(Jesus Christ Rumble, pull yourself together, will you?) 

If you recall, about a fortnight ago, super middleweight contender Anthony Johnson showed up to the UFC 142 weigh-ins at a Weigh-In Failure Leaderboard Record of 12 pounds heavy for his clash with former UFC light heavyweight champion Vitor Belfort. Dana White all but fired Johnson on the spot, labeling him “unprofessional,” to which Johnson responded by laughing at all us ignant haters. After a strong start in his fight with “The Phenom,” Johnson quickly gassed and succumbed to a first round rear-naked choke, and was given his walking papers promptly afterward.

Well, it seems that, despite missing weight for 25% of his UFC bouts, “Rumble” still has an outside chance of getting back into the sport’s highest promotion. When questioned about the issue following the UFC on Fox 2 press conference, White stated:

[Johnson] needs to go fight somewhere else, get some wins and come in on weight. He needs to prove to me that he can be a professional, show up on weight and do the things that he needs to do. [If] he gets a few fights under his belt and does that, we’ll talk.

(This is when we’d normally tell you to keep your chin up, Keith, but that seems to be what got you here in the first place.) 

Perhaps this might not come as a shocking revelation to most of the Potato Nation, but Strikeforce is in some bad shape. Like, Bubba on the beaches of Vietnam kind of shape. Let’s put it this way, if we were gambling men, and someone were taking bets on its probable death, we’d bet everything we own on death.

What are we jawing on about? Well, the Nevada State Athletic Commission just released its figures for “Strikeforce: Rockhold vs. Jardine” today, which took place at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada on January 7th, and the live gate for the event totaled LESS THAN HALF OF WHAT ROBBIE LAWLER WAS PAID TO FIGHT. As ridiculous as it may seem, Lawler did manage to knock out Aldan Amagov with the power of his testicles alone, so the somewhat exuberant compensation he received seems fair in this case. But boy does it not look good for Strikeforce.

Hauling in an abysmal 68,805 dollars, “Rockhold vs. Jardine” achieved a final attendance of just under 2000 (1992) with only 927 tickets sold. The other 1,065 tickets were comped, and 727 tickets remained unsold. The total fighter purse for this event was an even $566,000.

(Face, you are a scary. / Photo via FOX Sports)

By Mark Dorsey
One final recap of Saturday night’s UFC 142: Aldo vs. Mendes event, Clint Eastwood-style.

The Good
• Edson Barboza‘s astounding spinning heel kick knockout of Terry Etim. Mike Goldberg might have been exaggerating a bit when he called it “maybe the most spectacular knockout in UFC history,” but it’s certainly the early front-runner for Greatest Knockout of 2012. And props to Joe Rogan for immediately recalling Baraboza’s prior use of the kick against Anthony Njokuani. As Rogan mentioned, it’s an under-utilized technique that we may start to see come in-vogue in 2012, much like the crane kick in 2011.

• Gabriel Gonzaga needed a good performance to provoke any sort of excitement in his return to the UFC’s heavyweight division. Even sweeter than his early finish was his proclamation that we can expect to see him return to the submission base that generated so much interest in his first run at UFC contention.

• After two highly energetic Brazilian shows within a year, the UFC has found its most passionate and dedicated audience. The crowd at the HSBC Arena in Rio de Janeiro was loud, enthusiastic, and everything one would expect from a bunch of rowdy Brazilian fight fans. There was a good amount of variation in the chants throughout the night — from “U.S.A., to “Thiago,” to the famous soccer anthem “ole ole ole” — and a surreal crowd-surfing celebration from defending featherweight champion Jose Aldo capped off the incredible fan involvement.

Behold: a shining example of “kick face“. (Photo: UFC.com)

Brazilian fans are credited with being the most raucous audience in the world, and last night’s fighters gave them plenty to cheer about. Six of the nine bouts ended via knock out or submission*, with five of those stoppages coming in the first round.

Chokes, knees, and even a spinning wheel kick punctuated last night’s fights (*as did a controversial referee stoppage). Pop on in for a motion picture tribute to UFC 142.

As always, praise be to Zombie Prophet.

