(Video courtesy of YouTube/IronChefKenichiSakai)

UFC 87: Seek and Destroy went down three years ago at the Target Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Why it Matters:

(Video courtesy of YouTube/SemtexRumble617)

• Jon Jones made his UFC debut on the card, defeating fellow undefeated fighter Andre Gusmao by unanimous decision. Jones would go on to win five of his next six fights in dominating fashion against some of the promotion’s best fighters including Vladimir Matyushenko, Brandon Vera and Mauricio “Shogun” Rua at UFC 128 to win the UFC light heavyweight strap in a little more than two-and-a-half years since he first competed in the Octagon. Analysts predict that he will go down as one of the sport’s best fighters. Time will tell.

(A man who knows the value of the right to remain silent.)

Perhaps you’ve noticed that ever since he opened his yap to complain about the UFC and money to Fight! Magazine, Roger Huerta has practically disappeared. He lost his faux-number one contender bout to Kenny Florian at UFC 87, and subsequent rebroadcasts of that event on Spike TV have had that bout removed altogether. It’s enough to make you wonder, did Roger Huerta really exist, or did we all just imagine him?

Okay, I checked on the internet and he really does exist, he’s just vanished from the UFC’s PR radar after taking his gripes public. Former foe and current WEC fighter Leonard Garcia tells MMA Rated that Huerta has no one but himself to blame:

“I think everybody writes their own ticket,” Garcia said. “The only thing I can say is don’t ever start to believe what people say about you. That’s the number one thing for me. The simple fact of the matter is that we are getting paid to do what we love. Don’t go out there and try to reach for the stars too soon.

(As if this wasn’t humiliating enough.)

Did anybody watch the replay of UFC 87 on Spike last night? If you did, you might have noticed there was something missing. As the eternally vigilant Mike C. at MMAEruption explains:

The fight between Roger Huerta and Kenny Florian. Weird, huh? That was the third most-hyped fight at the event, and it does not make it onto the broadcast over stuff like Maia/Mcdonald and McFedries/Massenzio, the latter of which was actually from Ultimate Fight Night 15!

…

[N]othing pisses [Dana White] off more than when his fighters talk about money in public. And if you recall, shortly before UFC 87, Roger Huerta was interviewed by Fight! magazine, complaining quite a bit about the UFC’s compensation policies and his contract. Plus, if we look back at the original UFC 87 broadcast, Roger’s post-fight interview wasn’t broadcast. And now, the match between Roger and Kenny doesn’t even make it onto the replay? True, the fight wasn’t exactly the barn burner it was expected to be, but come on! Kenny and Roger are big names for the UFC.

So we can stick the proverbial fork in Roger Huerta, because he’s done. He is about to get the Andrei Arlovski treatment. Expect Roger’s next fight to be on the undercard of an Ultimate Fight Night against a wrestler that will hold him down and make him look bad for three rounds.

UFC 87′s three headlining fights (Huerta/Florian, Lesnar/Herring, GSP/Fitch) all went to decision, and while that may have created some time constraints for Spike, you can’t see this as anything but an intentional insult for Huerta — especially when his match is replaced by some random bout from an Ultimate Fight Night. We’ll keep you updated on when/where Huerta’s next match will be, but it’s looking like he’s being made an example of right now. Cold-blooded, bro…

(The stuff you find under Tommy Speer’s mattress.)

Former UFC welterweight champ Matt Hughes has been taking some heat for his remarks about the Georges St. Pierre-Jon Fitch bout, which he admitted to walking out on during UFC 87. But in a rare response to the media and the fans, Hughes updated his blog to address the criticism and set the record straight. Kind of:

I usually don’t do this, but I’m going to break my rule this time. There’s been so much talk about my last blog entry that it’s amazing. Some of it is legitimate thinking, some of it is just from idiots. I never said the GSP fight was boring, the reason I walked out was because I wanted to beat the crowd. I didn’t think Fitch was going to get back in the match and the fight wasn’t as exciting as I thought it would be. If you want, you can go look at my last blog entry and see that this is basically what I said. So people criticized me for leaving the fight early and said that was disrespectful to GSP, I disagree, I just wanted to get out of there.

