Cage Talk – MMA – All The Latest Mixed Martial Arts News

(Above: "...and I'm gonna wear one of those stupid jester-hats in the Octagon. And you're not going to do a damn thing about it." 
Below: Jon Jones knows that the best way to deal with a bully is to ignore him, Michihiro Omigawa does that ridiculous duck-face thing, and Miguel Torres and Antonio Banuelos face off for the unofficial Mexican Bantamweight Championship. All photos courtesy of the UFC 126: Weigh In Pics gallery on CombatLifestyle.com)
  

Fuck football. Unless you were cursed enough to grow up in Green Bay, or you're a supporter of dudes who get accused of rape a lot, you know as well as I do that this weekend belongs to cage-fighting. And if you don't, you can piss off right now. Seriously. The rest of us will wait. 

Now then. Tonight's ultra-stacked lineup features the longest-reigning champion in UFC history defending his middleweight title for the eighth time against a power-punching dynamo who used to be a UFC champion himself, seven years and one weight-class ago. Supporting the main event will be a scrap between two Octagon icons and former belt-holders (Franklin vs. Griffin), a fight that could produce the future of the 205-pound division (Jones vs. Bader), Miguel Torres's breathtaking mullet, and the UFC debuts of some exciting imported talent from Japan.

Live UFC 126 results will be stacking up after the jump, beginning with a quick recap of the Yamamoto/Johnson Facebook match at 8:25 p.m. ET, leading into the Spike TV prelims broadcast at 9 p.m., and finally the pay-per-view broadcast at 10 p.m. So we've got a long night of fighting in front of us — but hey, nobody ever said being an MMA fan would be easy.

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(Video courtesy DailyMotion/Spike/UFC)

If you don't have the time or couldn't be bothered to watch the show, we got you covered.

Here are the CP Notes of this edition:

- Anderson doesn't like Vitor and says whoever God wants to win will win Saturday.

- Vitor believes Jesus loves him more and will help him beat Anderson.

- Ed Soares respects Vitor  and seems somewhat nervous about this fight.

- Vitor  respects Anderson, but says he isn't afraid of him.

- Vitor says he's not there to dance around (like Anderson), he's there to fight.

- Rich seems to be training seriously ahead of this fight, both in the gym and the tanning beds.

- Forrest seems to be doing lots of book promo ahead of this fight.

- Forrest might rely on his new BJJ black belt for this fight.

- Both Franklin and Griffin say they are pretty much the same fighter, only Rich says Forrest is much bigger.

- Forrest doesn't like being asked questions about Anderson.

-  Jones has a lot of hype to live up to and seems to be buying into it himself.

- Jones wasn't impressed by Bader's win over Lil' Nog, even though Nogueira is widely considered a better calibre fighter than any "Bones" has beaten.

- Jones doesn't think Bader is very good because he "doesn't knee, spin or jump."

- Jones doesn't plan on toning down his cockiness flashiness for the fight.

- CB Dollaway is a weird looking dude.

Parts two and three are after the jump.

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News anderson silva, CB Dollaway, Forrest Griffin, Jon Jones, Rich Franklin, Ryan Bader, Vitor Belfort

Miguel Torres (38-3 MMA) is looking to create an fantastic introduction on the UFC beyond hellos slump from the cream bantamweight scrape in the planet. He impressed in hellos decisive contention in the WEC, plus Torres inclination sight for a double take as he snatchs on Antonio Banuelos (18-6 MMA), further looking to reach hellos subsequent conquers to twin. Banuelos could consumption an fantastic veneer, solitary Torres is a dangerous man further he has sum of the spades to hammer Banuelos. Banuelos dearths the culminate know-how of a warrior love Joe Benavidez or Brian Bowles, furthermore whereas he can definitely sharpen absent a gain across Torres, that appears preference a uneven gameplan into a warrior that influential at infectious hellos competitors eccentric of hellos abaft moreover in the clutch.

