I almost scrolled right past the headline.

It was warm for an early April afternoon in Chicago. I was walking home, my head cocked toward the sidewalk as I caught up on my Google Reader unread list. I picked out the name of my friend as the headlines flew past. His assumed name, that is. My friend Alex was a pro wrestler named Larry Sweeney.

"Sweet n' Sour" Larry Sweeney: 1981-2011

It didn't register with me at first, those dashed dates signifying one's passing. For that brief moment between seeing the headline and reading the article, I assumed it was some sort of work. Or maybe Alex had quit the business. The lead blasted away any delusions I was making up in my mind:

"I just heard about the passing of Larry Sweeney tonight..."

I rushed home. I remember debating whether I should call Alex's ex-girlfriend. She was the reason I knew him, and she had been my point of contact for news about him the last couple of years. I don't know if I called her that day or not.

I do remember Googling his wrestling name. I read everything: news items, obituaries, opinion pieces about deaths in pro wrestling, user comments on articles. It's weird to read about your dead friend. It's even weirder when you're reading about your dead friend on a wrestling website.

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The Bloody Elbow staff discusses the impact of Georges St. Pierre's knee injury on the UFC 137 PPV buyrate.

Mike Fagan: I think we all had the same thought when we read Dana White's tweet announcing Georges St. Pierre's knee injury. The UFC had a horrific summer at the box office, and the early numbers for UFC 136 -- Dave Meltzer is reporting 250k buys -- are down from even the most pessimistic predictions. (I predicted 300k prior to the event and was told I was short selling things.) The last time St. Pierre drew under 500k buys was back at UFC 69 in his first fight with Matt Serra, and he's averaged over 800k buys in his last three fights against Shields, Koscheck, and Hardy.

Penn and Diaz is a great fight with an interesting backstory, but it doesn't seem like it can carry a card -- especially one with Matt Mitrione and Cheick Kongo in the co-headliner -- on its own. I think it was safe to pencil 137 in for 700-800k with GSP, but what's a realistic number without him?

Leland Roling: I still think it draws 500k buys. While B.J. Penn isn't a massive draw by any stretch, he should bring in a decent number alongside Nick Diaz, who has seen a growth in interest over the last couple of months. I wouldn't normally predicate a number on a social abnormality, but I know many casual fans who don't keep up religiously with news. I imagine some fans will buy the card not knowing GSP is off it, and the consistent run of UFC 137 ads featuring GSP vs. Condit during The Ultimate Fighter will prolong that confusion. We've also had a break in pay-per-views, which could equal some added business from fans replenishing their pockets.

Somebody bring me back to reality.

Chris Barton: The fact is GSP is the only PPV star in the UFC that fights on a consistent basis. His presence adds at least 300k buys and, really, I believe that's a very low estimate at this point.

Penn used to pull good PPV numbers but I don't think that's the case since he lost his LW title. Short of him making another title run, which would of course include GSP, I don't see him being able to personally account for large buys but he might still be worth a little boost. Nick Diaz is a PPV non-entity.

Fraser Coffeen: Leland, I got your reality: 250k. Is that a low-ball number? Hell yes, it is. But it's in line with the last time Penn headlined at UFC 127. Diaz is an exciting name to hardcore fans, but I don't think he's a casual draw yet. Add in the short time to promote this as the main, the juggling at the top of the card, the lack of any strong undercard,
and the swamped schedule these few months and you have a low number coming.

Tim Burke: UFC 127 was in Australia, it had Jon Fitch in the main event, and the card was Aussie-heavy and had nothing resembling a solid fight on it below the main event.

I believe it will do in the 400-450k range. Despite all the hoopla surrounding Nick Diaz, the average casual UFC fan might not be aware of his exploits in Strikeforce and there's no way to tell what kind of drawing card he is yet in terms of PPV. B.J. can carry a card to a degree, but I think the lack of GSP is going to ruin this card's buyrate. Especially since BJ and Diaz are friends and neither are talking poopy.

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Yesterday, UFC President Dana White announced on Twitter that welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre suffered an injury, forcing him to pull out of his UFC 137 title defense against Carlos Condit. The details are murky. Even in the information-saturated world of professional football, injury details are often vague, contradictory, or both. St. Pierre's injury is no different.

For instance, Firas Zahabi, St. Pierre's head trainer, describes the injury as a "bad sprain." UFC CEO Lorenzo Fertitta, however, told the L.A. Times that St. Pierre had not torn his medial collateral ligament. The issue here is that a sprain, by definition, involves tearing of a ligament. I imagine what Fertitta likely means is that the MCL did not rupture, i.e. suffer a complete tear.

The other issue is the timetable for St. Pierre's return. The number being quoted by everyone from White to Fertitta to Zahabi is that St. Pierre will need four weeks to rehabilitate the injury. That would place the injury in the grade 1 category. Grade 1 sprains consist of damage to less than 10% of ligament fibers, and require a minimum of three weeks away from sports-related activity. While no sprain is a "good" sprain, Zahabi's description of it as a "bad sprain" is an exaggeration, unless the injury will keep the champion out for longer than a month.

The good news is that St. Pierre, with proper treatment, should expect a full recovery.

St. Pierre's actual timetable for a fight will be interesting as well. USA Today reports Dana White saying St. Pierre could return in two months. That seems awfully optimistic, and Zahabi told TSN that St. Pierre would need a month to heal and then another two months to prepare for a fight.

Given Zahabi's timeline, that would put the earliest date for St. Pierre-Condit sometime in the middle of January, though it's likely the UFC would want to schedule him on the February 4 Super Bowl show. That's the same date that Chael Sonnen wants to fight middleweight Anderson Silva. While it's unlikely the UFC would schedule St. Pierre and Silva on the same show, the prospect is highly intriguing.

