If there’s one thing we know about Nick Diaz and the members of Team Cesar Gracie, it’s that they will not tolerate bullshit in *any* of its various forms. However, if the latest upload from ever-enigmatic Youtube user Jerry Rips — which features audio of Diaz’s corner during his bouts with Carlos Condit, BJ Penn, and Georges St. Pierre — is any indication, it would appear that wetness is just below bullshit on Team Cesar Gracie’s list of deplorable offenses. And once you realize what the average TCG training session looks like, you’ll begin to understand just what the punishment is for such an offense.

Confused? Well welcome to the 209, bitch. It’s a magical place where, should you find yourself fighting for a(n interim) title in MMA’s highest promotion, you will receive such sound corner advice as “That’s the kind of asshole shit he’s got,” “Fuckin’ dick,” and “Condit, you pussy!” But mainly, your teammates/coaches will be relegated to complaining about how slippery your opponent is. Not slippery in the figurative sense — we mean, like, that pussy just got out the pool or some shit. And don’t even get them started on what’ll happen if this fight goes the judges, who are all probably betting against you anyway. But seriously, they put waaay too much water on that motherfucker, man.

We could watch this all day, but we first feel compelled to ask: Nate Diaz vs. Frito in an academic decathalon — who takes it?

-J. Jones

(This guy, a bully? Fahgettaboudit.) 

If you think Nick Diaz does what he does only for attention and not just because its part of his innate Stockton charm, then consider a new interview on The Jim Rome Showfrom UFC President Dana White where he detailed what Diaz did out from under the bright lights and cameras. Remember UFC 137, where Diaz called out Georges St. Pierreafter pissing away his title shot against the champion and being forced to beat up his hero BJ Penn?

Turns out that Diaz’s best harassment of St. Pierre came outside of the Octagon.

“Nobody has talked about this, I haven’t said anything about it, but at one of the fights, the one where he really starts calling Georges out, he was chasing Georges around the hotel and like yelling at him,” White told Jim Rome.

“Georges thought he was going to try to fight him in the hotel. He was just waiting for the elevator doors to open and see Nick Diaz…he was really messing with Georges bad at the fight, like trying to fight him at the hotel. That really pissed Georges off.”

For all the wonderful, riotous moments he’s given us in the ring, Diaz’s most violent moments often seem to come outside of it and soon become the things of legend thereafter. What long-time fan of the sport can ever forget the accounts of Diaz starting a brawl with Joe Riggs in the hospital they were taken to after fighting one another at UFC 57?

(So I sez to da brod, “Chael sent me,” and she just hands the needles right ova!!) 

To say that it has been a disturbing week in the world almost does too much justice for the term “disturbing.” It has been an abhorring week. There have been two cases of zombie-like acts of cannibalism reported in the past few days alone. Two. If you can stomach it, see for yourself what the human race is still capable of. Being a bit of a paranoid, Burt Gummer-esque survivalist at heart, upon hearing this news, I immediately took to the stocked gun cabinet that rests in the dining room of my countryside abode, stepped outside, and began target practicing on squirrels, chipmunks, and whatever else happened to cross my path. Because this is how it begins, people. You know, the stuff those guys in face paint and textiles told us would happen so many years ago. And I hate to be a dick, but I warned you fuckers. Many, many times. And you just didn’t want to listen.

Self whoring aside, I’d like to think that when the news in the real world gets me down, I can always turn to the world of MMA/combat sports for a little bit of solace, be it in the form of a fantastic knockout, a discussion with friends, or a news story that makes me smile from ear to ear. So you can imagine my disappointment when I came across yet another story of a mixed martial artist, this time Frank Mir, hopping on the TRT bandwagon.

I’ll admit, I found it a little odd when Frank told Ariel Helwani that he didn’t want to discuss the matter in the interviews leading up to his UFC 146 clash with Junior Dos Santos, because let’s be honest, when is there ever something that Frank Mir doesn’t want to talk about? BloodyElbow’s Brent Brookhouse seems to agree with this sentiment, and Mir’s avoidance of the issue makes so much more sense in retrospect.