Read More ADD COMMENTS (142) DIGG THIS

“And if you think *I’m* upset, young man, you just WAIT until your father gets home!” (Pic: MMAMania.com)

Sometimes a fighter gets cut under bizarre circumstances that no one saw coming, and sometimes the writing is on the wall.

There was very little Anthony Johnson could have done last night to preserve his job in the UFC, and “losing” wasn’t on the short list. Every facet of Johnson’s battle with gravity has been a spectacle. On Friday night, he missed weight for the third time in his UFC career—that’s a first for the promotion. And when he stepped on the scales, he didn’t miss by a slim margin, either. He was closer to the light heavyweight limit than he was the middleweight. The eleven extra pounds he was sporting? That sets a UFC record as well.

Now we’ve already belabored Johnson’s lack of professionalism over the last two days, and whether it’s through a dinner invitation or a dismissive laugh, “Rumble” has made it clear that he doesn’t care what we the fans think. One person that does matter, however, is his boss. Here’s what Dana White had to say on the issue.

The People’s Champion, showing Chael Sonnen how it’s done. Props: @CopperHeartCT

With the UFC’s quick return to Rio de Janeiro, the promotion had high expectations to live up to. Their last visit saw a nearly perfect performance from one of the sport’s most dominant champions, a local favorite earning a quick finish, and (most) Brazilian fighters outmatching their foreign opponents on their ways to victory. It was going to be difficult to entertain the local fans the same way that UFC 134 did, yet the UFC’s return to Brazil netted nearly identical results.

Heading into his title defense against Chad Mendes last night, critics were starting to say that Jose Aldo was beginning to coast his way through fights. That the fight finisher fans grew to love in the WEC had been replaced by a fighter content to go through the motions en route to a decision victory. In front of his home country, Aldo made an impressive statement by finishing “Money” Mendes in the first round.

Mendes displayed improved striking, but that means little when facing the lethal limbs of Jose Aldo. To win this fight–or even stay competitive–Mendes needed to put the champion on his back, yet time and time again his best efforts were thwarted. Though Aldo blatantly grabbed the fence to prevent one takedown, a follow-up attempt from the same position seconds later barely took his feet off the ground. Had he been deducted one point- or ten- it’s hard to imagine the fight going any other way. The brilliant takedown defense and impeccable timing he showed throughout the bout were on full display in the closing seconds of round one. Aldo’s transition to the fight ending knee was nothing short of perfection, something only a dominant striker of his caliber could dream of pulling off.

“I’m not even kidding you, man! It must have been four feet of linguiça. And ‘Humble’ ate the whole thing, just now backstage!” (Photo: UFC.com)

It’s 1 AM in Rio De Janeiro and and the locals have turned out in droves to cheer on their countrymen and wish death upon foreigners. It may not be very sporting of them, but we’ve pretty much thrown professionalism out the window this weekend.

Is Mendes the right Alpha Male to topple Aldo in his own backyard? Does Belfort have enough power to put away one of the UFC’s top heavyweights? And will Palhares’s overwhelming desire to tear limbs apart overcome his instinct to stop fighting in the middle of a bout?

Come join me, Chris Colemon, inside for the answers to these questions and more.

(From L-R: Gabriel Gonzaga, UFC president Dana White, Squidward Q. Tentacles, and the guy who totally isn’t Dana White’s bodyguard. Photo via MMAJunkie)

Before the UFC 142 pay-per-view card kicks off from the HSBC Arena in Rio de Janeiro, FX will be airing four fights from the preliminary card, featuring the return of veteran lightweight striker Sam Stout as well as formerly-retired heavyweight Gabriel Gonzaga. Follow us after the jump for round-by-round results from the live prelims broadcast starting at 8 p.m., courtesy of rookie CagePotato liveblogger Anthony Gannon. Porra, you guys!

(Video courtesy of YouTube.com/UFC)

Dana White’s latest vlog walks us through the behind the scenes drama at yesterday’s weigh-ins. Before the action unfolds we get to tag along with the multimillionaire fight baron as he soars over the slums of Rio in a private helicopter. Poetry.

Things get interesting when Vitor Belfort checks in at the arena. Watching “The Phenom” gnaw away on a towel of crushed ice like a starved animal as he learns that “Rumble” is nowhere in the vicinity of 185lbs makes Johnson’s massive failure all the more unforgivable. Vitor had the option of stopping his cut and fighting at a catchweight, but ultimately chose the path of the professional and made the contracted weight. That 20% of Johnson’s purse probably didn’t hurt his decision.

Join us back here this evening as we kick off our Liveblog with the prelims on FX!

Well, fat people are supposed to be jolly.

You’ve trained several months for a fight, flown to another country, missed weight, been publicly lambasted by your boss, forfeited 20% of your purse, risked your health, and jeopardized your career in the sport’s biggest promotion. What do you do?

You have yourself a good chuckle:

“I’m already laughing at what ppl are saying. Yeah it was for medical reason and I did what the UFC Dr Told me to do. Believe it or don’t I give a fuck cuz the ppl close to me were freaking out but I’m still alive and something like this has never happen before. Say what you want I’m still gonna do my thang. You try not having feeling in your legs and can’t move then and see how you look at life after that.”

I have no doubt that Anthony Johnson required medical attention while cutting weight, but it was for a “medical reason” much like getting rushed to the ER because of alcohol poisoning is due to a “medical reason”. He’s not the random victim of an unpreventable illness. Like the sorority chick with marker on her face and puke on her dress, Johnson’s medical issue stems directly from poor decision making and willfully pushing his body beyond the limits from which it can recover. He’s now missed weight in over 25% of his UFC bouts. Anthony Johnson, my friends, is on a bender.

(Video courtesy of YouTube/InsideMMA)

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Totally Looks Like:  Sean Kingston

By now, you’ve probably heard the big news of the day:  Anthony “Hey Yo, Is That My Tummy Rumblin’?” Johnson missed weight today in historic fashion, tipping the scales at 197 pounds.  According to some research that I absolutely did not just do, twelve pounds is the most that anyone has ever blown weight anywhere ever, and you can feel free to correct me in the comments.  Vitor Belfort has agreed to fight a catchweight at 197, but has asked that Johnson weigh-in again tomorrow at no more than 205.

Now, maybe I’m not shocked by this — but damn brotato, how do you miss — how do you go UP a weight class because you have a nightmare cut at 170 and the boss has said you belong at 185, then proceed to bulk up like you got a call from Vince McMahon?  

Serious question: is Anthony Johnson dyslexic with numbers or something?  Just checking.

He has a black belt in intensity, a complete disregard for his opponents’ ankle-bones, more muscles than a seafood platter, and an unpredictable streak that borders on the insane. He is middleweight contender Rousimar Palhares, and he’ll be fighting Mike Massenzio on the main card of UFC 142 in Rio this Saturday night. Re-discover Toquinho’s body of work with some hand-picked animated GIFs, which continue after the jump…

(UFC featherweight champion Jose Aldo pictured with his summer intern, Chad.)

UPDATE: Yes, Anthony Johnson came in at 197 pounds. Gory details after the jump.

Weigh-ins for tomorrow night’s UFC 142: Aldo vs. Mendes event are scheduled to begin today at 4 p.m. ET / 1 p.m. PT in Rio. You can watch the action right here on CagePotato.com, in either of the video players after the jump. We’ll also be posting the full weigh-in results after all 20 fighters have hit the scale. Will there be any disrespectful hat-smacking this time? How terrifying will Anthony Johnson look as a middleweight light-heavyweight? And will the huge broad on the right be replacing Chandella permanently? Stay tuned…

UFC 142 goes down this Saturday from the HSBC Arena in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and though it doesn’t feature quite as epic a lineup as the UFC’s return to Brazil at UFC 134, the fact that the card has still maintained its two marquee match-ups is something to brag about, if only due to how cursed a card this has been. So if you, like Siyar Bahadurzada, Paulo Thiago, Stanislav Nedkov, and Fabio Maldanado, find yourself watching the action from the sidelines on Saturday night and suddenly in need of some extra dough, then we are here to help. Check out the betting lines below, courtesy of BestFightOdds, and join us after the jump for some sound betting advice.

Main Card
Erick Silva (-525) vs. Carlo Prater (+415)
Edson Barboza (-270) vs. Terry Etim (+230)
Rousimar Palhares (-525) vs. Mike Massenzio (+415)
Anthony Johnson (-110) vs. Vitor Belfort (-110)
Jose Aldo (-240) vs. Chad Mendes (+200)

Preliminary Card
Antonio Carvalho (-225) vs. Felipe Arantes (+175)
Mike Pyle (-460) vs. Ricardo Funch (+340)
Yuri Alcantara (-195) vs. Michihiro Omigawa (+160)
Sam Stout (EV) vs. Thiago Tavares (-140)
Gabriel Gonzaga (-120) vs. Edinaldo Oliveira (-110)

(Edson Barboza uglies up Ross Pearson during his split-decision victory over the TUF 9 winner at UFC 134.)

By Anton Gurevich

This Saturday night, Edson Barboza will head to his native country of Brazil to take on English submission specialist Terry Etim at UFC 142 from the HSBC Arena in Rio de Janeiro. Quickly emerging as one of the lightweight division’s brightest young prospects, Barboza will look to extend his current undefeated streak to 10-0, with hopes of solidifying his place in the UFC’s stacked 155-pound title mix.

A product of The Armory Training Center in Florida, Barboza made his professional debut in 2009, reeling off six consecutive victories and capturing the Ring of Combat lightweight title before signing with the UFC in 2010. Utilizing crippling leg-kicks and precision striking, the Brazilian dispatched of Mike Lullo via TKO in his Octagon debut, which he followed up with back-to-back “Fight of the Night” performances against Anthony Njokuani and Ross Pearson to improve his UFC mark to 3-0.

Now just days ahead of what will be his second homecoming in less than six-months, LowKick.com had an opportunity to speak with Barboza about this weekend’s match-up. Here’s what he had to say about his training at The Armory, his title aspirations, and how his striking stacks up against other UFC lightweights.

READ THE INTERVIEW ON LOWKICK.BLITZCORNER.COM!

(Anthony Johnson vs. Charlie Brenneman)

With knockout power in all four limbs, Anthony Johnson is one of the most athletic and explosive fighters in the UFC. (He said it, so it’s okay for us to say it too.) Now testing his fate at middleweight — arguably a much more natural weight class for him — Rumble will face Vitor Belfort in the co-main event of UFC 142 this Saturday. Will his power be even scarier at 185? Check out some animated highlights from his UFC career, which continue after the jump, and let us know what you think.

(Edinaldo Oliveira vs. Jair Goncalves, 9/16/11; two more videos are after the jump.)

A longtime friend and training partner of Junior Dos Santos, undefeated heavyweight prospect Edinaldo Oliveira will be making his UFC debut on the preliminary card of this Saturday’s UFC 142 show, taking on the returning Gabriel Gonzaga. The 27-year-old jiu-jitsu black belt hails from Bahia, Brazil, and carries a record of 13-0-1 (with one no-contest) including eight knockouts and two submissions.

Oliveira’s nickname, “Lula Molusco,” is the name of the Squidward character in the Brazilian version of Spongebob Squarepants. You can’t make this stuff up, folks. We’re hoping that’s due to his lanky 6’7″ frame, and not his voice. After securing free education through a security guard job at a Brazilian college, Oliveira studied criminal law, hoping to become an attorney, but had to suspend his studies to devote more attention to his fight career.

Fight journals are an interesting batch of film. More often than not, they are a simple collection of offhand moments in a fighter’s life, usually preempting/hyping an upcoming fight. They are of varying interest levels, but usually reside somewhere between “been there, done that” and “would rather watch new Meisha Tate interview.” However, every now again, we are treated to a stylized, slickly edited piece of film that, regardless of it’s content, is able to pique our interest. We’ve seen it before with the fantastic web series The Reem, and today we’ve managed to stumble over another exceptional fight journal, that of Anthony Johnson, who maybe be looking at a future title shot if he gets past Vitor Belfort at UFC 142, which goes down in less than a week in Rio De Janerio, Brazil.

(Video via YouTube.com/UFC)

Just five months after their last visit to the HSBC Arena in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, the UFC returns with another card headlined by native heroes. In UFC 142‘s main event, featherweight champion Jose Aldo — who has now won ten straight fights in the WEC/UFC — looks to make another belt defense against undefeated Team Alpha Male wrestling specialist Chad “Money” Mendes, who will be hoping to put Aldo on his back as much as possible and score some revenge for Urijah Faber’s leg.

