(Could I get JUST ONE of those exemptions, por favor?) 

Some big news out of California today, as it appears that the California State Athletic Commission has taken a huge step towards legalizing the therapeutic use of testosterone and marijuana in mixed martial arts competition. SI.com was the first to break the news:

The California State Athletic Commission voted on Monday to approve an amendment that allows therapeutic use exemptions (TUE) for combat sports’ athletes who use drugs currently banned by the state agency for medical purposes, including testosterone and marijuana.

To be adopted into state law, the amendment’s verbiage must now be reviewed and approved by the Department of Consumer Affairs and then the state’s Office of Administrative Law, a process that could take months or even years, if it passes at all.

OK, so it’s not as big of news as one could have hoped, but it’s something, right? Then again, depending on your stance on testosterone replacement therapy (or marijuana for that matter), this could be a step in the wrong direction for the sport of MMA.

(That moment you realize you are a fraction of the man Dan Henderson is.) 

Few, if any, will ever be able to forget Dan Henderson and Mauricio “Shogun” Rua’s epic battle at UFC 139. It was like that time you watched your dad and your friend’s dad argue over a garden hose at your local pub when you were 12, an argument that quickly devolved into chair throwing, bottle smashing, and frequent use of the “n-word” despite the fact that both participants were white. You and your friend would never be the same again, but to be fair, his dad did say he would return the hose over a week ago, so fuck him.

Now swap your friend’s dad/Shogun with Dana White, and your dad with Dan Henderson, and you’ve pretty much got the gist of these two’s ongoing series of misunderstandings. They’ve butted heads over money before, but now it seems they’ve moved into the territory of straight up verbal warfare. At yesterday’s Calgary press conference, White informed Mauro Ranallo that he had attempted to secure a rematch between Henderson and Rua, but was met with firm opposition by the inventor of the H-bomb:

Yeah, I was trying to put together Dan Henderson vs. Shogun II and Henderson doesn’t want to do the fight. Henderson wants to wait for the winner of either Jonny “Bones” Jones or Anderson Silva. He wants Anderson Silva, if Silva wins, he will make that cut. Otherwise, he wants to fight the winner of Rashad and Jones.

After hearing the above snippet, Henderson took to his Twitter account to respond, where he promptly slayed DW in less than ten words.

Join us after the jump for those ten words.

(I’ll take “Injuries that make me reconsider my line of work” for a thousand, Alex.) 

Good morning, Potato Nation. As we’re all still nursing hangovers from this weekend’s festivities and trying to cope with the fact that there will be no more The Walking Dead until next fall, let’s start the day off with a bit of light reading.

Firstly, a math teacher from Ohio and a movie star from South Vietnam have been booked to throw down at UFC 148, which features the completion of the Dominick Cruz/Urijah Faber trilogy as its headliner, and goes down from the MGM Grand in Las Vegas on June 7th.

What’s that, you say? Rich Franklin is also a movie star and Cung Le could probably teach math? Well, there’s no room for that kind of intolerance around here, especially not this early in the morning, so we suggest you pull your heads out of your collective asses. Besides, Rich Franklin is definitely not a movie star.

This will be Franklin’s first fight at middleweight since April of 2008, when he dispatched TUF 4 winner Travis Lutter via second round TKO back at UFC 83. In fact, it’s been a while since we’ve seen “Ace” in the octagon at all. After dropping a unanimous decision to Forrest Griffin at UFC 126, Franklin was expected to face Antonio Rogerio Nogueria at UFC 133. The bout was cancelled, however, after Nogueria suffered a last minute injury, and a subsequent shoulder injury forced Franklin into surgery in October.

Cung Le appeared to be destined for victory in his UFC debut match against Wanderlei Silva at UFC 139 last November, picking apart the former PRIDE middleweight champ with his patented arsenal of San Shou kicks throughout the first round. But as in his fight with Scott Smith at Strikeforce: Evolution, Le would snatch defeat from the jaws of victory, eating one knee too many in the second round and dropping his second career loss to “The Axe Murderer” in the second round of their co-headlining scrap. Also similar to the Smith fight would be the horrific nose injury that Le would walk away with.

In other fight booking news…

(Dear fist-posing douchebag: You were not supposed to be part of this picture.)