(Similar to Georges St.Pierre, MMA pundits, and most fans heading into UFC 129, Dana White was looking right past Jake Shields.)

2011 is approaching it’s final hour, Potato Nation, and when we typically take a look back at the year that was, we often lump things in terms of the very best, and more often than not, the very worst. But even though it has been arguably the biggest year in the sport’s History, it hasn’t gone without it’s fair share of snoozefests, sparring matches, and fights that simply didn’t live up to their own hype. For every Rua/Hendo, there was a Torres/Banuelos, so to speak, that kept us from having a full-on Chuck Liddell style freak out. It’s not that these fights made us angry, it’s just that they failed to make us feel anything.

In a way, they were actually a good thing for the sport, as they raised our appreciation for the epic slugfests, the back and forth brawls, and the technical battles to new heights. So it is for these unsung heroes that we bring you The Ten Most Forgettable Fights of 2011, presented in chronological order.

#10: Jacob Volkmann vs. Antonio Mckee

We know what you’re thinking, Potatoites, you’re thinking, “My God, it’s only been a year since this clown (dis)graced the UFC with that performance?” Well the answer is yes, and almost to the exact date. On January 1st at UFC 125, Anthony Mckee made his long awaited debut in the UFC. And when we say “long awaited,” we mean by none other than Mckee himself. You see, Anthony Mckee followed the James Toney method of trolling his way into the UFC through a shitstorm of self absorbed and ridiculous claims, despite only claiming seven finishes in his previous thirty contests. Well, DW took the bait, and threw Mckee humble wrestler and future threat to Homeland Security, Jacob Volkmann, for his big debut.

If you thought something smelled fishy when Carlos Condit simply stepped aside from his title shot with Georges St. Pierre for Nick Diaz, then perhaps it’s time you used that nose to fight crime. On a very special Halloween episode of Inside MMA, it was revealed by “The Natural Born Killer’s” agent and President of First Round Management, Malki Kawa, that Condit was not given an option to back out of his welterweight championship bout, saying:

Contrary to what has been stated, Carlos did not step aside and allow this to happen, and would not just hand over an opportunity for him to achieve his greatest career goal, one that he has earned through his strong performances in the octagon. No option was given to him. 

(Images via BJJHQ and ZPR on Facebook.)

Between the widely held beliefs that BJ Penn vs. Nick Diaz would end in a stoppage, Matt Mitrione would outstrike Cheick Kongo, and Mirko Cro Cop still had some old Cro Cop left in him, none of you were 100% correct with your UFC 137 predictions in last week’s fight-picking contest. The closest entry belonged to commenter J. Spaceman, who got all three winners right, predicted the scorecard of Diaz/Penn within one point, and also guessed a TKO win for Roy Nelson. For his efforts, he wins this Gameness Premium Cage Rashguard courtesy of our good buddies at BJJHQ.com! (Spaceman, e-mail contest@cagepotato.com with your name, address, and size, and we’ll get it sent out to you. Please wear it responsibility.)

And since he was one of the first ten entries to correctly pick Diaz/Kongo/Nelson, J. Spaceman also wins a copy of Break Media’s new ‘Zombie Parkour Runner’ iPhone game, perfect for sitting on the couch waiting for your girlfriend to finish putting her Halloween costume together. The other winners of Zombie Parkour Runner are: aaron530, Viva Hate, Ani703, TheJedi, FrontKick Dentist, SmellMyTriangle, PERPATRAITOR, jinx5128, and heavy. If your name has been called, please e-mail contest@cagepotato.com with your real name and screen name, with ‘ZPR’ in the subject line, and we’ll shoot you a download code. Thanks to everybody who played!

Semi-related: If you’re particularly proud of your Halloween costume this year, post a photo of yourself on our Facebook wall. We always like seeing what you crazy bastards are up to.

