CagePotato PSA: Movember 2013 Is Upon Us!

(Nick Offerman’s Great Moments in Moustache History, via Made Man)

For most of you, Movember needs no introduction. For the rest of you, listen up: Every November (henceforth referred to as “Movember”), millions of men around the world grow out their moustaches in order to raise awareness for men’s health issues including prostate and testicular cancer, as well as mental health issues. These mo’d men — along with the female “Mo Sistas” in their lives — act as advocates and fundraisers, and have raised $446 million since the annual event’s inception in 2003. You can learn more about the cause at us.movember.com.

In the past, CagePotato has done its part to spread the word and collect cash. This year, we’re supporting our friends at Made Man, who are going all-friggin’-out for Movember awareness with a month’s worth of high-quality moustache-related content, including a grooming guide, a high-stakes man-cation contest, and live events. Swing by Made Man’s Movember HQ page today to check out their latest updates, and donate a few bucks to the Mo’ed Men fundraising team right here.

If you want to join the fight this year, register at us.movember.com, be sure to shave your grubby face on November 1st, tell your friends/family/co-workers why you’re doing it, and if you’re feeling really ambitious, start your own mo’nation team to collect funds for Movember. (What up, Karma!) Thanks for listening.


(Nick Offerman’s Great Moments in Moustache History, via Made Man)

For most of you, Movember needs no introduction. For the rest of you, listen up: Every November (henceforth referred to as “Movember”), millions of men around the world grow out their moustaches in order to raise awareness for men’s health issues including prostate and testicular cancer, as well as mental health issues. These mo’d men — along with the female “Mo Sistas” in their lives — act as advocates and fundraisers, and have raised $446 million since the annual event’s inception in 2003. You can learn more about the cause at us.movember.com.

In the past, CagePotato has done its part to spread the word and collect cash. This year, we’re supporting our friends at Made Man, who are going all-friggin’-out for Movember awareness with a month’s worth of high-quality moustache-related content, including a grooming guide, a high-stakes man-cation contest, and live events. Swing by Made Man’s Movember HQ page today to check out their latest updates, and donate a few bucks to the Mo’ed Men fundraising team right here.

If you want to join the fight this year, register at us.movember.com, be sure to shave your grubby face on November 1st, tell your friends/family/co-workers why you’re doing it, and if you’re feeling really ambitious, start your own mo’nation team to collect funds for Movember. (What up, Karma!) Thanks for listening.

‘Velasquez vs. Dos Santos 3? Fight-Picking Contest: And the Winner Is…


(FTF’s Muay Thai 2013 tee. Check out the rest of their Combat Line shirts here.)

Thanks to everybody who entered last week’s UFC 166 fight-picking contest! Cain Velasquez‘s destruction of Junior Dos Santos may have seemed obvious in retrospect, but only one of our readers actually predicted that Cain would end the fight by TKO in the fifth round. That man was Brett Ketchum, who has just won himself a Combat Line t-shirt from Fear the Fighter.

Well done, Brett. We’ll be sending you a message on Facebook about how to claim your prize, so be sure to check the “Other” folder of your FB messages today. As for everybody else, please swing by Fear the Fighter to browse their line of fight-themed shirts and gear, and if you’d like us to do more giveaway contests with FTF, let us know in the comments section.


(FTF’s Muay Thai 2013 tee. Check out the rest of their Combat Line shirts here.)

Thanks to everybody who entered last week’s UFC 166 fight-picking contest! Cain Velasquez‘s destruction of Junior Dos Santos may have seemed obvious in retrospect, but only one of our readers actually predicted that Cain would end the fight by TKO in the fifth round. That man was Brett Ketchum, who has just won himself a Combat Line t-shirt from Fear the Fighter.

Well done, Brett. We’ll be sending you a message on Facebook about how to claim your prize, so be sure to check the “Other” folder of your FB messages today. As for everybody else, please swing by Fear the Fighter to browse their line of fight-themed shirts and gear, and if you’d like us to do more giveaway contests with FTF, let us know in the comments section.

‘Velasquez vs. Dos Santos III’ Fight-Picking Contest: Win a Combat Line T-Shirt From Fear the Fighter!


(FTF’s Kickboxing tee. Check out the rest of their Combat Line shirts here.)

This Saturday at UFC 166 in Houston, heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez and ex-champ Junior Dos Santos will meet for the third time in their best-of-seven series. Velasquez is currently sitting at a 2-1 favorite, thanks to the 25-minute whooping he put on JDS during their last fight. But as we’ve seen so many times in the past, heavyweight bouts can end with one punch. So how will things end this time?

