Friday Link Dump

(Video courtesy YouTube/MMATrailers3)
– Worst parents ever! (break) 
 
– Pettis won’t wait on the winner of Edgar-Maynard III (mmaweekly)
– The 11 greatest trick football plays of 2010 (mademan)
– If you want Mir vs. Nelson at UFC 130, y…

(Video courtesy YouTube/MMATrailers3)

– Worst parents ever! (break

– Pettis won’t wait on the winner of Edgar-Maynard III (mmaweekly)

– The 11 greatest trick football plays of 2010 (mademan)

– If you want Mir vs. Nelson at UFC 130, you’ll probably get it (middleeasy)

– Sonnen’s manager and trainer Matt Lindland says Chael isn’t tough (mmajunkie)

– Man stars in real life remake of "The Blob" (holytaco)

– It looks like the Machida fight may be Randy’s last for a while (screenjunkies)

– Marquardt vs. Akiyama set for UFC 128 (mmafighting)

– Dana White calls Evans-Rua "The fight everyone’s been waiting to see" (fightline)

– Clippers owner Donald Sterling may be the creepiest owner in sports (scoresreport)

– Don’t balktalk a Russian with a pipe (thesmokingjacket)

– Thiago Alves saddened that former trainer accused him of having lipo (fightersonly)

– Murilo Bustamante reflects on 20 years in MMA (thegarv)


Ultimate Fighter Finale Weigh-In Video

Filed under: UFCAll of the fighters taking part in Saturday night’s Ultimate Fighter Finale will hit the scale on Friday afternoon for the weigh-in, and if you can’t be there in person at the Palms in Las Vegas you can watch it live right here at MMAFi…

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All of the fighters taking part in Saturday night’s Ultimate Fighter Finale will hit the scale on Friday afternoon for the weigh-in, and if you can’t be there in person at the Palms in Las Vegas you can watch it live right here at MMAFighting.com.

Prior to the weigh-in, Forrest Griffin will take the stage at the Palms for a question-and-answer session with UFC fans, and that will also stream live.

The Griffin Q&A starts at 5 PM ET and the weigh-in starts at 7 PM ET.

Video is below.

Bum Rush Nugget: Stephan Bonnar Explains Forrest Griffin’s Media Hostility

(See, Forrest? You used to *love* microphones… / Photo courtesy of milwaukeemma.com)
When we hosted Stephan Bonnar on the latest edition of our Bum Rush Radio Show, we ran through the standard set of questions about his training for tomorrow night’…

Forrest Griffin Stephan Bonnar UFC
(See, Forrest? You used to *love* microphones… / Photo courtesy of milwaukeemma.com)

When we hosted Stephan Bonnar on the latest edition of our Bum Rush Radio Show, we ran through the standard set of questions about his training for tomorrow night’s fight against Igor Pokrajac, his opinions on TUF 12, and his future as a broadcaster. But considering Bonnar’s long history with Forrest Griffin, we couldn’t resist asking for his take on the question that’s been plaguing us lately: "Why is Forrest such a dick to reporters?" Bonnar’s candid and insightful answer is after the jump. If you haven’t already, please give the new episode a listen, and subscribe on iTunes!

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MMA Top 10 Light Heavyweights: Who’s No. 2?

Filed under: UFC, Strikeforce, Rankings, Light HeavyweightsWhen you’re trying to rank MMA fighters, it’s easy to say you’ll just rank them based on who they’ve beaten and who they’ve lost to inside the cage. It’s a lot harder to actually create the ran…

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When you’re trying to rank MMA fighters, it’s easy to say you’ll just rank them based on who they’ve beaten and who they’ve lost to inside the cage. It’s a lot harder to actually create the rankings when you realize that it’s mathematically impossible to rank every fighter ahead of the guys he’s beaten and behind the guys who have beaten him.

That’s the challenge of picking the No. 2 light heavyweight in the world right now. UFC light heavyweight champion Shogun Rua is No. 1, but there are three candidates for No. 2: Rampage Jackson, Lyoto Machida and Rashad Evans. And there’s simply no way to rank those three without putting one of them behind someone he’s beaten, and another one ahead of a man who has beaten him. Machida beat Evans, Evans beat Rampage, and Rampage beat Machida. Any way you slice it, someone has to get ranked ahead of someone who beat him in the cage.

So who’s No. 2? I make my choice below.

State of the UFC Light Heavyweights

Filed under: UFCNovember is a month without any title fights, which makes it a good time to take a long view of the future title picture in each weight class. Today we look at the light heavyweight division.

The light heavyweight division is both the …

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November is a month without any title fights, which makes it a good time to take a long view of the future title picture in each weight class. Today we look at the light heavyweight division.

The light heavyweight division is both the UFC’s most talented weight class and — right now anyway — its most frustrating. There are so many good fights that can be made, but the championship belt is tied up because the champion, Shogun Rua, is recovering from knee surgery.

It’s been almost a year and a half since anyone other than Shogun and Lyoto Machida has fought for the light heavyweight title, and it’ll probably be another six months or so until we see Shogun defend his title again. So as we look at the light heavyweight division, we’re looking at a division with a wealth of contenders but a shortage of title fights.

Eight MMA Fighters Who Desperately Need a Stoppage Victory

By CagePotato contributor Dan “siksik6” Teague
#8: Gray Maynard When fans and fighters complain about wrestlers in MMA, they’re talking about Gray Maynard. He takes fighters down because that’s what he’s good at. In Maynard’s nine-figh…

By CagePotato contributor Dan “siksik6” Teague

#8: Gray Maynard
Gray Maynard
When fans and fighters complain about wrestlers in MMA, they’re talking about Gray Maynard. He takes fighters down because that’s what he’s good at. In Maynard’s nine-fight UFC career, he has just one stoppage, a KO of Joe Veres over three years ago. He’s earned his title shot not because of his performances, but rather because what the hell else do you do with a guy who’s undefeated and has won eight straight fights, including one over the current champ? Cole Miller said it best: Taking people down should be a means to an end. Gray needs to start having some refs pull him off of people if he’s ever going to have any drawing power.

#7: Ben Askren
Ben Askren Bellator champion ring girls
Ben Askren is just starting to make his way into mainstream MMA discussions. However, it’s not exactly a heralded arrival. The kid makes picking strawberries look like it belongs in the X Games. His last “stoppage” was a controversial sub over Ryan Thomas, who promptly and correctly displayed his best WTFIYP face. Before that it was a north-south choke over some guy you’ve never heard of in some organization you’ve never heard of back in August of ’09. For his last fight, in which he won the Bellator welterweight strap, he came about as close to finishing Lyman Good as I did. I was on the couch eating Mayfield Butter Pecan ice cream. It was delicious. As a title holder for an up-and-coming organization, Askren needs to show more of a killer instinct if he ever wants his fights to be broadcast by anyone other than Fox Sports South.

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