(Maybe now that Bart’s rich, he can stop swagger-jacking KarmaAteMyCat. / Photo via MMAFighting)

The Nevada State Athletic Commission has released the official payroll from Saturday’s UFC 137 event, revealing that the participating fighters earned $1,326,000 in disclosed salaries and performance bonuses. Headliner Nick Diaz went home with the largest check — $275,000, including his Fight of the Night bonus — but the biggest winner had to be featherweight veteran Bart Palaszewski, who made more than ten times his $10,000 show-money, thanks to a win bonus, a Knockout of the Night bonus, and a 25% cut of Tyson Griffin’s purse.

The full UFC 137 payout list is below; keep in mind that the figures don’t include additional revenue from sponsorships and undisclosed “locker room” bonuses, or deductions for taxes, insurance, and license fees.

Nick Diaz: $275,000 (includes $75,000 Fight of the Night bonus; no win bonus)
def. B.J. Penn: $225,000 (includes $75,000 Fight of the Night bonus)

Cheick Kongo: $140,000 (includes $70,000 win bonus)
def. Matt Mitrione: $10,000

(Video courtesy of YouTube/ProMMANow)

You would think that Nick Diaz’s camp would cool it with all of the accusations about Georges St-Pierre being scared or faking an injury to get out of fighting their boy now that they got the desired result, but that’s not how they do things in Stockton, evidently.

Dring a media scrum after the UFC 137 presser, Cesar Gracie was asked, in a somewhat baited way if he thought GSP’s injury was legit and he didn’t hold back, although he made about as much sense as his protegee.

“He ran past me earlier. I mean, he literally RAN past me, so… Look, he’s a great guy. He’s a black belt under [my cousin] Renzo Gracie. I don’t know the guy that well, personally, but I’m gonna tell you guys something right now… Nick Diaz missed a press conference and he’s here and [he] fought,” Gracie sort of explained. “The guy that went to the press conference didn’t fight. That’s all I gotta say about it. Nick…Yeah, he got kicked out, he’s this…he’s the bad guy… We didn’t go to what Nick called, ‘the beauty pageant,’ but come fight night you guys saw what he’s made of and he showed up and he did everything he had to and the guys that made the press conference, they weren’t here tonight, so you be the judge. You know what I mean?”

No, we don’t know what you mean since it makes no sense. So let us get this straight, somehow GSP faked an injury to get out of fighting Nick, even though he was scheduled to face Carlos Condit when the injury occurred. Wait, what?!

(Allow us to introduce you to Nelson Roy III, the brilliant hedge fund manager who has absolutely no relation to that fighting hillbilly you saw on Saturday. / Photo via MMAJunkie.)

By Jason Moles

If you decided to play the new CagePotato drinking game this weekend, you’re probably way too hung over to think about your financial future right now. But now that the dust has settled from UFC 137, you owe it to yourself to study our insightful and highly opinionated rundown of where to direct your hypothetical MMA investments. It’s “Buy, Sell, Hold” time once again, Potato Nation…

“The Prodigy” BJ Penn – Sell

Even if Baby Jay is pulling a Jamie Varner (man I hope that’s not a euphemism) as Mr. Falvo so eloquently put it, the writing on the wall has been there for a while now even if the majority of fans didn’t bother to read it. BJ announcing his retirement Saturday night may have been a moment of weakness when his emotions got the best of him which led to a rash decision, but let me remind you (just like every other single story you read today about “The Prodigy”) that Penn has went 1-3-1 in his last five fights. The Hawaiian may fight again to collect another paycheck but there is no more money to be made as a shareholder.

(Unless you have your last name and a dog’s face tattooed on your back, you really can’t call yourself “alpha.” / Photo courtesy of Heavy.com/MMA)

Following his UFC 137 Submission of the Night victory over Dennis Siver, Donald Cerrone — one of the gamest sons-of-bitches in MMA — made it known that he’d like another fight before the year is out. As confirmed by MMA Junkie, the UFC has granted his wish, sticking Cowboy on the UFC 141: Lesnar vs. Overeem card (December 30th, Las Vegas) against lightweight mainstay Nate Diaz. You dodged a bullet, Nam Phan.

