2 years. I quit Kiguchi dojo without thinking well, and started my gym. I felt responsibility to take care of my students, and I was passive about my fight. I was just waiting and see who I fought with.
- The title of the tournament was “road to Gomi”
I have no excuse about my performance and my loss. Kitaoka was entirely better than me. I I hope he becomes a great champion and defends his title.

(‘I am experiencing now very much happiness!’)

The official Dream website announced the addition of two new bouts to Dream.7 on March 8, and one of them features Shinya Aoki taking on American fighter David Gardner.  What’s that, you say?  You’ve never heard of Gardner, who is 16-10 in his career and 2-2 in his last four fights?  Well don’t worry, because you’re not alone.

Apparently Aoki wanted a little tune-up before participating in April’s welterweight tournament, or maybe he was just worried that his tights would get mildewed if he left them in the closet too long between fights.  In any event, Aoki will get his chance to rack up another quick submission victory unless Gardner pulls off the crazy upset.  And if he does, what becomes of Aoki’s cherished WAMMA lightweight title?  Probably nothing, since the fight will reportedly take place at 163 pounds, and also because Aoki will almost certainly win unless he is struck down by the hand of God, which would be a new one for the Sherdog Fight Finder.

Oh yeah, also announced was Mitsuhiro Ishida taking on Daisuke Nakamura in a lightweight bout.  So there’s that, too.  The whole thing, including the scheduled featherweight tournament, is set to air on HDNet.

(You call that a fighter’s fist pose, Sakurai? Show me some goddamned intensity! Photo courtesy of DreamOfficial.com via Suki MMA.)

Fighting and Entertainment Group (FEG) — the parent company of Japanese MMA promotion DREAM — announced today that their upcoming welterweight grand prix will feature #9 pound-for-pounder Shinya Aoki, moving back up in weight class from last year’s lightweight GP, in which he was a finalist. Perennial welterweight threat/amateur porn star Hayato "Mach" Sakurai will also participate in the 168-pound tournament (which kicks off April 5th in Nagoya, Japan), and freak show mainstay Ikuhisa Minowa will be on the card in a non-GP match. No other fighters have been named for the grand prix, though the winner of the DEEP 40 bout between Hidetaka Monma and Seichi Ikemoto is expected to join the field.

No word yet if Aoki and Sakurai will have to face each other in the first round of the grand prix, but the two fighters previously met at a Shooto event in August 2005, where the far-more-experienced (at the time) Sakurai defeated Aoki by unanimous decision. Aoki went on to win Shooto’s middleweight (168 pounds) championship the next year — which he still technically holds — before dropping to lightweight in 2007. Both men have won their last two fights, with Sakurai winning a decision against Kuniyoshi Hironaka at DREAM 6 last September and scoring a TKO over Katsuyori Shibata at Dynamite!! 2008 on New Year’s Eve, and Aoki earning quick submission victories over Todd Moore and Eddie Alvarez at the same events.

Some classic MMA goodness from the ’90s: First off is Andrei Arlovski’s unsuccessful pro MMA debut against Viacheslav Datsik (above), which went down in St. Petersburg, Russia, at the M-1 MFC World Championship on 4/9/1999; props to MMA Fight Girls for digging up the video. Fight starts at the 2:11 mark, and the Pitbull gets put to sleep about six minutes later. Arlovski would return to the cage a year later at the M-1 MFC European Championship, where he smoked Michael Tielrooy and Roman Zentsoz in a four-man bracket and caught the attention of the UFC.

Below is an absolutely insane video of Absolute Fighting Championship 1, a one-day, 32-man vale tudo tournament — yes, 32-man tournament — that took place in Moscow on 9/25/1995. Enormous future PRIDE fighter Ricardo “The Mutant” Morais made his MMA debut that day, stopping four opponents via strikes (all in less than two minutes apiece), before choking out Mikhail Illoukhine in the final. I guarantee it’ll be the most hardcore thing you see all week.

Strikeforce is putting on a way-killer show tonight at San Jose’s HP Pavillion, with a 13-fight card that features kickboxing star Cung Le, PRIDE vet Alistair Overeem, light heavyweight champ Bobby Southworth, and a four-man middleweight tournament that will determine the next contender to challenge Frank Shamrock for his title. The event kicks off at 6 p.m. PT, and will be available to all Internet users located beyond a 150 mile radius of San Jose, via a stream on Yahoo! Sports. Though the fighters in the 185-pound tournament were announced a month ago, the exact brackets were determined by a lottery held yesterday. They are:

Trevor Prangley (185) vs. Falaniko Vitale (185)
Yuki Sasaki (183.3) vs. Jorge Santiago (184)

As for the rest of the evening’s action…

Today, RioHeroes will broadcast its super-lightweight championship tournament live on its website. The eight-man event will kick off at 7 p.m. ET / 4 p.m. PT, and will follow Brazilian vale tudo rules — meaning there’s no gloves, no rounds, no time limits, and all techniques are legal except eye-gouging, hair pulling, biting, and groin strikes. Single-night tournaments are brutal enough with gloves, so this one should be utterly insane.

RioHeroes LIVE MMA Fights – Watch more free videos

In other online fighting news, Bodog Fight: The Vault premieres today on Bodog TV. Every Tuesday and Saturday, the website will broadcast never-before-seen matches from Bodog Fight-sponsored organizations like SportFight, StrikeForce, XFC, and other leagues where the fighters are so pussy that they have to wear hand protection.