Georges St. Pierre

(Props: valetudows via MMA Mania)

He's back, and he wants his belt back. In this UFC 106 promo clip, Tito Ortiz says he plans on rebuilding himself towards the light-heavyweight title one fight at time, starting with his upcoming rematch against Forrest Griffin. "Can he withstand the pound...and pound...and poundage that I'm gonna do on him?" Ortiz asks in his usual eloquent style. "I ain't lookin' for submissions, I'm gonna look for hurtin' him." Probably the most interesting part of this clip is the footage at 1:36-1:46 of Griffin storming out of the Octagon following his loss to Anderson Silva, which wasn't shown in the original UFC 101 broadcast; Ortiz didn't think that was too cool, by the way. At the end, Tito stares into the camera, breaking the fourth-wall: "I'm willing to die for my cause. Are yuh?"

(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.

("I took care of that thing for you, Godfather. Let's just say the Hawaiian won't be jumping out of any more pools." Photo courtesy of ESPN.)

After a month-long voting period that drew over 500,000 ballots, AskMen.com released its Top 49 Most Influential Men of 2009 list today, and it turns out that a shocking number of AskMen's readers want to be Dana White when they grow up. Coming in at #10, the UFC president managed to beat out such heavy hitters as Jay-Z (#11), Jon Stewart (#13), Quentin Tarantino (#15), Conan O'Brien (#16), Brad Pitt (#21), Manny Pacquiao (#24), and Kanye West (#26). He also came in ahead of one of his star employees, welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre, who made the list at a very respectable #36, right between Andy Roddick and Coldplay's Chris Martin. Said Dana of his impressively high placement on the Top 49:

Oddly enough, the list's #1 spot was taken by a fictional character — Don Draper, the smooth-talking, scotch-drinking, stewardess-banging superhero of AMC's Mad Men. (Sorry, Jon Hamm, you'll get 'em next year.) You can check out the rest of the list right here.

Previously: Gina Carano is the 73rd Hottest Woman in the World

(Images courtesy of Dan Hardy's Facebook page and Mike Swick's Twitter feed, via BloodyElbow.)

UFC president Dana White has confirmed to MMA Fanhouse that a welterweight fight between Mike Swick and Dan Hardy is in the works, with the winner potentially getting the next shot at Georges St. Pierre's belt. Though the bout hasn't yet been tied to a specific event, UFC 105 (November 14th, Manchester) seems likely, as British fan-favorite Hardy was already rumored to face Dong Hyun Kim on the card, while Swick has expressed a desire to return to action quickly after a concussion suffered in training scrapped his scheduled fight against Martin Kampmann at UFC 103.

Mike Swick (14-2) has been a perfect 4-0 since dropping to the welterweight division, winning decisions over Josh Burkman and Marcus Davis, and impressive stoppage victories over Jonathan Goulet and Ben Saunders. Dan Hardy (22-6, 1 no contest) has also been on a tear since he signed with the UFC last year, earning split-decisions against Akihiro Gono and Marcus Davis, and knocking the daylights out of Rory Markham at UFC 95.

Though Georges St. Pierre is still rehabbing the groin injury he suffered in his decision win against Thiago Alves in July, he expects to be ready for action by early next year.

If there's one thing we've learned during our travels through this crazy world of mixed martial arts, it's that you are not a beautiful and unique snowflake. There are only a few different types of MMA fans, and they tend to gravitate towards certain fighters. For example, let's say your favorite fighter is...

ANDERSON SILVA

(That's you on the left.)
You are without a doubt the hippest dude you know.  You were the first to start wearing skinny jeans and also the first to stop, proving your bona fides as a trendsetter.  You like to think that you appreciate the finer elements of striking technique more than most MMA fans, but really you just parrot things Joe Rogan has said (“ballet of violence”) while listing off all the ways that Silva is like a modern-day Bruce Lee.  You sometimes wear glasses you don’t really need and you pretend to like jazz.  You think of yourself as a good dancer.
Your favorite fight: Silva vs. Rich Franklin I

FEDOR EMELIANENKO

You’ve been watching MMA for years, and it’s important to you that people know that.  You have an extensive collection of ironic t-shirts and Pride DVD’s.  You work in the IT department of a moderately-sized company, where you used to feel bad for the people who pester you for help all day because, honestly, how did anyone even get that clueless?  Now you despise them and don’t go to very much trouble to hide it.  You are probably overweight, but you’re quick to tell people that it doesn’t necessarily mean you are out of shape or aren’t a good athlete.  You don’t date much but there’s this girl in Illinois who you have a thing with over the internet, which you refer to as ‘the web.’  Someone in a bar once asked you if you thought Fedor would stand a chance against Brock Lesnar.  You laughed out loud.  Okay, so they were talking to someone else and you overheard them, and when they noticed you laughing you pretended to be coughing, but still.  The ignorance of some people.
Your favorite fight: Fedor vs. Mirko Filipovic