Cerrone is currently on a six-fight win streak, including a 4-0 stretch in the Octagon since debuting for the promotion in February. Picking up a fifth UFC victory inside a calendar year would be nearly unprecedented. (I know Roger Huerta did it in 2007; if there any MMA stats masters in the house who can provide other examples, please do so in the comments section.)

(Props: MMA Scraps)

A superstar on the rise, fist-posing next to a possibly-retired legend who barely has the strength to shaka — you can put this photo in the MMA dictionary next to “changing of the guard.”

UFC 137 provided another example of the unique emotional arc that this sport sometimes gives us. Headliners Nick Diaz and BJ Penn got into a near-tussle at the weigh-ins, spent three rounds trying to knock each other out, and after the fight they were chillin’ like two old bros. Never mind the fact that Penn’s left eye was leaking blood from all the blows he ate from Diaz, who happened to break the record for significant strikes landed in a UFC fight, by the way.

After the jump: More UFC 137 post-fight press conference highlights, in which Diaz talks about why he didn’t want to fight Penn, and explains that he didn’t go to school for buying a house. (That’ll make a little more sense when you watch it.)

Check out “Dapper” Roy Nelson in the three piece! (Video: Youtube/UFC)

“He’s the most disrespectful human being I’ve ever met, and I’m going to put the worst beating you’ve ever seen on him in the UFC.”

With those uncharacteristically aggressive words, Welterweight Champion Georges St. Pierre verbally accepted the bout against Nick Diaz in a backstage conversation with Dana White.

And just like that, Carlos Condit’s “guaranteed” title shot went up in smoke faster than a fatty in the 209. All of the events surrounding GSP’s next challenge have been bizarre, but that’s what happens anytime you’re dealing with the “Pride of Stockton”. Just last weekend, MMA’s least credible source, Chael Sonnen, predicted that Condit would get bumped back in line should Diaz get past Penn, and he was right on the money.

Business as usual. Props: MMAFighting.com

Let’s get the obvious out of the way as soon as possible: Last night’s UFC 137 was nothing that it was supposed to be. The odds of things playing out as they were supposed to with this card were slim from the beginning, with Nick Diaz compromising the initial main event with his decision to no-show press week and GSP having to withdraw from his match with Carlos Condit. But at least we could rest assured that BJ Penn would deliver some karma to Nick Diaz in the form of a quick beating, right?

Throughout the first round of last night’s main event, it looked that way. BJ Penn’s counter striking proved too much for Diaz early on, as Penn outworked the Strikeforce champion, managing a takedown as well. But by the second round, Nick Diaz came back to take complete control of the fight. His better conditioning allowed him to keep Penn against the cage and unleash strikes at will. By the third round, BJ Penn’s defense was completely ineffective, as Nick Diaz continued to batter Penn. With his eleventh straight victory, Nick Diaz looks as ready for Georges St. Pierre as anyone has in a while. The bout also earned both men the 75k Fight of the Night honors.

Perhaps BJ Penn was just pulling a Jamie Varner last night, and announcing his retirement out of frustration. But if he wasn’t, it’s hard to argue against his decision. BJ Penn is 1-3-1 in his last five fights, with his sole victory coming over the recently retired Matt Hughes. If it wasn’t clear from his draw against Jon Fitch that he would never be a champion in the UFC again, it became pretty obvious after watching him gas out and get picked apart last night. Penn’s legacy can’t improve at this point, but it can certainly diminish with more losses to contenders in the UFC. He’s making the right move by retiring; let’s just see if he actually sticks to it.

(It’s confusing, because in Strikeforce, standing elbow strikes during weigh-ins are totally legal. / Photo via CombatLifestyle. For more photos from this set, click here.)

After five years in the wilderness, Nick Diaz is finally returning to the Octagon tonight, at UFC 137 in Las Vegas. (As expected, Diaz is much, much less excited about this than we are.) His opponent is BJ Penn, a living legend and former two-division UFC champion whose future in the sport very much depends on his performance tonight.