As if UFC 137 wasn't crazy enough, UFC President Dana White just announced that welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre has pulled out of his fight with Carlos Condit due to injury. Condit had originally been scheduled to fight B.J. Penn, but he was moved into the main event after Nick Diaz no-showed two consecutive press conferences. White's tweet announcing the news:

This leaves the UFC in an interesting position. With less than two weeks away from the event, it's unlikely they'll find a replacement for Condit to fight. It's even more unlikely they'll find a replacement for Condit to fight in the main event. So Penn and Diaz, it would seem, slot into the top spot, which of course puts the UFC in the hilarious position of having Diaz in a position where he has to carry some of the PR load.

Lance Pugmire of the L.A. Times tweets that "UFC leaders" told him that St. Pierre went down with a knee injury in camp.

MMA Junkie broke the news to Carlos Condit. His response:

"Oh, shut the [expletive] up," a flabbergasted Condit told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) when told the news. "I'm pretty disappointed, man. That's, wow. Just disappointed, that's all I can say. But I gotta go, brother."

Expect a rash of updates throughout the upcoming days.

CHAEL BAIT

"Let's see what the big boss is going to do." - Brazilian supermanager Ed Soares, with a line I like to use in the bedroom. (SporTV)

"My opinion is that he had his chance and tapped, he should go back to the end of the line. " - Soares, on Chael Sonnen. I wonder if this "back of the line" business applies to Lyoto Machida, 1-2 in his last 3 fights and a title shot on the horizon?

"We should recognize that Anderson only has around 4 fights left in his career." - Soares. Fool me once, Ed...

NOTE: THE WEEK IN QUOTES IS SATIRE. EXCEPT WHEN IT ISN'T.

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The UFC's dismantling of Strikeforce looks to have continued with Tim Kennedy. Kennedy recently added the Ultimate Fighting Championship to his employers on Facebook:

Kennedy could be referencing the fact that the UFC owns Strikeforce, and, by proxy, he's employed by the UFC. But, then again, it seems like a random thing to do seven months after Strikeforce was purchased, no?

So, the UFC's come after the heavyweights and the light heavyweights and the welterweights and the lightweights and now it appears as if they're coming after the middleweights. UFC President Dana White will never say it, but I don't think there's much ambiguity with what they WANT Showtime to choose in 2012.

Bloody Elbow has reached out to sources close to Kennedy. We've yet to hear confirmation back, but we will update this post once we receive word.

Kennedy defeated Robbie Lawler by decision in his last fight in July at the "Fedor vs. Henderson" event.

[Update] The UFC's UK website has a profile for Kennedy. (Thanks to Bloody Elbow member MattParker17.)

[Update #2] UFC.com now has Kennedy's profile as well. I think you can just about wrap this one up.

I don't believe in fate, but the timing of Gamma Labs CEO Cliff Morgan's email was coincidental all the same. I'm sitting in the bowling alley at the South Point Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada for the Amateur Bowlers Tour Fall Nationals tournament. I sat here around the same time last year. One evening during the tournament, Shawn Tompkins walked in with a group in tow. There was nothing special about the run-in. I didn't introduce myself. (I wouldn't want random people walking up to me when I was trying to enjoy an evening with friends and/or family.) He went to the counter, got a lane, and bowled with the group.

But now he's dead. And he looked so healthy a year ago. And he was only 37. Morgan sent me the link to this video. Gamma Labs have been giving fighters Flip cameras. The fighters film themselves training and using Gamma Labs products, return the camera, and the video goes up on the company's Youtube page. One of the fighters they gave a Flip camera to was Chris Horodecki. This video was shot just a few days before Tompkins passed.

Like my run-in last year, there's nothing special about this video on the surface. It's four minutes of Horodecki hitting mitts and a heavy bag. Tompkins opens up the video. Horodecki's coming off his victory over Chris Saunders in Bellator, and he's back in camp just a couple weeks after the fight. It's alarming just how HEALTHY Tompkins looks. 

I didn't have much of a reaction when Tompkins passed away. Not that I didn't care, per se, but he was just a guy, a trainer, in the world of MMA. But this video hit me. We're all aware, somewhere deep in the recesses of our mind, of our own mortality. We try to ignore it, but sometimes it's a fact we cannot avoid. Sometimes it's in the form of Christopher Hitchens, battling through oesophageal cancer, coughing and willing his way through the acceptance of the Richard Dawkins award. Other times it's in the form of this video of Tompkins. It's the realization that life can be taken away in an instant, in ways we could never have imagined.

THE WEEK IN CHAEL

"Anderson Silva, you absolutely suck." - Chael Sonnen, talking to Joe Rogan after submitting Brian Stann at UFC 136. (UFC 136 telecast)

"Super Bowl weekend, the biggest rematch in the history of the business, I'm calling you out Silva, but we're upping the stakes." - Sonnen, before brandishing a brand new middleweight WAMMA belt.

"I beat you, you leave the division. You beat me, I will leave the UFC forever." - Sonnen. I love that there are people questioning whether Sonnen would really leave the UFC. Have you never watched pro wrestling? Loser-leaves-town stipulations NEVER stick.

"I do not like Anderson Silva. But I do not wish anything bad in life for him. I want to beat him, I want to do everything I can to him in the ring but I hope he has a great life." - Sonnen

NOTE: THE WEEK IN QUOTES IS SATIRE. MY TRIP TO LAS VEGAS IS NOT. ENJOY BLOODY BROOKHOUSE THIS WEEK.

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Let's play "what if?" for a moment. Imagine Frankie Edgar doesn't land the uppercut that sent Gray Maynard stumbling back toward the fence. The round ends with Edgar taking his third decisive round. Maynard, after hearing an earful from his corner about his offensive output, comes out spirited in the final frame and wins the round. Ruh roh, right?

Nope. The above image is the scorecards from last night's main event. While Douglas Crosby correctly scored the first round 10-8 for Gray Maynard, judges Nelson Hamilton and Cecil Peoples both awarded Maynard a 10-9. Had the above scenario played out, Edgar would have won a majority decision, with Crosby holding the dissenting draw card.

UFC President Dana White announced that the promotion would move on from Edgar-Maynard regardless of the result. But it makes one wonder what would have happened had Edgar won an undeserved decision.

And, of course, shame on Hamilton and Peoples. I've railed against the half-point system since its inception, and this is precisely why. If we can't trust judges to correctly award a 10-8 round, what makes us believe they'll be able to implement finer gradients? (And one only needs to look at the Jimmo-Sokoudjou MFC fight on Friday for further proof that the half-point must system isn't going to fix bad decisions.)

From the FightMetric blog:

• UFC 136 broke the record for longest UFC event. The 158 minutes and 32 seconds of fight time bested UFC Fight Night 20, which lasted 149 minutes and 50 seconds.
• Nam Phan set the record for most significant strikes in a single fight with 174. He landed 102 significant strikes in their first fight as well.
• Phan and Leonard Garcia combined for 274 significant strikes, falling 4 short of the record held by Chris Lytle and Matt Serra.
• Phan doubled Garcia's output to the head (138-61) and body (57-21) while Garcia monopolized strikes to the leg (25-0).
• FightMetric scored the bout 30-27, and did not credit Garcia with a knockdown in the third. Phan had a significant lead in every striking category outside of leg strikes. [Update] FightMetric's post-fight review results in Garcia being awarded a knockdown in the third. FightMetric still awarded Phan round three.
• Kenny Florian edged Jose Aldo in total strikes (69-66), but Aldo had the advantage in significant strikes (51-40).
• Aldo landed to the head more often (52-23) while Florian targeted the body (19-5) and legs (27-9).
• FightMetric credited Florian with 1 takedown in 19 attempts.
• FightMetric scored the bout 30-27 50-45. Despite being (slightly) outstruck by volume, Aldo was awarded round one based on strikes to the head (12-4).
• In the main event, Frankie Edgar and Gray Maynard were unsuccessful in a combined 13 takedowns attempts (11 for Edgar, 2 for Maynard). Maynard outlanded Edgar 24-11 in significant strikes in the first, while Edgar reversed that in rounds two through four (50-8).

It took him 43 minutes and 54 seconds, but Frankie Edgar finally provided a resolution to what he and Gray Maynard started on New Year's Day.

The trilogy fight followed the same script as their UFC 125 rematch. Edgar found his range early, peppering strikes in and out against the slower, more deliberate Maynard. The fight continued this way until Maynard caught an incoming Edgar with an uppercut, sending the champion staggering. Maynard sent Edgar flailing around the Octagon just as he nine months ago, this time with a measured aggression. Edgar, somehow, escaped the round intact.

One would think Maynard would come out stronger than in the second round of the rematch. In that fight, the challenger, whether due to exhaustion or headhunting or some combination of the two, fought passively, allowing the champion not only to recover, but earn back a round on the cards. Maynard's relative patience in the first round figured to leave him more in the gas tank this time around, but the same pattern emerged. Edgar, somehow recovered from his first round suffering, looked fresher and faster, beating Maynard to the punch throughout the second frame.

This is where the script changed. Maynard bounced back in the third round back in January. This time, Edgar continued to fluster Maynard, taking the third round on all three judges' scorecards. That momentum carried into the fourth round. It began to look like Maynard would need to win another 10-8 round in the fifth to win the fight. And the spectre of a draw loomed its head once more.

Edgar erased the need for the fifth round with just over minute left in the fourth. It started with, of course, an uppercut. Maynard staggered back into the fence. Edgar sensed weakness, and charged. Maynard succumbed to the onslaught. He fell to his hands and knees. Edgar kept punching. Maynard's head bounced off the canvas twice before referee Josh Rosenthal stepped in.

Edgar jumped to the top of the fence. He kissed the camera, leaving behind a smudge of sweat and blood.

• I imagine Gray Maynard feels the same way as the Buffalo Bills teams of the early '90s. After coming within a field goal of winning Super Bowl XXV against the New York Giants, the Bills had their championship dreams slammed shut by the Washington Redskins and Dallas Cowboys in subsequent years. Maynard found himself within seconds of winning the title on two different occasions. At 32, he likely has one more reasonable run at a title, though he'll probably have to win at least two, and probably three, fights to get another shot.
• If you've grown tired of my criticisms of the broadcast team, you're going to want to skip down to the next bullet point. I was more annoyed by Joe Rogan, UFC color commentator, than ever, which is saying a lot. He claimed anyone who doesn't love Leonard Garcia must not be a fan of the sport. He ignored Jose Aldo's effective offense throughout the fight, wondering aloud whether Kenny Florian's "aggression" would win him a decision. He verbally orgasmed at the end of Phan-Garcia, while giving us a more subdued call for the exponentially more entertaining, relevant, and lasting title fight in the main event. The constant defense of the Goldberg-Rogan team as the best in the business is a sad reflection of the state of broadcasters in the sport.
• Speaking of the co-main event, I scored the fight 50-46 for Jose Aldo. I can understand a 49-46 card, though Florian didn't show me enough effective offense in the first to outweigh the flurry Aldo landed earlier in the round.
• Kenny Florian "choked" in another big fight. The reality is that Florian is a great example of "good, not great." He's maximized his skills given his genetic athleticism, but that's just not good enough to beat the truly elite in MMA.
• Chael Sonnen made a mockery of Brian Stann, but the real story is the post-fight interview he gave to Joe Rogan. Calm and composed, he stepped up to the microphone and announced, "Anderson Silva, you absolutely suck," before proceeding to challenge him not only for the middleweight title on Super Bowl weekend, but for his career and against Silva's future in the division.
• Nam Phan got his revenge against Leonard Garcia, but not before scaring the hell out of everyone in the process. After taking what looked to be a decisive first two rounds, Garcia dropped him in the third. Phan recovered, arguably won the round, and took home a unanimous 29-28 win from the judges.
• Demian Maia defeated Jorge Santiago by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27). I've seen some complaints about Maia's performance, but it's become increasingly more difficult for him to mount offense on the floor when his opponents shell up in defense mode...Anthony Pettis defeated Jeremy Stephens by split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)...Stipe Miocic won his UFC debut with a unanimous decision over Joey Beltran (29-28, 30-27, 29-28)...Darren Elkins defeated Tiequan Zhang by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-26, 30-27)...Aaron Simpson foiled Eric Schafer's comeback fight with a unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)...Mike Massenzio opened the evening with a unanimous decision over Steve Cantwell (29-28, 30-27, 29-28).