The UFC paid out nearly $2 million in disclosed salaries and bonuses to the fighters who competed at UFC 139: Shogun vs. Henderson, according to figures released yesterday by the California State Athletic Commission.

Though we don’t know what kind of undisclosed “locker room bonuses” were thrown around after the fights, Cung Le was officially the biggest earner of the night, making over $400,000 for his second-round TKO loss to Wanderlei Silva. Seriously. On paper, that’s almost twice what Shogun took home. Then again, Le’s a local hero in San Jose (which made him particularly valuable for this event) with a movie career to attend to (which puts his time at a premium these days). For the record, Dana White isn’t sure if he’ll be back.

The full list of disclosed UFC 139 payouts is below…

Dan Henderson: $320,000 (includes $70,000 Fight of the Night bonus; no win bonus)
def. Mauricio Rua: $235,000 (includes $70,000 Fight of the Night bonus)

(Ryan Bader has so much power in his hands, he only has to punch in the general vicinity of your head to knock you out. / GIFS via IronForgesIron)

All the knockouts and submissions from UFC 139: Shogun vs. Henderson, in animated GIF form. Lots more after the jump.

(The winner of the rematch: the fans)

Mauricio “Shogun” Rua walked out of the Octagon Saturday night feeling like he got ripped off for the second time in his past five bouts.

According to Rua, he feels that his UFC 139 bout with former Strikeforce light heavyweight champ Dan Henderson should have been declared a draw and says that he’d like a do-over.

“It certainly was a great fight. I do not know how the judges scored the final round. It should have been 10-8 for me. But that takes nothing away from Dan Henderson,” Rua told UOL after the bout. “He is a legend and one of those fighters who have created a legacy, but I want revenge. I think [a rematch] would be another great battle and the public wants to see it.”

Henderson, on the other hand, feels that he clearly took the fight and will be adding the judges who concur to his Christmas card list this year.

“I won four rounds.” he told Joe Rogan after the bout, noting that he felt one of the rounds could have been scored a 1-8 in his favor.

(“I’m gonna puke…I’m gonna puke.”)

Following his UFC 139 victory over Kyle Kingsbury Saturday night, Stephan Bonnar wasted no time in planting the seed for his next fight. “The Ultimate Fighter 1″ runner-up, who has racked up a recent three-fight winning streak, told reporters that he would love a step up in competition.

“I’ve always wanted to fight [Quinton] ‘Rampage’ [Jackson],” Bonnar said. “You know, I’ve got a few wins now and maybe (I can) get a big name [next].”

Earlier in the week, “The American Psycho explained to Heavy.com that facing Jackson would be his “dream fight.”

“He’s good, he’s a big puncher, he’s tough. But he does have holes in his game,” Bonnar pointed out. “He’s really famous. ‘The A-Team’ movie, talk shows – everyone knows who he is. Fighting him, it’s going to be a huge fight. Forrest [Griffin] got a close win over him, [Keith] Jardine fought a good fight with him. I feel like I could fight him good.”

(In a way, we were all the “Screaming PRIDE Lady” that night. / Photo courtesy of Esther Lin, MMA Fighting)

By Jason Moles

The suits on Wall Street keep whispering about a ‘Halloween indicator‘ and how now is not a time to sell; rather we should sit back and let our riches mount. Call it what you will, but millions watched UFC on FOX and UFC 139 and concluded the same thing: Most fighter’s stocks are rising steadily. Even if you’re not sure which is the true Fight of the Year from this weekend — Dan Henderson vs. Marucio Rua or Eddie Alvarez vs. Michael Chandler — you’ll know how to safeguard your hypothetical MMA portfolio’s worth after playing another round of ‘Buy, Sell, Hold’.

Stephan Bonnar: Buy

It’s hard to believe that any TUF veteran could take nearly a year off from the sport and return with the engine firing on all cylinders, but Stephan Bonnar did just that. The BJJ schooling he dished out was almost as surprising as his apology to Josh Koscheck for making those damn shirts. Even that wasn’t the most unexpected thing to happen; one judge gave the ‘American Psycho’ a 30-25 victory. Grab hold of any unclaimed stock before he starts getting big fights and Dana declares him “in the mix.”

(On the bright side, he’s now able to smell out of his eyeball. Props: MMAConvert)

Following his TKO loss at the hands (and knees) of Wanderlei Silva at UFC 139, Cung Le‘s nose rivaled Ryan McGillivray’s in terms of sheer cartoonish bustedness. Silva patted himself on the back after the fight, telling Karyn Bryant, “Right now with that nose, he’s going to make more money in Hollywood because now he looks like a more real fighter. He should thank me for making his nose look better.”

I’m sure the offers to play “Jacked-Up Looking Asian Gangster #2″ are about to start flooding in. So what did Cung’s schnozz look like the next day? The big reveal is after the jump, via @CungLe185.

We appreciate the novelty of a t-shirt submission, Urijah, but that message is far too long for a voicemail. (Pic: UFC.com)

‘Secure a win, and ask for a title shot.’ It’s something we see from top contenders–and even not-quite top contenders–every event. But last night Urijah Faber seemed intent on finishing his opponent and letting his performance demand the title bout for him. He did. It did.

Faber came out aggressively, throwing powerful combinations that kept Brian Bowles moving backwards. He also found a home for a score of uppercuts, one of which would spell the beginning of the end for the former WEC Bantamweight champion. With a second round ‘submission of the night’ victory, Faber emphatically punched his ticket to a rubbermatch with UFC Bantamweight kingpin Dominick Cruz.

Party Like a Rockstar also came out in 2007. Your mind = Blown. Props: Fox Sports

I’m willing to bet that more than a few sports writers have pointed out that four years ago, Dan Henderson vs. Mauricio “Shogun” Rua would have been just as worthy of main event status as it was last night at UFC 139. That four years later, we’re still willing to pay to watch guys like Wanderlei Silva, Cung Le, Urijah Faber, Stephan Bonnar and Miguel Torres. That last night’s event appropriately enough took place in Strikeforce’s old stomping grounds in San Jose. For that matter, I’m pretty sure you heard all of that stuff at some point from Mike Goldberg and Joe Rogan last night.

I tried to avoid those clichéd observations, but they’re too appropriate to ignore. As fans of mixed martial arts, we’ve been waiting at least four years for a fight between Pride legends Dan Henderson and Mauricio “Shogun” Rua to come together. Yet for as long as we’ve wanted to see this fight, what we were given last night was worth every second of the wait.

“I hate to have to tell you this, Mr. Bailey, but you’ve got a severe case of liveblog. It won’t be long now.” (Photo: UFC.com)

The good news: you’re all but guaranteed more than sixty-four seconds of action this evening. The bad news: you’re going to have to pay for it.

Nothing in life is free, not even punches to the face. Take Dan Henderson, for example. “Hollywood” was once considered too costly of an investment for the UFC, but after an impressive three-fight win streak he was deemed too valuable for Strikeforce. Tonight he makes his return to the Octagon after a two year hiatus. Does old Hendo have enough gas in the tank for one more title run, or will the “old” Shogun show up and ruin his homecoming.

Though he may not have the cleavage to warrant video commentary, weekend editor Chris Colemon does possess the sort of typing skills that get you beat up by jocks in high school. Come join him inside for the best play-by-play coverage you’ll see on this site tonight.

Props: Youtube.com/corissafurr

Heading into tonight’s UFC 139, you may have noticed that we did not post a usual Gambling Addiction Enabler to help you spend that pesky “extra money” that’s been clogging up your wallet. We just kind of assumed you planned on spending so much money on that Thanksgiving feast you were planning for your family and friends that you wouldn’t have the funds left over to gamble. But then we remembered who we were dealing with, and genuinely felt sorry. Our fault.

But where we have failed you, Spike TV’s Corissa Furr has come through. Okay, so it’s not exactly gambling advice, per se. But if you wanted to put money on her picks and form a parlay, you could make enough money to upgrade that impressive feast you’ve got planned. Call you’re bookie and lock it in while you still have time.

(Video props: Youtube/MMAHeat)

One of the sport’s most notorious heels, Josh Koscheck, joined Mike Goldberg in San Jose for the UFC’s latest Fighter Q&A session. There was little hate for the welterweight in his own backyard, and rather than fending off attacks from his legion of haters he weighed in on a variety of subjects including his previous battles with GSP and Paul Daley, his desire to fight Tito Ortiz and Chris Leben, and how Condit royally screwed himself.