Shoot us your predictions for the Velasquez vs. Dos Santos fight in the comments section of this post, and the most accurate guess will score a Combat Line t-shirt from our good buddies at Fear the Fighter. Your predictions should look something like this…


(FTF’s Kickboxing tee. Check out the rest of their Combat Line shirts here.)

This Saturday at UFC 166 in Houston, heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez and ex-champ Junior Dos Santos will meet for the third time in their best-of-seven series. Velasquez is currently sitting at a 2-1 favorite, thanks to the 25-minute whooping he put on JDS during their last fight. But as we’ve seen so many times in the past, heavyweight bouts can end with one punch. So how will things end this time?

Shoot us your predictions for the Velasquez vs. Dos Santos fight in the comments section of this post, and the most accurate guess will score a Combat Line t-shirt from our good buddies at Fear the Fighter. Your predictions should look something like this…

Velasquez def. Dos Santos via TKO, 1:07 of round 4
or
Dos Santos def. Velasquez via submission (reverse kneebar), 4:59 of round 2
or
Velasquez def. Dos Santos via split decision (48-47 x 2, 47-48)

In other words: Winner’s last name first, and include the method of victory, time of stoppage, round of stoppage, or the judges’ scores if you think the fight will go all five rounds; we’ll need that in case of a tie-breaker. Please submit your picks to the comments section by noon PT on Saturday. Winners will be announced the following Monday. Only one entry per person, please. Any questions, let us know in the comments. Good luck everybody, and visit FearTheFighter.com to check out their entire line of gear, including the John Makdessi iPhone case that makes a perfect stocking-stuffer for that John Makdessi fan in your life.

And Now He’s Fired: Rousimar Palhares Sent Packing After Holding Heel Hook Too Long

(Props: Keith Olbermann YouTube Channel)

Less than twenty-four hours after Rousimar Palhares scored a controversial victory over Mike Pierce – where he locked in his signature heel hook and refused to let go – Palhares is now out of a job with the UFC. Dana White – who already withheld the Submission of the Night bonus that Palhares would have won as punishment – confirmed the firing on tonight’s edition of Olbermann.

Last night’s instance of poor sportsmanship and judgment from Palhares wasn’t his first. As we’ve mentioned earlier today, Palhares was previously suspended by the UFC for doing the exact same thing to Tomasz Drwal back in 2010.

Despite initial reports that Palhares has received a lifetime ban from the organization, MMAFighting.com is reporting that Palhares has simply been “released.”

We’ll keep you up to date as this story continues to develop.

@SethFalvo


(Props: Keith Olbermann YouTube Channel)

Less than twenty-four hours after Rousimar Palhares scored a controversial victory over Mike Pierce – where he locked in his signature heel hook and refused to let go – Palhares is now out of a job with the UFC. Dana White – who already withheld the Submission of the Night bonus that Palhares would have won as punishment – confirmed the firing on tonight’s edition of Olbermann.

Last night’s instance of poor sportsmanship and judgment from Palhares wasn’t his first. As we’ve mentioned earlier today, Palhares was previously suspended by the UFC for doing the exact same thing to Tomasz Drwal back in 2010.

Despite initial reports that Palhares has received a lifetime ban from the organization, MMAFighting.com is reporting that Palhares has simply been “released.”

We’ll keep you up to date as this story continues to develop.

@SethFalvo

Sexy Miesha Tate GIFs, Old-School Nick Diaz Photos, And More Highlights From the CagePotato Tumblr


(Hey, is that a Timex?)

We’re celebrating something special today, Potato Nation: CagePotato’s Tumblr has surpassed 100 followers!

We’re very grateful that our fans and many members of Tumblr’s MMA community have followed us. If you haven’t yet, here are some of the highlights from our first few weeks that you missed — and that you’ll still be missing on a regular basis until you follow us right here.

– To start off, we have an excellent GIF set of Miesha Tate from this season of TUF. This, for obvious reasons, is our most successful post to date.

– There exists a statue of one kid armbarring another kid. It’s in Germany although I’d have expected something like that to be in Brazil instead (or even Japan because of their Judo connection).

– World champions Renan Barao and Jose Aldo in a sparring match. They’re likely not going 100%, but it’s still pretty cool to watch.

See what Conor McGregor was doing with his money, as well as some sick, old-school UFC artwork after the jump.


(Hey, is that a Timex?)