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UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva was revealed as the cover athlete for THQ's UFC Undisputed 3 at the second day of the UFC Fan Expo in Houston, Texas. Silva won the honor in a fan vote, beating out fellow champions Frankie Edgar, Georges St. Pierre, Jon Jones, and Cain Velasquez.

"This is, for me, a big dream," Silva said. "I'm so happy."

Silva is the most dominant fighter in the history of the UFC. He is undefeated in fourteen fights, and he holds UFC records for most consecutive victories, most wins in title belts, and most consecutive title defenses. He avenged his most recent loss -- a first-round disqualification against Yushin Okami in January of 2006 -- at UFC 134, knocking Okami out just past the two-minute mark of round two.

UFC Undisputed 3 is expected to be released on January 3, 2012. The third installment of THQ's series features "Pride Mode" allowing users to fight under Pride rules and in the Pride ring, an updated submission system, and fighter entrances. 

Matt Roth's been running around Houston, Texas this week, covering UFC 136 for MMA Nation. He got himself in the media scrum with Chael Sonnen following Sonnen's open workout yesterday. Roth has a great writeup over at Nation, but he left out my favorite Sonnen quote for the video:

I don't do gameplans. Listen, guys. You can take all these guys with their eighth education and their gold teeth trying to sit around and break down a fight. This is the most unsophisticated and un-well-thoughtout thing you need to do in life. Two half-naked men are gonna get in a steel cage and fight for the applause of a drunken rowdy crowd in Houston, Texas, on a Saturday night. We don't need to plan for this.

Like anything Chael says leading up to a fight, the truthiness of his statement is up for debate. Then again, when your MMA game is based on the power wrestling blueprint Mark Coleman laid out over a decade ago, there might not be much need for serious gameplanning.

Matt Roth is done in Houston covering UFC 136 for MMA Nation, and he shot this video of Frankie Edgar talking to the media following the open workouts. Frankie is candid and interesting, and it's a shame that he doesn't have a bigger profile. From Matt's post at Nation:

For the past two years, Edgar has had to focus on only two opponents in B.J. Penn and Gray Maynard. There are questions regarding if there is a benefit to being able to focus on and prepare for one fighter over an extended period of time. Edgar's responded saying, "having to fight the same guy twice has brought the best out of myself. It's forced me to come up with I wouldn't say a different style but just making sure I have a repeat performance and an even better performance."

"Camp is what it is, man" Edgar said. "It's never easy. Whether it's a new guy or the same guy. If anything maybe the same guy is a little more challenging because you have to come up with a new game plan."

The champion also weighed-in on whether he believes Maynard would make changes to his game plan for this third and final meeting. "I'm sure he's gonna change some things up," said the champion. "I'm sure he's gonna try and hit me with a big shot. I think a little more takedowns. Who knows, man? It's a guessing games."

Edgar also touches on fighting at featherweight and whether he believes we'll see him fight featherweight champ Jose Aldo at lightweight in the future.

The UFC website is offering the Frankie Edgar vs. Gray Maynard rematch from UFC 125 available for free at their website. Fire up the link and follow along:

0:00 Looks like this is ripped straight from the UFC 125 broadcast. It's interesting to note how the betting odds have played out for these two fights. Maynard closed (at the best available line) as a -140 favorite. Edgar, as of the time of writing, sits at -138 (and a -148 average across sites) four days out from the event. That's a pretty wild swing, especially when you consider the information we have available to us. Maynard not only dominated the first fight, but the most memorable moment of the rematch is the beating he put on Edgar in round one. It will be interesting to see how things move heading into Saturday.

1:44 I forgot who I picked in this one, so I went checked the Bloody Elbow staff predictions for the event. (Who's this Luke Thomas guy?) What I said:

If discussion about the Countdown show is any indication, a small fraction of people are interested in this fight. Which is a shame because this is as legit a title fight as you'll find. The smart money seems to be on Maynard continuing what he did in April of 2008, but I've fallen in love with Edgar's improved footwork and effective speed. Frankie Edgar by decision.

I would have sworn I picked Maynard, but there you go.

I fell in love with Frankie's footwork after the Sherk fight. Unlike Dominick Cruz, who relies on heavy movement, Frankie's footwork is fundamentally sound. He takes short steps, doesn't cross his feet, and is hardly ever in a position where he cannot attack or defend.