The goods are after the jump.

(Video: Zombie Prophet)

Though both events took place under the purview of the California State Athletic Commission, the no-nonsense, military precision of last week’s UFC on FOX weigh-ins was nowhere to be seen last night’s event. That’s not necessarily a good thing for the fighters , but it’s certainly more entertaining for the rest of us.

Things kicked off with a healthy dose of confusion. Several prelim fighters tipped the scales well over the allotted limit, which Joe Rogan attributed to a discrepancy between the scales backstage and the official one upfront. While there may be some truth to that, other fighters managed to hit the target on the dot. It was painfully clear that the chick running the show for the CSAC had no clue what she was doing. You know you’re in for a wild ride when someone seeks mathematical and scientific guidance from this guy.

Just a friendly reminder that we will be streaming the weigh-ins for UFC 139 live from San Jose starting at 7:00 pm ET.

Check back then and watch a bunch of dudes go alpha on one another in their underwear. Nothing weird about that.

UFC player is after the jump.

Just a friendly reminder that the pre-UFC 139 presser starts at 4:00 pm ET today, and as usual we will have the live video feed for you here.

(“… and I paid a three-year old $14 million for this work of art.”)

In this edition of Dana’s video blog, we take a behind the scenes look at the inaugural UFC on Fox show.

Man, it must get old for Dana to meet fans every day who beg him for free tickets. Seriously, do people have no couth? And what’s up with the fan that suggests Cain looks like Shrek and should call himself “The Shrexican?” What’s wrong with people?

Check out the vid after the jump.

(Fedor Emelianenko bows to Dan Henderson’s superior firepower at Strikeforce: Fedor vs. Henderson in July. Photo props: Cagewriter)

By Joey Santosus

With 13 of his 28 professional victories coming by some form of knockout, it’s no secret what one can expect from Dan Henderson when he steps into the cage. In fact, he’s finished his last three opponents via stoppage, and according to his striking coach Gustavo Pugliese, he’ll be looking to make it four straight when he meets Mauricio “Shogun” Rua on November 19th…

Visit Lowkick.Blitzcorner.com to read about Hendo’s game-plan for his Octagon return next month.

(Props: YouTube.com/UFC)

UFC 139 goes down November 19th at the HP Pavilion in San Jose, and the major players are convening at the San Pedro Square Market right now for a little press-conference action. Click “play” on the live YouTube player above to see Mauricio “Shogun” Rua, Dan Henderson, Wanderlei Silva, Cung Le, and UFC president Dana White field questions from the media in attendance beginning at 1 p.m. local time.

(Video courtesy of YouTube/UFC)

The UFC uploaded an interview with Wanderlei Silva today in which the former PRIDE middleweight champion discussed his upcoming UFC 139 bout with former Strikeforce middleweight champ Cung Le.

The consummate crowd favorite says that he actually took some time to decide whether or not he’d have enough time to prepare for the short notice bout as a fill in for Le’s original opponent, Vitor Belfort, who bowed out of the event due to injury.

“I was just chilling. I was at home with my son. These days I’ve been teaching classes at my gym. I got a text asking if I wanted to fight at UFC 139. I was in shock. But a good shock. I was planning on fighting again, but I didn’t think it would be so fast. I was preparing to go back in February. I wasn’t sure right away,” he reveals. “I was thinking if I needed more than eight weeks, but I was already conditioned from [my fight with Chris Leben in July]. I took a break from training, since I had no fight scheduled, but now I’m already training good and hard. I was very happy. It was a great surprise.”

(As it turns out, Belfort-brand bottled water mostly consists of hydrochloric acid. Good to know. Photo via LasVegasSun)

Due to an undisclosed injury, UFC middleweight Vitor Belfort will not be showing off his “powerful trunks” against Cung Le at UFC 139 (November 19th, San Jose). Dana White broke the news via Twitter, adding that Le’s new opponent will be another Brazilian legend — none other than Wanderlei Silva.

Silva vs. Le will serve as the co-main event of UFC 139, which will be headlined by the PRIDE-era fantasy match between Dan Henderson and Mauricio Rua. Silva is coming off his 27-second knockout loss to Chris Leben at UFC 132, while Le will be making his Octagan debut 17 months after his rematch victory over Scott Smith.