Hughes also responded to a Yahoo! Sports blog entry by Steve Cofield that interpreted his ‘GSP-looked-small’ remarks to mean that Hughes was implying St. Pierre had been on steroids for previous bouts. While that might have been a little bit of a stretch, and Cofield admits as much, Hughes’ attempts at backtracking on his ‘boring’ remarks are hindered by the wonders of modern technology.

His exact words to interviewers with PWB Podcast: “I gotta be real honest though, I was kinda bored with the match.”

Woop. There it is.

As we told you earlier this week, Matt Hughes was not at all impressed with Georges St. Pierre at UFC 87. His blog post about how boring he found the GSP-Fitch fight seemed laced with no small amount of jealousy. That’s somewhat understandable. A guy beats your ass twice, you may have some ill feelings towards him. But now Hughes is trying to claim that after GSP’s fight with Fitch (which Hughes walked out of halfway through) he does not deserve to be mentioned in the pound-for-pound debate. Has anyone told Hughes yet that GSP actually won that fight?

The hilarious thing is that Hughes also says B.J. Penn deserves to be considered among the best pound-for-pound. As in, the same B.J. Penn who Hughes (and GSP) beat. But GSP, who beat Hughes twice, convincingly, gets knocked out of the running for beating a guy who is ranked above Hughes in just about every welterweight top ten list in existence. You following this?

If only Hughes could bring himself to admit that, while he is a legend of the sport who was great in his time, that time is now over and St. Pierre is on top. Is that so hard? Probably, yeah. Especially for a guy like Hughes, whose stubborn unwillingness to believe that anyone could possibly be better than him has served him well in the past. Still, he’s got to let it go. Watching a former champ snipe at the guy who supplanted him is just sad. If Hughes really thought that GSP wasn’t any good, you know what he’d probably do? Beat him. I guess when that’s out of the question you settle for insults.

(Props: Yahoo’s Steve Cofield)

This video of BJ Penn’s experience at UFC 87 (courtesy of BJPenn.com, via Yahoo!) confirms a few things that I’ve long suspected: 1) BJ Penn has more fun than I do, 2) Jesse Ventura (seen sitting stone-faced next to Penn at one point) does not, and 3) everyone in the world — including “Rampage” Jackson — thinks they do a good Hulk Hogan impression, but most of them are wrong.

Where things really start to get interesting here is when Penn enters the Octagon to confront Georges St. Pierre about their superfight. You can hear Dana White asking Penn to let GSP “have his moment here real quick,” and you can also hear the boos from the crowd when Penn steps up to the mic. No matter, Nick Swardson thinks he’s the best fighter in the world, and that’s enough for me.

Below, check out BJ hitting the town with Bruce Buffer, who declares Jon Fitch to be “a tough son of a bitch.” You gotta love the Buff.

Find more videos like this on BJPENN.COM

(St. Pierre wants to “do it” — just not right away. Video props to Bloody Elbow.)

In an article written for RDS.ca titled “Jon Fitch est un Terminator” (and translated here by Fightline.com), Georges St. Pierre says he may not return to action until next year:

Many state that my next opponent should be BJ Penn. Nothing has obviously been signed yet, but he is my number one challenger. I believe he deserves a chance to challenge me for my title, but we’ll see what happens on that matter in the next few weeks…

On my end, however, I don’t know if I’ll be stepping back into the Octagon before 2009. I’ve fought four times in the last 12 months. I therefore need some rest. I like the life I lead, but I sometimes need to relax. It’s not the fight as such that’s exhausting; it’s all the preparation that comes with it. I’ve made so many sacrifices to prepare myself. During training camps, I practically do not live anymore. It’s therefore on a psychological level that I need to recharge.