2:18 "Our judges for this contest are Patricia Morse Jarman..." - Things You Don't Want To Hear During Title Fight Introductions

3:00 Leading into the rematch, Frankie and Gray are a combined 24-1 with 1 NC. That fact is overlooked considering who they've fought and how long they've been in the UFC (20 fights between them including this one). It's a good thing Gilbert Melendez shanked Shinya Aoki a week after Frankie's first fight with Penn, because I don't know how long I would have lasted hearing people erroneously call Aoki the number one lightweight in the
world.

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Up until now, fantasy MMA games have been limited to pick 'em contests, confidence pools, or betting play money against the spread. Yesterday, FightMetric announced their new game: MMA Salary Cap. From the FightMetric blog:

The game works just like other salary cap style fantasy games. Players are given a budget for each MMA event to spend on the fighters competing on the televised portion. To make fantasy gaming work properly with the unique nature of MMA, the game contains two innovative features:

• Players can purchase multiple "units" of fighters to fill their roster. This adds a layer of strategy while ensuring that every player's picks are different, despite choosing from only 10 available fighters.
• The scoring categories in the game are all rate statistics, like Strikes Landed per Minute (SLpM). This is necessary to reward and avoid penalizing fighters who finish their fights quickly in favor of fighters who rack up high volume numbers simply by fighting longer.

Disclosure: I do contract work for FightMetric. With that out of the way...

I helped playtest the game during its private beta, and I'm a fan.

Each fighter has a unit price. For instance, Frankie Edgar and Gray Maynard are priced at $10 and $8, respectively, for their trilogy fight at UFC 136. Each player is given $500 to buy up units as they please. The only restriction is that you may not spend more than $150 on any one fighter. So, you could buy a maximum of 15 units of Frankie Edgar ($10 X 15 = $150).

The unit mechanism adds a layer of complexity that you won't find in more typical "pick 'em" games. (And, let's be honest, betting against the spread is only fun with real money.)

If you love fantasy games, I highly recommend checking it out. The scoring system takes some getting used to, but the game is a lot of fun once you get the hang of it.

I've set up a public pool (Bloody Salary), though I'm not sure of the functionality at this point. (The game is still technically in a beta release.) But if you sign up, try to join it and let me know how it goes. Otherwise, you'll play with me against the full leaderboard.

JON JONES UNDER SIEGE

"I don't know how he got my number." - Jon Jones, on a call he received from Steven Seagal. I'm sure that conversation went swimmingly and was not strange at all. (The Jim Rome Show)

"He was like 'Hey listen, I think you're gonna win the fight, and when I predict someone's gonna win I'm never wrong and there's some things I wanna go over with you.' It was all very strange." - Jones, on a separate conversation with Leland Roling.

"I don't wanna bad mouth him too bad, he had good intentions, I think. But yeah, I definitely wasn't having Steven Seagal in my corner." - Jones, who didn't want to bad mouth Seagal too much or too little. He wanted to bad mouth Seagal just the right amount.

"I could see if it was Jet Li or something, Jet Li would be pretty cool. I would definitely take that call, for sure." - Jones

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Search Google for "Kurt Angle UFC" and you'll come back with hits as far back as 2006. The former WWE superstar and current TNA heavyweight champion has bragged about Dana White offering him contracts to fight in the UFC. In the latest iteration, Angle claims that White offered him a pay-per-view fight against Kimbo Slice. 

White spoke with MMA Junkie about Angle's latest braggadocio. While he denies the PPV claim, Kurt Angle was closer to fighting in the UFC than one might think:

"What I offered him was, I said, 'Come over here. I'll put you on 'The Ultimate Fighter,''" White said. "The season Kimbo Slice was on, I was going to put him on 'The Ultimate Fighter.' He wanted to do it.

"We worked out a deal, but he didn't pass the medicals."

Angle famously made the 1996 Olympic Wrestling Team despite fracturing two of his cervical verterbrae, herniating two discs, and pulling four muscles. He would go on, with the help of pain-reducing injections, to win the gold medal. Those neck problems continued through his pro wrestling career. After allegations that he received prescriptions for the steroid trenbolone, Angle noted that he had broken verterbrae five times in his career.

It was not good to be a Yamasaki last night. Mario and brother Fernando each made questionable decisions, including an early stoppage in the curtain jerker between Walel Watson and Joseph Sandoval, "saving" Shane Roller from T.J. Grant's armbar, and allowing Yves Edwards every opportunity to inflict brain damage on Rafaello Oliveira. Fortunately for the Brothers Yamasaki, those fighters were only watched by the handful of fans who tune into the Facebook streams.

Mario carried the amateur hour into the Versus main card, however. After the jump, a look at two GIFs of Anthony Johnson's head kick "knockout" of Charlie Brenneman.

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Demetrious Johnson 's biggest failure as a bantamweight is that he isn't a bantamweight. He put on a spirited performance against bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz last night, but the size difference between the two became more and more apparent as the fight dragged on.

Fortunately for "Mighty Mouse," it looks like he'll be in his natural weight class soon enough. MMA Junkie reports:

Regardless, [UFC President Dana] White said the flyweight division should be added by early next year. And though White and UFC matchmakers Joe Silva and Sean Shelby will comb the world for top-level talent, he said some of it may already be under contract, either as existing bantamweights or contestants on the current 14th season of "The Ultimate Fighter."

"We're going to go out and start [signing] guys and bringing in guys we want to sign, and we'll kick that thing off," White said. "I don't [know] exactly how we're going to do it yet, but we're going to do it, and we're going to do it soon.

"You'll see guys from from 135 (come down) to 125. Lots of guys will drop. There are lots of guys on 'TUF' who can drop to 125."

We've seen an exodus of talent from the lightweight division when Zuffa assimilated WEC into the UFC. That talent includes Kenny Florian, who had a 9-3 record at lightweight in the UFC. Florian will fight featherweight champion Jose Aldo this Saturday at UFC 136.