Also on the card: Matt Mitrione and Cheick Kongo fight for a spot in the heavyweight title mix, Mirko Cro Cop and Some Fat Guy fight to save their jobs, and top ten featherweight Hatsu Hioki puts the reputation of Japan on his back.

Round-by-round results from the “Penn vs. Diaz” pay-per-view card will be piling up after the jump starting at 9 p.m. ET / 6 p.m. PT, courtesy of CagePotato liveblog assassin Matt Kaplan. Refresh the page every few minutes for the latest updates; as with our last UFC PPV liveblog, we’ll be including “next page” links to reduce spoilage, so click ‘em as the night goes on. Thanks for being here, and let us know how you feel in the comments section.

(Highlight video courtesy of MMAFighting.com)

 
It’s been a while since we brought you kids a good weigh-in video, and we’re truly sorry for that. It’s not that we don’t care, it’s just getting pretty rare that someone wears an elaborate costume to the scale, misses weight by an incredible margin, or a high-profile staredown gets personal. And if those are the criteria for a great weigh-ins, last night we hit the mother lode!

Roy Nelson’s been toying with us all about his new, streamlined look, and last night he dangled that carrot in front of us just a bit longer. “Big Country” stepped onto the stage concealing his new figure like the boys at Mercedes test driving a prototype in public. Even with the excess padding (and to be fair, we are just assuming that wasn’t his real physique), Nelson weighed only 252 lbs.

(Video courtesy of YouTube/MadeMan)

- MMAFighting.com’s future uncertain (FightOpinion)

- Suddenly Battlefield 3 doesn’t look as good as we thought (Complex)

- Oh jeez..MMA JayT fancies himself an MMA manager now (WarshFighterManagement)

- Viewer’s Guide to UFC 137 (Sports Illustrated)

- 8 slutty Halloween costumes and what they say about the girl (Guyism)

- 50 most beautiful women in sports (DoubleViking)

- Hatsu Hioki ready to wow American fans (Five Ounces of Pain)

- Nick Diaz: ‘Fight with BJ Penn could be my last (LowKick)

- Reporter with the worst timing ever (BREAK)

- Bill Murray to be the Yin to Charlie Sheen’s fucked up yang in ‘Charles Swan’ (Screen Junkies)

- Dana White: Carlos Condit Guaranteed Next Shot at Georges St-Pierre (5thRound)

- Career-defining moment for every UFC 137 fighter (Bleacher Report)

- Rejected Peanuts specials (HolyTaco)

- The not so unreasonable $25 UFC 137 bet that will put $12,631.70 in your pocket (MiddleEasy)

- This kid is going to be a beast (YouTube)

- Roy Nelson talks about his belly, beard and secret ninja training (Clutch.MTV)

(Video courtesy of YouTube/0fficialbjpenn)

(Video courtesy of YouTube/LayzietheSavage)

Just a friendly reminder that the weigh-ins for UFC 137 will be live from the Mandalay Casino and Events Center at 7:00 pm ET tonight and you can watch the stream live right here.

Until then, enjoy some BJ Penn and Nick Diaz highlight reels to get you pumped for tomorrow night. Is anyone actually not excited for this fight?

Tonight we will get to see which BJ Penn showed up in training camp — the one with abs or the one who doesn’t give a shit. We’ll also get to see how effective Roy Nelson’s diet of toilet paper and castor oil was this camp.

It will be a telling if Nick looks Penn in the eyes during the staredown. Hearing him talk all week about how BJ is one of his idols and that he really looks up to him reminded me of when GSP said the same thing about Matt Hughes right before losing by an armbar to “Country Breakfast.” He said similar things about fighting Karo before they squared off, about how he didn’t want the fight. Look what happened in that one.

Check out the stream at 7 after the jump.

UFC 137 goes down tomorrow night at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas, Nevada, and one fight that we feel is being criminally overlooked (televised on Spike or not) is the lightweight match-up between Dennis Siver and Donald Cerrone. Now, where both men are known for their elite striking game, its is Siver who has made his name off of the spinning back kick/turning side kick, picking up victories over Nate Mohr and Paul Kelly at UFC 93 and 105, respectively. Cerrone has stated that he feels the spinning back kick is Siver’s only weapon, and whether or not you agree with him (I don’t), you have to admit that it is one awesome weapon.