Jon Jones (11-1 MMA, 5-1 UFC) also Ryan Bader (12-0 MMA, 5-0 UFC) are the cream contenders in the UFC lightheavyweight section, further their conflict endow presumably rule the after outdo contender. Jones has lust been a crest customer, plus has destroyed a score of fantastic combatants. Bader is impending remote of a compact attain upon Antonio Rogerio Nogueira besides hellos undefeated tab is fantastic given the equal of tournament he’s fought in the UFC. Jones appears choose the constant preference (at near -300) only the attack bequeath be competitive. Bader is a grinder also has by distant the best wrestling credentials of anyone Jones has faced. That said, there’s commonly something to be said for the darling, generally there’s a worthy sense cause they’re the preference. That appears to be the case for Jones.

Although only undivided UFC struggle sub hellos sash, Carlos Eduardo Rocha (9-0 MMA, 1-0 UFC) desire be appearing on the first menu of a stipend-done-behold experience taking on a too stern, influential grappler in Jake Ellenberger (23-5 MMA, 2-1 UFC). As Ellenberger perpetuates to fashion velocity in hellos UFC road, he’s going to possess to bicker through undivided of the most stimulating grapplers that the UFC has picked up in a bit. Obviously, Rocha doesn’t possess the credibility as a Jake Guards, still hellos game appears indeed spectacular, besides accompanying 9 even finishes in 9 trade contentions, hellos might to dissolution contests is nay in scruple, especially on the rug. Ellenberger’s access to mastery appears free satisfactory: apply the wrestling to sta

News anderson silva, Antonio Banuelos, Carlos Eduardo Rocha, Forrest Griffin, Jake Ellenberger, Jon Jones, Miguel Torres, mma, Rich Franklin, Ryan Bader, UFC, UFC 126, Vitor Belfort

(VidProps: YouTube/UFC)

A week or so whereas, during we celebrated that virtually entire declare made in the dignitary UFC 126 trailer was at minimal problematic (if hardly an away-plus-absent fabrication), the unique argue saved from our incredulity was Forrest Griffin vs. Costly Franklin. Possibly that’s since the optimum puffery the UFC could drone up for this spree was to retain its voiceover rope dramatically holler, “Late defends Forrest Griffin besides Well-to-do Franklin desire contend it absent!” Yep, that senses … true. Yet if, analogous us, you suspect this assembly amid pair outdated warhorses wants a firm fry, you’re nay exclusive. Flat the warriors themselves enter to recognize this brawl craves a trifling something spare to win nation actually emotionally invested.

Besides so Griffin, that mischievous diminutive hobgoblin, would akin to nominate a squire’s pot on the upshot of this morsel: Bust acquires tattooed.  A bemused Franklin – who from the physiognomys of this vid has tired the ultimate seven months since hellos conquest beyond Fling Liddell making indisputable that age seat at the tanning gallery compensates for itself – appears oddly calm along the insight. He advises the flop duty procure inked-up accompanying a painting of the conqueror, which to us is a very inspired archetype. Except you persons acquire some different intimations.

News Forrest Griffin, Rich Franklin, UFC 126

("When you put your focus on one thing, you tend not to focus on the journey. Once you get there, it's not going to be as big of a deal as you thought it was going to be.")

This Saturday, Rich Franklin will step into the Octagon for the 18th time to face Forrest Griffin in the co-headlining feature of UFC 126. During his 12-year career, Ace has experienced everything from championship glory to bitter defeat, and now stands as one of the sport's most revered statesmen. “I think that what people will remember me for is that I'm a tough competitor who's put on entertaining fights for the fans all these years," Franklin tells CagePotato. "And I'm happy with that kind of legacy.”

Rich was generous enough to give us some phone-time recently, and instead of asking him about his gameplan for Forrest, we discussed Franklin's career as a whole, from the moment he decided to pursue MMA as a full-time job, to the fight that changed his life, to every other notable moment that helped forge the fighter he is today. Let's begin...

