("Just out of curiosity, what’s up now, bitch?" Mousasi surveys the wreckage of the similarly-named Musashi in their K-1 match at Dynamite!! 2008.)

— Though he may still be making his U.S. debut for Affliction, Gegard Mousasi‘s next fight will be in Japan. FiveOuncesofPain reports that DREAM’s 2008 middleweight grand prix winner could return at DREAM 9 (May 23rd) to take on Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou; it would be Mousasi’s debut as a light-heavyweight, and his first MMA fight since last September. Sokoudjou currently carries a 5-4 record, and has dropped his last two matches to Luis Cane (at UFC 89) and Renato Sobral (at Affliction: Day of Reckoning). The African Assassin needs a break, but he probably won’t catch one here.

— A battle between two middleweight grapplers who flamed out of the UFC despite loads of talent has been booked as the main event of MFC 21 (May 13th; Edmonton, Alberta, Canada). MFC prez Mark Pavelich announced yesterday that Travis Lutter vs. Dean Lister would headline the show, which will also feature Marcus Aurelio, David Heath, John Alessio, and Solomon Hutcherson. Lutter hasn’t competed since his loss to Rich Franklin at UFC 83 last April, while Lister made his most recent appearance at UFC 92 in December, where he dropped a unanimous decision to Yushin Okami.

(Whaddaya say, Baby Face, feel like taking a pay cut and burning some bridges?)

According to FiveOuncesofPain, Affliction is looking at holding their third event on July 11, 2009.  If you’re thinking that this date sounds familiar for some reason, congratulations, you are an astute observer!  Yeah, July 11 is when UFC 100 is.  And it’s kind of a big deal to the UFC.  So why would Affliction guarantee that their event gets counter-programmed by scheduling it on the same night as one of the biggest UFC cards ever?  Possibly because they know they’re done and want to hurt the UFC however they can on the way out.

That’s what Sam Caplan thinks, anyway.  According to his report Affliction is offering “restructured” contracts to their fighters (read: asking them to fight cheap) in the hopes of lowering overhead costs and getting the event on network TV or basic cable.  They know that no pay-per-view distributor wants to go head to head with the UFC, but if they can offer their show up for free they figure it might hurt the UFC’s PPV buys just a little, and what the hell, Affliction isn’t looking to promote any events after this one anyway.

(Please just tell me there’s a dancing seminar by Gono.)

The UFC sent out an email today announcing their first ever UFC Fan Expo around UFC 100 in Las Vegas this summer.  It includes training demos, autotgraph sessions, and “keynote addresses,” possibly from Dana White and/or Lorenzo Fertitta (though details on anything are very sketchy at the moment).  Basically, a lot of fun stuff for UFC fans in the days leading up to what is supposed to be the biggest UFC event to date.  Sounds great.

The trouble is, you have to buy a ticket, and they aren’t cheap.  You can get a two-day pass for $50 if you buy in advance, or a one-day pass for $30.  This way the UFC gets you to pay for the fights, whether you watch them live or on pay-per-view, and also gets you to pay for some idle entertainment before the fights, like watching Matt Hughes demonstrate how he choked out Frank Trigg’s pompous ass, or listening to Dana White swear his way through a speech about professionalism and ethics in business. 

Okay, those things would both be worth paying for.

If you’re headed to Vegas for UFC 100 you should a) put aside some money to buy me a beer at the Hofbrauhaus, and b) keep an eye on this website for Expo information.  It doesn’t offer much help at the moment since they just announced it, but the last question on the Frequently Asked Questions list is worth a chuckle:

(‘Bones’ Jones: Nothing but awesome.)

Between his unstoppable takedowns and wildly unorthodox YouTube-influenced striking, Jon Jones has caught the attention of many UFC fans, who see him as one of the future stars of the light-heavyweight division. And after his one-sided mollywhopping of Stephan Bonnar at UFC 94 in January, he’ll be getting another big name to prove himself against. TheGarv has confirmed that Jones will compete next at UFC 100 (July 11th, Las Vegas) where he’ll take on former heavyweight Jake O’Brien. Known primarily as a wrestler, O’Brien most recently won a split-decision over Christian Wellisch during his light-heavyweight debut at UFC 94; before signing with the UFC, he racked up a 7-0 record with all wins by first-round T/KO, but he hasn’t won a fight by stoppage since August 2006. Jones would certainly seem to have an advantage in the standup, and if he can neutralize O’Brien’s wrestling — a very likely scenario — it’ll be Jones’s fight to win.

