Author: J.Jones

[UPDATED] Daniel Cormier’s Final Strikeforce Fight Will Be Against…Frank Mir?!


(Drunk foul shots are always the toughest foul shots.) 

Well…this is interesting. According to a report by USA Today and in accordance with both Strikeforce and UFC officials, it appears that Daniel Cormier’s first and last Strikeforce title defense against none other than former UFC Heavyweight champion Frank Mir. The fight will go down as the co-main event of the Gilbert Melendez vs. Pat Healy headlined Strikeforce event on September 29th, a decision that will in no way come back and bite them in the ass. Seriously, the co-main event? WHO IS MAKING THESE DECISIONS?! The guy who invented the Candwich?!

[UPDATE] It appears that the fight is now being looked at for an October or November Strikeforce card, likely as the main event. 

Minor rant aside, Dana White informed USA Today that Mir would make for a perfect test for Cormier:

There has been a lot of speculation as to who Cormier would fight next, and this is the fight that makes the most sense. 

The reality is, Cormier is one of the best heavyweights in the world. He just won the grand prix and beat Josh Barnett. He needs to fight opponents of that caliber, and Frank Mir is that guy.

A surprise considering Mir is on the heels of a second round (T)KO loss to Junior Dos Santos? Further proof that the remaining Strikeforce belts aren’t worth the pleather and scrap metal they’re made of? A little bit of both?

Help us decide.

More on this story after the jump.


(Drunk foul shots are always the toughest foul shots.) 

Well…this is interesting. According to a report by USA Today and in accordance with both Strikeforce and UFC officials, it appears that Daniel Cormier’s first and last Strikeforce title defense against none other than former UFC Heavyweight champion Frank Mir. The fight will go down as the co-main event of the Gilbert Melendez vs. Pat Healy headlined Strikeforce event on September 29th, a decision that will in no way come back and bite them in the ass. Seriously, the co-main event? WHO IS MAKING THESE DECISIONS?! The guy who invented the Candwich?!

[UPDATE] It appears that the fight is now being looked at for an October or November Strikeforce card, likely as the main event. 

Minor rant aside, Dana White informed USA Today that Mir would make for a perfect test for Cormier:

There has been a lot of speculation as to who Cormier would fight next, and this is the fight that makes the most sense. 

The reality is, Cormier is one of the best heavyweights in the world. He just won the grand prix and beat Josh Barnett. He needs to fight opponents of that caliber, and Frank Mir is that guy.

A surprise considering Mir is on the heels of a second round (T)KO loss to Junior Dos Santos? Further proof that the remaining Strikeforce belts aren’t worth the pleather and scrap metal they’re made of? A little bit of both?

Help us decide.

In an interview with MMAWeekly, Cormier stated that he could not be more thrilled to be fighting a big name in Mir, considering he was angling for a fight with Tim Sylvia beforehand:

You’ve got to tip your hat off to the executives at Zuffa for doing something like that and to Frank Mir for doing it. I respect Frank greatly for stepping in and taking this fight. This fight can elevate my status in the sport a ton.

Tim Sylvia’s accomplished a lot, but he just hasn’t really fought in the top of the sport for a while. No disrespect to Tim, but this is a much easier fight to get pumped up for. I dropped my phone a couple of times while I was trying to look at Twitter.

Now that it’s official, I honestly can’t help but feel a little bad for Frank (yes, that’s possible). Aside from the fact that he is essential dropping down to the Triple-A’s for a fight, the guy has suffered more than a couple rather brutal KO losses as of late, and although he stands as good a chance of beating Cormier as any heavyweight not named Junior Dos Santos, lord knows what another knockout loss will do to both his mental well being and his status as a top-tier heavyweight.

On the other hand, this is probably one of the best possible matchups for the Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix winner, and should make for one hell of a fight for the heavyweight division to go out on. There is also the fact that Cormier will likely break one, if not both of his hands in the first two rounds, making it much easier for Mir to avoid permanent brain damage if he is able to drag the fight into the latter rounds.

Currently our top pick for the greatest undefeated fighter in the sport today, Cormier is fresh off the aforementioned win over Josh Barnett, in which “Black Fedor” used a combination of effective striking and a few beautiful slams to keep Barnett off balance en route to a unanimous decision victory. A two-time Senior Freestyle Olympic trials winner and an NCAA Division 1 All American with incredible knockout power to boot, Cormier poses many similar threats to Mir as Shane Carwin did in their interim title fight at UFC 111. Let’s just hope that the ref can step in a little quicker this time should Cormier manage to put Mir’s lights out. Otherwise, Mir is going to have to start tattooing information onto his body and taking photos of his friends and family to deal with his inability to form new memories. Always remember Sammy Jenkis, Frank.