(“Viacom paid WHAT for Bellator?” I got PRIDE, WEC, Strikeforce and Chandella for less than that.”)

Dana White put out an unprecedented second video blog today for the first time in a long time. In this instalment of his UFC 137 video diary, White admires the venue for the pre-fight press conference, pokes fun at Nick Diaz for being Nick Diaz and gives out a bunch of free tickets to whoever asks.

A word of advice: If you’re ever needing tickets to a certain event, stand in line at the weigh-ins or press conference and have a friend point a camera at Dana while you shamelessly beg the UFC president for some freebies. Works every time.

Of note is Diaz’s revelation that they brought him to the presser an hour early to make sure he was there. He missed his flight from Stockton this week and the UFC had to rebook, so it looks like they aren’t taking any chances. Reed Harris has been appointed as Nick’s official babysitter so there’s little or no chance that he’s going to sleep through his fight Saturday night.

Check out the video after the jump.

(“Don’t call me homey, brah.” “Don’t call me brah, homey.” / For more photos from the presser, visit Lowkick.Blitzcorner.com)

A lot of interesting developments coming out of yesterday’s “UFC 137: Penn vs. Diaz” press conference…

— UFC President Dana White confirmed that the first international edition of The Ultimate Fighter will be in Brazil, not the Philippines as previously reported. White described TUF Brazil as “a done deal,” though other details, including its host and where it will take place, haven’t been locked down yet. The series will air in Brazil, and possibly on FUEL TV in North America. White also said that the UFC will be actively working on booking “as many [events] as we possibly can” in Brazil.

— Meanwhile, the UFC is also working on putting together their first event in Hawaii, which is slated for 2012, and could be held at an outdoor venue. In the past, the UFC had been hesitant to promote a show in Hawaii due to an exorbitant promoters’ tax the state required, but that situation was later “fixed”, and rumors of a UFC show at the Aloha Bowl have circulated for the past two years.

— While only the main event is guaranteed airtime during the one-hour UFC on FOX 1: Velasquez vs. Santos broadcast on November 12th, Dana White confirmed that the entire supporting card will be viewable on Facebook and FOX.com. Notably, that includes the possible #1 lightweight contender match between Clay Guida and Ben Henderson.

(Hey, it’s that thing from my nightmares! So weird seeing you during the daytime! / Photo via @bjpenndotcom)

It’s been a while since we’ve tried to convince you fine people of something totally ridiculous. But looking through Saturday’s UFC 137: Penn vs. Diaz card, I feel like playing devil’s advocate on a few things. So keep an open mind, and read on…

Donald Cerrone Should Drop to Featherweight

Donald Cerrone has recently claimed that he’d like to face Nam Phan in his next fight, because Phan beat up his best friend Leonard Garcia earlier this month then allegedly said that if Garcia’s coaches were any good they would have taught him how to throw straight punches. Now, the average observer might say, “Look Donald, you’re on a five-fight win streak — shouldn’t you be more concerned about challenging for the belt at lightweight than chasing personal rivalries with unranked dudes at 145?”

But I say screw it, Cowboy, you do you. Not for the revenge aspect, which is completely silly. But because the lightweight division has too many contenders to the throne, and the featherweight division doesn’t have enough.

(Stream courtesy of YouTube/UFC)

Just a friendly reminder that we will have the live stream of today’s UFC 137 pre-fight presser for you right here starting at 4:00 pm ET.

If you’re at home today or somewhere your boss won’t catch you getting shit-faced, we’ve created a little drinking game for you to enjoy it a bit more.

Check it out after the jump.

(Images via BJJHQ and ZPR.)

Update: My apologies — Penn vs. Diaz is a three-rounder, not a five-rounder as I originally implied. Please re-submit your predictions if necessary.

Halloween weekend is coming up, and we have a bag full of treats to give out to all the neighborhood kids in the Potato Nation. You’re damn right it’s fight-picking time.

