Fight Night

('Yes, now finish him you fool.  Finish him!  Mwahahahaha!' Photo courtesy of UFC.com)

The Canadian no-accounts over at Fightlinker went looking through the UFC's Fight Night photo gallery and found some pretty interesting shots, like this one of matchmaker Joe Silva getting all riled up about Rafael Dos Anjos' weirdo thigh compression move on Tyson Griffin.  We've previously taken note of Silva's tendency to lose his freaking mind when somebody does something cool, and we love to see a man with this kind of fire in the belly, but what do you think is going on with him here?  Is that the look of a man who is pumped up about the chance for a crazy upset, or a man who just realized that he forgot to close the garage door when he left home.  Oh God, the cats will get out!!!!

Dana Whites Fight Night 18 video blog - Watch more free videos

Ho. Lee. Shit. Dana White is upset with Sherdog’s Loretta Hunt.  Like, really upset.  So much so that he spends the final three minutes of his Fight Night 18 video blog bashing her with language that would make Nixon blush.  Not that it’s surprising to hear the UFC prez throw around a handful of f-bombs (though it's kind of funny since he just warned tonight’s fighters against swearing on Spike TV), but to hear him call a female reporter a bitch…wow.  If his mother is anything like mine, there’s going to be a very stern voicemail message on his phone tonight.

Apparently Hunt’s article about some managers being stripped of backstage credentials really touched a nerve.  White says it’s all crap and offers an explanation for why this is a non-story, while also pausing to go off on a tangent about Hunt’s comments in that Matt Lindland documentary.  Clearly some old hurts are rising to the surface here.  You can’t keep those feelings bottled up forever.  It isn't healthy.

I don’t know if all this means we should pay more attention to the allegations in the article (made by anonymous sources, who are apparently pussies for not wanting to bring the Danawrath upon themselves) or less, but either way it’s kind of a bizarre accomplishment to get your name mentioned so much in one of D.W.’s video blogs.  Kind of like getting punked in a Jay-Z song.  At least people know who you are afterwards, right Prodigy?

(It gets a little heated at the 1:30 mark, and believe it or not it's Cole Miller who escalates things.)

Those of you who were looking forward to the Steve Steinbeiss/Ryan Jensen fight that you probably weren't going to see aired on Spike TV anyway are sure going to be...disappointed, I guess?  According to Cage Writer, the fight was scrapped when Jensen tested positive for Adderall, the ADHD drug also known to help fighters who are trying to cut weight or cram for that biology midterm.  So that explains that.

In other Fight Night 18 weigh-in news, check Cole Miller getting all up in Junie Browning's business.  It looks like Miller's mouth is working hard too, though we can only guess what he was saying (something about Junie setting a bad example for the impressionable youth of Kentucky, we assume).  Oddly, Browning is the one who appears to remain calm throughout the encounter.  He even gives Miller a friendly, go-get-em butt slap.  Such a nice boy he turned out to be.  So supportive.

Apparently Cole Miller’s mother never told him that if you don’t have something nice to say about someone, you shouldn’t say anything at all.  Talking to Steve Cofield (it doesn’t get remotely interesting until a little after the six-minute mark), Miller responds to a question about what he thinks of Junie Browning on a technical level by saying: “Nothing.  I don’t think he’s technical at all.”

Miller then goes on to point out that Browning has never tapped out or knocked out anyone who matters, before then comparing him to past opponents like Andy Wang and concluding that Browning is the worst fighter he’s faced in the UFC, next to Allen Berube (ouch!).  

So is Miller right about Browning?  Maybe.  We don’t really know for sure, since all we’ve really seen of him comes from his “Ultimate Fighter” antics and his submission victory over Dave Kaplan, who’s not exactly top-level competition.  But even if he is right, I’m not sure it’s such a great idea to go around talking about how almost-comically bad your next opponent is.  If you manage to get people to believe that he’s one of the worst fighters ever to step into the Octagon, then it’s not enough to just beat him.  You have to beat him quickly and effortlessly, otherwise you look like a punk.

(You didn't think Martin Kampmann's eyebrows always looked so perfect by accident, did you?)

When last we left the Gambling Addiction Enabler, a mathematical error had left him mistakenly believing that he suffered a net loss at UFC 96 rather than a gain of $30.  So now that he’s realized his error, you might be wondering, does that mean he has an extra thirty bones to throw around at UFC Fight Night 18?  Sadly, no.  That event was several weeks ago, so he’s already spent the money on a bunch of Snoop Dogg posters from Hot Topic.  That's the bad news.  The good news is that his home office now looks straight-up gangsta.

But tomorrow night is a brand new opportunity to turn MMA knowledge and a taste for reckless financial risk into cold hard cash.  Here are the best lines on the internet, courtesy of BestFightOdds.com:

Carlos Condit (+102) vs. Martin Kampmann (-110)
Ryan Bader (-400) vs. Carmelo Marrero (+360)
Tyson Griffin (-385) vs. Rafael Dos Anjos (+355)
Junie Browning (+120) vs. Cole Miller (-125)
Gleison Tibau (-145) vs. Jeremy Stephens (+145)
Ricardo Almeida (-275) vs. Matt Horwich (+245)
Brock Larson (-450) vs. Jesse Sanders (+400)
Tim Credeur (-117) vs. Nick Catone (+110)
Jorge Rivera (-135) vs. Nissen Osterneck (+140)
Rob Kimmons (-255) vs. Joe Vedepo (+230)
Tim McKenzie (+145) vs. Aaron Simpson (-167)
Steve Steinbeiss (+165) vs. Ryan Jensen (-195)

Thoughts…