(Imagine getting into a bar fight with these guys?)

The head of Golden Glory, Bas Boon released a press release Thursday that further explained some of the behind the scenes happenings that may have led to the recent sudden firings of Team Golden Glory fighters Alistair Overeem, Marloes Coenen, John Olav Einemo.

According to Boon, he was working hand-in-hand with Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker to form strategic partnerships with a number of organizations like K-1 and DREAM and had been involved in meetings with television networks with Coker in an effort to make the promotion a viable competitor to the UFC. Unbeknownst to Boon, while he was making connections and setting up these meetings, Coker was already in talks with Zuffa about selling the struggling promotion.

It’s not unforeseeable that when Coker informed the UFC that Boon had been instrumental in Strikeforce making a full-court press at competing with them, that they took umbrage with his effort to aid the competition.

Another interesting tidbit Boon dropped in the statement was that Golden Glory had made arrangements, with the help of the UFC, for its fighters to be paid directly by Zuffa/Forza and for them to cash their checks in the U.S. prior to returning back to Holland, where it takes between six and eight business days for their money to clear. According to UFC president Dana White, Golden Glory refused to allow its fighters to be paid directly, which was the reason he says they cut ties with the likes of Alistair Overeem, John Olav Einemo and Marloes Coenen.

Check out the full release after the jump.

(Video courtesy of YouTube/MMALatino)

When Chael Sonnnen tried to blame his comments about Lance Armstrong getting cancer from PED use on a Mexican imposter nobody bought it, but there could have been some truth to the story.

(“What? I’m bulking. Don’t judge me. Most heavyweights have cans like this.”)

Unemployment can be one of the most stressful times in a person’s life. It can lead to depression, divorce and drug and/or alcohol dependancy. Ask most people who have lost their jobs at some point in their adult lives and they’ll tell you that it’s something they hope to never experience again.

Dan Henderson isn’t like most people.

For starters, most people don’t jump up two weight classes four weeks prior to their 41st birthday to knock out a fighter who was and still is considered by many to be the greatest heavyweight mixed martial artist who ever lived. Most people don’t pull off a feat like that four months after upsetting a tough young champion to take the Strikeforce light heavyweight belt. Most people don’t win every fight since October 2006, save a trio of title bouts. And most people don’t become concurrent champions in one organization in two weight classes.

It’s no surprise then that Henderson, whose stock has arguably never been higher, finds himself without a contract and it’s equally not surprising that he isn’t worried where he’ll next ply his trade.

(Video courtesy of YouTube/PinteoMMA)

Vitor Belfort was interviewed recently by PinteoMMA and he soon took the reigns from the reporter to give a speech on the evils of the Internet, specifically Internet porn.

The interviewer seems to be getting a bit uncomfortable as the former UFC light heavyweight champ goes on and on about the topic.

Check out what Vitor had to say about you nasty perverts after the jump.

For your sake, I hope you’ve been good this year.

The year is half way over. Days are longer, flip-flops and shorts have replaced boots and pants and yet, the smell of chestnuts roasting on an open fire remains as strong as ever. That can only mean one thing – Christmas in July! Most of you couldn’t care less about another holiday you don’t get off from work, but what if I told you this one was special in that you can make a wish list for Wandy Claus and he’ll give you what you want if you’ve been good all year? You have been good this year, right?

On behalf of MMA fans across the globe, I’ve complied a Christmas in July wish list that, if fulfilled, would bring peace on Earth and good will toward man – or at least would appease a large majority of fans of a fringe sport. Click below to see what made the cut and bash me in the comments for not including your idea.

(Video courtesy of YouTube/JoeRoganDotNet)

One way of gauging the popularity of something is the growing influence it has on stand-up comedy. Case in point, the next few weeks we’ll likely see an influx of Casey Anthony jokes like we did Rep. Anthony Weiner ones the past month. If you watch much stand-up comedy, you’ll notice that more and more comedians (besides Joe Rogan) are mentioning MMA and the UFC in their routines.

That’s a pretty good indication that the sport has stepped out of the “fringe” category and into the mainstream. I can’t help but get excited every time I hear a comedian mention MMA, even if they call it, “Ultimate Fighting” and wrongly describe it as “no-holds-barred fighting.” Exposure is exposure and it means MMA is relevant in society.

Check out some of our other favorite MMA-related bits after the jump.

(“A Chippendale is one of them roided-up nude dancers wif the bow ties. Funny, innit?” – Photo courtesy Getty Images)

Add Dan Hardy to the list of Nate Marquardt detractors alongside fighters like BJ Penn and Chael Sonnen (ironic?) who don’t buy the former UFC middleweight’s claims that he needs testosterone replacement therapy to compete. Hardy spoke with ESPN.com recently and touched on Marquardt’s recent firing by the UFC for his HRT debacle, and the former welterweight contender questioned the legitimacy of “The Great’s” affliction.

“What is he, 31 or 32? I don’t want to kick a man when he’s down but what’s he doing needing testosterone therapy anyway at that age? I’m not that far behind him and I certainly don’t need any! The thing that annoyed me is that he has tested positive for nandrolone in the past, people are aware of that, and now he’s saying he needs Hormone Replacement,” Hardy points out. “Maybe he wouldn’t have needed Hormone Replacement if he hadn’t been using something in the first place. On the bright side, he’ll always have a job as a Chippendale.”

(Video courtesy of YouTube/5thRoundVideo)

Don’t expect to see any Strikeforce champions besides Nick Diaz fighting in the UFC anytime soon.

According to Strikeforce president Scott Coker, Diaz’s crossover to the UFC was a one-off exception that was made to prevent the Stockton native from turning his back on MMA in favor of a boxing career.

(“What do you mean this is the judge and jury?)

Well, it didn’t take long for the other shoe to drop for Brett Rogers.

Hours after being arrested on multiple felonious domestic assault-related charges, former tire-changer Brett Rogers may have to go back to Sam’s Club to beg for his job back after he gets out of jail as Zuffa has terminated his Strikeforce contract.

According to MMAJunkie, UFC president Dana White announced the firing following today’s UFC 132 press conference. Usually when charges like this are laid, we wait to pass judgment until the facts of the case come out, but considering the fact that Rogers kids have told police that he hit them as well and that they witnessed the entire assault on their mother, knowing that young children rarely lie to authority figures to GET their parents into trouble, the case seems pretty cut and dry.

(Video courtesy of YouTube/MMAInterviews)

- Stanley Cup Riot Gallery: The Faces of Vancouver’s Horrific Sportsmanship (WithLeather)

- Griffin Wants to Prove that Win Over Shogun Was No Fluke (Tatame)

- E3 Exclusive: 1 on 1 with Gears of War 3?s Cliff Bleszinski (TheRugged)

- Chad Griggs Plan Against Overeem: Forehead Down, Throw Bombs (MMAJunkie)

- An Important Message From Dave Chappelle (Clutch.MTV)

- How to Open a Beer With Anything (MadeMan)

- Strikeforce Enacts Same “Sponsor Tax” as UFC (FightersOnly)

- Holy Taco’s Guide to Writing a Good Cover Letter (HolyTaco)

- Second ’30 Seconds or Less’ Red-Band Trailer (ScreenJunkies)

- Rick Story Thinks He’s Knock Out Jon Fitch (FiveKnuckles)

- The WAGS of Wimbledon (FHM)

Dan henderson first fight by MMAGLORY

We’re going to try to do an almost daily “On This Day in MMA History” series starting with this appropriate first instalment that features one of the sports most popular and successful fighters, former Pride welterweight and middleweight and current Strikeforce light heavyweight champion Dan Henderson.

14 years ago today “Hendo” made his MMA debut in Brazil against Crezio de Souza in the opening round of the Brazil Open ’97 lightweight (176lbs and below) tournament.  Henderson’s bracket of the one-day grand prix also featured Jose “Pele” Landi-Jons, while the heavyweight side featured Kevin Randleman and Tom Erickson.

(“…and how much for you to convince Olivia Munn to come back?”)

According to a report by Bloomberg, several analysts are pegging the prospective UFC-G4 deal between $360 and $600 million US, depending on how much of the company Zuffa wants to buy.

Both David Joyce of Miller Tabak & Co and David Bank, an analyst with RBC Capital Markets peg the value of the deal as high as $600 million if the UFC purchases the network outright. Insiders say that the promotion is looking to purchase at least a 60% controlling interest in the struggling network, which would cost them an equal percentage of the purchase cost.

(Now we know how the void left by All My Children going off the air in the fall will be filled.)

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that the UFC is currently in negotiations with NBCUniversal to purchase a majority stake of its G4 network.

According to the report, (which quotes different sources who have claim that negotiations are in the beginning and midway points and others who say that the story is just smoke, but no fire as the UFC is talking with several networks to get an idea of what options are available), the deal would provide the promotion with a new home for its programming when its current deals with Versus and Spike TV conclude at the end of this year. Apparently Spike has made initial high monetary contract demands of the UFC to renew a deal with the specialty channel whose growth can be attributed in large part due to runaway success of The Ultimate Fighter.

G4′s asking price and the percentage of ownership the UFC is looking for are not yet known.

By CagePotato contributor Jason Moles

During the illustrious eighteen-year history of the Ultimate Fighting Championship, we’ve witnessed countless brutal beatings, killer knockouts, and spectacular submissions. Simply put, we’ve witnessed a ton of holy $&*% moments!

I’m sure you have your favorites that you’ll share with your grandkids when you’re sitting in the old man’s chair. But have you ever stopped and asked yourself which moments in the past two decades were the biggest on a large scale? Well I did and I went to the largest scale imaginable: the almighty Google and here’s what I found. Remember, Google doesn’t have emotional or monetary interest at stake here. These moments are the ones that have generated the most web traffic via searches, not which ones impacted the sport the most.

5.) St. Pierre Beats Shields at UFC 129 – 04/30/2011

Why it’s ranked: Jake Shields left Strikeforce as champion so essentially casual fans and mainstream media alike viewed this as the first major inter-promotional, champion vs. champion fight. Georges St. Pierre, reigning UFC Welterweight champion and winner of nine straight came out on top of Shields who was riding a fifteen-fight win streak over the past five years.

The UFC went all in on this one hyping this event with the normal Countdown shows in addition to a pretty sweet commercial, the Primetime series, and a flyer in my mailbox reminding me to order the PPV. It was a huge moment in both men’s career primarily because it was the first tough competition either had faced in quite some time up to that point.  The underlying reason this mattered so much is that we all wanted to see the GSP vs. Silva super fight.

(Video courtesy of YouTube/Spenny12311)

When the UFC announced that Jason Miller would be coaching opposite Michael Bisping next season of The Ultimate Fighter on Spike TV, it really didn’t surprise anyone considering that “Mayhem” already enjoyed success on another Viacom-owned network with MTV’s Bully Beatdown.

In a recent video for UFC.com about his inclusion on the show, Miller spoke about the opportunity of turning UFC fans into Mayhem fans and vice versa.

(“Excellent.”)

In spite of the passing of a Senate bill last month to lift New York ban of mixed martial arts, the state’s biggest douchebag most vocal opponent Bob Reilly says he’s pretty sure that an Assembly vote on the matter won’t happen until at least 2012.

The bill, which was approved by a 48-12 margin last month by the lower tier of government is expected to pass it’s next vote June 7, pushing it on to state Assembly voting. If it passes another vote after that, the sport could be legalized following a mandatory 90-day waiting period, however that’s a big if, considering it sounds like Reilly is planning on dragging out the process into next year.

(Hey Strikeforce, give this man a fight already. When does Chael get back?)

Strikeforce middleweight champion Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza is not happy with his lack of activity the past year and he’s hoping the UFC’s purchase of the California-based promotion will remedy the frustrating situation.

The decorated Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt (who has not fought since defeating Robbie Lawler in January) has only fought three times in the past 365 days including his championship win over Tim Kennedy last August that saw him take home the vacant Strikeforce middleweight title relinquished by Jake Shields when he moved over to the UFC.

He tells Tatame that he just wants to fight and no matter who it’s against or where or when the bout takes place, he’d just be happy knowing there’s a fight for him on the horizon.

“I want to fight as soon as possible. I don’t fight for a long time and I’m upset about it. For one who works for fighting, not fighting for a long time, when you’re ready to go, is the worst thing that can happen. I had to stop for about a month or two, but I already was good to go, and didn’t know when I would fight again. I’m looking forwards to know when I’ll be fighting and then I’ll tell you guys. There’re many good athletes [for me to face]. Strikeforce is one of the greatest events on earth, so I’m cool with anyone they tell me to fight against. As a Strikeforce employee what I really want is to fight.”

(Video courtesy of YouTube/EskriMMA)

Shooto featherweight champion Hatsu Hioki announced today that he has relinquished his belt and that he is moving on from the Japanese promotion in search of other challenges.

“At this time, I’ve returned the Shooto world lightweight title,” Hioki told Sherdog.com via email. “There is a pride in wearing the Shooto world title, but I think that, in the near future, I would like to challenge a new stage of pride.”

According to Sherdog, the popular 24-4-2 fighter, who holds a pair of wins over UFC featherweight contender Mark Hominick as well as one a piece over Takeshi “Lion” Inoue and Marlon Sandro, is being flown in to Vancouver, BC to attend UFC 131. I think we can all connect the dots on where he’s fighting next.

(“At least I’ve still got my modelling career.”)

Remember when Kurt Pellegrino said he would retire if he lost to George Sotiropoulos at UFC 116 and then decided that because he was injured in the bout and came close to finishing G-Sots in the closing minutes, he was taking a do-over on his vow?

Well, it looks like Pellegrino made the same pledge to himself prior to his UFC 128 fight with Gleison Tibau as ‘Batman’ announced today via his personal website that he has opted to not sign a new contract with the UFC following back-to-back losses in the Octagon. Instead, the 16-6 Point Pleasant, NJ lightweight who is 7-5 in the UFC says he will shift his focus to his jiu-jitsu students and on improving his jiu-jitsu, wrestling and boxing skills for if and when he decides to make a return to fighting.

By Jason Moles

Last night Spike aired a thirty-minute ‘In the Moment’ mini-documentary on Quinton “Rampage” Jackson‘s training camp leading up to his UFC 130 main event tilt against Matt “The Hammer” Hamill this Saturday.  While some of you may have watched it because you watch everything Zuffa puts on TV, others may have been more intrigued by the NBA finals or American Idol (you know who you are). So in case you missed it and want to know what Mr. T has been up to the past few weeks, follow us after the jump.

(Video courtesy of YouTube/MMA Live/CagePotato)

The production company that filmed and produced the videos for last week’s MMA Live 1 event in London, Ontario, Canada are Cage Potato fans, and as such, they sent along the full video above of Thursday’s main event between Karo “The Heat” Parisyan and Ryan “The Real Deal” Ford for us to post exclusively on the site.

1 by Zuffaforce

Dana White was interviewed by Forbes $ports Money while he was in Toronto for UFC 129 last month and as always the UFC president had a lot to say.

Among other items, The Baldfather touched on some hot button topics like the UFC’s plans for Strikeforce, whether or not women’s MMA will survive the merger and what prompted the minority stake sale of 10 percent of the company to Flash Entertainment.

Check out the transcription of some of the key quotes from the show after the jump.

(“Get a load of this guy. He calls himself ‘Money.’”)

The UFC moved swiftly to find a replacement opponent for number one UFC featherweight contender Chad Mendes when 145-pound champ Jose Aldo bowed out of a planned late summer match-up with the 26-year-old Hanford, California native earlier in the week. According to MMAJunkie, the promotion has inked Rani Yahya to face Mendes at UFC 133 August 6 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

111111111 00_00_07-00_09_50_1 by Zuffaforce

Quinton Jackson made another appearance on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson last night and after watching the episode, it’s clear why “Rampage” gets more invites to appear on late night talk shows than pretty much any other fighter: he’s actually entertaining.

Sure, Chuck Liddell’s guest spot on Good Morning Texas a few years back had its moments and watching Kirstie Alley imagining Jon Jones as a pork chop during The Tonight Show a few months back was funny, if not somewhat cringeworthy, but Jackson always seems to bring his ‘A’ game when the cameras are rolling.

(Guess if they’re gonna let *somebody* fight Bisping, it might as well be somebody we like.)

When last we heard from Tim Kennedy, he’d just completed the MMA equivalent of sinking a two-foot putt by choking out Melvin Manhoef in Strikeforce, then went public with his lament that he hadn’t been the one to administer an in-home eye exam to Osama bin Laden. Y’all know we’ve always liked Kennedy. Seems like a super cool dude and admittedly there’s something fascinating about a guy whose typical day might just as easily include either choking out a Dutch-Surinamese kickboxer or smoking the world’s top terrorist. Give or take.

It’s exactly that admiration that led us to be a bit disappointed this week when we heard about Kennedy offering to fight Michael Bisping over at MMA Weekly. Calling out Bisping is one of the more played-out moves a well-known middleweight can make, after all. When we saw Kennedy saying it, we assumed it was just another case of a guy trying to make his bones off Bisping’s inflated reputation and general overratedness. Truthfully, there probably is some of that at work here. But then we started digging into Kennedy’s quotes and realized that A) He’s offering to fight “The Count” basically for free (PR bump notwithstanding) and B) He seems driven to do it out of moral obligation, more than anything else. As far as we’re concerned that – as long as he’s not just bullshitting us – is pretty cool.

Official UFC light heavyweight benchwarmer Rashad Evans – seriously, it’s been what? A year since this guy fought? – stopped by Pro MMA Radio this week to give his account of that “nightclub altercation” with Jon Jones we’ve been hearing so much about lately. Let us say from the outset that our first thought upon reading this transcript from 5th Round.com was to wonder how differently Jones’ version of events would be. Significantly, we’re betting. For now, all we have to go on however is Rashad’s take on the subject which – get your surprised face ready – makes Evans look pretty cool under fire and Jones look pretty dorky. So, you know, grain of salt and all that.

A little scene setter: Both Evans and Jones were attending the UFC fighter summit in Vegas last week when they independently decided to take in some much needed R&R (from their busy schedules of tending to injuries and defending themselves from haters on Twitter) at something called “Surrender nightclub at Encore.” Yeah, sounds shitty. Anyway, both being fairly sizable dudes in what we can only assume were just epic outfits, it didn’t take them long to find each other on the dance floor or the VIP or the champagne court or wherever the fuck dudes hang out in places called “Surrender.” From here, we’ll let Rashad pick up the narrative …

(You need how much? Damn. OK, but I want some new XXL leather headrests for my G6.)

The Las Vegas Review Journal reported today that former UFC light heavyweight champ Tito Ortiz has been tied to a murder conspiracy court case that involves a father who is accused of hiring a hitman to kill his son.

According to court documents, Keith Herriman is alleged to have hired an unidentified person to shoot his son, Dominick, who is said to have slept with both his father’s ex-wife and ex-girlfriend and who testified in February that his old man had used $160,000 he fraudulently obtained through an insurance scam to buy crack.

You know a family is dysfunctional if it make’s Tito’s seem like the Cleavers.

(Having proven his colorful past is behind him, Ford wants the opportunity to prove he’s a future UFC welterweight contender – PicProps GUHDAR photography)

Heading into the stiffest test of his young MMA career – a main event tilt with embattled former UFC welterweight contender Karo Parisyan Thursday night at MMA Live 1 in London, Ontario, Canada, Ryan “The Real Deal” Ford is remarkably calm and focused at the challenging task that lies ahead.

In spite of the fact that he has another bout booked a few weeks after his fight with Parisyan, Ford says it isn’t because he’s taking “The Heat” lightly, it’s because he wants to keep putting in work until certain promoters can’t ignore him any longer.

“It just came up the way it did. I haven’t even been thinking about my other fight, the only fight that I’ve been thinking about for the last eight weeks is Karo Parisyan, and I could care less about the next fight I have coming up right now. Karo Parisyan’s been on my mind when I go to bed, when I wake up, and even when I’m sleeping. I never take any of my opponents lightly, especially Karo Parisyan. I’ve seen what he’s done in the sport, so obviously I’m not coming in thinking I’m just going to walk through him,” Ford explains. “I’ve been training my ass off, every day. What I’m looking to do is run through him, so it is what it is. My overall goal is for Mr. Dana White to give me a call, and give me my shot. I’m going to keep putting the work in and do what I can for him to realize that I’m ready for the UFC. And you know, he’s the boss, so it’s up to him and the Fertitta brothers, so it’s up to them to want me to be a part of their organization.”

(Hell in the ring, silent on elevators.)

Any time two heavyweights with a history of testing positive get into a bi-lingual war of words, you can book us for a ringside seat. Such was the case this week when Josh Barnett and Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva launched into the now nearly obligatory online fighter beef session. Silva got the ball rolling during an interview with Sherdog, wherein (apparently apropos of nothing) he lashed out at Barnett for – among other things – ignoring Brazilian fighters on elevators. So … that was weird.

If we had to guess, we’d say Bigfoot is feeling a little lonely and cranky after being kind of overlooked in all the hype, speculation and gratuitous match-up fantasizing that’s gone on since the UFC-Strikeforce merger. After all, Bigfoot became the latest dude to slay the unslayable Fedor Emelianenko back in February. You’d think that was worth something, right? And then pictures of Barnett exchanging bro-grabs with Dana White show up on the Internet? Why, that’d be enough to set any giant’s blood to a boilin’. His attacks, along with Barnett’s response are after the jump.

(Video courtesy of YouTube/StocktonHeyBuddy)

Chuck Liddell was on the latest episode of Fox Sports’ Barfly alongside actor and BJJ black belt Ed O’Neill (AKA Al Bundy) and host and author Mark Kriegel. Besides talking about the rise in popularity of the UFC in comparison to the drop in popularity of boxing, the trio touched on the former UFC light heavyweight champion and Hall-of-Famer’s recent retirement, which is when Chuck got a bit emotional.