The Early Days, 1993-1999
Rich Franklin: “I started training in traditional martial arts in 1993, then I saw the first couple UFCs and started doing some jiu-jitsu. I was training at a Royce Gracie chapter here in Cincinnati, and the guy who was leading my class was a blue belt. By today's standards, if the best you had in your area was a blue belt, you'd be way behind the times, but in 1994 it was a big deal to have that kind of a resource. So I was doing jiu-jitsu, working with kickboxing coaches, and of course I’d been watching the UFC, learning off instructional tapes and all those kinds of things.

I started fighting at these little local amateur shows out in Richmond, Indiana, and clearly at that point in time, I was just light-years ahead of the competition that was showing up at the event. The promoter told me, 'These are amateur events, I don't really have anybody for you to fight.' But there was a gentleman there who said, 'You know what, I run a pro show, and I'll pay you to fight." And he offered me 200 bucks. I was like, 'Wow, I can make money fighting? This is great. I'm gonna make 200 bucks." I was bankin'.

RICH FRANKLIN (5-0) vs. AARON BRINK (7-4) — Franklin’s first regional title fight
IFC: Warriors Challenge 11, 1/13/01
Result: No contest due to accidental injury, after Brink’s leg slipped through the cage.

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(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)

News Forrest Griffin, friday link dump, link dump, Murilo Bustamante

(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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News Forrest Griffin, Interview, Stephan Bonnar, The Bum Rush Radio Show

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-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 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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News Ben Askren, Features, Forrest Griffin, Frankie Edgar, Georges St. Pierre, Gray Maynard, Jake Shields, Jon Fitch, Michael Bisping

(Video courtesy YouTube/MMAInterviews)

Forrest Griffin interviews make me feel good. Not because Forrest is a funny dude, but rather because they make me realize that not only was he a dick to me when I interviewed him for the first time last summer; he's a dick to every reporter that interviews him.

Don't believe me? 

Check out the recent clip above of Forrest telling an interviewer that his hair is terrible and calling him racist for assuming Griffin was referring to Alistair Overeem when he referenced Cro Cop giving up during a fight in which he got kneed in the groin repeatedly. The reporter was right. Overeem did foul Mirko during a DREAM bout, but Forrest assumed he thought our boy Cheick Kongo looked like "The Demolition Man" and he called him on it.

When I interviewed him after he spent four hours signing autographs at the Toronto MMA Expo, I assumed he was simply being ornery because of the long day he had.

Just before we began the interview, which I waited to conduct after a one-hour delay in which Griffin signed a few extra autographs, he tossed aside the Cage Potato t-shirt I gave him to a girl working the booth, told me he had no idea what CP was and then proceeded to "X" out the devil horns symbol on my shirt, informing me that I now had his autograph. Needless to say, I wasn't overly keen on doing the interview after the way things got started. 

That seems to be Forrest's MO: insult the reporter at the beginning of the Q&A session and make him feel uncomfortable for the whole interview. The end result is usually an awkward and strange exchange that ends with Griffin smirking and the reporter red-faced and wishing they hadn't wasted their time talking to him.

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(Where's your glass trophy now, playboy? Props: thesun.co.uk)

By CagePotato contributor Jim Genia

In a perfect world, The Ultimate Fighter would give us an up close and personal look at some of the most promising mixed martial artists out there, vying for greatness in the crucible of combat. But in reality, it’s become a perversion of manufactured drama and prefabricated stars — stars made bright not by the depth of the competition they must face but by the trouncing of whatever hapless wannabes a SpikeTV producer chose at the tryouts. You see, it stopped being about “who’s the best” a long time ago, and was twisted into “who makes for the best TV,” so what we get now is more Jersey Shore than Ultimate Fighting Championship, only instead of Snooki and JWoww’s cleavage we get an IFL champ or Sengoku veteran beating the ever-loving crap out of people with maybe a handful (if that) of fights.

That’s why, when a TUF winner loses in Octagon — sometimes after facing real UFC-level competition for the first time — it’s totally awesome! Because, sure, Michael Bisping, Joe Stevenson and Mac Danzig are tough, likeable guys, but don’t try to fool us into thinking they’re the definition of “badass” just because they defeated a personal trainer from New Orleans, a boxer from Maine and some kid who should be working on a farm. We’re not the ignorant general public flicking through the channels, we’re knowledgeable MMA fans. We know better!