We’re celebrating something special today, Potato Nation: CagePotato’s Tumblr has surpassed 100 followers!

We’re very grateful that our fans and many members of Tumblr’s MMA community have followed us. If you haven’t yet, here are some of the highlights from our first few weeks that you missed — and that you’ll still be missing on a regular basis until you follow us right here.

– To start off, we have an excellent GIF set of Miesha Tate from this season of TUF. This, for obvious reasons, is our most successful post to date.

– There exists a statue of one kid armbarring another kid. It’s in Germany although I’d have expected something like that to be in Brazil instead (or even Japan because of their Judo connection).

– World champions Renan Barao and Jose Aldo in a sparring match. They’re likely not going 100%, but it’s still pretty cool to watch.

– Legendary video maker NickTheFace made an unbelievable trailer for UFC 168: Weidman vs. Silva 2 that puts the UFC’s recent video efforts to shame.

– Another fan-made piece of UFC 168 content, this time a poster, dwarfed the UFC’s official efforts. The poster was made by Dan Goland. The same artist made a truly epic poster for UFC 166. Yeah, “epic” gets thrown around a lot but the poster he made captures the gravity of Junior Dos Santos vs. Cain Velasquez III.

– Conor McGregor shows off how much cash he has in his wallet. I think this is what he was using all that money for.

– Various members of the UG photoshopped the picture of Joe Rogan in Khabib Nurmagomedov‘s Cossack hat. We put together some of the better ones from the original thread.

– This is what Nick Diaz was doing instead of going to school so he could learn to buy houses.

– Remember that photo from UFC Magazine featuring Dana White mean-mugging as if he were a real fighter? So do we.

– Artist Chris Rini made woodwork pictures of the bout between Royce Gracie and Kimo Leopoldo at UFC 3. These are amazing. If you’re an MMA fan with loads of disposable income, pick these up.

Those are just a few of the highlights from CagePotato’s nascent tumbls, or tumblerings, or what have you. Thanks to all our readers that follow us, and a pox on all of our readers who don’t!

Matt Saccaro

It’s Not Me, It’s You: A Breakup Letter To MMA


(“You had to give it to him: he had a plan. And it started to make sense, in a Tyler sort of way. No fear. No distractions. The ability to let that which does not matter truly slide.” – Narrator)

By: Jason Moles

Dear Mixed Martial Arts,

They say breaking up is hard to do…but they’re wrong. Please, don’t speak. Let me talk for once.

For the better part of eight years, I’ve lived and breathed you. At first, it was just a little crush, but a couple years later it matured into something more. I was truly, madly, deeply in love with you. Three years ago, I finally worked up the nerve to ask you out, and to my surprise, you said yes. In the beginning, you were all I could think about. You dominated my conversations with coworkers in the break room and were the reason for countless missed BBQs with my family. But not anymore. It’s the end of the road, ergo, time for me to fly.

Let me be real clear. It must’ve been love, but it’s over now.

It’s funny; life never goes the way we plan, never turns out how we expect. Never did I anticipate us falling apart like this. It’s almost as if the cosmos are playing games with our heart, letting us think but for a brief moment that we’re on the brink of reaching true happiness before we trip over the monkey wrench thrown our way. Speaking of heart, CagePotato Ban notwithstanding, (and rightfully so, I might add) one needs a lot of it if they’re to enjoy successful relationships in this life. One only need look as far as Jenna Jameson and Tito Ortiz (or Rampage and his diet) to realize the consequences of pursuing a relationship with anything less.

Every rose has its thorn (some more than others) and I’m tired of holding on.

This whole year has been an agonizing internal struggle for me. You’re driving me crazy and I hate it! I hate that I used to care so passionately about you, that I would pass up trips to the lake with family or a night out with friends because I wanted to spend time with you. And now? You’re irritating me to no end. You’re so dang needy. You didn’t know it, but I’ve been going behind your back trying to find friends to help move or neighbors who needed help painting so I’d conveniently not be available on Saturday nights. I need space; I can’t do this anymore.


(“You had to give it to him: he had a plan. And it started to make sense, in a Tyler sort of way. No fear. No distractions. The ability to let that which does not matter truly slide.” – Narrator)

By: Jason Moles

Dear Mixed Martial Arts,

They say breaking up is hard to do…but they’re wrong. Please, don’t speak. Let me talk for once.

