Gambling Addiction Enabler: UFC 116 Edition

Well, we’ve got a big UFC event coming up this weekend, which means you should all head over to fightpicker.cagepotato.com (or apps.facebook.com/fightpicker) and make your predictions for UFC 116: Lesnar vs. Carwin. Congrats to FightPicker Grandmaste…

UFC 116 Lesnar Carwin poster

Well, we’ve got a big UFC event coming up this weekend, which means you should all head over to fightpicker.cagepotato.com (or apps.facebook.com/fightpicker) and make your predictions for UFC 116: Lesnar vs. Carwin. Congrats to FightPicker Grandmaster Aaron Rampey for becoming the first player to crack the 10,000 chip mark. Well done, buddy. That’s gonna look awesome on your CV.

Of course, if you had some balls you’d bet actual money on the fights, and not silly-ass "PotatoChips." As usual, we’d like to help you win some cash for Saturday’s event — or at the very least not take heavy losses. Betting lines are below, courtesy of BestFightOdds.com; if you don’t know what this stuff means, read this first.

MAIN CARD
Brock Lesnar (-130) vs. Shane Carwin (+140)
Yoshihiro Akiyama (-200) vs. Chris Leben (+185)
Chris Lytle (-195) vs. Matt Brown (+160)
Krzysztof Soszynski (-218) vs. Stephan Bonnar (+195)
George Sotiropoulos (-195) vs. Kurt Pellegrino (+160)

SPIKE TV PRELIMS
Brendan Schaub (-295) vs. Chris Tuchscherer (+264)
Ricardo Romero (-145) vs. Seth Petruzelli (+120)

PRELIMINARY CARD
Goran Reljic (-155) vs. Kendall Grove (+145)
Gerald Harris (-245) vs. Dave Branch (+200)
Daniel Roberts (-170) vs. Forrest Petz (+145)
Karlos Vemola (-160) vs. Jon Madsen (+150)

Read on to get that paper…

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DREAM.15 to Feature Overeem vs. Rodriguez, Mousasi vs. O’Brien

(Ricco Rodriguez: From flab to fab.)
Two months after his beatdown of Brett Rogers at Heavy Artillery, Strikeforce heavyweight champion Alistair Overeem will return to competition at DREAM.15 (July 10th, Saitama), where he’ll take on former UFC heavy…

Ricco Rodriguez fat MMARicco Rogriguez thin weight loss
(Ricco Rodriguez: From flab to fab.)

Two months after his beatdown of Brett Rogers at Heavy Artillery, Strikeforce heavyweight champion Alistair Overeem will return to competition at DREAM.15 (July 10th, Saitama), where he’ll take on former UFC heavyweight champ Ricco Rodriguez in a non-title bout. While that may sound like Alistair is getting back to his Japanese squash-match roots, keep in mind that Rodriguez is on a seven-fight win streak since last July (six of which came by stoppage), including victories over veterans Travis Fulton and Moise Rimbon. He also looks a lot better physically these days (see above), and competed in the 218-pound division at last year’s ADCCs.

Can Rodriguez use Overeem as a springboard to a career rebirth? No, probably not — but he could impress a lot of people just by giving Overeem a tough fight and not spitting on anybody. In a related story, Ricco is no longer listed for that 7/18 Impact FC fight against Jeff Monson, which is unfortunate because you can bet that Paulo Filho and Ken Shamrock will be dropping out at the last minute…

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Wednesday Morning Link Club: Yep, This Is Really Happening

(Props: UFC.com/JamesToney)
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…
– Was Fedor Another Victim of EA’s Cover Curse? (MiddleEasy)

James Toney
(Props: UFC.com/JamesToney)

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…

– Was Fedor Another Victim of EA’s Cover Curse? (MiddleEasy)

– Shane Carwin: ‘One of Us Will Need Help Leaving the Octagon’ at UFC 116 (MMA Fighting)

– Spike To Telecast Weigh-Ins For UFC 116 Lesnar-Carwin (Watch Kalib Run)

– George Sotiropoulos Will Fight Anyone (Heavy.com/MMA)

– Three Strikes and You’re Out: How Groin Shots Are Changing the Outcome of Fights (Five Ounces of Pain)

– Photo Gallery: M-1/Strikeforce: Fedor vs. Werdum (FightMagazine)

– Fedor Emelianenko’s Career in 69 Seconds (MMA Scraps)

The 10 Greatest Undefeated Fighters in MMA

Unless your name is Phillip Miller, you can’t expect to go through a career in cage-fighting without losing at least once. So in honor of Fedor Emelianenko’s first legitimate defeat, we decided to take a look at the best MMA fighters who st…

Unless your name is Phillip Miller, you can’t expect to go through a career in cage-fighting without losing at least once. So in honor of Fedor Emelianenko’s first legitimate defeat, we decided to take a look at the best MMA fighters who still have flawless records. Whose “0” will be the next to go? And whose win streak is just getting started? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section…

