(Dana White runs down some current events with Ariel Helwani following the press conference. Props: MMAFighting)

The UFC hosted a press conference in Vancouver yesterday in advance of UFC 131, but the most interesting announcements had nothing to do with Saturday’s “Dos Santos vs. Carwin” event. Here’s a recap…

Five-round non-title fights: UFC president Dana White announced that the UFC will make non-title main event fights five rounds from now on; previously, only title fights were worthy of the five-round distinction. The rule doesn’t apply to non-title main events that are already booked — Dos Santos vs. Carwin, or Rashad Evans vs. Phil Davis at UFC 133, for example — but it will apply to every non-title main event signed in the future, even for UFC Fight Night and UFC Live events.

Flyweight division in the works: According to White, the UFC will be adding a 125-pound division “really soon,” possibly by the end of 2011. He expected that some of the UFC’s current bantamweights would make the drop.

Dana White announced this afternoon that British heel Michael Bisping and American goofball Jason “Mayhem” Miller will be the coaches on the next season of The Ultimate Fighter, which will start filming soon with a cast of featherweight and bantamweight contestants.

The selection of Miller comes as a surprise, as he was already slated to fight Aaron Simpson in July, a match that now appears to be off. On the other hand, his outsized personality coupled with Bisping’s thin-skinned volatility is sure to produce the kind of excitement and interaction between the coaches that was completely lacking on TUF 13. So, good move, UFC.

Bisping was formerly a coach on TUF 9, leading British fighters Ross Pearson and James Wilks to success in the lightweight and welterweight brackets, but was later the victim of a devastating knockout at the hands of rival coach Dan Henderson. Miller has hosted three seasons of MTV’s Bully Beatdown, leading pro fighters like Jake Shields, Andrei Arlovski, and Eddie Alvarez to satisfying thrashings of untrained douchebags.

(This story doesn’t have much to do with Anderson Silva, but holy crap, remember when that happened?)

Sorry gang, but it looks like those rumors about Chael Sonnen and Michael Bisping landing coaching spots for TUF 14 were too good to be true. Though the pairing would make for brilliant/insane reality television, Sonnen’s laundry list of personal problems will likely prohibit his participation. From a new MMAJunkie report:

UFC president Dana White today told MMAjunkie.com no decisions have been made about the head-coaching slots for the show, which debuts in September on Spike TV.

But White also said [Chael] Sonnen “has a ton of problems” to deal with, which makes a rumored “TUF 14″ coaching slot against Michael Bisping unlikely…

“I believe in Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Shit Talking”

We’re only one episode into TUF Season 13, and some are already disappointed by the kinder, gentler Brock Lesnar. Sure, we say we want the series to focus more on the fights and less on the drama, but a little tension always makes things more fun. Though it’s far too early to call this season a hit or a flop, the latest TUF rumors already have us eagerly anticipating next season.

According to reports from Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer, noted MMA heels Chael Sonnen and Michael Bisping are on deck to tackle coaching duties for season 14 and potentially redefine everything we thought we knew about coaching beef. The likelihood of this pairing hinges largely on the CSAC Ruling and the outcome of Chael’s legal woes.

(LargeMidget, Karmaatemycat, and Joe.)

Better late than never, right? Here’s the first installment of Jeff Watts‘s UFC 128/TUF 14 tryout saga. Thanks to everyone who helped make it possible, and stay tuned for more…

After waiting several weeks and training hard I left my humble abode with intentions to make the most out of an amazing experience. I remember driving to Milwaukee, WI, just thinking that no matter what happened, haters were going to hate and my real supporters were going to be there when the dust settled, and I was right. So I got a last minute flight to Newark, NJ, and arrived at my destination at 12am on Saturday, March 19th. I spent the remaining part of the night in the airport with other members of the gym. We checked into the hotel at 7am and spent the majority of Saturday morning sleeping.

Saturday March 19th
I woke up early afternoon and did what I had to do to get ready for the day. The Marriot in Newark had some really cool people working there; they gave the guys and I a quiet place to do some sparring and pad work. After working out I got a text message; I can’t remember who it came from but they essentially told me that LargeMidget had an extra ticket to UFC 128. I wasted no time getting his contact information and contacting him. He told me that he and his friend Joe were three hours out and had an extra ticket I could have, so I got some food in me and headed downtown.

Though Jeff “Karmaatemycat” Watts‘s TUF 14 tryout journey was cut short due to his record (more on that to come), the scrappy Potato Nation member does make a brief appearance at the 1:40-1:44 mark of the above video from MMAFighting.com. Had Watts been able to show off his skills for Dana & Co., he would have been doing so alongside such well-traveled 135/145-pound vets as Ian McCall, Bryan Caraway, Nick Denis, Matt Jaggers, Jose Vega, Paul McVeigh, and (as we see in this other highlight vid from KahL-One) Din Thomas. He would have also picked up $100 cash for every submission he pulled off. Oh well. Next time, bro…

By CagePotato contributor Jason Moles

Fans have been clamoring for the UFC to announce the coaches for The Ultimate Fighter 14 since the featherweight/bantamweight season was announced earlier this month. Many would argue that after Urijah Faber’s dominant performance over Eddie Wineland in his UFC debut, it’s a foregone conclusion that he will face off against arch-rival and current UFC bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz. Others have suggested recently that it would be a missed opportunity if Zuffa drafts anyone other than newly crowned UFC light-heavyweight champ Jon “Bones” Jones and “Suga” Rashad Evans. Those are both excellent choices, but that’s not what we really want to see, now is it?

The best matchup is one in which the built-in marketing would compel the most casual of fans to tune in to Spike on Wednesday nights. Ever since Jason ‘Mayhem’ Miller uttered the fateful words “Where’s my rematch, buddy?” to Cesar Gracie fighter Jake Shields on live television (as Gus Johnson so infamously reminded us), you can’t mention him and not automatically think of Nick Diaz. The Stockton native repping the 209 essentially jumped the Bully Beatdown host in what many consider the largest black mark on our sport. It didn’t stop there either.

Countless interviews and appearances over the past year have prompted the same question: “When are you two going to settle this in the cage and fight?” Add in a few YouTube videos on top of an epic custom t-shirt and you have yourself a nice little beef. Wait, there’s more! I would be remiss if I forgot to remind you of the time Diaz hurled a water bottle at Miller’s head backstage at a Strikeforce event. The aforementioned is all prelude that demands a culmination in the cage.

“In Mirko’s case, GTL means “Going to Lose”.

It may be too early to declare that a new era has begun, but last night proved that the old one is on life support. The Prudential Center is used to watching some pretty lopsided beatdowns, but even the hometown crowd seemed surprised at what they were watching. Unlike the Nets, fans actually expected Shogun to put up competitive effort.

Last night was business as usual for the newly crowned LHW champion, Jon Jones. Shogun, who landed only eleven strikes all night, was outclassed in literally every aspect of the fight. It’s no exaggeration to say that Jones made Shogun look like the 23 year old fighting a legend of Pride. For that matter, it’s barely an exaggeration to say that Jones made Shogun look like the untrained mugger he stopped in the park earlier that day. It’s tempting to prematurely declare the Jon Jones Era after last night. But let’s wait until he defends the belt first.