Watch Brittney Palmer – RawVegas.tv Girl of the Month on RawVegas.tv

Brittney Palmer is truly America’s Girlfriend. Here she is seductively preparing baked goods, posing on a motorcycle while wearing an American flag bikini, lying down in the backseat of a car (that most American of pastimes), and stripping down to her bare ass in somebody’s bedroom. She reveals that she’s not much of a cook — feel free to send sympathy cards to her boyfriend, Donald Cerrone — and explains that being an American "is pretty much just having freedom to do and say what you feel." As Thanksgiving approaches, please remember to exercise your rights as a citizen of this great nation by being as big of an asshole as possible. Ah, patriotism!

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Brittney Palmer (born June 24, 1987) has been a WEC ring girl since 2008. Raised in San Diego, Brittney worked as a boxing ring-card girl until she discovered MMA. Brittney Palmer also works as a professional dancer in the X Burlesque show at the Flamingo Hotel in Las Vegas. She’s the longtime girlfriend of WEC lightweight contender Donald Cerrone. 

Check out these other MMA hotties…
Gina Carano
Rachelle Leah
Miesha Tate

(Enjoy your victory now, Shane Roller, for it appears that you’re about to be brought back to Tatooine to answer for your unpaid intergalactic debts. Props: WKR)

Those of you watching last night’s Shane Roller-Danny Castillo fight at WEC 44 may have found yourselves wondering, Who is the guy in the Boba Fett get-up, and when’s the last time he got laid?  Face it, except for the morning after Halloween, one sentence that no woman has ever proudly uttered to her girlfriends is, ‘I totally went home with that guy at the party last night whose face was covered by his "Star Wars" outfit.’  At least, no height-weight proportional woman ever has, unless that sentence is followed by, ‘Will you give me a ride to rehab?’

Word has it that the nerd in question here is jiu-jitsu coach Marc Laimon, who appears to be wearing this zip-up Fett hoodie from designer/MMA fan Marc Ecko.  It retails for $98, making it slightly cheaper than the Storm Trooper jacket and X-Wing Pilot hoodie, for reasons that are known only to Ecko.  We just hope that they come out with an Ewok hoodie by the next time Urijah Faber has to corner one of his buddies at a WEC event.  If anybody could make it seem almost cool, it’s that chronically laid-back son of a bitch.

(If he can handle that, he can handle anything.)

According to a new report by MMA Weekly, former WEC featherweight champion Urijah Faber will return to action for the first time since his decision loss to Mike Brown in June, when he takes on top contender Raphael Assuncao at WEC 46 (January 11th, Sacramento). Faber has spent the last few months rehabbing the hand injuries he suffered against Brown, but described the January event as "perfect timing for me."

Though Assuncao may not be a household name yet, the 14-1 submission specialist has won both of his appearances in the WEC (decisions over Jameel Massouh and Yves Jabouin) and we consider him to be one of the ten best featherweights in the world right now. Faber vs. Assuncao is slated to be WEC 46′s co-main event, supporting the lightweight title unification bout between Jamie Varner and Benson Henderson — unless Henderson needs more time to recover from his own injuries, in which case it’ll be up to the California Kid to carry the card. Will Faber be able to re-establish himself in the division he ruled for almost three years, or will Assuncao put himself on that map as the WEC’s next featherweight star?

(Ed Ratcliff KO’s Brett Cooper with a spinning back kick at Total Combat 12, 12/17/05.)

Donald Cerrone may have to wait a little longer to get his rematch with Jamie Varner. Contrary to previous rumors that Cerrone would be facing Varner in December while interim champion Benson Henderson recovers from their epic five-rounder at WEC 43, Sherdog is reporting that Cerrone will instead fight fellow lightweight contender Ed "9mm" Ratcliff at a WEC show on December 19th in Las Vegas. The bout could serve as the card’s main event — not an ideal situation, but at least Henderson will get his rightful shot at Varner’s belt when he’s healthy again.