Therefore, here, in no particular order, is a list of the ten greatest TUF winner fails of all time. It’s a list based not on animosity towards any particular fighter, but on animosity towards the Spike TV executive who skipped over the few hundred fighter hopefuls with real talent and real skill, and instead chose the clown with the funky hair, the drinking problem and the propensity for trashing houses...

Michael Bisping vs. Dan Henderson, UFC 100
British fighter Michael Bisping was a stud in the UK MMA scene (which is a lot like saying you’re a gold medalist in the Special Olympics) when he got the call to compete on TUF, and he took Season 3 top honors after beating, well, pretty much no one of note. But he continued to rack up wins on the pay-per-views, defeating such marginables as Elvis Sinosic, Charles McCarthy and Jason Day. However, TUF 9 saw him pitted against Dan Henderson as an opposing coach, and we were supposed to believe the inevitable Octagon conflict between them would be competitive. It wasn’t, and fans everywhere rejoiced over a knockout so devastating Bisping has no recollection of anything to do with the weekend of July 11, 2009 and about nine days before and after.

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News Amir Sadollah, diego sanchez, Efrain Escudero, Features, Forrest Griffin, Jim Genia, joe stevenson, Kendall Grove, Mac Danzig, Michael Bisping, MMA fails, Ross Pearson, The Ultimate Fighter, Travis Lutter, UFC, Ultimate Fighter winners

(Video courtesy YouTube/TheJasonEllisShow)

When Forrest Griffin ran out of the Octagon after getting sat down by Anderson Silva at UFC 101, most of us MMA media types thought, "There's something we won't be able to ask him about in an interview."

Apparently time heals all wounds because Forrest has finally broken his silence on what happened in the fight and what was going through his mind as he was jabbed into a living death by "The Spider" and he has apparently taken the  advice he gave me at the MMA Expo about making fun of yourself.

Earlier this week on the The Jason Ellis Show, Forrest brought up the fight with Silva on his own when he was asked if he would be fighting Jon Jones in his next bout

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Forrest Griffin on Fox and Friends - Watch more Funny Videos
(Video courtesy Fox)

Former UFC light heavyweight champion Forrest Griffin appeared on Fox and Friends this morning to discuss his second book, Be Ready When the Sh*t Goes Down: A Survival Guide to the Apocalypse. 

Although the release of the book isn't necessarily a newsworthy event, what is worth noting is that Griffin will be donating the entire proceeds of the sale of the book to a number of charities, including one that has been set up for the young son of his dear late friend John Grantham, who was referred to throughout his first book "Got Fight" as "Big John."

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Chael Sonnen vs. Forrest Griffin - Watch more Funny Videos

Long before either man ever competed in the UFC's Octagon, Chael Sonnen and Forrest Griffin fought each other in the opening round of the IFC: Global Domination light heavyweight tournament.

Fighting a class above his usual middleweight division, Chael who competed in the tourney at his walking around weight of 197 lbs, was unable to contend with the strength advantage and the ground game of Griffin, succumbing to a triangle in the opening frame.

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Cage Potato vs. Forrest Griffin - Watch more Funny Videos

We caught up with Forrest Griffin at the MMA Expo last month in Toronto (before news of his rumored third match-up with Tito Ortiz at UFC 121 was leaked) and we spoke with the former UFC light heavyweight champ about a variety of topics including returning from his shoulder injury, the possibility of facing Lyoto Machida, his new book and how dirty he feels after shaking hands with fans and signing autographs all day. 

News Forrest Griffin, Lyoto Machida, Tito Ortiz

(Video courtesy YouTube/Fighters Only)

Quinton Jackson recently spoke to Fighters Only's John O'Regan, and as usual, Rampage had a lot of interesting, although grammatically questionable things to say about everything from possible future opponents and his phony fans to his icy relationship with the UFC.

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News Forrest Griffin, Quinton Jackson, Rampage, Rashad Evans, Videos