In other booking news…

(Mark Coleman — master of kino escalation. Photo courtesy of Combat Lifestyle.)

— An oddly appropriate light-heavyweight matchup may be in the works for UFC 100 (July 11th, Las Vegas). According to MMA Mania, bout agreements have been offered for Mark Coleman to face Stephan Bonnar at the milestone event. That’s right: The UFC’s first official heavyweight champion and early star of the SEG era will likely be taking on the man who helped take the UFC mainstream in the Zuffa era with his epic TUF 1 finale battle against Forrest Griffin.

Kind of an interesting way to pay tribute to the Octagon’s history. But for the fighters themselves, the matchup will be all business. Coleman most recently put in a shambling wreck of a performance against Mauricio Rua at UFC 93, eventually losing by TKO in the third round, while Stephan Bonnar was out-hustled by Jon Jones at UFC 94, losing by unanimous decision. Both men need a win here to remain relevant. UFC 100 will also reportedly feature fights between Frank Mir and Brock Lesnar (for the unified heavyweight title), Georges St. Pierre and Thiago Alves (for the welterweight title), and Michael Bisping and Dan Henderson (for the right to get their ass kicked by Anderson Silva at some point in the future).

— TUF 8 lightweight winner Efrain Escudero has fallen prey to the Amir Sadollah curse. Due to a rib injury suffered in training, he has been forced to pull out of his first post-TUF fight, which was scheduled to be against Jeremy Stephens at UFC Fight Night 18 (April 1st, Nashville). Taking Escudero’s place will be Gleison Tibau, the American Top Team fighter who snapped a two-fight losing streak at last month’s UFC Fight Night 17 card with his first-round submission of Rich Clementi. Unfortunately for Stephens, his bout may now be relegated to the undercard in favor of the Tyson Griffin/Rafael Dos Anjos match.

(Quit faking it, girl.  We all know books aren’t funny.)

Some big changes in Yoshihiro Akiyama’s life lately.  First he signs with the UFC and holds press conferences in both Japan and Korea to trumpet the move, but he also just got married to Japanese supermodel Shiho Yano, commonly known in her home country simply as “Shiho” or “Charismatic Shiho.”  

According to the Korea Times, Shiho said of the union, “I’m comfortable to be with Akiyama.  I’m grateful I met him.”  Awwww.  Isn’t that…sort of nice.

Akiyama, who is rumored to be making his Octagon debut at UFC 100 this summer, possibly against Dream fighter-slayer Alan Belcher, joins a long and storied list of famous pro athletes who marry supermodels.  Naturally, upon hearing the news, we rushed right out onto the information superhighway to find arousing photos of Akiyama’s new wife.  The results were somewhat disappointing.  Apparently in Japan they don’t require their models to strip down the way we do, which is their loss.  Someone should tell them that chicks who want to get rich and famous off their looks will do almost anything. 

According to a new report on Sherdog, BJ Penn won’t be available for a lightweight title defense against Kenny Florian until late July or August, because he wants to spend time with his new daughter. Though Dana White — and BJ Penn’s facebook page — previously stated that the Penn/Florian tilt was a possibility to headline UFC 99 (June 13th; Cologne, Germany), it’s looking like the match could headline the as-of-yet unannounced UFC 101 or 102 cards.

If Penn does agree to a fight in late July, it will have been 14 months since the last time the UFC’s lightweight title was up for grabs — and eight months since Kenny Florian last stepped into the Octagon. It’s a long layoff, but whaddya gonna do:

It’s a bummer, but waiting for your title shot is still a better option than taking a placeholder bout just to stay busy, and running the risk of getting Paulo Thiago‘d.