To win, you’ll have to correctly predict the results of the top three fights on the UFC 137 card: BJ Penn vs. Nick Diaz, Cheick Kongo vs. Matt Mitrione, and Mirko Cro Cop vs. Roy Nelson. Submit your predictions for the fights in the comments section below, including the winner’s name, the method of victory, and the time/round of stoppage, if any. The most accurate prediction wins this Gameness Premium Cage Rash Guard (retail value: $35), courtesy of our friends at BJJHQ.com.

And as an added bonus, the first ten entries that get all three fight-winners right will score a free download of Break Media’s new iPhone game, Zombie Parkour Runner (retail value: $0.99). The 11th correct entry will get an apple with a razor in it. Hey, it happens.

Your fight-picking entry must be in this format:

(Video courtesy of YouTube/HDNet)

HDNet caught up with Nick Diaz this week ahead of potentially the biggest fight of his MMA career against BJ Penn this weekend at UFC 137 and the former Strikeforce welterweight champ revealed the biggest key to beating the resilient Hawaiian. According to the surly Stockton native, he needs to first and foremost go into the fight not looking at Penn as one of the guys he looks up to most in the sport or else he might show him too much respect Saturday night.

“For this fight…my biggest obstacle I think is kind of overcoming my own personal faith in BJ Penn, because you know, after all he’s pretty much a guy I, you know… I don’t look up to a lot of guys, but I’ve looked up to BJ Penn for a long time, but he came from my school, okay? You understand? He came from my academy. Whether he says he does or whether he says he doesn’t, that’s where he came from, so… That’s where he started learning jiu-jitsu,” Diaz explained. “I actually had his first mixed martial arts fight on video. I don’t even know if he’s ever seen it, but I had it on a tape — like a cassette tape and I used to watch that before anyone even saw him fight in the UFC. We’ve trained together, too before so that’s kind of… a lot of that is really the difficult part about this fight, other that that he’s a great fighter. It’s probably going to be a lot harder for me fighting this guy because…it makes it a lot easier for a guy like Georges [St. Pierre] to go out their and hold him, stall for the rounds, but I go out there and I fight. He knows me and I know him too. He knows what I do and I know what he does too, so…I wouldn’t have picked this fight if I had my choice, that’s for sure.”

(Damn, Stitch, aren’t you supposed to stay neutral? Props: Me, five minutes ago.)

This week’s featured stories…

- Akira Corassani: Behind The Screen (Exclusive Interview) (LowKick)
“When you end up in a heel hook, you know that you have two options: it’s tap or your knee will snap, or your MCL, ACL will be out and maybe your career will be on ice…But, this grip was not in. It wasn’t a good heel-hook. You can see the technique also, his legs were all on the wrong side of my body. So, he was holding my ankle and he was going 100% to yank it and I was like, ‘Holy S—!’ So, I raised my hand, I was going to tap. Then, I don’t feel it. I don’t feel it, so why am I going to tap? If you see the other camera angles I posted on my website, you see clearly that I raised my hand and then I take his leg and shove it to the side to escape. Then he slips, my heel pops out and I’m out. That’s it…I didn’t tap, I continued fighting and I won the fight.”

- Funky Town: Bellator Welterweight Champion Ben Askren Says He’ll ‘Maul Jay Hieron’ (MMA Mania)
“Yeah he was a national champion in junior college but Jay [Hieron] is significantly overrating his wrestling ability. What you have to realize is that people who win national junior college tournaments, I pin them in 30 seconds. That’s no big deal. I mean, even at the highest, highest level at the NCAA tournament my senior year, in five matches I probably got 40 takedowns and that’s against the best of the best of the best guys in the United States in wrestling and Jay was never on that level”

- ‘Raw Combat’ Author Jim Genia Discusses the NY Underground MMA Scene (The Fight Nerd)
“New York doesn’t allow MMA right now, so fighters have to go to New Jersey to fight where it’s sanctioned or they have to go underground in New York city…but the book isn’t just about the underground fight scene in New York, it’s also about the development of sanctioned MMA in the east coast…In New Jersey, there was a show called BAMA Fight Night run by Big Dan Miragliotta. His show was the only show for the longest time, there weren’t sanctioned events in the North East, so Big Dan would hold these shows and people like Matt Serra, Nick Serra, Phil Baroni, they had their first fights at these events.”