But what do you think, Potato Nation? Is this a good matchup for either man, and how do you think it will go down?

–J. Jones

Gilbert Melendez Finally Booked to Fight Someone Other Than Josh Thompson on September 29th


(And to think, if I hadn’t accidentally called Dana “Baldfather” during that interview, I’d be fighting Ben Henderson right about now.) 

When we first heard word that Strikeforce was considering booking a completely unnecessary fourth match between lightweight champ Gilbert Melendez and Josh Thompson, we more or less saw it as a sign that Strikeforce’s lightweight division, not unlike their heavyweight, welterweight, and pretty much every other division, was simply biding its time until the UFC inevitably absorbed it. We were elated to find out shortly thereafter that Thompson was making the whole thing up, possibly under the belief that if the rumor gained enough steam, Scott Coker would sit idly by and let the match happen again and again until Thompson finally emerged victorious.

Fortunately, someone had good enough sense to book Melendez a fight against top contender Pat Healy on September 29th instead, which will make for Melendez’s fifth title defense should he be successful. Although Healy can’t hold a candle to Thompson as far as turning in exciting performances goes (Thompson’s snoozer against K.J. Noons outstanding), it will be nice to see Melendez finally face off against the only other lightweight in the division who stands at least a snowball’s chance in Hell of beating him.

More details after the jump. 


(And to think, if I hadn’t accidentally called Dana “Baldfather” during that interview, I’d be fighting Ben Henderson right about now.) 

When we first heard word that Strikeforce was considering booking a completely unnecessary fourth match between lightweight champ Gilbert Melendez and Josh Thompson, we more or less saw it as a sign that Strikeforce’s lightweight division, not unlike their heavyweight, welterweight, and pretty much every other division, was simply biding its time until the UFC inevitably absorbed it. We were elated to find out shortly thereafter that Thompson was making the whole thing up, possibly under the belief that if the rumor gained enough steam, Scott Coker would sit idly by and let the match happen again and again until Thompson finally emerged victorious.

Fortunately, someone had good enough sense to book Melendez a fight against top contender Pat Healy on September 29th instead, which will make for Melendez’s fifth title defense should he be successful. Although Healy can’t hold a candle to Thompson as far as turning in exciting performances goes (Thompson’s snoozer against K.J. Noons outstanding), it will be nice to see Melendez finally face off against the only other lightweight in the division who stands at least a snowball’s chance in Hell of beating him.

Strikeforce made the announcement earlier today via its official Twitter account:

We’re coming to Sacramento, and we’re bringing @GilbertMelendez@BamBamHealy & @dc_mma with us…http://www.strikeforce.com/news/SF4-pressrelease-news … Tix on sale this Sat!

Healy has been playing the role of hype train derailer for his past few fights now, submitting prospects Maximo Blanco and Caros Fodor in back-to-back contests before most recently earning a hard fought unanimous decision over a guy that is best known for becoming Shinya Aoki’s eternal bitch at K1 Dynamite!!! 2009. Now 6-1 in his past 7 Strikeforce appearances, Healy has more than earned his shot at Melendez in a division that has less than 5 contenders still remaining.

Who you got?

–J. Jones

Ironic Injury of the Day: Rousimar Palhares Out of UFC 150 With a Possibly Torn Knee Ligament


(I suppose I could write something funny here, but I’d rather ask you to look at the honest to God fear present in Kevin Mulhall’s face as he essentially sticks his hands in a bear trap. Truly chilling stuff.) 

Here are a few news items that you’ll probably find even less surprising than the fact that the Summer 2012 injury curse has claimed yet another victim:

1. Another Floridian came down with a bad case of bath salt-related cannibalism.

2. A Greek triple-jumper was expelled from the Olympics for saying something racist over Twitter. (You may, however, be surprised to learn that it was a pretty hot woman who said it.) 

3. Rotten Tomatoes recently had to shut down its comments section because a couple critics who gave The Dark Knight Rises a bad review were receiving so many death threats that it nearly crashed the server. Yes, death threats.

4. A Georgia man recently set his head on fire as part of a bet he made while hammered at a bar and was hospitalized shortly thereafter. Unfortunately, he survived his injuries.

Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way, here’s something you might find a little more surprising: The latest victim of the injury curse is none other than Rousimar Palhares, who threatened to rip a hole in between earthly dimensions by injuring his own knee during training, subsequently forcing himself to bow out from his scheduled fight with Yushin Okami at UFC 150. You might recall that Palhares was only facing Okami in the first place because Luis Cane injured himself in training as well, but trying to remember who is filling in for who due to injury these days is as impossible as reciting Pi in its entirety. In short, everyone whose name doesn’t rhyme with Schrim Goatsch or Schmanderson Schilva is clearly ducking Yushin Okami.

Join us after the jump to find out which poor bastard will be stepping in to get slaughtered. 


(I suppose I could write something funny here, but I’d rather ask you to look at the honest to God fear present in Kevin Mulhall’s face as he essentially sticks his hands in a bear trap. Truly chilling stuff.) 

Here are a few news items that you’ll probably find even less surprising than the fact that the Summer 2012 injury curse has claimed yet another victim:

1. Another Floridian came down with a bad case of bath salt-related cannibalism.

2. A Greek triple-jumper was expelled from the Olympics for saying something racist over Twitter. (You may, however, be surprised to learn that it was a pretty hot woman who said it.) 

3. Rotten Tomatoes recently had to shut down its comments section because a couple critics who gave The Dark Knight Rises a bad review were receiving so many death threats that it nearly crashed the server. Yes, death threats.

4. A Georgia man recently set his head on fire as part of a bet he made while hammered at a bar and was hospitalized shortly thereafter. Unfortunately, he survived his injuries.

Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way, here’s something you might find a little more surprising: The latest victim of the injury curse is none other than Rousimar Palhares, who threatened to rip a hole in between earthly dimensions by injuring his own knee during training, subsequently forcing himself to bow out from his scheduled fight with Yushin Okami at UFC 150. You might recall that Palhares was only facing Okami in the first place because Luis Cane injured himself in training as well, but trying to remember who is filling in for who due to injury these days is as impossible as reciting Pi in its entirety. In short, everyone whose name doesn’t rhyme with Schrim Goatsch or Schmanderson Schilva is clearly ducking Yushin Okami.

Shortly after receiving the injury, which is likely a torn ligament that may require surgery, Palhares was quoted as saying, “Ow! That hurts! My God, is that what I’ve been doing to people?!” before savagely devouring the nurse that was attempting to help him to his feet. Palhares’ coach, Murilo Bustamante, told FightersOnly that “He is out of action for while. After next two weeks we will know for sure if he’ll need a surgery.” Bustamante also attributed the injury to “bad luck,” but we feel that “karma” is a more appropriate analysis. In all seriousness, we would never wish an injury upon any fighter and hope Palhares has a smooth recovery.

Stepping in for Palhares on just a couple of weeks notice will be Buddy Roberts, a 12-2 Jackson’s MMA product who scored a plodding unanimous decision victory over Caio Magalhaes in his UFC debut at UFC on FX 3. We understand that Okami is on the heels of a loss that was described by an incredibly coked amped up Joe Rogan as “The greatest comeback in UFC History”, but he should have no problem getting by Roberts here. Although this squash match will come at the cost of what was an incredibly interesting matchup at 185 lbs., it will be nice to see Okami at least have the chance to add an impressive finish to his highlight reel, something he has not done since starching the late Evan Tanner at UFC 82.

We’ve taken the liberty to add a couple videos of Buddy Roberts handiwork below, not because we think they will change your minds in regards to how this fight will end, but simply because we can. Enjoy.

–J. Jones

Report: Alan Belcher vs. Vitor Belfort Being Targeted for UFC 153 in Rio


(Buy all of the Lombard stock you can….wait…he WHAT?! THEN SELL DAMMIT, SELL!!) 

If you are the type of MMA fan that gets his news from CagePotato and only CagePotato, we’d like to thank you for your dedication. Surely you will be rewarded in the afterlife for your selfless sacrifice. At the same time, you’ve more than likely missed out on all of the middleweight calamity that has happened over the past few days, as we deemed it less important than photos of mutilated hands, anti-Mandy Moore smear campaigns, and things of that nature. Clearly we made the right choice, but like we said, we appreciate your dedication.

To sum up the middleweight soap opera in a few sentences, Vitor Belfort tried to call out Chris Weidman, stating both a respect for the fact that Weidman is the top dog at 185 (as we previously stated), and realizing that a win over Weidman would be the easiest path to another shot at Anderson Silva. Weidman promptly denied Belfort, claiming that he had all the respect in the world for the former LHW champ, but simply put, “[he] had his shot” and “right now is my time.”

Meanwhile, in the outskirts of Mississippi, Johnny Cash enthusiast Alan Belcher switched his sights from Michael Bisping to that of Vitor Belfort, which seemed appropriate to us considering that we also called for this matchup. Being that there is no way in hell that a fight between Belfort and Belcher could be anything short of extraordinary, for reals this time, we imagine that most of you agreed with us.