So unless Dana White can bribe/threaten him into changing his mind, the UFC’s New Year’s show may be down one superfight. But no matter when the inevitable meeting goes down, it’s obvious that Penn wants it a hell of a lot more than St. Pierre does. If you watched the end of UFC 87 (video above), you probably picked up on the different vibes displayed by Penn (with his shrill cries of “LET’S DO IT GEORGES, YOU WANNA DO IT!?”) and GSP (who seemingly wants to fight Penn as much as anyone else who “deserve a shot”).

(A face made for TV.)

When Kenny Florian told us in our exclusive interview that he hoped to get ESPN’s internet show “MMA Live” onto actual TV soon, we naturally assumed it was just one of those things you say without really meaning it. Kind of like, ‘We should get together for lunch some time’ or ‘I love you.’ But from the sound of it they might really be close to landing a TV slot for the show on one of the ESPN’s:

“I don’t want to let the cat out of the bag, but soon,” Florian said. “The next couple of months, we’re hoping to get [MMA Live] on ESPN or ESPN 2, and the sponsors are getting on board as we speak, so we should have a deal very, very soon. We’re all very pumped.”

In all seriousness, we really hope this works out. Not only is it a great step towards more coverage for MMA, but Florian is one of the sport’s greatest ambassadors. You put his suburban Boston mug on TV with the words ‘MMA Fighter’ below them and suddenly it gets a lot harder to call the sport human cockfighting fit only for tattooed bar bouncers. Plus, doesn’t the world deserve to hear about his hellbows?

(Props: MMA Glory via MMA Linker. Apologies for the poor quality.)

The most unsung performance from UFC 87 was that of Jon Jones, the Octagon newbie who began fighting professionally in April. Though Jones’s decision win against Andre Gusmao didn’t make the pay-per-view broadcast, those who saw it were treated to one of the wildest offensive displays in recent memory. Check out the video above, where Jones pulls out every trick in his whoopass bag, including the sick takedown at the video’s 2:14 mark, a spinning elbow at 7:11, a spinning backfist at 7:17, more backfists at 11:54 and 13:05, and the switch-leg flying knee at 16:46. (And of course all those knees to the groin.) Sloppy? Absolutely. But with his wrestling prowess, aggressiveness, and creativity, he could eventually develop into a truly scary fighter.

And also, the opening Mike Goldberg/Joe Rogan exchange at 0:21-0:34? Instant classic.

Plenty of people seem upset about Brock Lesnar after UFC 87. Maybe it’s because of his antics at the end of the fight. Maybe it’s because of his post-fight remarks. Maybe it’s because he won, or because everything about him reminds you of the guy who put you upside down in that trash can back in high school. We all have our reasons, is what I’m saying, even if they may be bad ones.

I’ll admit that I didn’t get a whole lot of joy out of watching Lesnar control Herring on the mat for three rounds. It wasn’t exactly a thrilling bout, athletically speaking, and his ‘ride-em cowboy’ routine was the kind of thing I hate about pro sports. But at a time when the UFC’s heavyweight division suffers from a general dearth of talent and interesting potential matchups, hate-ability may be just what we need right now.

What we have in Lesnar is the type of guy who various martial arts were created in order to protect against. He’s big, strong, fast, and aggressive. He’s all natural ability, and not so much technique at this point. His personality is abrasive, to put it mildly — the kind of guy you run into at a bar and think, ‘I’d kick your ass, if only you weren’t so big.’ What’s more, he seems to really enjoy being that guy.

After his display following the victory over Herring prompted some anger from MMA fans, Lesnar responded:

“That was just me. I was just excited. That was for Heath’s camp. I had the last laugh and the last words to say. I might’ve went a little overboard. If I offended anybody then I’m sorry…uh, not really!”

What’s not to love?