Fighters like Johnson and Joseph Benavidez are likely to move down to flyweight when it's made available.

SBN coverage of UFC on Versus 6: Cruz vs. Johnson

Dominick Cruz showed another wrinkle in his game tonight.

The problem of Demetrious Johnson's speed was made apparent early on. Cruz relies heavily on speed and constant movement, which overshadows serious fundamental flaws in his footwork. Johnson proved he could not only keep up with Cruz, but set the pace himself. Cruz, normally used to controlling the distance in a fight, found himself pressured and, even more surprising, touched up in the first round.

Most MMA fighters resign themselves to their fate, vainly trying to force a gameplan that just isn't working. Cruz adapted. Unable to control the fight standing, Cruz worked for takedowns -- 5 in the second round, 3 in the third, 4 in the fourth, and 5 in the fifth. He suplexed Johnson in both the third and fifth rounds. His work did not stagnate on the floor either. Cruz worked for positional gains, earning the mount and tacking Johnson's back at multiple times during the fight.

And take nothing away from Johnson, either. I had serious concerns for Cruz's title reign at the conclusion of round one. Cruz made the necessary adjustments, but Johnson remained game throughout. FightMetric credits Johnson with a virtual tie in striking totals -- 145 total strikes to Cruz's 146. 

The biggest tragedy of the night is that it's likely that very few people watched it. Some of that is no fault of the UFC -- baseball had a rare doubleheader playoff night. But the fight was grossly underpromoted, especially given the tagline that this was the first live UFC title fight on free television. It's unlikely Cruz will ever become a big star -- he doesn't have the charisma to overcome an unpopular stick-and-move style, and unfortunately this show will do little to change that.

• UFC President Dana White has promised a flyweight division in the UFC sometime within the next year or so. Demetrious Johnson made a huge case for it tonight.
• Stefan Struve exploited Pat Barry's inability to grapple in the co-main, but he's made little progress on his distance management. Barry, with a foot disadvantage in both height and reach, was able to consistently get inside and tag Struve with punches on the chin and kicks to the legs. This is unacceptable, and while he's only 23, it's unlikely he'll make drastic changes as he closes in on 30 professional fights.
• Speaking of unacceptable, it's Pat Barry's grappling. Barry refused to react as Struve deliberately set up a triangle choke. Then, when firmly locked in, he decided to try his best "Rampage" Jackson, which only dropped him deeper into the choke. It's Barry's third submission loss in the UFC.
• The Brothers Yamasaki had themselves some evening, capped off with Anthony Johnson's head kick "knockout" of Charlie Brenneman. Johnson, who had dominated the first 2:30 of the fight, landed a left kick to the head, putting Brenneman on his back. Mario Yamasaki stepped in to stop the fight as Brenneman sat up with a clear look in his eyes. This followed his decision to allow Rafaello Oliveira every opportunity to have his face bashed in by Yves Edwards and brother Fernando's own flub when he stepped in to "save" Shane Roller from a T.J. Grant armbar.
• Matt Wiman and Mac Danzig put on what many described as the Fight of the Night in the Versus opener. I, admittedly, was preoccupied with other things. Let your imagination run wild.

Grantland, Bill Simmons' pet project, is a hit-or-miss venture. They struck gold last week with an oral history of the 1987 middleweight championship fight between "Marvelous" Marvin Hagler and "Sugar" Ray Leonard.

For those unfamiliar, here are the basics: Hagler and Leonard, along with Thomas Hearns and Roberto Duran ruled the welter- and middleweight divisions in boxing during the mid-80s. Hagler fought both Hearns and Duran. Leonard fought both Hearns and Duran. Hearns and Duran fought each other. The missing piece of the de facto round robin was Hagler and Leonard.

In 1982, doctors diagnosed Leonard with a detached retina. He scheduled a press conference in Baltimore, and flew Hagler and his camp, who figured Leonard would formally challenge Hagler, in to attend. Instead, Leonard told Hagler that the fight between them would never happen, and then subsequently announced his retirement.

Five years later, after a one-fight comeback in 1984, Leonard returned to boxing, and the fight with Hagler was on.

One particular plot line of the buildup is relevant to today's MMA fan. Leonard paid J.D. Brown, primary matchmaker for Leonard's Victory Promotion, to spy on Hagler's camp:

Brown: One night I got a call from Mike. He told me to come to Ray's room, and they told me they wanted me to go spy on Hagler for a couple days. I disguised myself - my hair was black, so I dyed it gray. I put these horn-rimmed glasses on. And I went and sat in the back and watched him train for three days. I picked up a few things. He wanted to be in the center of the ring for all the sparring sessions; when a round would start and the guy would come out of the other corner, he'd be standing in the middle, waiting for him. And he got mad at his sparring partners, the Weaver triplets, because they weren't fighting him. They were boxing him. They were hitting him, moving, and he's like, "Come on, stop moving. Fight me, you little bitch!"

Samuels: The Weaver triplets had a lot of energy. That's why they were brought in, to get Marvin ready to deal with Leonard. And they did pose some problems. That's what they were supposed to do.

Carlino: I remember when J.D. Brown showed up. He was roaming around and I recognized him, but the Petronellis didn't know who he was. I didn't say anything to anyone because I didn't think it mattered. I figured there wasn't anything he could learn from watching public workouts.

Leonard: I said to J.D., "You show me that you were there by taking a picture with him to document it."

Brown: At the end of his training sessions, Hagler would sign autographs and take pictures. So I took a little camera up there, I put my arm around him, somebody took the picture, and I left. I came back and reported what I saw to Ray, and he put it to good use.

The fight is one of the most controversial and talked about decisions in boxing history. After the jump, footage from the fight highlighted by commentary from the principals.

