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Throwdown/CagePotato Wallpaper Design Contest: We Have a Winner!

Well that was exciting! Thanks to a late surge on Thursday night aided by a mysterious re-tweet, Jesse L.’s russkie-inpired "Potato Nation Unite" design edged out JoseMonkey’s old dad tribute to win our CagePotato Wallpaper Design Cont…

Well that was exciting! Thanks to a late surge on Thursday night aided by a mysterious re-tweet, Jesse L.‘s russkie-inpired "Potato Nation Unite" design edged out JoseMonkey’s old dad tribute to win our CagePotato Wallpaper Design Contest! A round of applause for Jesse, who surely has some interesting opinions about who should own the means of production.

Sorry we didn’t get the results up on Friday as originally promised, but as jimbonics correctly pointed out, we were up at the Expo not giving a damn about you. (Lots of amazing videos, photos, and stories to come.) Jesse L., please shoot us an e-mail at [email protected] with your name, address, shirt size, and shoe size, and we’ll get you hooked up with that bomb-ass $250 prize package from Throwdown. Thanks so much to Throwdown for making this possible; visit them at shopthrowdown.com and show your support for one of the best brands in the industry.

If you didn’t win, brush the dirt off your shoulders and stay tuned, because we have another contest that we’re financially obligated to announce in the next hour. And after that, we’ll be back to your regular programming, scout’s honor…

Exclusive Interview: Gabe Ruediger — The Return of Godzilla

(Photo courtesy of MMAWeekly)
By CagePotato.com contributor Elias Cepeda
Gabe Ruediger (17-5) spent years developing a solid reputation as a talented submission fighter, racking up an impressive record and finally reaching the UFC. Then, with a los…

(Photo courtesy of MMAWeekly)

By CagePotato.com contributor Elias Cepeda

Gabe Ruediger (17-5) spent years developing a solid reputation as a talented submission fighter, racking up an impressive record and finally reaching the UFC. Then, with a loss in his debut and an embarrassing short-lived stint on The Ultimate Fighter 5, which saw him get KO’d by a scale and not an opponent, he saw it disintegrate in just a few months’ time.

That was in 2006. Since that time, Ruediger has had neck surgery, switched up teams, won and finished his last six fights, and has now found himself back in the UFC as he steps in for an injured Terry Etim to face another TUF 5 vet, Joe Lauzon. Gabe talks with CagePotato about how he survived becoming a laughing-stock and why he thinks Joe Lauzon is a “good kid,” but still wants to kick his ass.

CAGEPOTATO.COM: Gabe, you are filling in on short notice for Terry Etim to fight Joe Lauzon. The two of you, as well as his younger brother Dan, have been talking back and forth with each other for years. How did this fight finally come about?
GABE RUEDIGER: [UFC matchmaker] Joe Silva approached us after my last fight and said that he wanted to bring me back but that it was hard to find a proper place for me with the lightweight division being so deep. They were unsure of what to do with me and wanted to give me a fight if they could find a really good matchup for me in terms of it being compelling. But I was in a good position at that time because all the major organizations were interested in me so I understood and was fine with that. When Terry Etim had to pull out of the fight with Joe and they called me I was more than thrilled and I think Joe was more than thrilled. The fight has a good back story to it.

Watch the UFC 118 Press Conference Right Here at 3 p.m. ET / noon PT!

(This is actually where the UFC press conference is being held. No kidding. Inside that historic room, in front of the busts of those great American patriots, James Toney will tell Randy Couture "I’mma whip y’muhfuckin ass, prinsiss, y’fill’me.&q…

Dana White, Frankie Edgar, BJ Penn, Randy Couture, James Toney, Kenny Florian, and Gray Maynard will appear and take UFC 118-related questions from the media at the Faneuil Hall in Boston today beginning at 3 p.m. ET. You can watch the proceedings live in the player after the jump. Go Red Sox.

Announcing the Semi-Official Potato Nation ‘Welcome to Boston’ Meet-Up!

(Photo courtesy of ChampionsBoston.com)
As many of you know, CagePotato.com will be in Boston this week for UFC 118 and the UFC Fan Expo. To commemorate the occasion, CP’s dedicated superfan-lackeys Viva Hate and ReX13 have organized a Potato Na…

(Photo courtesy of ChampionsBoston.com)

As many of you know, CagePotato.com will be in Boston this week for UFC 118 and the UFC Fan Expo. To commemorate the occasion, CP’s dedicated superfan-lackeys Viva Hate and ReX13 have organized a Potato Nation meetup on Thursday night for folks who live in Beantown or will be visiting for the fights. (Seriously, they made a Facebook page and everything.) Here are the details…

When: Thursday night, from "8:30 or so" onward
Where: Champions, a very classy-looking sports bar located on the second level of the Boston Marriott Copley Place (110 Huntington Ave.), with an astounding beer selection and more TV screens than a drunk person could possibly count.
What: Drinking; lots of drinking. The opportunity to hang out with your Internet friends. Trying to convince the waitress to put one of the TVs on Fox Sports Net so we can watch Bellator.

If that’s not enough to get you out to Champions, we have one more thing to share…

Wednesday Morning MMA Link Club

(Nick Thompson is stretchered to safety after getting smoked by Taisuke Okuno at Sengoku 14. Check out FIGHT! Magazine’s exclusive gallery of photos from the event right here.)
Some selected highlights from our friends around the MMA blogos…

(Nick Thompson is stretchered to safety after getting smoked by Taisuke Okuno at Sengoku 14. Check out FIGHT! Magazine‘s exclusive gallery of photos from the event right here.)

Some selected highlights from our friends around the MMA blogosphere. E-mail [email protected] for details on how your site can join the MMA Link Club…

– BJ Penn Hopes James Toney Does Well Against Randy Couture (MMA Convert)

– Facing your "Mirs": Where do Lashley and King Mo go from here? (Watch Kalib Run)

– 5 Things To Watch For At UFC 118 (Heavy.com/MMA)

– Mauricio ‘Shogun’ Rua’s Return Delayed Until Mid-2011 (Versus MMA Beat)

– Why Nick Diaz vs. ‘Mayhem’ Miller Is the Fight Strikeforce Needs Now (MMA Fighting)

– Exclusive Interview With Bellator Middleweight Tournament Winner Alexander "Storm" Shlemenko (LowKick)

– Outstanding Wrestlers and the Lessons Learned (Five Ounces of Pain)

– Kickboxing Legend Andy Hug, R.I.P. (MMA Scraps)

– This Rampage vs. Machida trailer will be the greatest thing you will see today, guaranteed (MiddleEasy)

Report: Anderson Silva vs. Chael Sonnen Rematch Slated for This Winter

(The unstoppable force meets the immovable asshole. Photo courtesy of MMAFighting.com)
According to the LA Times’ Lance Pugmire, a middleweight title rematch between Anderson Silva and Chael Sonnen is being penciled in for the UFC’s next New Year’s E…

(The unstoppable force meets the immovable asshole. Photo courtesy of MMAFighting.com)

According to the LA Times’ Lance Pugmire, a middleweight title rematch between Anderson Silva and Chael Sonnen is being penciled in for the UFC’s next New Year’s Eve or Super Bowl weekend card, after Silva recovers from the rib injury that reportedly plagued him before the fight. Unlike other immediate UFC title rematches that have been booked recently — see esp., Machida vs. Rua II, Penn vs. Edgar II — Silva and Sonnen’s first meeting didn’t end in a close/controversial judges’ decision. Instead, Silva sunk a triangle-armbar with less than two minutes remaining in the fifth round, after getting out-wrestled and battered for the previous four frames.