(Props: MMAFighting.com)

Giving more weight to our theory that Chael Sonnen legitimately suffers from multiple personality disorder, the UFC’s #1 middleweight contender did an interview with Ariel Helwani yesterday in which he denied saying that Lance Armstrong gave himself cancer by taking steroids. Keep in mind that Sonnen made those incendiary comments on a publicly-broadcast radio interview that you can still listen to any time you feel like it. Here’s the exchange with Helwani, which begins at the 4:19 mark: 

AH: A lot of people took offense to what you said about Lance Armstrong recently, to Larry Pepe. Can you elaborate on that?

CS: I never did an interview with Larry Pepe.

AH: The Lance Armstrong stuff, you never said.

CS: I never spoke of Lance Armstrong ever. Never. Not until just now.

(Unofficial UFC 117 poster via Bloody Elbow)

It’s almost upon us: The fight that may or may not get Anderson Silva fired. (Also known as the fight that may or may not get Chael Sonnen killed.) Your old pals at CagePotato.com will be liveblogging the action Saturday night, so be sure to swing by for up-to-the-minute results. And for you FightPickers out there, please follow the Internet-tubes to fightpicker.cagepotato.com or FP’s Facebook page to make your UFC 117 predictions for this week. We’ve got a husky set of 14 topics waiting for you in the pools, such as: Will the main event be the latest in the Spider’s series of long, drawn-out decisions? When will Sonnen score his first takedown in the fight, if ever? Who wins this USA vs. Brazil pissing contest, anyway? The full list of questions is after the jump; give ‘em a look and let us know how you feel.

(Why isn’t anyone laughing? Clowns are HUGE back home. It’s because I’m Brazilian isn’t it?)

In a recent interview with Esportes UOL (as transcribed by Fighters Only) Anderson Silva says he isn’t arrogant, as many people claim he is and says that the UFC wants him to lose to Chael Sonnen in part because he is Brazilian, not because he has been a bit of a tool lately.

"I can’t please everyone. When you become world-known in a sport you become the target of cheap talking. It’s necessary to watch yourself because any wrong attitude ends showing an opposite image of what you actual represented."

"There’s always bother, right? Even more so with me being a Brazilian. I’m happy in the UFC but this sequence of wins bothers them because the promoters think the fights end up losing their intrigue and that people now want to see Anderson Silva lose. But it’s normal, just business."

(Got a half-hour to spare? Then watch this Bloodsport-themed tribute to Georges St. Pierre’s UFC career, courtesy of lookoutawhale. Too nasty.)

Some selected highlights from our friends around the MMA blogosphere. E-mail feedback@cagepotato.com for details on how your site can join the MMA Link Club…

– The Anderson Silva flowchart everyone should print and hang on their wall (MiddleEasy)

– Options: What’s next for the winners of "Jones vs. Matyushenko"? (Heavy.com/MMA)

– Demian Maia bumped to UFC 118, will face Mario Miranda (Five Ounces of Pain)

– Dana White Talks Jones’ Future, Japanese MMA Revival, Anderson Silva’s Job Security (Versus MMA Beat)

– Roy Nelson More Impressed with dos Santos Than Carwin or Lesnar (MMA Fighting)

– Inside the Fights: The Face Melting Power of Marlon Sandro (MMA Scraps)

– UFC marketing team striking out this coming Saturday at UFC 117 (Watch Kalib Run)

– Roy Jones Jr.’s Square Ring Sues Zuffa & Roy Nelson Over Alleged Contractual Interference (MMA Convert)

– Vadim Finkelstein: Fedor Emelianenko is still the best Pound for Pound fighter in the World (LowKick)

– Brian Stann discusses his successful middleweight debut, and fighting in front of "thousands of our heroes." (FIGHT! Magazine)

(I knew this was all an act.)

I’m way beyond trying to figure out what the hell Chael Sonnen is doing as far as his pre-fight antics towards Anderson Silva ahead of their UFC 117 fight go, especially when large portions of his rants have nothing to do with the UFC middleweight champion.