In the co-main event, middleweight contender Vitor Belfort returns from his latest injury layoff to welcome Anthony Johnson to the middleweight division, in a matchup that contains too much explosive athleticism for its own damn good.

All 11 fights on the “Aldo vs. Mendes” card feature at least one Brazilian, with Rousimar Palhares, Edson Barboza, and Gabriel Gonzaga making return appearances. The full UFC 142 lineup is after the jump…

(Photo courtesy of Combate.TV)

It looks like Gray Maynard will be eating Brazilian kicks and punches for Christmas in the delicacy’s native land.

The former number one UFC lightweight contender will be in Rio de Janeiro for the next few weeks to help UFC featherweight kingpin Jose Aldo prepare for his January 14 UFC 142 bout with Chad Mendes. Aldo invited “The Bully” to Brazil as his style is very similar to Mendes’. Gray arrived on Wednesday and will stick around until after the event in three weeks.

(All of these fighters have been ordered to wear sumo suits over the holidays.)

Well, it’s looking like UFC 142 may give a few of Zuffa’s most injury-plagued cards a run for their money.

According to various reports, the current body count stands at four as as many fighters have pulled out of the event for various reasons.

As a result the UFC is now scrambling to find replacements for Paulo Thiago (injury), Rob Broughton (injury), Siyar Bahadurzada (injury) and Stanislav Nedkov (visa issue) to face their respective former opponents Mike Pyle, Edinaldo Oliveira, Erick Silva and Fabio Maldonado.

Tatame first reported the news today of Thiago’s elbow injury, while the UFC tweeted that Broughton, Nedkov and and Bahadurzada were all off the card due to unnamed afflictions. Conflicting reports have since surfaced stating that Nedkov had issues securing a work visa for the January 14 show in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

If replacements can’t be found, one or maybe two of the bouts in question could be salvaged, but with six scratches, the card would take the final slot in the five most cursed cards in UFC history.

Check out the top four after the jump.

(I guess it’s true what they say; life imitates art.) 

It has recently been reported that a welterweight contest between Paulo Thiago and Mike Pyle has been added to the rapidly awesoming UFC 142 card, which goes down January 14th in Rio. Thiago, a Brazilian superhero of sorts, last competed in the UFC’s return to Brazil at UFC 134, notching a unanimous decision victory over David Mitchell. It was Thiago’s first win in his past three contests, so a win over Pyle is likely necessary if he wants to keep his job that doesn’t involve Brazilian gangs, which, according to this one documentary I saw, are fucking terrifying. Pyle, on the other hand, just saw a three fight win streak (one that included an upset win over British prospect John Hathaway) snapped at the hands of Canadian wrecking machine Rory MacDonald.

(In a moment, you’re going to feel a little bit of pressure.) 

A lot of fight booking news today, Potato Nation.

With a featherweight title fight between Jose Aldo and Chad Mendes, the UFC debut of Siyar Bahadurzada, and some guaranteed fireworks in the Belfort/Johnson and Etim/Barboza scraps, UFC 142 is shaping up to be one hell of a card. But if, like me, you don’t get excited for a fight that lacks an outside possibility of descending into utter chaos, involving limb loss, premature celebration, and a lack of respect for the referee bordering on Earl Hebner levels of insanity, then boy are you in for a treat.

News broke earlier today that our favorite little appendage manipulator, Rousimar Palhares, has agreed to face New Jersey’s Mike Massenzio at UFC 142 in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil. And although allowing Palhares to compete in his home country nearly cost him a victory over Dan Miller (who is also a Jersey native, ironically) in his last bout, “Toquinho” will no doubt be looking to impress against Massenzio, who may be fighting for his UFC career come January 14th. Just 1-3 in his last 4 UFC bouts (2-4 overall), Massenzio most recently scored a unanimous decision victory over the similarly struggling Steve Cantwell at UFC 136, making it Cantwell’s fourth straight decision loss in as many contests.