Nobody likes to lose, but there’s losing like a man and there’s losing like a six-year-old. In the above video from NBC Sports Jon Fitch ups his stock by taking his loss to Georges St. Pierre as well as can be expected. Not only did he prove his toughness by hanging in against GSP for five rounds, he also showed up to the press conference even though his face looked like he’d just made out with a wolverine. That’s an honorable competitor, right there.

For fighting his heart out and for this display of gentlemanly sportsmanship, we extend to Jon Fitch our rarely-awarded Cage Potato ‘Atta Boy (award has no implied or actual monetary value). We’d like to also give one to Dana White for trying to subtly replace Fitch’s beer with a bottle of water while he’s answering questions from reporters, but we only have so many of these fake awards lying around.

You may have noticed Matt Hughes sitting Octagon-side at UFC 87. At least, that’s where he was for most of the night. Turns out he didn’t make it all the way through the evening, and you can probably guess why. From Matt Hughes’ blog:

I went there really to watch one fight, probably not the one you’re expecting. I went there to watch Brock Lesnar. He is so interesting because he is so athletic as well as being so powerful. So that fight went just like I thought it would, Brock took him down whenever he wanted and on the ground he did whatever he wanted. I was also there watching my buddy, Roger, but he didn’t quite look the same. I don’t think him or Kenny fought their best fight on Saturday. Roger looked to have done a few things different and I would say that he needs to go back to what he was doing before.

The last fight of the night was Georges and Fitch. Georges didn’t look as big as he has before and he seemed like he had gotten tired from the first round. Fitch had the game plan of countering Georges and you just can’t do that. You can’t counter a quicker fighter. To be honest, halfway in the third round I got up and walked out of the arena and went to my hotel. The fight wasn’t the most exciting and I wanted to get out of there before everyone else was getting up to leave.

I’m sure Hughes’ decision to walk out of GSP’s first successful title defense halfway through had everything to do with the quality of the fight and not his personal feelings about St. Pierre. Yes, the GSP-Fitch fight did win “Fight of the Night”, but hey, if you stay all the way until the end you’re going to have a hell of a time getting back to your hotel. You’re also going to have to hear the words, “…and still UFC welterweight champion” and know they aren’t talking about you. You can decide for yourself which of those two things played a greater role in Hughes’ decision to walk out.

In the interest of finishing what we’ve started in regards to this whole Dana White UFC 87 video blog business, here’s the closing entry. We get to see some of White’s fight night routine, which includes a fair amount of smokin’ and jokin’ (no actual smoking occurs) backstage with Rampage Jackson. We also hear once more about White’s enthusiasm for the city of Minneapolis, also known as “no bullshit, America’s best-kept secret.” And here I thought our best-kept secret was The Trail of Tears.

In case you’re sitting there all weepy-eyed over this little experiment in “vlogging” having come to an end, have no fear. Dana White vows that they’re going to start doing this before every event. Looks like someone has been won over by the power of the internets.

(Photo courtesy of UFC.com)

Some fun facts coming out of Minneapolis…

According to Dana White, the Target Center hosted 15,082 spectators for UFC 87, and banked a live gate total of $2,252,000, breaking the venue’s former record gate ($2,062,000) set by a Billy Joel/Elton John concert in 2001. It was the first UFC event held in Minnesota, and White hinted that the UFC could return to the Land of 10,000 Lakes in the future.

As for medical suspensions, the fighters of “Seek and Destroy” got off easily, with just four participants picking up 30-day time-outs. They are: Georges St. Pierre (cuts), Jon Fitch (cuts), Ryan Thomas (cuts), and Dan Evensen (precautionary due to KO). Strangely, the also-knocked-out Manvel Gamburyan and the whaled-on Heath Herring managed to escape the suspensions. Minnesota seems to have a “rub some dirt on it” attitude when it comes to fighter injuries, and that’s cool with us. Unfortunately, they also have a “none of your goddamned business” attitude when it comes to fighter payouts — apparently, UFC salaries will not be released in Minnesota as part of the state’s freedom of information legislation.

(Props to Crazy Zimmerman and ZzFDKzZ on the UG)

(‘I don’t want to sound like a jerk, but one of us needs to lay off the tanning salon.’)

We all suspected it, but now it’s real. Dana White said he will give B.J. Penn the fight he wants against Georges St. Pierre some time in the coming months, although where it will go down is another question. When asked if the superfight would take place in Montreal, White answered “probably not”. He also said Penn wouldn’t vacate the lightweight title to fight St. Pierre.

So what does that mean for company man Kenny Florian, who was hoping for a once-promised shot at that title after his victory over Roger Huerta? Looks like he might have some vacation time coming, because St. Pierre and Penn get their wishes granted first. From MMA Weekly:

“They both really want that fight, they both want to fight each other,” said White. “I’m going to let that fight happen and then I’ll figure out what we’re going to do at 155.”

The Penn-St. Pierre rematch will most likely happen on December 27, or at least that’s the most prevalent rumor. That means Florian’s reward for toppling troublemaker Roger Huerta is that he maybe gets a shot at the lightweight strap six months from now. Maybe. Of course, odds are that if Penn beats GSP he’ll never darken the 155-pound doorway again, so we may be looking at a vacant title situation or, worse, another interim title while White waits for Penn to come to his senses and return to the weight class that loves him far more than he loves it.

So is this title freeze a screw job for every 155-pounder in the UFC whose name doesn’t rhyme with T.A. Kenn? Probably. But as long as it means we get to see Penn-St. Pierre II, nobody else seems to mind. Including GSP:

“I want to be a real champion, I want to be the best in the world,” St. Pierre stated. “And to be the best in the world you need to fight the best in the world and I want to give a shot to everybody that deserves it. B.J. Penn deserves it, he’s an incredible fighter.”

Translation: Game on, suckers.

Give ‘em a look while they last…

(St. Pierre vs. Fitch; props to MMA Linker)

(Lesnar vs. Herring; props to MixedMartialArtVideos)

”
Brock Lesnar rides the “Texas Crazy Horse” en route to a decision victory.

”
Lesnar celebrates with a Tito Ortiz-worthy routine.

(Props: MMA-Core)

(A little left hook action, courtesy of MMA Weekly.)

The main event at UFC 87 may have been a methodical, one-sided affair, but it was enough for Georges St. Pierre and Jon Fitch to each pocket an extra $60,000 for “Fight of the Night.” Fitch’s gritty performance in the loss apparently impressed both Dana White and GSP. The champion had this to say after the bout:

“I tried to finish him many times. I was like, my god what am I going to have to do to beat this guy? It was discouraging.”

Dana White was also impressed by Brock Lesnar’s performance in his decision victory over Heath Herring, though not enough to give him any bonus money (at least as far as the official record is concerned). He did give him this praise, though, and praise is almost as good as money (no it isn’t):

“I’m telling you I’m blown away by his performance tonight,” said White. “One of our guys said it looks like he’s hitting him with lunch boxes. The guy is a phenomenon. I’ll be honest, I didn’t think he could come in here with no fights and compete at this level, he proved me wrong.”

Lesnar was pretty pleased with himself, as well, asking no one in particular: “Can you see me now?” Rumor has it that he may face Cheick Kongo next. After his victory over Dan Evensen Kongo claimed that he deserves a title shot and “everybody knows” it. Sure we do. Anybody with an impressive one-fight winning streak is obviously deserving of a title shot.

Knockout of the Night honors went to Rob Emerson for his quick destruction of Manny Gamburyan, and Demian Maia picked up Submission of the Night for his rear naked choke of Jason MacDonald.

(Photo courtesy of UFC.com.)