During an interview with Larry Pepe on his Pro MMA Radio show today, Sonnen went off about a popular theory that seven time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong gave himself testicular, brain and lung cancer by abusing performance enhancing drugs (as he has been alleged to have done by several sources) and that his Live Strong foundation was created, not to aid in raising money to help find the cure for cancer as its mission states, but rather as an opportunistic money making scheme by the former cyclist.

(Morecraft vs. Josh Diekmann, 11/14/09; fight starts at the 2:27 mark.)

Two minor-league MMA prospects will be taking a major leap in competition this Saturday, as they make their Octagon debuts in the preliminary card of UFC 117. As we saw with Charles Oliveira at "Jones vs. Matyushenko" on Sunday, sometimes dreams do come true. And sometimes they get crushed and blown away like dust. Get to know the new guys below and keep an eye out for ‘em this weekend…

CHRISTIAN MORECRAFT (HW)
Experience: 6-0 record (all wins by first-round stoppage, three within the first minute) competing in the Reality Fighting and Cage Fighting Xtreme promotions. All fights have taken place in Plymouth, Massachusetts. Most recently scored a submission-via-strikes victory over Lee Beane in May to win CFX’s heavyweight title.
Will be facing: Stefan Struve (19-4, 3-2 UFC)
Lowdown: Another large addition to the UFC’s heavyweight division, Morecraft is a 6’6, 258-pound smashing machine that has been drawing lots of attention in Massachusetts. The 23-year-old began studying the sport with John Burke at the Dungeon MMA Academy, and now calls the Cape Cod Fighting Alliance his home. His take on MMA: "For every way there is to put somebody (in a hold), there’s a way of getting out if you do it at the right moment. And everything flows. It’s an art.” Morecraft digs ’80s metal, and walked out to Kiss’s "Calling Dr. Love" for the Beane fight.

(Yeesh, poor kid…)

Kicking off the UFC 117 pay-per-view card this Saturday in Oakland will be Junior Dos Santos (11-1) vs. Roy Nelson (15-4), a guaranteed banger that could decide the next title contender in the heavyweight division. Nelson is nearly a 3-1 underdog against the Brazilian phenom, but let’s take a closer look at the matchup and see who really holds the advantages…

AGE
Dos Santos: 25
Nelson: 34
Advantage: Dos Santos

SIZE
Dos Santos: 6’4, 238 pounds, 77" reach
Nelson: 6’0, 263 pounds, 74" reach; the mass of Nelson’s stomach has been compared to the moon.
Advantage: even

NICKNAME
Dos Santos: Cigano ("Gypsy")
Nelson: Big Country
Advantage: Nelson. Dos Santos is named after a soap opera character, which isn’t very hardcore at all.

KNOCKED OUT STEFAN STRUVE IN…
Dos Santos: 54 seconds (at UFC 95)
Nelson: 39 seconds (at UFC Fight Night 21)
Advantage: Nelson

Sal Mora Video Interview for CagePotato.com with Nate Marquardt – Watch more Sports Videos

Coming back from his upset decision loss against Chael Sonnen at UFC 109, Nate Marquardt will look to regain his fire at UFC 118 (August 28th, Boston) against Rousimar Palhares, the longtime asshole who most recently caught a 90-day suspension for not letting go of Tomasz Drwal’s ankle at UFC 111. Our buddy Sal Mora caught up to Nate this weekend to get his thoughts on the matchup, UFC 117‘s Sonnen vs. Silva headliner, and more. Some highlights:

On his loss to Sonnen: "I didn’t follow my gameplan, and I paid for it. I put on a good show, but mentally I wasn’t there…I fought a wrestler exactly how you’re not supposed to fight a wrestler — just stepping straight forward, trying to knock him out with every punch. So, I learned my lesson. I put on a good fight so I think that’s important as well, but I definitely plan on being a lot stronger mentally this next fight."

(Props: YouTube.com/UFC)

"We don’t have to fight. I issued him, in writing, I sent it over, my demands: He leave the UFC for no less than 12 months. He issue an apology to the fans. Simple things. And he erect a statue in my likeness in his living room that he bow to each evening. He didn’t accept ‘em."

Like the Ultimate Warrior before him, Chael Sonnen goes into a kind of fugue state whenever there’s a camera around, in which he’s only capable of making insane statements. The UFC has never made any attempt to muzzle the one-man promotional machine, and his mouthiness now seems to have the company’s public endorsement: This is the first time they’ve produced a highlight reel of a fighter just talking shit about their opponent, with no fighting clips whatsoever. Showing Sonnen lying on top of Dan Miller or Nate Marquardt would only interrupt the fun. Of course, it should be noted that this isn’t the Ultimate Talking Championship.

(Editor’s note: When Sonnen says "CP" at the 2:15 mark, he’s referring to his initials, Chael Patrick, not CagePotato. Though we could also kick Anderson Silva‘s ass if we wanted to, but we don’t, because what would that prove?)

(A megamix of every amazing thing Chael Sonnen said at yesterday’s UFC 117 press conference. Listen to all of it. You will never be the same. Props: MiddleEasy)

Some selected highlights from our friends around the MMA blogosphere. E-mail feedback@cagepotato.com for details on how your site can join the MMA Link Club…

– Famed Ref ‘Big’ John McCarthy to Return to Octagon at UFC on Versus 2 (MMA Fighting)

– Top 5 UFC Fighters Who Never Became Champions (LowKick)

– Mark Munoz Preparing for Three Round Battle Against Yushin Okami (Versus MMA Beat)

– Machida upcoming, Rampage eliminates key part of gameplan (Watch Kalib Run)

– John Howard, His 1994 Accord, And Sleeping Under A Ring (Heavy.com/MMA)

– At home with Dan Hardy and his cute, tatted-up girlfriend. (FIGHT! Magazine)

– Top Secret Ubereem: Public Misconceptions of MMA Fighters (MMA Scraps)

– Video tour of Fedor Emelianenko’s "Palace of Sport" (MMA Convert)

– Grappling With Issues: Jake Shields’s title prospects, Brock Lesnar’s star power, and Ken Shamrock’s legacy (Five Ounces of Pain)

(Jon Fitch: Giving fans their money’s worth, in every way possible.)

He may not have reached Antonio McKee levels* yet, but Jon Fitch has certainly attracted an unwanted reputation for taking fights to the scorecards. When he faces Thiago Alves at UFC 117, he has the opportunity to break the record for most decision fights in the Octagon by an active UFC fighter. (Update: And he’s done it.) Check out the list below to see who’s currently leading the UFC in fights that go the distance. As with our performance bonus leaderboard, we’ll update this thing whenever possible; if we’ve missed any names that should be on the list, please let us know in the comments section…

Fighters With 11 Decisions in the UFC
Jon Fitch: 9-1-1 in those fights

Fighters With 10 Decisions in the UFC
Diego Sanchez: 7-3; last three fights have gone to decision
Tyson Griffin: 6-4
Tito Ortiz: 5-4-1
Sam Stout: 5-5

(Remember, bend at the *knees* when you’re beating the crap out of Keith Jardine.)

Bad news for Team Brazil at UFC 117: Due to a back injury suffered in training, Thiago Silva has been forced to withdraw from his preliminary card matchup with Tim Boetsch. Silva had previously injured his back while preparing for his UFC 108 main event against Rashad Evans. After losing that fight by decision, the American Top Team light-heavyweight began a physical therapy program, but apparently it wasn’t enough to protect him from re-injury; no word yet on how long he could be sidelined. Stepping in to face Boetsch on 11 days notice is UFC newcomer Todd "Bulldog" Brown, who has compiled an 11-1 record in midwestern promotions. Boetsch is returning to the UFC after being cut last March, then winning three consecutive fights in smaller promotions.

