- Benson Henderson edged out Donald Cerrone in an epic five-rounder at WEC 43, while Mackens Semerzier came out of nowhere to score the upset of the year over Wagnney Fabiano.

- Chuck Liddell’s storybook run on “Dancing With the Stars” came to an abrupt end when his country-fried two-step failed to win over the judges.

- Half-crazy UFC vet Wes Sims was quickly choked to sleep by Justin Wren on Wednesday’s episode of The Ultimate Fighter, extending Team Rashad’s undefeated reign of destruction.

- “The Simpsons” devoted an entire episode to MMA, in which Marge went from killjoy protester to ass-kicking cage-fighter.

- Brock Lesnar was as big and scary as a baby as he is now, and Nick Diaz had lost all ability to give a fuck by age six.

- We met Mika Nagano, one of Japan’s sexiest MMA fighters.

- After contract negotiations with the UFC fell apart, veteran fighter Dan Henderson is jumping ship to Strikeforce.

- Leaner and meaner, Ben Rothwell laid out his plan to beat Cain Velasquez at UFC 104 next Saturday.

- If Tito Ortiz is your favorite fighter, you are either Jenna Jameson, Donald Trump, or Tito Ortiz. No exceptions.

Here’s a weekly rundown of MMA content from Ben Goldstein of CagePotato.com:

- Strikeforce announced that Fedor Emelianenko’s first opponent in their organization would be undefeated brawler Brett Rogers. Fedor responded to the news with a piss-poor jump-rope display.

- Gina Carano came out of hiding to thank her fans and give props to the woman who wrecked her two weeks ago. Speaking of Cris Cyborg, the Strikeforce women’s champ will be helping to revive the once-fearsome Chute Boxe name with her own gym in California.

- Shane Carwin doesn’t like Brock Lesnar’s attitude, *or* his taste in light beer.

- Could the UFC have a network television deal in the works?

- We watched the fastest knockout in MMA history, a kickass DREAM highlight reel, and Tito Ortiz’s latest lunkheaded video blog.

- New UFC Octagon Girl Natasha Wicks hasn’t given up her day job as a golf-caddy.

- Chuck Liddell began his training for “Dancing With the Stars.” God help us.

- UFC 102 goes down Saturday night in Portland. Check out our analysis of the card here and here, and come back to CagePotato.com at 10 p.m. ET / 7 p.m. PT for our liveblog of the pay-per-view broadcast.

With UFC 100 a week away on July 11, I decided to look back at what got the UFC to this point. Here is my take on what I believe are the 10 most significant fights in UFC history, helping the company become what it is today.

1. Stephan Bonner vs. Forrest Griffin – Ultimate Fighter Finale 1: This fight was not only the most memorable fight to watch, but may also be the fight that really pushed the UFC into the next level of mainstream popularity. Following the debut season of The Ultimate Fighter, a show which UFC President Dana White and co-owners Frank and Lorenzo Fertitta funded out of their own pocket, the finale took place live on Spike TV, which was airing live fights for the first time in the history of cable television. The UFC knew it needed something big to happen to not only keep a cable television deal, but earn future advertisers, and also prolong its reality show for future seasons. Bonner vs. Griffin delivered just that. The two fought to the very end and both were so even, it was impossible to decide a clear winner for most fans. The fight at one point drew 10 million viewers, which was just what the UFC needed. The back-and-forth, non-stopped action gave the UFC an identity to fans that had never seen it before and got the ball rolling that has allowed the UFC to snowball into what it is today.

Read the rest of this entry »

Here’s a weekly rundown of MMA content from Ben Goldstein of CagePotato.com:

- Gina Carano (above photo) looks pretty hot as a pin-up girl.

- Toby Imada pulled off the most epic submission in MMA history against Jorge Masvidal at last weekend’s Bellator event.

- Hatsu Hioki, Marlon Sandro, Michihiro Omigawa, and Masanori Kanehara advanced to the semi-finals of Sengoku’s featherweight grand prix.

- Team U.S. and Team U.K. split a pair of quarterfinal fights, while a bounty offered for knocked-out teeth hilariously backfired on Wednesday’s episode of The Ultimate Fighter. Plus, will Rampage Jackson return for season 10?