#1: SHANE CARWIN (12-0, all wins by first-round stoppage)
Shane Carwin UFC
Notable victories:
Gabriel Gonzaga at UFC 96 (TKO R1), Frank Mir at UFC 111 (TKO R1, won UFC Interim Heavyweight Championship)

Next fight:
Brock Lesnar at UFC 116, 7/3/10

He may very well take his first loss this Saturday, but right now, Shane Carwin is the most dangerous undefeated fighter in MMA — as evidenced by the fact that no opponent has made it to the second round against him, and only two have lasted past the second minute. As he immediately showed in his UFC debut against Christian Wellisch at UFC 84, Carwin has a near-supernatural ability to generate power with his 4XL fists. Though he’s backed by impressive wrestling credentials, he’s only needed those hands to achieve victory in the UFC, knocking out top contenders Gabriel Gonzaga and Frank Mir in his last two fights. Brock, get ready to have your chin tested.

#2: MEGUMI FUJII (20-0, 16 wins by submission)
Megumi Fujii Mega Megu MMA
Notable victories: Lisa Ward at Bodog Fight: Vancouver (SUB R1), Mika Nagano at Smackgirl: Starting Over (SUB R1)

Next fight: Bellator women’s 115-pound tournament quarterfinals, opponent TBA

One of the most effective submission artists in the history of MMA, “Mega Megu” owns the longest active win streak in the sport, but suffers from the same problem that Cris Cyborg is facing in the States — a scarcity of legitimate challengers. Now that she’s signed on for Bellator’s 115-pound tourney later this year, she can prove her reputation as a living legend who can do more than armbar pint-sized scrubettes in Japan.

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MMA Loses Another Battle in New York; State Assembly Pulls Sport From Budget Bill

(So the UFC is too brutal for New York, but children are allowed to see "Mamma Mia"? Explain that one to me. / Photo courtesy of graciemag.com.)
NYDailyNews.com breaks the unfortunate turn of events:
ALBANY – The push to legalize ultimate …

UFC 111 poster New York City
(So the UFC is too brutal for New York, but children are allowed to see "Mamma Mia"? Explain that one to me. / Photo courtesy of graciemag.com.)

NYDailyNews.com breaks the unfortunate turn of events:

ALBANY – The push to legalize ultimate fighting in New York is on the ropes. Assembly Democrats stripped approval for the wildly popular violent sport from a budget bill that lawmakers will take up as soon as today.

Gov. Paterson sought to legalize mixed martial arts, saying fights could pull in more than $2 million in tax revenue for the cash-strapped state.

"The majority of voices who spoke about this issue in our conference were not supportive of approving it as part of the budget," said Assemblyman Steven Englebright (D-L.I.), a fight fan. Englebright said it’s a long shot the Assembly will revisit the issue. The state Senate has already approved the sport.

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The Potato Index — ‘Strikeforce: Fedor vs. Werdum’ Edition

(Okay Cung, you got your revenge on Scott Smith. We all saw it. There’s no need to rub it in by levitating. Photo courtesy of the "Fedor vs. Werdum Photos" gallery on MMAFighting.com.)
The Potato Index has been chewing its nails and tapping…

Cung Le Scott Smith Strikeforce
(Okay Cung, you got your revenge on Scott Smith. We all saw it. There’s no need to rub it in by levitating. Photo courtesy of the "Fedor vs. Werdum Photos" gallery on MMAFighting.com.)

The Potato Index has been chewing its nails and tapping its feet since Saturday night, just waiting for the chance to throw out some arbitrary numerical rankings at Fedor vs. Werdum. And now, the moment has arrived. Don’t mess it up, Potato Index. Please, for the love of God, act like you’ve been there before.

Fabricio Werdum +1,089
Any time you can accomplish something that’s never been done before, it’s a good day. Werdum stopped an unbeatable legend — quickly, we might add — and brought some glory back to BJJ. No matter what happens next in his career, Vai Cavalo will go down in history. And honestly, it couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy. Look how happy he is!

Fedor Emelianeko -113 
Fedor’s fight instincts are what set him apart from mere mortals, and have gotten him out of many a jam during his career, but they failed him on Saturday. He thought he had Werdum hurt and went in for the kill, but Werdum was playing possum, and seized on his first opportunity to hit the mat. Fedor could have played it safe against a superior grappler — he could have let Fabricio up so he could slug him some more — but that’s not what Fedor does, and that’s not why we love him. The loss only proves that Emelianenko is not literally invincible. It doesn’t affect his status as the greatest heavyweight of all time.

Brock Lesnar and Shane Carwin +99, each
I know, these guys weren’t even at the show. But now their fight at UFC 116 will determine the #1 heavyweight fighter in the world on most ranking lists, simply by default. Next step: Unifying the WAMMA title.

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