In case you’re unfamiliar, Ed Ratcliff (7-1), has won three of his four fights in the WEC, most recently taking a unanimous decision over Phil Cardella at Torres vs. Bowles, and his aggressive, unpredictable style should match up well with Cowboy’s. Ratcliff grew up in Chicago studying traditional martial arts, earning black belts in Karate and Tae Kwon Do, and began his MMA training with Ken Shamrock at age 17; he had his first pro fight when he was 18. He now lives and trains in San Diego, and describes his primary motivation for fighting as "$$MONEY$ LOL."

(After they showed that video entitled ‘Good Touch/Bad Touch’ in his Health class, Horodecki couldn’t help but regard every adult in his life with constant suspicion.)

When Shawn Tompkins announced that he was leaving Xtreme Couture and taking some fighters with him, you didn’t need to be a genius to figure out that one of those fighters would probably be long-time Tompkins protégé/surrogate son Chris Horodecki.  Those two have been down since the IFL cartoon logo days, back when Tompkins was just Bas Rutten’s assistant coach and Horodecki was still getting carded at R-rated movies.  But now Tompkins says that Horodecki is very close to finalizing a deal to send him to the WEC, and he expects to have the contract signed in “a day or two.” 

(Eh, it was mostly plastic anyway. Photo courtesy of Sherdog.)

Following Benson Henderson and Donald Cerrone‘s five-round war at WEC 43, lightweight champ Jamie Varner said he’d be down to take on Henderson in December, which seemed a little selfish considering Varner had spent the last nine months recuperating from his Cerrone-related injuries, while Henderson had just sustained his. Certainly Varner and the WEC would allow their new interim lightweight champ at least a three-month turnaround before putting him in another tough battle, right? Well, if Rashad Evans has the correct information, that’s not the plan, and Bendo is about to get screwed:

(Bibiano Fernandes reacts after submitting Joe Warren at DREAM.11. Photo courtesy of Sherdog.)

Following recent events in the UFC, WEC, DREAM, and Sengoku, we’ve updated the featherweight and lightweight pages in our Power Rankings section. To summarize…

FW: Bibiano Fernandes enters for the first time. Hatsu Hioki and Raphael Assuncao rise slightly, while Wagnney Fabiano plummets. WEC 44‘s scrap between Mike Brown and Jose Aldo could alter the top 5. Josh Grispi and L.C. Davis lie just outside the top 10.

LW: Gray Maynard enters for the first time. Shinya Aoki solidifies his place at #2, while Joachim Hansen and Gesias Cavalcante fall. Josh Thomson officially drops off the list due to inactivity, but if he can make it through a training camp without injuring himself, the winner of the rematch between him and Gilbert Melendez could potentially re-enter. Mizuto Hirota and Tyson Griffin are also close. UFC 107‘s match between BJ Penn and Diego Sanchez could alter the top 5.

Give ‘em a look and let us know how you feel…

(Yep, that’s the whole televised portion of the event. Henderson/Cerrone fight starts at around the 81:00 mark.)

While the judges’ decision in Saturday night’s WEC 43 main event between Donald Cerrone and Ben Henderson may have seemed like an absolute travesty to some, the one guy who isn’t complaining is, shockingly enough, the "Cowboy" himself.  After losing three of the five rounds on all three judges’ scorecards, Cerrone acknowledged that there might be some who gave him the nod, but insisted that Henderson “definitely won the fight.”  Wow.  Did not see that coming.  Said Cerrone:

"I’m obviously disappointed in myself.  I didn’t go out there and show what I had the first couple of rounds.  I asked my coach, ‘What round are we in?’ He said, ‘Fourth.’ I said, ‘Oh, [expletive], I better get going.’ …The guillotine, I felt him gargling one time.  But that son of a bitch just kept holding on.  Then one time I felt like he was knocked out on top of me. I was looking at the ref like, ‘What?’ But [Henderson] just kept coming around." 