Well, it appears that the dominoes are falling into place like a house of cards, because Belfort and Belcher have verbally agreed to face one another at UFC 153 in Rio, via their respective Twitter accounts.

Hear what was said after the jump.


(Buy all of the Lombard stock you can….wait…he WHAT?! THEN SELL DAMMIT, SELL!!) 

If you are the type of MMA fan that gets his news from CagePotato and only CagePotato, we’d like to thank you for your dedication. Surely you will be rewarded in the afterlife for your selfless sacrifice. At the same time, you’ve more than likely missed out on all of the middleweight calamity that has happened over the past few days, as we deemed it less important than photos of mutilated hands, anti-Mandy Moore smear campaigns, and things of that nature. Clearly we made the right choice, but like we said, we appreciate your dedication.

To sum up the middleweight soap opera in a few sentences, Vitor Belfort tried to call out Chris Weidman, stating both a respect for the fact that Weidman is the top dog at 185 (as we previously stated), and realizing that a win over Weidman would be the easiest path to another shot at Anderson Silva. Weidman promptly denied Belfort, claiming that he had all the respect in the world for the former LHW champ, but simply put, “[he] had his shot” and “right now is my time.”

Meanwhile, in the outskirts of Mississippi, Johnny Cash enthusiast Alan Belcher switched his sights from Michael Bisping to that of Vitor Belfort, which seemed appropriate to us considering that we also called for this matchup. Being that there is no way in hell that a fight between Belfort and Belcher could be anything short of extraordinary, for reals this time, we imagine that most of you agreed with us.

Well, it appears that the dominoes are falling into place like a house of cards, because Belfort and Belcher have verbally agreed to face one another at UFC 153 in Rio, via their respective Twitter accounts.

Belcher hinted at the fight yesterday with the following:

“My next fight will be the biggest of my career! I may be taking a trip down south, very south. #UFC #belcher4champ“

“I will fight anyone.although I want to fight someone who will challenge me!I want to fight @vitorbelfort in his home country in October #UFC“

To which Vitor responded:

“#belcher lets make this fight #ufcrio in oct 13″

Although there has yet to be an official confirmation from the UFC as of this writing, the fight is listed on both men’s Sherdog pages, and you gotta imagine that this will be booked in the immediate future. Not only is Vitor a huge draw in Brazil, but the aforementioned fireworks are all but guaranteed when these two collide.

Belfort has picked up two straight stoppage wins since ending up on Anderson Silva’s highlight reel at UFC 126, first pummeling Yoshihiro Akiyama at UFC 133, then choking Anthony Johnson’s fat ass right out of the UFC at UFC 142. He was scheduled to face off against long time rival Wanderlei Silva at UFC 147, but suffered a hand injury in training that forced him to pull out from the main event matchup. Currently, oddsmakers have Belfort as a slight favorite over Belcher, but also have the likelihood of “The Phenom” withdrawing due to last minute injury at -1600.

Belcher, on the other hand, has scored four straight victories in the UFC, most recently telling said oddsmakers to go f*ck themselves by pounding out the heavily favored Rousimar Palhares at UFC on FOX 3. Belcher has also finished five of his last 6 opponents inside of the second round, and has not truly lost since getting upset by Jason Day at UFC 83 (yes, I am saying that his UFC 100 fight with Sexyama was a draw at worst. Deal with it.).

UFC 153 is scheduled to go down at the HSBC Arena in Rio De Janeiro on October 13th.

Who do you like for this, Potato Nation?

–J. Jones

Photo: Chael Sonnen Believes in Therapy Through Laughter

Urijah Faber may have come up short in every sense of the word against Renan Barao last weekend, but fortunately for him, he received some sound advice from undisputed middleweight champion Chael Sonnen in the aftermath of his loss that will undoubtedly alter the course of his career from this day forward. As you recall, Sonnen became the first man in MMA History to defeat Anderson Silva twice at UFC 148, when he straight-up embarrassed the now-retired “pound-for-pound great” by KO’ing him with a second round spinning backfist so spectacular that the WWE had to steal it to make one of their fights more entertaining and less gay and stuff.

Urijah Faber may have come up short in every sense of the word against Renan Barao last weekend, but fortunately for him, he received some sound advice from undisputed middleweight champion Chael Sonnen in the aftermath of his loss that will undoubtedly alter the course of his career from this day forward. As you recall, Sonnen became the first man in MMA History to defeat Anderson Silva twice at UFC 148, when he straight-up embarrassed the now-retired “pound-for-pound great” by KO’ing him with a second round spinning backfist so spectacular that the WWE had to steal it to make one of their fights more entertaining and less gay and stuff.