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Last week, Dana White described Spike TV airing Bellator fights on Spike.com as "dishonorable" and "against the spirit" of their deal. This is the same Dana White whose promise of "business as usual" involves gutting Strikeforce of its talent in what looks like an obvious attempt to sway Showtime from renewing their contract in 2012.

White also refuses to buy back rights to UFC footage from Spike, which prevents the cable channel from airing MMA content from other promotions, effectively blocking Bellator move from MTV2. Today, MMA Junkie reports that Spike won't be afraid to utilize their unwanted library:

On Nov. 12, Spike TV will air a "UFC Unleashed" marathon - dubbed "Dos Santos vs. Velasquez: Unleashed for the Heavyweight Title" - featuring past fights with UFC heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez and Junior Dos Santos.

Not surprisingly, the marathon begins just as Velasquez and Dos Santos fight at UFC on FOX 1, the UFC's first show on network TV.

Back in June, Spike TV counter-programed UFC on Versus 5 with a replay of UFC Fight Night 22. Spike's efforts outdrew the Versus show by just under 50,000 viewers.

FOR BRITISH EYES ONLY

"The most creative or versatile to date...I don't know, man. That's a good question. I didn't really think about that." - Quinton Jackson, on UFC 135 opponent Jon Jones. Jones would up his game with MMA Nation's Luke Thomas. (Luke Thomas)

"Well, you know, I'm British, so being a double agent is what we do. So, it wasn't a distraction. I simply got caught." - Jon Jones, "admitting" to having a spy in "Rampage's" training camp...entirely in an English accent. (MMA Nation)

"Yeah, he caught me. It was his chef. Chef kinda put me out there a little bit. I'm comfortable with it, too late now." - Jones. Hello there, children!

"I'm going to end his hype tomorrow, that's what I told him." - Jackson, on what he told Jones during their staredown at the weigh-ins. Jones stifled Jackson for three rounds before finishing him by rear naked choke in the fourth. (MMA Mania)

NOTE: THE WEEK IN QUOTES IS A WORK OF SATIRE, AND I HAVE A MASSIVE HANGOVER.

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Following his knockout loss to Josh Koscheck at UFC 135, Matt Hughes told Joe Rogan that he wasn't going to retire, but that he would let the UFC put him "on a shelf" and go from there, a cryptic answer since getting "put on the shelf" is a euphemism for retirement. Hughes may be looking for a couple of specific fights, and he'll retire if the UFC can't deliver.

UFC President Dana White told the media at the post-fight press conference that he thinks Hughes is playing word games (transcribed by MMA Mania):

I think he's going to retire. I just don't think Hughes wants to say the word retire, is what I think. There was a lot of talk that this was the last fight of his contract, I don't know if that's true or not because he's a guy I have never worried about last fights or whatever but, I just talked to him out in the hallway and he's going to fly out to Vegas in the next month or so to sit down and talk. But I'm pretty sure he's going to hang it up without saying retiring.

Hughes turns 38 in a few weeks. He talked about his wife urging him to retire after B.J. Penn knocked him out in 21 seconds at UFC 123, and he's been knocked out four times since 2006. You have to go back to UFC 63 to find a fight that he won over an elite opponent.

If Hughes takes another fight, expect something similar to the novelty fights against Royce and Renzo Gracie.

SBN coverage of UFC 135: Jones vs. Rampage

Jon Jones didn't run through Quinton Jackson like he ran through Brandon Vera and Vladimir Matyushenko and Mauricio Rua. This performance was more measured. He stifled Jackson through the first three rounds before taking him down and calmly working for a rear naked choke in the fourth. 

Jones confused Jackson with his reach and distance, the challenger reduced to lunging in for one- and two-punch combinations. Jackson had his moments, his takedown defense looked particularly good considering the ease of Jones to bring down past opposition, but those moments never added up to effective offense.

Whatever questions remained about Jones' abilities -- and, really, only the most ardent Jones hater still questioned Jones' skills in the cage -- dissipated after tonight's performance. He didn't look near as fluid and confident as Anderson Silva -- though Mike Goldberg will try to sell you that narrative, but his demeanor was calm, relaxed, and patient. I won't revert to cliches about looking wise beyond his years, but Jones' fight maturity is more than noticeable when compared to his UFC debut against Andre Gusmao.

It's difficult to imagine Rashad Evans being the man to defeat Jones. As well as he has put together his MMA game, Evans is a small light heavyweight, probably capable of making middleweight if he chose to do so. He'll need to put in a perfect performance -- mixing up strikes, changing levels, getting inside, making Jones react to him instead of the inverse -- to overcome the size, length, and skill of his former stablemate.

• This loss probably ends Quinton Jackson's chances of another UFC title reign. It'll take Jackson two years or so to get back in line for a shot, if everything goes correctly, and that will put him at 35 years of age. He's refused to evolve over the last few years, and there's no reason to expect that to change going forward.
• UFC cameras caught trainers wrapping up both of Jones' feet, and the champion seemed to be nursing his elbow as well. With Evans already dealing with a broken thumb, I don't expect to see the long-awaited grudge match until late spring or early summer.
• Josh Koscheck may have ended the career of Matt Hughes. Despite the narrative woven by Goldberg and Rogan (who were especially awful tonight), Hughes did not threaten Koscheck. Once Koscheck opened up his striking, Hughes crumbled. It's been a brilliant career for Hughes. He talked about the UFC putting him "on a shelf," which I imagine means he has a couple of fights in mind, and he'll retire if the UFC refuses to put them together.
• Midway through Ben Rothwell and Mark Hunt's fight, I heard my buddy flick on his iPhone. I laughed. He laughed. We laughed. Rothwell vs. Hunt and Travis Browne vs. Rob Broughton proved how bad low-level heavyweight MMA is, even at the UFC level. Both fights dragged...and dragged...and dragged. The lone high spot was Hunt working an armbar from mount, sullied by Joe Rogan screaming, "YES! YES! YES!" into his headset.
• So, there's no way that Takanori Gomi trained for this fight, right?