It’s time, baby. Jon Fitch attempts to steal Georges St. Pierre’s welterweight belt, Kenny Florian and Roger Huerta throw down in a lightweight #1 contender “definitely in the mix” match, and Brock Lesnar smash face. Hit that “more” link and refresh the page every few minutes to read all the latest from the Target Center in Minneapolis, MN. Low prices every day — caged death tonight.

(NERD FIGHT!!! Photo courtesy of UFC.com.)

For those who are particularly sensitive to spoilers — even when they technically aren’t spoilers at all — results from the “Seek and Destroy” undercard are after the jump.

Related: UFC 87: The New Guys

(In all fairness, the rearview mirror is knocked off just like Dana White said.)

- How the physical evidence matches up with Dana White’s insistence that Rampage Jackson did not cause a woman to have a miscarriage. (Fightlinker)

- Photos of Kenny Florian and Jon Fitch working out pre-UFC 87. (Combat Lifestyle)

- Takanori Gomi has a public training session. (Suki MMA)

- MMA agent talks marketing and fight game economics (Xtreme Couture)

- The UFC’s hard sell of Jon Fitch. (MMA Payout)

- GSP’s trainer raps with Ariel Helwani. (MMA Rated)

- Clips from Fedor’s instructional DVD. (MMA Scraps)

- Clay Aiken allegedly fathers a baby boy…somehow. (Holy Taco)

- The great investment opportunities that can be found on Ebay. (Wall Street Fighter)

Dana White’s UFC 87 Video Blog #4 – Watch more free videos

Things are improving in the fourth edition of Dana White’s UFC 87 Vlog. It helps that stuff is actually happening now, and it also helps that the Rampage Jackson dosage has been significantly upped. The more Rampage and less Dana White talking about his day that we see, the better this video blog gets. I realize that’s not really the point, but why not go with what works?

(Roger “The Fightin’ Newsie” Huerta is ready for battle. Photo courtesy of Combat Lifestyle via Bloody Elbow.)

Quick heads-up: As we normally do when there’s a UFC pay-per-view show going on, CagePotato.com will be posting live results and commentary during UFC 87, tomorrow night beginning at 10 p.m. ET / 7 p.m. PT. Come early, and prepare to bring your commenting A-game.

(“Considering our fight is pretty much meaningless now, we’re just gonna bro out for a while, if that’s cool.”)

Partly because of BJ Penn’s restlessness and partly because of Roger Huerta’s stalled contract negotiations the UFC is no longer promising that the winner of Saturday’s match between El Matador and Kenny Florian will get an immediate title shot. During an appearance on TAGG Radio, Dana White edited previous statements about the fight’s #1 contender status:

“There’s no guarantees that Florian and Huerta are going to get a title shot after this fight,” White said of Saturday’s lightweight bout. “It definitely puts them in the mix … but definitely, if St. Pierre beats Fitch, it’s looking like it’ll be GSP (vs.) B.J. Penn.”

The thing is, that’s not exactly how Penn sees it. The Prodigy recently told MMA Weekly that he’s 170-bound no matter what happens in tomorrow night’s main event:

“I’d feel okay facing anyone for the welterweight title…It would be great to put on a big fight with me and St-Pierre, but then again, it’s about me fighting the best fighter and if Fitch goes down and proves he’s the best fighter, then he’s the man.”

(Just a couple of perfectly sane guys hanging out. Photo courtesy of Combat Lifestyle.)

Suddenly former UFC champ “Rampage” Jackson is his normal self again. He showed up at yesterday’s UFC 87 press conference, laughing and joking and acting as if nothing unusual had happened. The UFC seems intent on downplaying the whole situation, even the really difficult parts, such as the woman who miscarried some time after being hit in Jackson’s “delirium”-fueled car chase. Dana White is even helping out, though maybe he shouldn’t:

“That one is out there like, ‘He hit her and she lost her baby,’ ” White said. “It was a week later. He knocked her mirror off her car. Rampage said, and he’ll tell you when you talk to him, ‘I care about everybody. I care about all life. I would never hurt anybody.’