For the better part of eight years, I’ve lived and breathed you. At first, it was just a little crush, but a couple years later it matured into something more. I was truly, madly, deeply in love with you. Three years ago, I finally worked up the nerve to ask you out, and to my surprise, you said yes. In the beginning, you were all I could think about. You dominated my conversations with coworkers in the break room and were the reason for countless missed BBQs with my family. But not anymore. It’s the end of the road, ergo, time for me to fly.

Let me be real clear. It must’ve been love, but it’s over now.

It’s funny; life never goes the way we plan, never turns out how we expect. Never did I anticipate us falling apart like this. It’s almost as if the cosmos are playing games with our heart, letting us think but for a brief moment that we’re on the brink of reaching true happiness before we trip over the monkey wrench thrown our way. Speaking of heart, CagePotato Ban notwithstanding, (and rightfully so, I might add) one needs a lot of it if they’re to enjoy successful relationships in this life. One only need look as far as Jenna Jameson and Tito Ortiz (or Rampage and his diet) to realize the consequences of pursuing a relationship with anything less.

Every rose has its thorn (some more than others) and I’m tired of holding on.

This whole year has been an agonizing internal struggle for me. You’re driving me crazy and I hate it! I hate that I used to care so passionately about you, that I would pass up trips to the lake with family or a night out with friends because I wanted to spend time with you. And now? You’re irritating me to no end. You’re so dang needy. You didn’t know it, but I’ve been going behind your back trying to find friends to help move or neighbors who needed help painting so I’d conveniently not be available on Saturday nights. I need space; I can’t do this anymore.

You’re killing me softly, but it still hurts. And it’s not just me — our dawg Riddle doesn’t want anything to do with you, either.

Before I leave, though, I feel I owe you some answers. I lament that we used to be so close and now it seems like I barely know you. We’ve grown so far apart. You’ve changed, MMA. You’ve changed. I remember when you were happy only going out once or twice a month. Now you want me to give you all but two of my weekends this year (those dates aren’t cheap, ya know!) — not to mention our weeknight dinner dates on FS1 and Spike. You’re exhausting my free time, patience, and bank account.

For many of the same reasons as Brian Stann, I know it’s time for me to walk away. In an interview with the legendary Thomas Gerbasi for UFC 360, “All-American” had this to say:

“I’ve continually gotten to that high level of the sport, top 10, and I just had trouble breaking through that next-level barrier where I can challenge for a title shot. And the amount of time you spend preparing for a fight, it consumes you and it holds you back from all the other things in life that you may be doing.

I’ve always had a full-time job while I fought, and I tried to keep things in perspective. That was a conscious choice by me saying, ‘Hey, I know I could be better if I go all in,’ but I had already had two children at the time, and it was a risk I wasn’t willing to take as far as going all in as a fighter.

… I could never be as good as I can be at any one venture that I’m doing because I was doing so many.”

Our relationship forces me to endure an alarming deal of stress. The stress I put on myself to keep up with every Facebook post, every tweet, and every time someone mentioned you on the radio is the equivalent of taking a bath in pure cortisol. You could argue that you never expected or even asked me to do any of that, but I felt that I had to. Our friends came to me for opinions and analysis on all the things going on in your life. What kind of friend would I be if I skipped the prelims at 11am when you were in Japan?

I’ve gone as far as I could in this relationship with you. It’s my belief that I was a really good boyfriend, but it was never good enough. Never enough for you to ever love me in the way I loved you. Unrequited love is one of life’s most painful feelings, second only to getting hit in the pills by Cup Cheick. Maybe that’s what lead to my willingness to stop overlooking your faults and how miserable you made me feel.

In my vain attempt to please you and give you the time and attention you so desperately want of me, I’ve been missing out on things I used to have time for like occasionally picking up the video game controller, reading great books and watching Hollywood’s latest attempt to convince me that I can be or do anything if only I keep trying — things I used to make a priority in my life because of the joy I got from them, but have since gone by the wayside. I want to have a life outside of you. I need to reclaim my identity. This tainted love must come to an end.

I’m not saying we can’t maybe one day still be friends (as long as you understand that we are never, ever, ever, ever, getting back together) In fact, once both of our wounds have healed, I think I might like that — if only so it’s not awkward for our mutual friends. Given the number of people I’ve befriended over the past few years, it’s naive to think we won’t eventually run into each other at a Hooter’s or Dave & Buster’s or some other place flowing with wings and beer. Let’s not dump pitchers of Mickey’s on anyone’s new arm candy, okay?

Jason Moles used to write for CagePotato.com. Keep track of his current interests @TheJasonMoles