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Jon Jones didn't run through Quinton Jackson like he ran through Brandon Vera and Vladimir Matyushenko and Mauricio Rua. This performance was more measured. He stifled Jackson through the first three rounds before taking him down and calmly working for a rear naked choke in the fourth. 

Jones confused Jackson with his reach and distance, the challenger reduced to lunging in for one- and two-punch combinations. Jackson had his moments, his takedown defense looked particularly good considering the ease of Jones to bring down past opposition, but those moments never added up to effective offense.

Whatever questions remained about Jones' abilities -- and, really, only the most ardent Jones hater still questioned Jones' skills in the cage -- dissipated after tonight's performance. He didn't look near as fluid and confident as Anderson Silva -- though Mike Goldberg will try to sell you that narrative, but his demeanor was calm, relaxed, and patient. I won't revert to cliches about looking wise beyond his years, but Jones' fight maturity is more than noticeable when compared to his UFC debut against Andre Gusmao.

It's difficult to imagine Rashad Evans being the man to defeat Jones. As well as he has put together his MMA game, Evans is a small light heavyweight, probably capable of making middleweight if he chose to do so. He'll need to put in a perfect performance -- mixing up strikes, changing levels, getting inside, making Jones react to him instead of the inverse -- to overcome the size, length, and skill of his former stablemate.

• This loss probably ends Quinton Jackson's chances of another UFC title reign. It'll take Jackson two years or so to get back in line for a shot, if everything goes correctly, and that will put him at 35 years of age. He's refused to evolve over the last few years, and there's no reason to expect that to change going forward.
• UFC cameras caught trainers wrapping up both of Jones' feet, and the champion seemed to be nursing his elbow as well. With Evans already dealing with a broken thumb, I don't expect to see the long-awaited grudge match until late spring or early summer.
• Josh Koscheck may have ended the career of Matt Hughes. Despite the narrative woven by Goldberg and Rogan (who were especially awful tonight), Hughes did not threaten Koscheck. Once Koscheck opened up his striking, Hughes crumbled. It's been a brilliant career for Hughes. He talked about the UFC putting him "on a shelf," which I imagine means he has a couple of fights in mind, and he'll retire if the UFC refuses to put them together.
• Midway through Ben Rothwell and Mark Hunt's fight, I heard my buddy flick on his iPhone. I laughed. He laughed. We laughed. Rothwell vs. Hunt and Travis Browne vs. Rob Broughton proved how bad low-level heavyweight MMA is, even at the UFC level. Both fights dragged...and dragged...and dragged. The lone high spot was Hunt working an armbar from mount, sullied by Joe Rogan screaming, "YES! YES! YES!" into his headset.
• So, there's no way that Takanori Gomi trained for this fight, right?

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Highlights:

0:00 - UFC 135 weigh-ins.

0:47 - Junior Assuncao gets a little too aggressive and needs to be separated from Eddie Yagin.

1:12 - Nick Rings steps in Tim Boetsch's face and gives him a bit of a butt with the head. Boetsch is not amused. Dana White separates the two.

1:45 - UFC President Dana White rebuffs a handshake from Tony Ferguson, claiming that he hasn't been feeling good this week.

2:00 - Nick Diaz mean mugs Takanori Gomi.

2:43 - Josh Koschek is booed on the scale.

3:15 - Quinton Jackson steps off the scale and does his best "Ravishing" Rick Rude.

3:30 - Jon Jones flexes to a mixed chorus of cheers and jeers.

4:50 - White wraps up a meeting with the fighters. Junior Assuncao apologizes profusely for his weigh-in altercation with Eddie Yagin.

6:10 - Dana White and Ed Lover (of "C'mon Son!" and Yo! MTV Raps fame) run down the card.

Rashad Evans spoke with MMA Nation's Luke Thomas on the eve of UFC 135. Evans, who turns 32 on Sunday, will be in attendance at the Pepsi Center in Denver, and he is expected to step into the Octagon and challenge the winner of UFC light heavyweight title fight between champion Jon Jones and challenger Quinton Jackson.

Evans had the opportunity to visit "Rampage's" camp at the MusclePharm gym, and he was impressed with what he saw:

"I walked through the facility and I seen some of the things that he was doing and then I seen him and he was looking good, better than I've ever seen him before and I was actually really surprised.
...
"A 'Rampage' that's focused is a dangerous 'Rampage' and I think that the biggest problem with Jon Jones is the fact that he's getting so overly confident and cocky that he can't get beat and all he has to do is step in the cage Saturday and collect his belt. I think that's dangerous thinking when you've got somebody in front of you who's been training hard."

As for Jones, Evans is repeating the refrain about their shared time at Greg Jackson's gym:

"I've seen him get pushed in practice and I've seen him be very human and not as good as he looks on TV. I've seen that there's times where he looks great in practice but there's times where I've seen him quit in practice."

Evans also thinks the SpyGate situation is messing with Jones:

"It becomes a distraction when you take it personal.
...
"I think Jon Jones is taking it personally. This is his first time being in a fight where he's used his mouth like that. Normally he tries to be the humble guy and say all the right things but that's being pushed a little bit because Rampage is giving him a little bit of mouth."

Evans seems to be giving "Rampage" a better chance at winning this fight than he did earlier this week when he picked Jones to win. The off-shore sportsbooks list Jones between a 5- and 6-1 favorite.