“That’s the way he is,” White said. “Now he’s in a situation where somebody’s trying to civil sue him and make some money. Absolutely not. Absolutely not, this is not a criminal thing. No way. I’m no lawyer and I’m no judge, (but) this stuff will be worked out in the court.”

Not sure if blaming the victim in a hit-and-run is the best tactic, even if you believe she’s trying to take advantage of the situation. Then again, that is Dana White’s style. Losing your baby a week after being hit by a pro fighter in his run from the law, that’s just something you have to work through. The question is, do you want to be a f-cking mother?

Rampage didn’t discuss that particular situation with reporters, but did comment briefly on the situation with trainer Juanito Ibarra who, it was pointed out, was something of a father figure to the champ before their split:

“That’s what hurts,” Jackson said. “I can’t say. You guys will find out soon enough.”

We will? Care to give us the exact date on which we’ll find out? Because I hate being kept in suspense like this.

Jon Fitch is well aware of his underdog status going into tomorrow night’s title fight with Georges St. Pierre. He knows not many people are expecting him to win, but he doesn’t seem to care. In this exclusive interview he talks about what it’s going to take to beat GSP and why he feels he still isn’t getting the respect he deserves from fans and “self-proclaimed experts.”

CagePotato.com: Hey Jon, thanks for taking the time to talk with us. Now that we’re so close to the fight, how are you feeling?

Great. Training went really well. Had a great camp, a lot of people have been helping me out. I feel really confident. I feel really great right now.

Who did you have working with you to help you get ready for GSP?

The usual guys like Josh Koscheck and Mike Swick, everybody at AKA. And then Jake Shields was coming in for three weeks or so, helping me out. Even Brock Larson, who was a former opponent of mine, was in town helping me out for a couple of weeks. So I had really great guys working with me.

Was Koscheck able to give you any special insight about GSP based on his fight with him?

Yeah, he helped me with little things, like what GSP’s strength is like, what his speed is like, stuff like that. Just knowing that he’s fast and strong is one thing, but knowing how fast and how strong is another. Knowing how I compare to him in those departments, those kinds of things really helped.

I heard you say before that Koscheck didn’t really work his wrestling before his fight with GSP. Is that true? I’d imagine you’re not making the same mistake in your training.

(That’s not the face of a man you want to bet against, is it?)

You can learn a lot about life by gambling on sporting events over the internet. Mostly what you learn is that oddsmakers and bookies are smarter than you 90% of the time. The key is knowing that you know less than the oddsmakers and bookies and working around it (I think Socrates said that). Another thing you can learn is that some people actually bet on preseason football. Seriously. You might as well bury your life savings in the backyard and hope it grows into a money tree. At least that way you know where it is.

Fortunately for the off-shore gambling economy, UFC 87 is a stacked and somewhat unpredictable card, so the temptation to try and win some cash is almost irresistible. Our odds today come from Betus.com, and as always you should read Damon Durante’s MMA Betting for ‘Tards if you still don’t know how odds work.

Georges St. Pierre (-350) vs. Jon Fitch (+250)

It’s not exactly shocking to see GSP as the favorite, but the way people have been jumping on the Fitch bandwagon of late, claiming that he presents all kinds of new problems for the champ, I’m surprised the line isn’t a little closer. But there’s a reason it’s not. GSP is an incredible athlete who seems to be at the height of his powers, both mentally and physically. Fitch’s greatest strength is his wrestling, and you aren’t going to outwrestle GSP. Ask Josh Koscheck and Matt Hughes. You certainly aren’t going to finish him that way, and five rounds worth of trying for takedowns is going to leave you vulnerable to catching knee-in-the-face disease, which is known to be fatal to your title hopes.

A guy with Fitch’s natural ability always has a shot, but not one I’d want to bet on. If you do though, that’s cool. Maybe poverty will be good for you.

Dana White’s UFC 87 Video Blog – Watch more free videos

Dana White’s video blog is back, and it picks up steam around the 3:34 mark when he sits down to dinner with Rampage Jackson, who is totally “not crazy”. Just suffering from some “delirium”, as it turns out, but otherwise seems to be back to his old self. But don’t worry, the Dana White news update doesn’t stop there.

White appeared on a radio show recently (download the full version here, via Bloody Elbow) in which he has some sharp words for Roger Huerta. As you might have guessed, he is not pleased with Huerta’s comments bashing the organization’s treatment of him, and White responds by painting Huerta as an overhyped prima dona. And who overhyped him? The UFC, of course. But that doesn’t mean he should believe it, according to White:

“Roger Huerta’s a guy who’s been reading the headlines a little too much. You get out there and promote the guy and he’s like, “Look at all the papers I’m in, look at all the promotion I’m getting, I want a lot more money.’ Well he hasn’t fought anybody to get the money yet. He beats Kenny Florian, that’s a whole different ballgame.”

“Roger Huerta has contract problems? What’s his contract problem? He signed a contract, he’s under contract, when his contract is up he’ll renegotiate a new one. …What he was bitching about was doing PR. In his thing he said, ‘They got me out there doing PR.’ Yeah, moron. How do you think you make money? You don’t make money unless people know who you are and want to see you fight. Am I supposed to pay Roger Huerta to go out and do PR? Is that how it works?”

“That’s not how it works. When Oscar De La Hoya fights, he’s on Leno and Letterman. The night before his fight, he weighs in in Las Vegas, and then flies to Los Angeles to do PR for the fight. Because he makes more money. Because he becomes more popular and more people want to see him fight. …What happens is these guys turn into pussies, is what happens.”

(Next big thing, or MMA’s Ryan Leaf?)

With a blockbuster UFC 87 lineup as our fodder, it’s time again for Cage Potato’s editors to argue like an old married couple that only got hitched because of an unexpected pregnancy. We don’t love each other and yet we don’t know enough to expect better from our lives, so here we are. In this edition we debate topics such as what’s to become of Brock Lesnar on Saturday night and beyond, who will be the number one lightweight contender when the dust finally settles, will Rampage Jackson be back in the UFC any time soon, and more. Let’s grimly get it on.

Will Brock Lesnar revive his MMA career with this fight, or will he officially be a bust once UFC 87 is in the books?

Fowlkes: Clearly the UFC isn’t interested in giving Brock Lesnar a lay-up to help jumpstart his MMA career, and you have to respect that. Heath Herring is tough and experienced and, had a couple things gone differently for him, he could easily be the top heavyweight contender right now instead of Frank Mir, who won all of two straight fights to achieve that distinction.

Lesnar is a physical specimen who is athletically gifted, this we know. But what else do we know about him? He hates airplanes and gays, prizes staying home, and is vulnerable to submissions. Basically, we don’t know what he’s really capable of as an MMA fighter. Strength won’t be enough against Herring (who will have spent the last couple months drilling his wrestling if he has any sense at all) and strength is about all we can count on from Lesnar at this point.

Herring is too crafty a veteran to get overwhelmed by pure power. He’s going to pick Lesnar apart on the feet and submit him late in the second or early in the third, and when he does you should turn up your TV so you can actually hear the air going out of Lesnar’s hype balloon. The UFC will give him a young up-and-comer next, just to see what he has left, but this is the point where he goes from a top prospect to another guy fighting for contract survival.

Goldstein: Yeah, Herring’s probably been drilling his wrestling. You know who else has been drilling his wrestling? Brock Lesnar. I wouldn’t be surprised if either fighter pulled a win out of this match, but there’s one thing that’s guaranteed: At some point, Herring will be taken down and put on his back. Seriously.