Speaking of luckless s.o.b.’s, Phil Baroni is out of his UFC 118 fight with John Salter due to a collarbone injury. The fight was to mark Baroni’s return to middleweight after dropping two straight at welterweight, including a decision against Amir Sadollah at UFC 106. Baroni, who tends to get emotional on his Twitter account even in the best of times, had this to say: "I cant take it anymore. Im freaking out. anxiety im shot. beaten." Stay strong, NYBA…

(Harnessing the power of local television. In the history of real estate, that strategy has never been beaten.  VidProps: YouTube/Eluted)

Chael Sonnen took time out of his extremely busy schedule of lying about his Internet activities, letter writing, quitting on the Oregon Republican Party and acting pissy on television to sit down with the Houston Chronicle over the weekend. You know what that means: Set your watches to Crazy Time, kids. What pearls of wisdom did the multitalented middleweight drop on our unsuspecting asses this time? Well, Sonnen says people who claim to be “full time fighters” are lazy and that he has a strategy to defeat Anderson Silva on Aug. 7 at UFC 117 that has “never been beaten.”

Sonnen also inadvertently let slip how he’s managed to balance his pro fighting career and alleged other businesses, all while talking an uninterrupted line of shit about Silva during the past few months: He’s only training three hours a day.

In hyping UFC 117′s main event, the UFC is doing their best to convince fans that Anderson Silva vs. Chael Sonnen won’t be as painful to watch as Silva’s last three middleweight title defenses against Demian Maia, Thales Leites, and Patrick Cote. Sonnen has the perfect style to beat Silva (so the story goes) and Chael’s outlandish trash talk might even inspire the champion to actually handle his business in the cage for a change. Do you buy it? I’m not quite convinced yet — personally, I think all the factors that made Silva’s fight against Maia so awful are also present in the Sonnen matchup — but in the interest of fairness, I figured I’d lay out both sides of the argument. First, why Silva vs. Sonnen will be another infuriating bust…

1. Silva Will Want to Avoid the Mat at All Costs
From a technical perspective, what made Silva’s fights against Demian Maia and Thales Leites so dull? Silva understood that those fighters posed their only threats on the ground, and he simply refused to allow the fights to go in that direction, which is something you can get away with when you’re a genius on your feet. Silva can’t be baited into going to the mat if he doesn’t want to, and he won’t full-out brawl with a grappler, and run the risk of getting grabbed and taken down. So he keeps his distance, landing a punch to the knee once in a while just to keep himself entertained. As a wrestler, Chael Sonnen’s attack is a little different — he wants to be on top and grind you down — but winning fights still means landing a takedown and turning the action horizontal, and Silva knows that. So if you’re expecting a firefight between these two, keep dreaming. It’ll be another stick-and-move-and-move-and-move-and-move-and-move exhibition from the champ.

(Phil Davis: Athletic, explosive, and built like some sort of alien.)

Due to an injury suffered in training, undefeated Bulgarian prospect Stanislav Nedkov will not be taking on Rodney "Sho Nuff the Master" Wallace at UFC 117 (August 7th, Oakland). Stepping up on two weeks’ notice to face Wallace will be another exciting light-heavyweight, Phil "Mr. Wonderful" Davis.

Davis (6-0) has posted two consecutive victories during his time in the Octagon, scoring a lopsided unanimous decision against Brian Stann in his debut, and choking out Alexander Gustafsson in his latest appearance. Since the former NCAA wrestling champ has a growing amount of hype behind him, it seems somewhat odd that he would risk his momentum to take a short notice fight against an opponent who’s beneath him on the light-heavyweight ladder. (Although it’s never really a bad idea to pick up cage experience and an extra paycheck while scoring valuable brownie points with the UFC.)

Unlike Davis’s success in the Octagon, Wallace (9-2) has had a rough time of it so far, suffering back-to-back decision losses to Brian Stann and Jared Hamman. In other words, he needs a win here to save his job. Lotsa luck, bro.

(Props: YouTube.com/UFC)

"To talk about me is easy," Anderson Silva says in the above preview vid. "Try to beat me." Ah, there’s the rub. Chael Sonnen‘s trash talk has been absolutely epic in the run-up to this fight, but it remains to be seen if he can even back up one tenth of it in the Octagon. Meanwhile, Roy Nelson has finally earned Dana White’s respect with his knockouts of Brendan Schaub and Stefan Struve, and is "a definite contender for the heavyweight championship." To get his shot, he’ll have to become the first UFC fighter to endure the fists of Junior Dos Santos, who has been leaving a very impressive trail of bodies in his wake. It’s a matchup that guarantees excitement, as opposed to main event, in which…well, if Silva dances around and mocks his opponent for five more excruciating rounds, don’t act like you didn’t see it coming.

After the jump: E. Casey Leydon follows Roxanne Modafferi and Sarah Kaufman as they prepare for their 135-pound title match at Strikeforce Challengers, tomorrow night in Everett, Washington. The event kicks off on Showtime at 11 p.m. ET/PT.

(Images courtesy of UFC and Wikipedia)

Are you noticing a pattern here? By bizarre coincidence, the top six fights at UFC 117 (August 7th, Oakland) all feature an American fighter taking on a Brazilian fighter. It’s not an official gimmick like UFC 58′s "USA vs. Canada" setup — in which the Yanks went 5-3 against the Canucks — but it’ll be an interesting theme for the night, and hopefully the UFC will make the most of it. (Sorry Chandella, but we’ve found your replacement.) I’ll go out on a limb and say Brazil takes this event in a 4-2 rout, with Fitch and Guida scoring the only wins for the home team. Your predictions?

After the jump: Joe Rogan runs down the Hughes vs. Almeida matchup, and Jon Fitch discusses his co-headlining rematch against Thiago Alves.

(Video courtesy YouTube/UFC)

The UFC is turning up the marketing machine for next month’s UFC 117 match-up between Anderson Silva and Chael Sonnen with the usual pre-fight interview videos.

They seem to be emphasizing the golden tongue of Sonnen, whose seemingly stepped-up smack talking has eclipsed pretty much every fighter in the game these days.

What may be surprising to many is that Chael didn’t develop his proclivity for spewing quoteworthy lines overnight.

Sal Mora talks w UFC Lightweight Clay Guida for CagePotato.com – Watch more Funny Videos

After suffering tough losses against Diego Sanchez and Kenny Florian last year, Clay Guida came back with a renewed fire this March and choked out Shannon Gugerty — his first submission victory in three-and-a-half years. With momentum back on his side, the Carpenter looks to keep the ball rolling next month at UFC 117 (August 7th, Oakland), where he’ll take on Rafael Dos Anjos, who is riding three straight victories against Rob Emerson, Kyle Bradley, and Terry Etim. In this exclusive interview filmed by Sal Mora at Jackson’s MMA in Albuquerque, Guida tells us what the fight against Dos Anjos means to him, and explains the advantages he’ll have in the cage. He also weighs in on UFC 117′s Anderson Silva vs. Chael Sonnen main event; unsurprisingly, Clay likes the hard-nosed wrestler’s chances.

When asked which loss he’d go back and avenge if he could, Guida said that he doesn’t like to look back at the past. However:

"I think the Diego Sanchez fight kinda spoke for itself. I think he won three minutes of the fight, maybe four. I think I controlled the rest of the fight. So that’s one of those [fights] that would have maybe put me in line for title contention. And it would also be one of the greatest fights again…Diego’s a buddy of mine, I hope the best for him, and our time will come again, maybe. If not, who cares, I [plan to] just keep winning."

(Video courtesy MMAWeekly)

During a Q&A session at this weekend’s UFC Fan Expo UFC president Dana White revealed that his promotion’s middleweight champion, Anderson Silva may be moving up a weight class sooner than anticipated.