An “expect a knockout, bro” joke may be cliche, but would you rather us put “Business as usual, You Guys” in the headline?

Sometimes, it’s hard to remember that we’re supposed to be pretending that Strikeforce isn’t a dead company, and is by no means being absorbed by the UFC. Cincinnati is practically dead, despite the fact that the Strikeforce Grand Prix resumes there tonight. Strikeforce fighters are beginning to speak out about the lack of promotion that the UFC gives Strikeforce events. Strikeforce’s own champions have their next fights booked with the UFC. So today’s rumored fight isn’t so much of a surprise in the sense that another top Strikeforce fighter has reportedly been absorbed into the UFC, but rather, in the sense that we’re still going along with this “Strikeforce will continue to operate as a separate organization” thing.

In a statement released via his personal website, Vitor Belfort announced that he will be fighting Cung Le at UFC 139 in San Jose. The UFC has yet to confirm the signing of Cung Le, yet alone the announcement of this fight. Still, it appears that Vitor Belfort is already training for Le as his next opponent, as he has brought in Ray Sefo to help him train. Vitor tells fans to “Prepare to see the same dedication he takes to creating his fists the fastest in MMA to his powerful trunks.” I’m not quite sure what that means, but it sounds awesome.

(“…and that’s the ‘bleeding robot’. For my next impression — the ‘bleeding hula girl’.”)

Two pivotal light-heavyweight matchups have been added to UFC 139: Velasquez vs. Dos Santos, November 19th in San Jose. First, in the night’s “no pressure” match, Ryan Bader and Jason Brilz will both try to snap their two-fight losing streaks. Bader is skating on thin ice after being utterly ass-handled by Jon Jones in February, then getting choked out by Tito Ortiz in the upset of the year. Brilz kicked off his losing skid with a valiant effort against Lil’ Nog, followed by a far-less-impressive 20-second knockout loss to Vladimir Matyushenko at UFC 129. Winner keeps their job. Loser…well, who knows anymore?

(I know what you’re wondering, and no, Fitch wasn’t able to finish that thing. Photo via VegasNews)

Out of action for most of 2011 due to the beating that Georges St. Pierre put on him last December, UFC welterweight contender Josh Koscheck is finally slated to return to the Octagon at UFC 139 (November 19th, San Jose). Koscheck announced the news himself via Twitter, adding that there’s a “good chance” he’ll be fighting at 185, a weight he hasn’t competed at since he dusted Chris Sanford at the TUF 1 Finale in April 2005.

Koscheck has spent the past year calling out larger fighters like Stephan Bonnar and Tito Ortiz, so the jump to middleweight isn’t much of a surprise. His opponent will be announced shortly. Unfortunately, Chris Leben is already scheduled to headline UFC 138 against Mark Munoz. (Probably meaningless observation: Somebody updated Koscheck’s Wikipedia page this morning with “Ed Herman” as his UFC 139 opponent, which makes as much sense as anybody else.)

The only question is, will Koscheck be booed in his own hometown? UFC 139 will be headlined by Koscheck’s AKA teammate Cain Velasquez defending his heavyweight belt against Junior Dos Santos, and will also feature Urijah Faber vs. Brian Bowles and Martin Kampmann vs. Rick Story.

(The UFC is calling this ‘a potential Fight of the Night’)

A welterweight scrap between Martin Kampmann and Rick Story has been added to UFC 139, which is scheduled for November 19 at the HP Pavilion in San Jose, California.

The UFC announced the bout Wednesday.

(Two prom dates? Oh man, how’s Dominick gonna get himself out of *this* one?!)

According to a new MMAJunkie report, reigning bantamweight kingpin Dominick Cruz will make his fourth title defense at UFC on Versus 6, October 1st at the Verizon Center in Washington D.C. His challenger will be Demetrious Johnson, the AMC Pankration product whose current four-fight win streak includes decision victories over MMA legend Norifumi Yamamoto and former 135-pound WEC champ Miguel Torres.

Cruz is coming off his ninth consecutive victory, a unanimous decision against old rival Urijah Faber in a Fight of the Night performance at UFC 132. In the aftermath of that classic bang-up, fans wondered if the UFC would schedule an immediate trilogy match between the two. Instead, Faber’s next opponent will be another contender with vengeance on his mind…