With an unblemished record of 32-0, the closest Sonnen has ever been to tasting defeat was the time he was served a severely undercooked steak by “The Spider’s” wife after he defeated Silva the first time (by fifth round powerbomb at UFC 117). We know some of you cynics would like to chime in about how Faber is now 0-5 in his last 5 title fights, and that Sonnen’s advice is probably falling on deaf ears, but we beg to differ. Because Chael Sonnen does not speak to losers. He molds winners out of them, or creates them when they get in his way.

–J. Jones

[VIDEO] The Culinary Union Attacks Mandy Moore & The UFC In Latest Propaganda Piece


(Forget Mandy Moore, but Kim Kardashian? Now there’s a role model we can all support!) 

Ugh.

In what is undoubtedly a new low for the hypocritical, sciolistic dingbats behind the anti-UFC machine known as The Culinary Union, a video was recently released attacking the UFC’s sweetheart, Mandy Moore, as a result of her long time ties with the promotion. Beautiful, innocent, harmless Mandy Moore. Using the same blissfully ignorant and fact-less approach as fellow propaganda pushers The April and Wayne Show, The Union’s newest video is little more than a two minute smear campaign aimed at the UFC, using footage of everything from Dana White’s rant against Loretta Hunt to Rampage Jackson’s near impregnating of a certain CP reporter as “evidence” that Ms. Moore (and any other UFC proponent, for that matter) is unfit to be a role model for our children. IT MAKES TOTAL SENSE, YOU GUYS.

Video after the jump. Caution: It may cause unexpected, rage-induced nosebleeds. 


(Forget Mandy Moore, but Kim Kardashian? Now there’s a role model we can all support!) 

Ugh.

In what is undoubtedly a new low for the hypocritical, sciolistic dingbats behind the anti-UFC machine known as The Culinary Union, a video was recently released attacking the UFC’s sweetheart, Mandy Moore, as a result of her long time ties with the promotion. Beautiful, innocent, harmless Mandy Moore. Using the same blissfully ignorant and fact-less approach as fellow propaganda pushers The April and Wayne Show, The Union’s newest video is little more than a two minute smear campaign aimed at the UFC, using footage of everything from Dana White’s rant against Loretta Hunt to Rampage Jackson’s near impregnating of a certain CP reporter as “evidence” that Ms. Moore (and any other UFC proponent, for that matter) is unfit to be a role model for our children. IT MAKES TOTAL SENSE, YOU GUYS.

For those of you who are not familiar with The Culinary Union, allow us to give you a little background. The Culinary Workers Union, Local 226 of Las Vegas, Nevada is the organization that has been a thorn in the UFC’s side for the past few years now, and for all the wrong reasons. They are best known for both leading the fight to ban MMA in New York and attempting to influence the Nevada State Athletic Commission to pass an “MMA Bill of Rights” in Nevada. They were also more than partially responsible for noted ignoramus Bob Reilly’s rise to the New York State Assemblyman chair, an atrocity in and of itself that has justly earned them the ire of MMA proponents nationwide.

Using such ludicrous arguments as “The UFC promotes violence against women, gays, etc.” and backing such “clever” smear websites as unfitforchildren and unfitforprimetime, The Culinary Union has hid beneath the false guise of social responsibility in an effort to mask the fact that their true dispute with the UFC stems from the Fertitta owned, anti-union Station Casinos, which TCU has been trying to unionize for some time now. In other words, The Culinary Union is basically a group of pretentious wolves in sheeps clothing who have the nerve to pull the ethics card on the UFC (and anyone associated with it) while simultaneously using unethical bordering on libelous means to achieve their results. Results that they only chase after because of a completely unrelated gripe they hold with the owners of the UFC.

And now they’ve gone after Mandy Moore.

In the words of Hubert J. Farnsworth: “I don’t want to live on this planet anymore.”

I’d like to make one thing clear; the words used by Dana White were, and still often are, completely inappropriate for a man of his level to be making. The same goes for FoGriff’s rape tweet and basically anything Rampage Jackson has done in his career outside of fighting. But claiming that Moore is supporting the somewhat crass tendencies of DW and other fighters simply by supporting the sport in general is beyond ridiculous. By that logic, any fan of the NFL is an advocate for murder, dog fighting, and statutory rape, because clearly we are all mindless drones whose belief systems go hand in hand with that of the average athlete/promoter. What I’m saying is, you should all be ashamed.

–J. Jones