(Bahadurzada v. Alessio, United Glory 2010 World Semifinals) 

News broke earlier today that Golden Glory standout and Team Mayhem striking coach Siyar Bahadurzada has signed with the UFC and will be facing Erick Silva at UFC 142 in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil on January 14th. Bahadurzada, who has compiled a respectable 20-4 record with wins over John Alessio, Derrick Noble, and Evangelista Santos (by injury) will be looking to showcase his hands against Silva, who most recently plastered Luis Ramos in under a minute at UFC 134.

Bahadurzada last competed in Russia back in May, where he capped off a devastating run through the United Glory 2010 World Series with a second round TKO over Tommy Depret to take home the gold. Well, it was more then likely coal, but you get what I’m saying. Anyway, Bahadurzada hasn’t tasted defeat since two-time UFC washout Jorge Santiago heel hooked him back at a 2008 Sengoku event.

As a bonus, I’ve included Siyar’s quarterfinal match against Derrick Noble and his championship-earning victory over Depret after the jump.

(Rumble poses next to a normal-sized human being. Photo via KnoxxGear.)

By Ryan Ventura

For a long time, many fans have felt that Anthony Johnson was too big to be playing around in the welterweight jungle. But now they get their wish and he is making the jump to the middleweight division to face ‘The Phenom’ Vitor Belfort at UFC 142, January 14th in Rio. “I still want to fight at 170,” said Johnson “but I’m excited about making the jump to 185 and we’ll see what happens after this fight is over.”

In a way, this opportunity to fight the legendary Vitor Belfort is coming full circle for Anthony Johnson. The two first met after Anthony’s very first professional Mixed Martial Arts bout back in 2006. “I knocked out my opponent in one minute and nine seconds. Vitor happened to be in the crowd, Shogun Rua was too. After the fight, Vitor gave me props and shook my hand. I never thought I’d be fighting a man who I shook hands with many years ago. I’m a fan of Vitor Belfort and always will be. It’s going to be fun fighting him.”

Continue reading this interview on Lowkick.Blitzcorner.com

(Don’t be fooled by its innocent exterior, the Stout will knock you out quicker than you can say “10.6 percent.”) 

A pair of lightweight contests have recently been announced for the UFC’s return to Brazil this January. Fresh off his lightning quick victory over Edward Faaloloto at UFC 138, Terry Etim will be taking a big step up in competition when he faces Brazilian phenom Edson Barboza.

Barboza has gone 3-0 in his UFC career, notching wins over TUF 9 winner Ross Pearson and WEC KO artist Anthony Njokuani. Etim, on the other hand, had rattled off four victories in his last five fights before being sidelined by a rib injury for over a year. Having fought six of his nine UFC contests on his home soil, it will be interesting to see how Etim reacts to the foreign crowd, especially one that has shown the capacity to commit bloodshed before.

(Yeah, this is probably for the best.)

It’s been a long time coming. The UFC confirmed today that disturbingly large welterweight contender Anthony Johnson will make the jump to 185 pounds and meet Vitor Belfort at UFC 142 (January 14th, somewhere in Brazil), in support of the Jose Aldo vs. Chad Mendes featherweight title match.

Johnson is riding a two-fight win streak, including a unanimous decision victory over Dan Hardy and a first-round TKO of Charlie Brenneman last month. Due to his habit of packing on mass outside of training camps — which resulted in him blowing weight by six pounds before his 2009 fight against Yoshiyuki Yoshida — speculation about Rumble’s size has hounded him for most of his UFC career. Competing at a more natural weight could be the best thing for his career. Just ask Alistair Overeem, if he ever gets a break between killing people.

(Aldo will make his third UFC title defense at home in Brazil.)

Jose Aldo will be in for a stiff test when he puts his UFC featherweight crown on the line against undefeated 11-0 wrestling standout Chad Mendes on January 14 at UFC 142 in a yet-to-be-announced locale in Brazil.

“Pound-for-pound superstar Jose Aldo will return home to fight in Brazil for the first time since 2007 when he defends his UFC featherweight title against unbeaten powerhouse Chad Mendes,” UFC president Dana White revealed to FoxSports.com this morning. “Aldo hasn’t lost in over five years, but Mendes has yet to lose in MMA, and after clearing out all the contenders put in his way, he believes he has what it takes to beat the champion.”