Semi-Related: Even if Penn is ready to fight by early July, the lineup for the UFC’s monumental 100th (-ish) event (July 11th, Las Vegas) might already be too crowded. In addition to the GSP/Alves and Henderson/Bisping fights, the rumor of a Randy Couture vs. Fedor Emelianenko one-off match has reared its head again, thanks to UFC-approved journalist Kevin Iole.

(Props: Free Fight Videos)

Fedor Emelianenko won the Russian Combat Sambo Championships this weekend.  Again.  All his fights in this tournament combined took less than a minute, including the one-sided finale above.  I know the Russians get a big kick out of seeing Fedor dominate this stuff, but I don’t see how.  Sure, he lost recently in the World Championships, on points, but still.  It’s like watching Kobe Bryant play in a tournament at your local YMCA.  Yeah, it might be cool to see him dunk on some dentist who played point guard in high school twenty years ago, but that novelty wears off quickly, especially if Kobe keeps showing up every year. 

In other Fedor news, Josh Gross says the fight with Josh Barnett could go down in July.  Kevin Iole is doing some public speculating about the UFC trying to lure Fedor to compete at UFC 100, which would also be in July.  If you had to lay odds, a fight with Barnett in Affliction seems like the safer bet, assuming Affliction is still in the fight business by then.

After the jump, War Machine gives an uncomfortable interview to RawVegas.tv in which he lays out his plan to commit suicide at a date to be determined in the future and also describes thinking before he acts as “hard.”  Indeed.  

(Looks like Thiago wants to make this one personal right away.)

While discussing the Quebec Athletic Commission’s new opposition to mixed martial arts (and potential blocking of UFC 97) on a Montreal sports-radio show, Dana White announced that the first building block seems to be in place for the UFC’s historic 100th pay-per-view event, which will go down this July in Las Vegas:

Though Thiago Alves wasn’t mentioned by name, it seems likely that the welterweight division’s #1 contender will not compete until he meets St. Pierre for the 170-pound strap. Adds FiveOuncesofPain:

Speaking of Quebec, Dana White will be meeting this week with the Régie des Alcools, des Courses et des Jeux — which governs alcohol, racing, gambling and combat sports in Quebec — to discuss what rules the UFC would have to follow to hold their scheduled April 19th event at Montreal’s Bell Centre. Let’s hope Dana’s patented F-bomb-laced bullying convinces the board to have a complete change of heart, or else it’s no UFC for you, Montreal.

Dear Dana White, Lorenzo Fertitta, and Joe Silva:

It has come to our attention that UFC 100 will be held July 11th at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas. We, the undersigned, implore you to book a superfight between welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre and middleweight champion Anderson Silva as the main event. 

St. Pierre and Silva are both proud, humble champions who have proven their dominance in their individual weight classes. What better way to commemorate the evolution of the sport during the UFC’s historic 100th pay-per-view event than a bout between two of the most complete fighters that mixed martial arts has ever seen? St. Pierre vs. Silva would determine not only the best fighter in the UFC, but arguably the best fighter in the world as well. Would St. Pierre be able to control the middleweight champ with his takedowns and explosive athleticism, or would Silva’s laser-guided striking win the day? As UFC commentator Joe Rogan might say, how the fuck could you know?

Of course, a superfight between St. Pierre and Silva would be a huge economic boon to whatever city is fortunate enough to host it. According to an economic impact study pulled directly out of our own asses, UFC 100: St. Pierre vs. Silva would generate $187.3 million in tax and tourist revenue for Las Vegas, or $531.9 million for Montreal — most of it delivered via fierce “rain-making” sessions in Montreal’s many fine nude cabarets.

In closing, we urge you to arrange this historic match for UFC 100. Please don’t allow fight-booking to be dictated by sensible weight-class-based champion vs. challenger matchups, rather than what would make fans lose their shit the hardest.

Respectfully,

Fans and Supporters of Things That Kick So Much Fucking Ass

Show your support for our proposal in the comments section, and if you haven’t yet signed our real petition to get the MMA ban lifted in New York, please click here.