Dana White’s video blogs, though sporadic, have taken an increasingly interesting turn in that they are now largely made up of post-fight footage from UFC events rather than the day-to-day extravagance that is “The Baldfather’s” life. As with his UFC 136 vlog, Dana gives us a brief introduction and wishes us a happy Halloween before throwing us behind the scenes of UFC 136 to witness the agony of defeat firsthand.

Particularly tough to watch is that of Melvin Guillard, who, after having his lightweight title aspirations choked out of him by Joe Lauzon, completely loses his shit backstage, throwing a chair across the room before breaking down on his hands and knees as the doctor’s try to attend to him. Even Joe Warren had to look away.

Join us after the jump for some other musings from this week’s vlog:

(Video courtesy of IronForgesIron)

Our friend ZombieProphet from IronForgesIron.com always comes through with videos of shows and events we forgot about and the UFC 137 countdown show that aired last night is no exception.

Cesar Gracie has some interesting observations about BJ Penn and he refers to the former UFC lightweight and welterweight champ as “Superman,” but says that his protegee Nick Diaz is the Hawaiian scrapper’s kryptonite.

I don’t know about you guys, but this fight gives me goosebumps just thinking about it.

Check out part two after the jump so you can hear MMA JayT mancrush, Cheick Kongo talk about how he wasn’t out in his last fight with Pat Barry, in spite of his trainer’s assertion that he lost consciousness at least once in the bout.

(I dare you to mock this picture.) 

It’s hard to define someone like Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic, a man who is perhaps the most multi-faceted, not to mention intriguing figure in MMA. Aside from his incredible list of credentials including time in both the Croatian elite Special Forces Unit and Parliament, the man has amassed a mixed martial arts and kickboxing resume that reads like a Hall of Fame list in either sport.

But come Saturday night at UFC 137, Cro Cop will simply be fighting for the right to continue his career, or maybe just to end it on his own terms. In a way, Filipovic is kind of like the Metallica of the heavyweights, with his 2006 Pride Grand Prix win being his Master of Puppets. And, like Metallica, everything since then has been well…just kind of downhill. The devastating loss to Gabriel Gonzaga was his ReLoad, the bittersweet win over Pat Barry his Death Magnetic, and the back-to-back knockout losses to Frank Mir and Brendan Schuab his Lulu. Except, unlike Lulu, those losses only felt like an hour and a half of pure shit.

But as fans of the sport, we are pulling for Cro Cop to put on a hell of a performance on October 29th. Even at the cost of our parlays, it would be awesome to see some flashes of the old “Cro Cop” in what could be the last fight of his incredible career, which Old Dad has already promised us Mirko will do.

Look at me, blabbering on like some school girl. Let’s take a look and listen at Cro Cop’s greatest hits, “California Dreamin‘” aside.

UFC 137 is just a week away, featuring what some believe to be a welterweight number one contender match between B.J. Penn and Nick Diaz. If you weren’t convinced by our betting advice for the main event, then perhaps the words of Stephan Bonnar, Manny Gamburyan, Tyson Griffin, and Phil Baroni will do your thinking for you. And from the looks of it, you’re thinking B.J. Penn is going to come out on top, because that’s what the consensus seems to be for these pros.

(Sorry Roy, casting for Tucker and Dale vs. Evil 2 is down the street.)

Leading into his UFC 137 bout with Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic, former IFL heavyweight champ Roy “Big Country” Nelson has enlisted the help of former UFC heavyweight champion Frank Mir to prepare him for the Croatian legend. Mir, who defeated Nelson by unanimous decision at UFC 130 back in May, also holds a knockout victory over Cro Cop from their headlining bout at UFC 119. Nelson explained his decision to bring in Mir during a recent interview with NBC Sports: