When: January 14th, 2012.

Where: The HSBC Arena in Brazil

Main Card (on Pay-Per-View):
-Jose Aldo (21-1; #1 Featherweight) vs. Chad Mendes (11-0; #2 Featherweight)
-Vitor Belfort (20-9; #8 Middleweight) vs. Anthony Johnson (10-3)
-Rousimar Palhares (13-3) vs. Mike Massenzio (13-5)
-Erick Silva (13-1) vs. Carlo Prater (29-10-1)
-Edson Barboza, Jr. (9-0) vs. Terry Etim (15-3)

Preliminary Bouts (on FX):
-Thiago Tavares (16-4-1) vs. Sam Stout (17-6-1)
-Gabriel Gonzaga (12-6) vs. Edinaldo Oliveira (13-0-1)
-Yuri Alcantara (26-3) vs. Michihiro Omigawa (13-10-1)
-Ricardo Funch (8-2) vs. Mike Pyle (21-8-1)

Preliminary Bout (on Facebook):
-Felipe Arantes (13-4) vs. Antonio Carvalho (13-4)

The odds that anyone picks every fight correct on this card will be extremely low.

Going through each fight, we see these are very good match ups, with people who have looked questionable in previous contests.

First up is Jose Aldo, Hominick displayed that he can be taken down and put into complicated areas where he can be attacked. This is exactly Mendes plan, to wrestle him to the ground ala Couture vs Sylvia for 5 rounds. This makes me wonder if Aldo can keep it on the feet, or get a knockout or submission or if he will be smothered for 25 minutes straight, a difficult pick.

I'll do the rest after the jump.

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Could it happen? If GSP beats Diaz soundly, would anyone be surprised if Anderson and GSP squared off for the NYE show at a catch weight, perhaps 177.5?

via i25.tinypic.com

Does it make any sense for them to fight anyone else if they are both ready for the NYE show? This is basically a fight that defines this generation of MMA. Similar to Don Frye vs Tank Abbott or Sakuraba vs Royce Gracie or BJ Penn vs Frankie Edgar or Wandy vs Japan.

What say you proletariats?

Given the lack of competitors and given Henderson recently beating Fedor in emphatic fashion, would anyone be against Henderson trying his luck vs the winner of this fight?

Let's say that Overeem does not get signed, Schaub gets subbed by Nog, Bigfoot gets bagged by a myth hunter, Kharitonov gets conscripted into the Russian Navy for World War 3, Barnett joins the WWE, Brock refuses to leave his house in Minnesota and the rest of the HWs disappear.

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The downside of being successful is that people scrutinize you for everything. Regardless of how you win, it's about how you win. If you win a fight emphatic fashion, people will forget about your losses and less entertaining wins. However if you win 13 out of 15 fights with 1 draw and 1 loss, people will think your style need adjustment, they will think you do not deserve a shot at the title again.

In comparison to your opponent, who out of 5 chances in the same division has lost 3 of those fights, drawn 1 and won 1, but somehow the fans seem to think he is more deserving, and this is the problem with the sport. -> The Jump

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The synopsis for the story is a marine(Tom Hardy) returns home to Pittsburgh, where for some reason he begins to train for mixed martial arts under the tutelage of his former boxing alcoholic father(Nick Nolte) and it eventually sets him on a collision course with his older brother(Joel Edgerton).

I've only found out about this movie today, so I am not sure how many people have heard of it, I never saw "Never Back Down" because I figured it would just make me sad and or angry.

I am hoping this could turn out to be the movie that finally puts the Hollywood spotlight on MMA, with a fairly strong cast and an interesting cast of combat sport related cameos, and a $30 million dollar budget, I am intrigued.

More information on the release and casting after the jump.

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As I was perusing ESPN's MMA section to see it for the first time, I came across a story that I had not seen on here yet, I immediately had to make a fan post, being a resident of BC.

Jake Rossen writes:

The clown car is still emptying out in North Vancouver, British Columbia, where officials actually disbanded the athletic commission Monday.

"I've watched enough of [Ultimate Fighting Championship] channel surfing to know that I find it repugnant … barbaric," Councilwoman Pam Bookham told local media.

It appears there is a lot more to be done in Vancouver to legitimize MMA in the future, it is a shame that this one councilor thinks that her opinion can dictate the entire province's viewpoint.

Link to Rossen's article here.

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Just going to embed this Fukerton interview, listen to it, reply. 

Rare interview with a lot of tidbids, including his thoughts on steroids, the Arlovski stand-up, etc.

From what I have read in the Dana White Hates Roy Nelson thread, a lot of people have not heard this. The conversation about steroids is starts about 6:30 in if you want to skip to the "good part".

NOTE by Kid Nate: I went ahead and embedded the video in the post rather than just the link.

While some of you may be wondering what SSI means, I won't tell you yet, because I prefer to build suspense. This article is part mystery novel, yet you do not have to be a detective to unravel it, just patient.

Now, the idea presented was the introduction of champions, and I believe that before every UFC event, as a sort of opening presentation they can show the former active UFC champions that are in attendance. A case for non-active UFC champions would have to be made on a case by case basis I'd imagine.

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