Paul Kelly

(Usually, flying a British flag at half-mast would signify some sort of tragedy. Photo courtesy of the UFC 105: Weigh in Pics set on CombatLifestyle.)

Spoliers after the jump. Come back at 8 p.m. for play-by-play from the Spike broadcast...

(It didn't last. Nothing perfect ever does. Props: BloodyElbow)

From Paul Kelly via the CageWarriors forum (all misspellings printed as-is):

In case you missed it, Roli Delgado freaked out earlier today at the UFC 99 weigh-ins when Tellys got a little too close for comfort — and in doing so, signed his own death warrant. Not that UFC 99 needed any more bad blood, between Davis/Hardy and Franklin/Silva, but there ya go. After the jump, one of the jokers on the CageWarriors board takes the piss out of the Crazy Cuban...

('Bones' Jones: Nothing but awesome.)

Between his unstoppable takedowns and wildly unorthodox YouTube-influenced striking, Jon Jones has caught the attention of many UFC fans, who see him as one of the future stars of the light-heavyweight division. And after his one-sided mollywhopping of Stephan Bonnar at UFC 94 in January, he'll be getting another big name to prove himself against. TheGarv has confirmed that Jones will compete next at UFC 100 (July 11th, Las Vegas) where he'll take on former heavyweight Jake O'Brien. Known primarily as a wrestler, O'Brien most recently won a split-decision over Christian Wellisch during his light-heavyweight debut at UFC 94; before signing with the UFC, he racked up a 7-0 record with all wins by first-round T/KO, but he hasn't won a fight by stoppage since August 2006. Jones would certainly seem to have an advantage in the standup, and if he can neutralize O'Brien's wrestling — a very likely scenario — it'll be Jones's fight to win.

In other booking news...

(Unfortunately the beating wasn't the worst thing to come out of UFC 95 for Mandaloniz.  Photo courtesy of MMA Weekly.)

According to BJPenn.com, Troy “Rude Boy” Mandaloniz has been cut from the UFC following the decision loss to Paul Kelly that left the Hawaiian’s face looking like an impressionist painting that had been left out in the rain.  While we’re not terribly surprised to see a guy who is 3-2 in his career and 1-1 in the UFC (with the lone win coming against Richie Hightower) cut from the big leagues, he seems fairly shocked.

"I thought I showed them what I was made of, but I guess not. I don' think I see too many other fighters out there fighting with the same passion and intensity that I bring. I'm a fighter that people want to see fight and maybe one day after I prove myself again I could be back in the UFC.”

Rude Boy apparently learned he had been cut via email (sure it wasn’t a text message to someone else in the camp?), which seems kind of cold.  They couldn’t even pick up the phone and call him?  

Maybe dropping fighters from the UFC is like breaking up.  If they’ve only fought twice for you, an email is fine.  If they’ve been around a little longer, you gotta call.  And if it’s an ex-champion who’s put in years of service, you take them out to a mediocre Mexican restaurant and break the news over appetizers, then let them have just one more go-round in the bathroom for old times’ sake.

Of course, if they’ve only had one fight?  Like poor Josh Hendricks?  Then you can inform them via a post on their Facebook page.  Right before changing your status to “Accepting heavyweight applications.”

(Props: MMALinker)

Those of us who watched the Spike TV tape-delayed replay of UFC 95 were treated to a briskly paced broadcast that managed to fit a Spike-record nine fights into three hours. The only match that was left off the U.S. broadcast was the event's leadoff scrap, a welterweight fight between Paul "Tellys" Kelly and Troy "Rude Boy" Mandaloniz, which Kelly took in a unanimous decision. It's definitely worth watching; Mandaloniz comes out fast 'n' furious, like he's looking for Knockout of the Night, or Fight of the Night, or both. But Kelly wakes up with about two minutes left in the round and inflicts some abuse of his own — with Wolfslair teammate Quinton Jackson shouting encouragement from cageside — and manages to slash the Hawaiian's left eyebrow wide open before the round's end.

The second frame starts off with some ground-and-pound by Kelly. Mandaloniz scores the mount later in the round, and briefly takes Kelly's back, but Kelly brilliantly reverses and goes back to using Mandaloniz's head like a punching bag. Rude Boy clearly doesn't want any more after round two, yet he soldiers on for the final five minutes, which is more of a slower-paced boxing match until the 2:20-remaining mark, when Mandaloniz takes Kelly down. Unfortunately his submission attempts are rebuffed and it's fist-eating time again. The fight's actually a little closer than the scores would suggest, but Mandaloniz is the the one who looks like he got too close to a polar bear's cubs, and there you have it.