Although he has only fought twice at that heavier weight, the way that he defeated, or rather destroyed both of his opponents is why White’s interest in having him move up is so high. In between title defenses, Silva packed on considerable muscle to move up and knock out James Irvin at UFN 14 and Forrest Griffin at UFC 101.

“I think Anderson is here today, and many of you will see what a huge guy this guy is. He’s huge. And not only has he dominated the 185-pound division, he’s done very well going up to 205," explained White. "I actually honestly can see him going up to 205 and mixing it up, up there. I don’t know. We’ll see. Anything can happen and things change all the time in this sport, but that’s the direction I see him going.”

(Video courtesy YouTube/ProMMARadio) 

Apparently Anderson Silva is fed up with Chael Sonnen’s pre-fight posturing and he wants his Team Quest opponent to lay off.

In the above interview with Pro MMA Radio, Sonnen recalls a tense situation that occurred at this weekend’s UFC Fan Expo in which Silva approached him to tell him to "relax."

Sonnen said that he told the UFC middleweight champ, who seemed frustrated by the amount of autographs he had to sign for fans at the event, that "in two months, he wouldn’t have to sign any more because nobody will care about him again." Apparently Sonnen’s remark was lost in translation at the time, but when one of Anderson’s entourage later informed the Brazilian fighter what was actually said, he decided to seek Chael out and tell him to lay off.

It’s starting to seem like Chael is getting inside Anderson’s head, possibly exposing a chink in his seemingly impenetrable armor, which is likely his plan since "The Spider" has never shown any mental weakness in the past.
He’s never faced a master of verbal warfare like Sonnen, either, so it should be interesting to see what happens on August 7 at UFC 117 when the pair finally lock horns.

(Video courtesy YouTube/ATT)

Thiago Alves received news this week that he has been waiting on for two months.

The UFC welterweight traveled from his home in Coconut Creek, Florida to New York City where he underwent his second angiogram in as many months to ensure that the medical procedure he had done on March 31 to correct a brain abnormality had healed enough for him to get back to heavy training, contact sparring, and ultimately, competing.

Doctors gave him 100 percent medical clearance,  green lighting "Pitbull" to train and compete without stipulation, and in effect, made the rematch between Alves and Jon Fitch official for UFC 117 on August 7. 

 
(Sonnen vows to "bring taxes down, and lay on top of them until my term ends.")

While some fighters can’t even be bothered to show up for practice more than four times in a given week, Chael Sonnen is trying to secure a spot in the Oregon House of Representatives, in the same year that he’s preparing for the biggest fight of his life. On Tuesday, the UFC’s #1 middleweight contender claimed a "landslide" victory in the Republican Party primaries for Oregon’s 37th District, picking up 99.13% of the vote. We should probably mention that Sonnen ran unopposed, and the remaining 0.87% percent of the vote was made up of write-in ballots, most of which probably went to Anderson Silva. But still, Chael’s got momentum on his side. You can learn more about his platform at VoteSonnen.com, where he’s described as a "successful realtor and vice president of Caged Promotions, a sports and music promotion and production company." Sonnen’s main gig as one of MMA’s most insane heels is mentioned nowhere on the site.

(Dos Santos knocked out Stefan Struve in 54 seconds. Nelson knocked out Struve in 39 seconds. It’ll be a stretch, but we’re confident that the UFC can somehow twist that into a "grudge match" angle.)

According to a report published this morning on MMA Junkie, a heavyweight tilt between Junior Dos Santos and Roy Nelson is being targeted for UFC 117 (August 7th, Oakland). Nelson was previously slated to fight Cheick Kongo at UFC 116 in July, but Kongo won’t be able to make that date because of a back injury, and since Dos Santos had been stuck in a holding pattern without an opponent, it seems that the UFC will have Cigano and Big Country square off against each other. Dos Santos has already stated that he’d be down to fight the TUF 10 winner, and Nelson would also welcome the matchup:

"That might be a fight that might happen. I’m hoping, all you can do is hope…If you think about who’s out there fighting for the belt, or getting ready to fight for the belt it would be Brock (Lesnar) of course and Shane (Carwin), and then right underneath them it’s Dos Santos and Velasquez. So those are the four guys I’m looking for that can kind of catapult me right into belt contention."