Fair enough, Donald.  But allow me to tell you why you, and the judges, are wrong:

(Photo courtesy of MMA Weekly.)

Though various MMA pundits called the decision bullshit, a royal screw-job, and a miscarriage of justice, it’s undeniable that Benson Henderson is one of the toughest bastards to ever put on fingerless gloves. In last night’s interim lightweight title fight at WEC 43, Henderson survived an endless assault of chokes and armlocks courtesy of Donald "Cowboy" Cerrone that would leave the average fighter asleep with shattered limbs. But in a controversial end to the thrilling five-rounder, all judges scored the fight 48-47 for Smooth due to his consistent takedowns and ground-and-pound. Not that Henderson was always dominant from the top position: At one point in the second round, Cerrone landed enough punches from his back that Henderson appeared to be momentarily dazed. Cowboy shouted to the referee that his opponent was out, but Henderson quickly recovered. In the end, it was just the latest in a string of WEC main events that could be considered 2009′s Fight of the Year; if you missed it, click here. Henderson will now take on Cerrone’s old nemesis Jamie Varner at a WEC event to be named later. 

Elsewhere on the card, what we were calling the biggest squash match of the year turned into what may be the upset of the year as Miguel Torres student Mackens Semerzier — who came into the fight as a 3-0 rookie — somehow managed to lock in a triangle-choke in the first round against top-ranked jiu-jitsu ace Wagnney Fabiano. After scoring a takedown, Fabiano got a little sloppy in Semerzier’s guard and paid the price. Also, Raphael Assuncao notched a split decision over GSP’s homeboy Yves Jabouin thanks to his superior grappling and impressive ability to take a hard shot. Jabouin was every bit the explosive striker that he was advertised as, but his spinning back kicks and superman punches barely rattled the iron-chin’d Assuncao.

Full results from WEC 43 are after the jump…

(Props: YouTube.com/wec)

Judging from the utter lack of promotion they’ve done for Cerrone vs. Henderson, it seems like the WEC is already treating this show as a tax write-off. And that’s unfortunate, because Sunday’s event has more than its share of potential barn-burners. Donald "Cowboy" Cerrone and Benson Henderson meet in the main event to determine the league’s interim lightweight champion, while top featherweights Rafael Assuncao and Wagnney Fabiano and undefeated lightweight Dave Jansen will also be in action. The above promo clip introduces us to Yves Jabouin, a 14-4 striker who trains with Georges St. Pierre at Tri Star gym in Montreal; he’ll be facing Assuncao on WEC 43′s main card. According to GSP, Jabouin is incredibly fast, and will bring things that MMA fans have never seen before. After the jump, Ben Henderson takes us around his gym and gets savagely armbarred by a four-year-old.

(An impressive win over Semerzier could earn Fabiano a shot at 0-0 featherweight prospect Spencer Pratt. Photo courtesy of MMA Weekly.)

Unfortunately, not every fight can be as competitive as Tank Abbott vs. Butterbean. Two matchups came down the pipe yesterday that probably wouldn’t get approved if we were the ones holding the rubber stamps. First up…

— Wagnney Fabiano vs. Mackens Semerzier: Top-five featherweight Fabiano was originally supposed to face Erik Koch at WEC 43 (October 10th, San Antonio), and even then we were like WTF, can this guy get an opponent that’s at least near the top 20? But Koch suffered an injury in training, and coming in to replace him on two weeks notice will be Mackens Semerzier, a 28-year-old U.S. Marine and Miguel Torres student who currently has an MMA record of 3-0; two of his opponents were making their pro debuts when he faced them, and the other had a record of 1-0. In other words, this is about as big a leap in competition as theoretically possible. Could Semerzier shock the world next month? No, absolutely not — his arms are going to end up where his legs used to be. On the bright side, maybe Fabiano can finally score a quick stoppage in the WEC and start earning the fan-respect that he deserves. And speaking of top-ten fighters being given sacrificial lambs…

(Photo courtesy of Sherdog.)

According to MMA Fanhouse, WEC featherweight prospect Cole Province has tested positive for the designer anabolic steroid Methasterone, following his unanimous decision win over Fredson Paixao at WEC 42:

The 28-year-old Oklahoma native is the fourth MMA fighter to test positive for steroids this year — following Kirill Sidelnikov, Ken Shamrock, and Josh Barnett — but just the first fighter to piss dirty in Nevada since Kit Cope in January 2007. Province only made six grand for his recent win, and will likely be giving up a sizable chunk of it to the NSAC. We’ll update the definitive timeline as soon as we learn more about Province’s punishment and response.

Related: All fighters who competed at Strikeforce: Carano vs. Cyborg tested clean for "drugs of abuse." Results from steroid tests will come back in three to four weeks.

(Props: YouTube.com/UFC)

Well this is interesting. The WEC convinced die-hard MMA fan Shaquille O’Neal to cut a promo for their Cerrone vs. Henderson show on September 2nd. "They’re lucky I’m a heavyweight," Shaq says. Still, would it have killed you to knock over a cardboard cutout of Cowboy? In a related story, O’Neal’s upcoming ABC series Shaq Vs. will be hosted by the UFC’s own Mike Goldberg.

(Photo courtesy of Sherdog.)

Nothing lasts forever — even cold November rain, and the seemingly untouchable bantamweight championship run of Miguel Torres. No, Torres did not ruin Brian Bowles’s boyish face at last night’s WEC 42, as many (everybody?) assumed he would. Instead, Bowles nearly knocked the former champ’s mullet off during a violent belt-taking that was reminiscent of Brown vs. Faber 1.

Torres was in trouble from the beginning of the match, as Bowles sent him to the canvas with a heavy right hand. After Bowles dropped some elbows from the top, Torres was able to kick Bowles off of him. Moments later, Torres launched forward with a barrage of punches that had Bowles on his heels, but Bowles fired off a sharp right hook that dropped Torres again, and started throwing down bombs until Torres was in dreamland. Brian Bowles — who picked up a $10,000 Knockout of the Night bonus for his shocking of the world — is the new WEC bantamweight champ. “No excuses,” Torres said after the fight. “Brian is going to be a good champion, but he’ll see that the responsibilities that go along with being the champion are not easy.”

(In retrospect, Dan should have never accepted that "Hertz Donut." Photo courtesy of AllElbows.)

The feeding frenzy continues, as the WEC and UFC have reportedly picked up a few more solid additions in the wake of Affliction’s demise. Here’s the latest…

— According to Sherdog, the featherweight bout between Javier Vazquez and L.C. Davis that was supposed to take place during the undercard of "Trilogy" will now take place at WEC 42: Torres vs. Bowles (August 9th, Las Vegas). Vazquez (13-2) is a former King of the Cage and Gladiator Challenge champion who most recently choked out Mark Kergosian in 19 seconds at last month’s Ultimate Chaos show; it was just his third fight since 2003. Davis (also 13-2) is an IFL vet whose most recent decision loss to Michihiro Omigawa at Sengoku 7 in March dropped him from our featherweight top ten list.

(Props: MMA Mania)

The WEC’s next title bout will go down August 9th in Las Vegas, with undisputed bantamweight ruler Miguel Torres (37-1 confirmed record, 5-0 WEC) making his fourth belt defense against exciting contender Brian Bowles (7-0, 4-0 WEC). Despite the large difference in experience, the above promo video does its best to convince you that Bowles is a serious threat. "If I have to pick anybody out there, if I was Miguel Torres’s manager, who I would want to avoid, it would have been Brian Bowles," says WEC analyst Frank Mir, proving why he’s paid to fight and do color commentary, not manage careers. "To beat me you have to kill me," Torres says. "To beat me, you gotta take my heart out of my chest, and stab me with a knife." Luckily, Bowles has been training with MMA legend Mola Ram.

WEC 42 will also feature a possible #1 bantamweight contender match between Joseph Benavidez and Dominick Cruz, and the return of Leonard Garcia against Jameel Massouh.

(Oh, please. In my day, we’d fight with three broken hands. Photo courtesy of Brawlin.net.)

Jamie Varner‘s technical split-decision over Donald Cerrone at WEC 38 counted as a win on his record, but it sure didn’t feel like one. Varner left the cage that night with a broken hand, a broken foot, impaired vision from the illegal knee that ended the match, and heaps of abuse from fans who thought he should have sacked up and finished out the last three minutes of the fight, which he was leading on the scorecards. Five months later, Varner is still feeling the after-effects of that brutal five-rounder. Last week, he Twittered the disappointing news that his hand is still fractured, and with no return date in sight, reports began emerging that his cowboy-hat-wearing nemesis and Benson Henderson would fight for an interim lightweight title. And then, things got even worse.

(Jose Aldo: Murdering his way to the #4 spot.)

After the recent whirlwind of MMA activity in the UFC, WEC, Strikeforce, and DREAM, I’ve updated the Heavyweight, Welterweight, and Featherweight pages of our Power Rankings section. Check ‘em out and let us know what you think. Do Jeff Monson and Brett Rogers deserve to sneak into the heavyweight list? Who do you think sits just outside of the welterweight top ten? Is it okay that I’m so biased towards the WEC’s featherweights? Feel free to peruse all our divisional rankings, though I realize that the middleweight list is severely outdated, and I might not even want to deal with it until after UFC 100.

(BG)

Gash of the year, right there; props to Bloody Elbow for the tip. Video of the Jose Aldo flying knee that gave him that cut is below, and some more WEC 41 fights are after the jump in case you missed the show on Sunday.

(How’s taste this career-shattering loss? Photo by Esther Lin for Showtime Sports.)

What a weekend of fights, and amazingly, all without the benefit of the initials “UFC.”  Instead we had Strikeforce and the WEC (okay, a Zuffa property, but still) teaming up to blow our minds without charging us fifty bucks for a pay-per-view.  Now we begin the difficult task of using the Potato Index’s completely arbitrary numerical rankings system to see who’s up and who’s down after the eventful weekend.

Mike Brown +209
He beat Faber fair and square, no flukes needed, and he also proved he can last through five tough rounds.  Instead of making broken hand-related excuses for Faber, let’s finally all give Brown the unqualified props he clearly deserves.

Urijah Faber -37
We can play the ‘what if?’ game with his broken hand all we want, but that’s the fight game.  That he still fought well and fought hard afterwards, even in a losing effort, deserves to be mentioned.  But he’s not the world’s best featherweight as long as Brownie is around, and that deserves mentioning too.

(Fredbird hypes up Robbie Lawler before he throws out the first pitch at yesterday’s Cardinals/Reds game at Busch Stadium. Photo courtesy of Esther Lin/Strikeforce.)

- Urijah Faber and Mike Brown fill out Sports Illustrated‘s "Cheerleader of the Week" questionnaire. Hilarity ensues. (Asylum)

- Due to Cung Le’s movie career, Strikeforce will soon introduce an interim middleweight belt. (CageWriter)

- As if Team U.S.A. needed another reason to hate Jason Pierce. (SPIKE)

- Fedor Emelianenko discusses why he couldn’t sign with the UFC. (MMA Fanhouse)

- USA Wrestling is trying to bribe wrestlers not to jump ship to MMA. (Fightlinker)

- It’ll be Choi vs. Minowa and Mousasi vs. Sokoudjou in the second round of DREAM’s "Super Hulk" tournament. (MMA Mania)

- Kenny Florian will join the broadcast team at WEC 41 on Sunday. (MMA Junkie)

- Weigh-in results for tonight’s Bellator show. (MMA Madness)

- Mike Brown discusses how he got his start in fighting, and how his loss to Joe Lauzon turned his career around. (Scores Report)

- Urijah Faber is packing on leg muscle and working on a clothing line. (Ask Men)

- Redneck backyard MMA fight ends in head-kick KO. (NothingToxic)

- Spiders Flee From Paris Hilton’s Vagina. (HolyTaco)

- Trailer and production photos from It Might Get Loud, starring Jimmy Page, Jack White, and the Edge. (ScreenJunkies)

- Wreck of the Week: Drunk Fan Edition. (AllLeftTurns)

- Daily Market Madness. (WallStreetFighter)

- The Citizen Kane of beer pong trick-shot videos. (Break)

(Props: YouTube.com/UFC)

You can pretty much skip past the first nine minutes of Dana White’s latest WEC blog, in which DW talks to reporters, puts on a seatbelt for the first time in his life ("It doesn’t feel good!"), bitches about his schedule to Coach Rashad Evans, and talks charity with Al Bernstein. The real important stuff comes at the end, where we get a closer look at Dana White as a father. Basically, he treats his sons like he treats his employees — busting their little balls and putting the shock pen on them when they’re not paying attention. (There’s a great "David After Dentist" moment at 9:12, where one of his boys says "I hate that shock pen! It scares the crap outta me! It feels like I’m a dead man now!") Anyway, those kids will grow up to be very well-adjusted, I’m sure of it.

After the jump: With all the nuthugging we’ve been doing on Mike Brown lately, you may have forgotten that there’s another guy in the main event of Sunday’s WEC show. In this video feature, Urijah Faber talks about his motivation to get revenge on Brownie and his preparation for their rematch. As for this gameplan this time out? "I may try to catch him with that same elbow again," Faber says.

(He’s got comedic timing, too.)

Mike Thomas Brown destroyed the myth of the unbeatable Urijah Faber with his upset knockout victory at WEC 36 last year, but respect (and until recently, money) have still been hard to come by for the American Top Team featherweight.  With the rematch now just a couple of days away, Brownie talks paydays, fame, and beating the oddsmakers in our one-on-one chat with the WEC 145-pound champ.

CagePotato.com: A lot of people seem like they’re still not buying you as the real WEC featherweight champ.  Do you feel like you still need to prove that your win over Faber wasn’t just a fluke?

MB: No, I think I’ve proved it now.  I mean, I read a lot on the internet, people saying it was a fluke and all that.  But I think when I beat Garcia pretty quickly too, and almost in the same way since I hurt him with the right hand and then finished him off, then it was basically like a replay.  That showed it wasn’t a one-time deal, that I could do this to good guys.  Leonard had never been finished before so I was proud of being able to put him away.

(My God, the animosity between these two. It’s like the entire room could burst into flames at any moment.)

MMA fans have a full dance-card this weekend, with Strikeforce putting on a stacked Showtime event on Saturday night (10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT), and the WEC following it up on Sunday night with a show on Versus headlined by featherweight champion Mike Brown’s second meeting with Urijah Faber (9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT). Be sure to come back here Saturday night for the Strikeforce liveblog — and get psyched for the whole shebang by reading the latest installment of the longest-running MMA argument on the Internet. Ben vs. Ben starts right now…

Brett Rogers says he wants to stand and bang with Andrei Arlovski on Saturday. That sounds like a horrible idea for "The Grimm," given that Arlovski is just as big and strong as he is but with much more technical striking. Does Rogers stand a chance with that strategy, or is he an unconscious man walking at this point?

BG: WTF? Is Rogers supposed to take Arlovski down and sub him out with his battle-tested Grimjitsu? I’m not trying to hate on Brett’s ground game, because none of us have actually seen it; he’s a brawler, and thus far he’s only had to face other brawlers. Arlovski, on the other hand, actually has some submission skills in his back pocket. So while we know that Rogers will be fighting an uphill battle on Saturday night, I’d say his odds decrease even further if the fight goes anywhere else besides stand-and-bangville.

Brett’s only shot is to stick to his bread-and-butter and swing those hamhocks. The fact that Arlovski’s hands are far more technical means that the Grimm will probably get picked apart. But Arlovski’s unreliable chin makes him vulnerable to what Rogers brings into the cage. That’s what makes this fight compelling for me: Brett Rogers definitely should not be able to beat Andrei Arlovski — but he just might.

BF: With regard to the submission skills in Arlovski’s back pocket, I hope your finger slipped and you really meant to type ‘submission skill.’ As in, his straight achilles lock. That’s all the dude’s got on the mat and he goes to it like it’s his signature killer move, so let’s not pretend that there any Arlovski-platas in the near future.

Yet another example of how Dana White’s personal style is different than that of other sports team/league owners: Here are the most recent Twitter updates from Dana White (yes, he has a personal account separate from the UFC’s official feed) and WEC general manager Reed Harris. Reed’s could have been written by any middle-aged father, while Dana’s could have been written by any tit-groping frat boy. And while most UFC fans don’t have a problem with that, several sports journalists have called Dana’s immature, hostile persona into question recently.

Tonight’s episode of ESPN E:60 (7 p.m.) delves deeper into the issue — who is this wild-ass motherfucker, and would the UFC be better off with an actual grown-up in charge? If you missed the preview, click here. And check out another excerpt from the show after the jump, where Dana lays into Tito Ortiz for being his first business mistake, and Tito claims he’s fought "some of the best world in the men…and beat ‘em!" Seriously.

(Props: MMA Mania)

After their first meeting six months ago resulted in Urijah Faber getting crushed and losing his featherweight title, the California Kid and the WEC’s current 145-pound champ Mike Brown will have their rematch at WEC 41, which goes down June 7th at the ARCO Arena in Faber’s hometown of Sacramento. Both headliners discuss the matchup in this new promo video, which shows that Brown is slightly peeved that his win over Faber is still considered a fluke in the eyes of some fans, while Faber is all "whatever brah, let’s do this, I want that belt back." (Not a direct quote.) Meanwhile, Frank Mir pops in to give his large-man perspective.

WEC 41 will also feature Jose Aldo, Donald "Cowboy" Cerrone, Jens Pulver, and Manny Gamburyan. The full lineup is after the jump; please toss your insightful predictions into the comments section.

(That’s what you get for rushing the mound, Manny. Photo courtesy of CombatLifestyle.)

Revered by Chicago-area MMA fans as a hometown hero, WEC bantamweight champ/East Chicago native Miguel Torres will take a big step up in public visibility when he throws out the ceremonial first pitch for the White Sox vs. Detroit Tigers game at U.S. Cellular Field on Wednesday, May 6th. As NWI.com reports:

Hopefully Miguel will be able to resist the urge to aim for the head. The 135-pound king will next defend his title against Brian Bowles this summer. Though we can’t imagine a better ambassador for the sport than Torres, his new poster-boy status is already weighing on him. As he explained in a recent interview for WEC.tv:

(Lashley vs. Sapp: Battle of the Flared Nostrils)

— In a new contribution for MMA Fanhouse, Ariel Helwani reports that former WWE-star Bobby Lashley will take on infamous fighter/actor/pitchman Bob Sapp at a June 27th pay-per-view event in Biloxi, Mississippi, organized by Prize Fight Promotions. Lashley increased his MMA record to 2-0 last month with an underwhelming decision victory over Jason Guida at "March Badness," while Sapp’s last two fights were a win over a cartoon character and a dreadful loss to Jan Nortje. No other names have been announced for this monumental fight card yet.

— Renato "Babalu" Sobral has pulled out of his June 6th Strikeforce light-heavyweight title defense against Rafael "Feijao" Cavalcante, because the due date of his next child falls too close to the event. According to Sobral’s manager Richard Wilner, Sobral originally accepted a Strikeforce fight for May, but the May date was instead taken by the first Sho MMA: Strikeforce Challengers show, and Sobral was told that his fight would be moved to June. "We basically said okay, but about three days after that, the doctors confirmed that Babalu’s baby was meant to be born on May 24," Wilner said. Sobral expects to return in August. As for Feijao, he will likely still compete on the June 6th "Lawler vs. Shields" card against a yet-unnamed opponent, and hopes to get a shot at Babalu’s belt when the champ returns.

(Better get the next ice-pack ready. Photo courtesy of Yardbarker.)

Alright, let’s get to it…

— After an injury forced Josh Thomson to drop out of his Strikeforce rematch with Gilbert Melendez, a replacement has reportedly been found, according to The Fight Network. Taking on Melendez at Saturday’s "Shamrock vs. Diaz" event will be Rodrigo Damm, an 8-2 veteran of Bodog Fight and Sengoku. Damm hasn’t competed since last August, when he was choked out by Eiji Mitsuoka at Sengoku Fourth Battle.

— Winless since his WEC debut against Cub Swanson in December 2007, Jens Pulver will be given another chance to score a victory at WEC 41 (June 7th, Sacramento). Lil’ Evil will be facing 20-year-old up-and-comer Josh "The Fluke" Grispi (12-1), who has gone 2-0 in the WEC with first-round stoppages over Mark Hominick and Micah Miller. WEC 41 will be headlined by the rematch between Urijah Faber and Mike Brown.

— TUF 7 winner Amir Sadollah has an opponent for his much-delayed return at UFC 101 (August 8th, Philadelphia). MMA Weekly confirms that Sadollah’s welterweight debut will come against Johny Hendricks, a 5-0 transfer from the WEC’s defunct 170-pound division who won a unanimous decision over Alex Serdyukov at WEC 39 last month. Also on the card will be another welterweight bout between Tamdan McCrory (who’s coming off a submission victory over Ryan Madigan at UFC 96 in March) and John Howard (who most recently won a Fight of the Night bonus for his split-decision victory over Chris Wilson at UFC 94 in January). UFC 101 will be headlined by the lightweight title scrap between BJ Penn and Kenny Florian.

(Torres discusses his war with Mizugaki in the post-event press-conference. Props: MMA Mania)

Yes, it’s only early April, but last night’s WEC main event between Miguel Torres and Takeya Mizugaki established itself as a 2009 Fight of the Year front-runner that might not be touched in the next nine months. (We’ll post the video as soon as it turns up, but the Internet is failing us right now.) Honestly, Torres/Mizugaki made Torres/Maeda look like Lashley/Guida. And the fight was a lot closer than the scorecards (or Frank Mir‘s biased, nuthugging commentary) would suggest.

Mizugaki shocked the crowd by fearlessly outstriking Torres in the opening round and keeping up an inhuman pace through 25 minutes; wisely, he avoided following Torres to the ground when the champion baited him. Torres may have had the edge in the later rounds, but he was never able to put the tough-as-nails challenger in danger of being finished. Still, he fought relentlessly, and once again proved himself the rightful owner of the 135-pound crown. His next thrilling victory will likely be in August against currently-sidelined #1-contender Brian Bowles.

For their efforts, both Torres and Mizugaki picked up $10,000 Fight of the Night bonuses. (That’s the best you can do, WEC? Now we know why Miguel wants to chase larger paydays in ill-advised weight classes.) Also taking home the extra 10 G’s were Anthony Njokuani for his Knockout of the Night over Bart Palaszewski, and Rani Yahya for his Submission of the Night (via first-round rear-naked choke) over Eddie Wineland.