Babalu Sobral

(Props: youtube.com/afflictionvideos via MMA Fanhouse)

It's a small comfort in light of the canceled main event, but at least Affliction: Trilogy (if it is indeed still happening) will feature an important light-heavyweight bout between Renato "Babalu" Sobral and Gegard Mousasi. The above video promo paints the two fighters as polar opposites: Sobral is the hardy veteran who's fought everybody and seen it all; the dangerous grappler who's just as interesting outside of the ring. Mousasi is the young and confident striker who responds to every interview question with a deadpan shrug. It's a clash of styles that will either solidify Sobral's status as one of the best 205-pounders in the world, or prove that Mousasi can be dominant in a new weight class. "I'm the guy who wants to hurt him," Mousasi says, "[Sobral] only wants to submit me." Babalu responds with some of his trademark craziness: "If he talks shit, he gonna pee in the ring. If he doesn't, he's gonna pee anyway." Yikes. Gegard's Bladder, you've just been put on notice...

After the jump: A preview of the middleweight bout that might not happen anymore — Vitor Belfort vs. Jorge Santiago.

(Lesnar's fighting style is truly an inspiration to asshole big brothers everywhere.)

Gather round, Potato Nation.  It's time to sort through the latest batch of your Ask the Potato questions and see what kind of pointless queries have been bouncing around in your precious little heads.  If you  have a question of your own, by all means, let us know in the forums.  If you already asked a question and we still haven't answered it, we're probably not going to.  Ask a better question.

Which fighter as of right now has the most drawing power, and why?? – Rokabee

The difficult part about answering this question is correlation vs. causation.  How do we know it's any one guy drawing huge numbers, and not the timing or the overall card?  The best we can do is look at the highest performing pay-per-views and sell-out events and try to figure out which fighter consistently shows up on those cards.  When we do it that way over the short term, the answer is Brock Lesnar.  Every pay-per-view he’s on does better than the last one.  Thing is, he’s only been on three so far.  If we were fucking doctors or scientists or something, we’d probably say that was too small a sample size.  But we’re not, and you did say, “as of right now,” so there’s your answer.  His pro wrestling fanbase, the sheer curiosity as to what he might become in MMA, plus his volatility make Lesnar a consistent draw.

Are knees to the body on the ground the single most destructive and under-used strike in MMA? You wouldn't figure it would take too many well planted knees to just ruin an opponent, but you don't see many guys in side control try it. Wassup wit dat!!! – Dmonicideals

(I know, Joe.  I have the same reaction when I get too close to the Cage Potato logo.)

It’s hard to be the Cage Potato sometimes.  Partying with MMA royalty like Forrest Griffin and Urijah Faber.  Drinking for free at an open bar while chicks in bikinis gyrate beneath a giant flashing sign that says “SEXY.”  Giving out free Hall of Fame t-shirts to the pleading masses.  Oh, wait a minute.  That isn’t hard.  That was just my Friday night.

If you can’t tell from the above paragraph, last night’s Fight Magazine/Cage Potato VIP Party was a complete success.  I arrived with an all-star blogging crew that featured Fightlinker’s Ryan Harkness and MMA Frenzy’s Kris Karkoski precisely at 8:30 pm.  It might seem a little lame of us to show up exactly when the party was scheduled to start, but in our defense: a) that’s when the open bar started, and b) Joe Stevenson had already been there for ten minutes by then.  That’s right, “Daddy” knows how to party.

Dana White's UFC 93 video blog, episode 3 - Watch more free videos

Dana White’s latest video-blogging effort is very long but not very interesting.  He pumps a little iron, tries to convert kilograms to pounds, wanders around Dublin, and strikes up conversations with a few fighters.  Yawn.  Just goes to show that the tedium of anyone’s daily life is still boring, even if they’re the head of the UFC.

Alan Belcher seems to think he’s gotten a good deal for himself in securing a bout with Denis Kang, who’s making his UFC debut this Saturday.  Oddsmakers certainly don’t agree, but as Belcher points out, the vibe from the crowd in the UFC is very different from Japan.  Just how much that will affect Kang, who’s been around in this sport for a while now, that remains to be seen.

After the jump, Affliction hypes Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou vs. Renato “Babalu” Sobral with some help from Loretta Hunt and Josh Gross.

(That's got to sting a bit. Photo courtesy of MMA Weekly.)

What's the most anti-climactic way for a title fight to end? Okay, the second-most anti-climactic, right behind double KO via simultaneous cardiac arrest? You guessed it: stoppage due to a cut. That's what did Bobby Southworth in at last night's Strikeforce. As you can see, it was a nasty one brought on by one of "Babalu" Sobral's elbows in the first round. Before the second could start doctors waved it off, and just that easy "Babalu" is now the Strikeforce champ.

In other action, Kim Couture put her increased aggression to good use, while her opponent fought very much like we expected given her scared-soccer-mom appearance at the weigh-in. Duane "Bang" Ludwig earned a decision victory over Yves Edwards. And Scott Smith knocked Terry Martin out cold in just twenty-four seconds. Looks like there'll be a Christmas at the "Hands of Steel" household, after all.

Full results after the jump.