("The creepy guy behind the ring? Don’t worry Rachelle, that’s just James McSweeney. He’ll probably ask you for a lock of your hair before you leave, but he’s cool." / Photo courtesy of twitter.com/nathanmarquardt)

– Though Nate Marquardt and Alessio Sakara were slated to meet at UFC 116 in July, Sakara has postponed his Octagon return due to the recent death of his father. So, the UFC did some re-shuffling and came up with the following: Sakara will now compete at UFC 118 (August 28th, Boston) against Jorge Rivera, who picked up his third-straight win in March when he wrecked Nate Quarry. As for Marquardt, he will also likely return in August (either UFC 118 or UFC 117), against Rousimar Palhares, who you may know as the asshole who holds his submissions for too long.

– Speaking of the UFC’s Boston show, hometown kid Joe Lauzon will try to rebound from his lopsided decision loss against Sam Stout when he meets up with British contender Terry Etim. Etim had a four-fight UFC win-streak snapped last month in Abu Dhabi when he fell to an armbar submission against Rafael Dos Anjos.

(
(It’s likely a safe bet that this fight isn’t going to end in a submission.)

A light heavyweight tilt between Thiago Silva and Tim Boetsch has been greenlit for UFC 117 according to Sherdog.com. Although neither fighter has received bout agreements for the fight, both have verbally agreed to face one another at the August 7 show in Oakland, CA.

The owner of a 14-2 record, Silva’s only losses have come against current and former UFC champions. His first blemish came at UFC 94 in the form of a knockout at the heavy hands of Lyoto Machida, who repeated the feat to take the title from Rashad Evans four months later at UFC 98. After knocking out Evans’ Team Jackson teammate, Keith Jardine at UFC 102 Thiago dropped a unanimous decision to Evans at UFC 108.

Boetsch, who compiled a 2-2 record in the Octagon with wins over Michael Patt and David Heath before being dropped by the promotion in 2009, has kept busy since his departure, racking up three straight wins outside of the UFC. You might remember him as the fighter Matt Hammill decided to demonstrate his newly acquired boxing skills on.

(Props: nicktheface via Fightlinker)

Will Chael Sonnen‘s over-the-top trash-talk infuriate Anderson Silva into engaging with him? Will Sonnen make good on his promise to come straight at the Spider and force him to fight? Would Dana White really cut his middleweight champion after a win? Has Sonnen signed his own death warrant, or bought a ticket to a 25-minute dance contest? All these questions will be answered on August 7th, when Silva and Sonnen meet at UFC 117 in Oakland, California. Speaking of #117, the event will reportedly host the welterweight rematch between Thiago Alves and Jon Fitch, which was originally scheduled for UFC 115 in June, but has been pushed back to give Alves more time to recover from brain surgery.

After the jump: A behind-the-scenes video of Bruce Buffer at UFC 102, which reveals Buffer’s warm-up technique and a dramatic fighter-introduction maneuver we’ll call the "Buffer Lunge"

(Big Dog is planning to eat Matt Hughes’ country breakfast August 7.)

According to an MMA Weekly report, a bout between former UFC welterweight champion Matt Hughes and Renzo Gracie disciple, Ricardo Almeida is in the works for UFC 117, August 7 in Oakland, CA.

Almeida will be looking bring a “W” and honor back to the Gracie academy while seeking revenge for Renzo and his other UFC-employed black belt, Matt Serra – both of whom were defeated by Hughes in the past year. Serra shared “Fight of the Night” honors in a unanimous decision loss with Hughes at UFC 98, while the aging Gracie was crippled with leg kicks by the Hillsborough, IL native who eventually pulled the trigger on a TKO victory in the third and final frame of their fight at UFC 112 in Abu Dhabi, UAE earlier this month. Hughes also holds a win over Renzo’s cousin, UFC legend Royce Gracie.