Duane Ludwig

(Props: Altofsky)

According to Mike Goldberg, Todd Duffee's seven-second pwnage of Tim Hague at UFC 102 was "officially the fastest knockout in UFC history." Previously, the company line was that James Irvin and Don Frye held the record jointly with their eight-second knockouts of Houston Alexander and Thomas Ramirez, respectively. But hardcore fans know the truth. Above is a gif of Duane "Bang" Ludwig's knockout of Jonathan Goulet at UFC Fight Night 3, in which Mario Yamasaki rushes in to save the starched Canadian at the four-second mark. So why don't we ever hear about it? Well, the timekeeper effed up and reported the official time of the stoppage as 11 seconds. And that's still how they have the time listed on UFC.com and Sherdog. Duffee may have given us one of the most fearsome Octagon debuts since Tank Abbott, but at the very least his "record" should have an asterisk next to it...

(Cristiane and Evangelista's high school class voted them "Most Likely to Push Your Shit In." Photo courtesy of Showtime Sports.)

No rest for the hardcore MMA fan: Strikeforce’s second "Challengers" event goes down this Friday at the ShoWare Center in Kent, Washington — a day before the TUF 9 finale in Las Vegas. Headlining the Strikeforce card will be a middleweight matchup between two exciting strikers: Team Jackson product “Smokin’” Joey Villasenor and Chute Boxe veteran Evangelista “Cyborg” Santos. Both guys are coming off extended layoffs; Villasenor hasn’t competed since his first-round TKO win over Phil Baroni last May, and Santos is coming back from an elbow injury suffered in a Sengoku fight against Siyar Bahadurzada in September.

Also on the card: Highly-regarded welterweight Nick Thompson takes a middleweight fight against Tim Kennedy out of desperation, UFC vet Jorge Gurgel makes his Strikeforce debut against bully-beater Conor Heun, and Sarah Kaufman and Shayna Baszler will test out Strikeforce's new five-minute-rounds policy in the night's sole women's feature. Not bad for premium cable. The full lineup is after the jump.

(Props: NBCSports via BloodyElbow)

Saturday's episode of Strikeforce on NBC presented a countdown of the league's all-time greatest knockouts, including KOs from Cung Le, Frank Shamrock, Kazuo Misaki, Duane Ludwig, and Paul Buentello; part 1 is above, parts 2 and 3 are after the jump. Watch as Joe Riggs finds himself on the happy and unhappy ends of two featured bouts, Buentello gobbles up the #2 and #3 spots, and color-man Ken Shamrock uses the "sack of potatoes" knockout metaphor twice.

(Smith during his last UFC appearance, against Ed Herman at UFC 72. Photo courtesy of slam.canoe.ca.)

Though most of his former EliteXC stablemates are still in contract limbo, two-time middleweight title challenger Scott Smith (13-5) has managed to book his next fight. "Hands of Steel" will be taking on fellow UFC vet Terry Martin (18-5) at Strikeforce's "Destruction" card, which will be held at San Jose’s HP Pavilion on November 21st. According to the press release we received this morning:

Despite the short notice he was given for the meeting with Martin, Smith claims he will enter the fight in better condition that he did for [his most recent] meeting with [Robbie] Lawler, as he had already been preparing for a bout on November 8th that was subsequently canceled.

“My teammates said you got to stick in there and be ready to fight at any time and that’s what I did. I think fighting two weeks later is better for me and is perfect timing...He’s a better boxer and I’m a better kickboxer. I want to keep the fight standing. I know he likes to stand and bang so it’s looking to be a slugfest."

(Michelle "The Karate Hottie" Waterson puts Tyra Parker to sleep in 80 seconds.)

Main Card:
Duane Ludwig def. Sam Morgan via submission (strikes), 2:01 of round 1
Frank Trigg def. Falaniko Vitale via unanimous decision
Donnie Liles def. Pete Spratt via submission (rear naked choke), 1:59 of round 3
Billy Evangelista def. Luke Caudillo via unanimous decision
Carlos Zevallos def. Andre Walker via TKO, 4:48 of round 1
Michelle Waterson def. Tyra Parker via submission (rear naked choke), 1:20 of round 1
Tyler Toner def. Ricky Johnson via TKO, 3:44 of round 2

Undercard:
Drew Dober def. Lumumba Sawyers via KO (punch), 0:16 of round 1
Alan Gomez def. Jordan Goodwin via unanimous decisio
Eric Galvin def. Jeremy Malaterre via split decision
Turrell Galloway def. Brett Tillis via submission (rear naked choke), 1:21 of round 1
Aaron Trujillo def. Haven Torres via TKO, 2:59 of round 1

And the award for Best Vagina-Ear goes to: