Morning Report: Hanging in Heavyweight Limbo; Rashad Dissects Jon Jones

Aside from discovering that Alistair Overeem is 14 times more potent than the average man, yesterday did very little to clear up the longjam that is the UFC’s heavyweight title picture. So while we wait for this situation to wo…

Esther Lin, MMA Fighting

Aside from discovering that Alistair Overeem is 14 times more potent than the average man, yesterday did very little to clear up the longjam that is the UFC’s heavyweight title picture. So while we wait for this situation to work itself out, let’s try to keep our mind elsewhere — like the fact that next week there are going to be real, honest-to-god, consequential fights to talk about.

That’s right. While we were distracted by all this ruckus, the UFC’s self-imposed, six-week sabbatical snuck into its final lap. Now, instead of having to focus on all this racism and drug abuse negativity, we can get back to discussing the important things, like how legit a prospect Alexander Gustafsson is, and what kind of chance he would stand against the top-shelf of the light-heavyweight division. It’s good to be back.

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5 MUST-READ STORIES

Alistair Overeem’s T/E ratio was 14:1. UFC heavyweight contender Alistair Overeem’s failed UFC 146 pre-fight drug test resulted in a 14:1 testosterone-to-epitestosterone ratio, according to Nevada State Athletic Commission Executive Director Keith Kizer. The average male produces a T/E ratio of 1:1.

UFC on FX 3 headed to Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Fort Lauderdale emerged as the host city for UFC on FX 3 by winning Harley-Davidson’s Hometown Throwdown contest. The event will be held on June 8, 2012 and is headlined by a flyweight rematch between Demetrious Johnson and Ian McCall.

Bellator 64 preview. All fighters met their required weight at yesterday’s Bellator 64 weigh-ins, including welterweight title challengers Ben Askren and Douglas Lima. Dallas Winston breaks down their championship match-up, along with the remainder of tonight’s main card in a gif-packed Bellator 64 dissection.

ZUFFA announces four-year broadcast deal in India. ZUFFA announced a multi-year partnership with Sony’s Multi Screen Media to broadcast UFC programming in India, via burgeoning international sports network ‘SIX.’

Diego Sanchez eyes weight change. Sanchez, fresh off a decision loss to Jake Ellenberger, has his eyes on another drop back down to 155 pounds, and “The Dream” has mentioned Anthony Petties and Nate Diaz as potential opponents.

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MEDIA STEW

Common thinking is that Rashad Evans has the best chance to beat Jon Jones because of their long-standing history together. At first we didn’t give that theory much credence, but this video may have brought us around.

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Former UFC champ Carlos Newton has been missing in action for a while, but retirement has done nothing to deteriorate those K-1 level acting skills. (HT: Bloody Elbow)

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This was going to be a video of the top-5 UFC knockouts of the year, but Fuel TV took their own video down in the middle of the night. So instead, just watch Frank Mir causing this. Still unbelievable after four months.

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If the likely cancellation of Ubereem vs. Cigano wasn’t disheartening enough, NickTheFace just had to go and create this awesome UFC 146 trailer. Our disappointment is starting to reach levels we didn’t know existed.

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DROPPING KNOWLEDGE

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CAN’T ARGUE WITH THAT

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NEVER QUIT

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THE CHAMP SPEAKS

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AT LEAST HE’S CONSISTENT

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FIGHT ANNOUNCEMENTS

Announced yesterday (Thursday, April 5, 2012):

N/A

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FANPOST OF THE DAY

Today’s Fanpost of the Day comes courtesy of Bloody Elbow’s Chris Groves, who wears his heart on his sleeve for: I Believed In Alistair Overeem…

I first heard about Alistair Overeem in late 2009. He was the champion of Strikeforce, the promotion that Fedor signed to instead of the UFC. Everyone seemed to think Fedor should fight him. Around New Years day of 2010, I heard that Overeem had fought very recently(the night before I believe), my brother showed me the video without telling me the result. I saw him ‘uberknee’ Kazuyuki Fujita into a mini-coma and all I could say was ‘damn.’

The next video I saw of his was when he fought Dzeved Poturak in April of 2010, another vicious knee knockout. The next month, he obliterated Brett Rogers… the guy who had actually done a pretty damn good job against Fedor, THE FEDOR. I began following Overeem’s online series ‘The Reem’ pretty much as soon as it began and became hooked.

I couldn’t wait to see him fight Fedor, and always thought it’d be cool if he came to the UFC one day to fight Lesnar. Fedor lost, and Overeem entered into the K-1 2010 Grand Prix. A member of BE talked about Ben Edwards potentially sending him home early… I thought that was a little fishy, but it got me nervous. I was happy to see him wreck Edwards in the first round. I stayed up all night watching the GP, rooting for him every step of the way. Seeing him win was fantastic. To see him return to MMA and take out Todd ‘7 seconds of pain’ Duffee in 19 seconds was also rewarding. This guy was good at violence, and I loved it.

Found something perfect for the Morning Report? Just hit me on Twitter @shaunalshatti and we’ll include it in Monday’s post.