- With Houston Alexander’s hand injury, UFC 98 becomes the second-most-cursed card in UFC history. Nevertheless, the show must go on, and Matt Serra has taken over video-blogging duties to promote it.

- Two new people will be inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame the day before UFC 100 in July. The smart money’s on Charles “Mask” Lewis and Chuck Liddell.

- Speaking of UFC 100, a new viral effort has been launched to get the crowd to chant “Fedor!” immediately following the Brock Lesnar/Frank Mir main event, pretty much just to screw with Dana White.

- Despite getting KTFO’d, Benji Radach is appealing his April 11th Strikeforce loss to Scott Smith.

- Your chance to win an all-expenses-paid trip to UFC 98 from CagePotato.com ends on Monday!

Here’s a weekly rundown of MMA content from Ben Goldstein of CagePotato.com:

- Congenital amputee Kyle Maynard’s MMA debut went about as well as we thought it would.

- Clearly bored with the garbage-ass challengers he’s been getting in the UFC’s middleweight division, 185-pound king Anderson Silva will go up to light-heavyweight again to face Forrest Griffin at UFC 101 in August. Meanwhile, Nate Marquardt and Demian Maia will be facing off to determine who really deserves the next middleweight title shot.

- Gina Carano looked hot at Kevin Randleman’s wedding.

- Despite some intense infighting, Team U.S. was able to put its first victory on the board on the last episode of The Ultimate Fighter, while coach Michael Bisping vanished into thin air.

- Japanese promotion DREAM is putting together the greatest MMA freak show in history with their “World Superman Championship,” which will feature steroid-snitch Jose Canseco, pituitary case Hong Man Choi, Bob Sapp, and five more warriors, hopefully fighting to the death.

- Speaking of freak shows, Fedor Emelianenko used his 70-pound weight advantage to toss around Shinya Aoki in a grappling exhibition at the last M-1 Challenge event.

- Less than two months after Nick Diaz and Scott Smith scored victories at “Strikeforce: Shamrock vs. Diaz,” the two will be fighting each other at “Strikeforce: Lawler vs. Shields.”

- Sign of the apocalypse #783: Kung Fu Football.

- Kim Couture’s wife pulled out of her upcoming fight against Miesha Tate, and Tate responded by telling everyone that Kim and The Natural are getting a divorce. Real classy.

- By forcibly retiring Chuck Liddell, is Dana White looking out for his friend’s health or his company’s wallet? Little from column A, little from column B?

Here’s a weekly rundown of MMA content from Ben Goldstein of CagePotato.com:

- Chuck Liddell stepped into the cage (and got knocked out) for the last time, while Anderson Silva and Thales Leites put on one of the most boring title fights in UFC history at UFC 97 last Saturday. Regarding the Silva/Leites scrap, UFC prez Dana White said “I’ve never been embarrassed of a UFC fight like I was tonight,” while Silva’s manager tried to do damage control.

- The Iceman may be retired from the fight game, but it seems like his acting career is taking off. Meanwhile, Andrei Arlovski is going to appear in the next Jean-Claude Van Damme joint.

- Nick Osipczak put the Brits up 1-0 with his crushing head-kick knockout of Mark Miller on Wednesday’s episode of “The Ultimate Fighter.”

- Gina Carano does it for love, not money. Yeah, right.

- Pro wrestler-turned-fighter Bobby Lashley will be colliding with cartoonish brawler Bob Sapp in a June pay-per-view event that will also feature Affliction’s vice-president actually fighting on the card.

- Congenital amputee Kyle Maynard makes his MMA debut tomorrow night. But will it be a triumph or an ill-advised freak show?

- Speaking of freak shows, lightweight grappling-genius Shinya Aoki and world’s-best-heavyweight Fedor Emelianenko will be tangling in a “special sparring exhibition” next week in Tokyo. Ah, what’s a 70-pound weight-difference between friends?

- Enter our “Underground Heroes” giveaway and win a pair of tickets to UFC 98! And if you’re going to the May 23rd event, be sure to check out our fan’s guide to Las Vegas.

Here’s a weekly rundown of MMA content from Ben Goldstein of CagePotato.com:

- The young angry lion took out the old braces-wearing lion at Strikeforce’s kickass “Shamrock vs. Diaz” event. In the aftermath, Cristiane “Cris Cyborg” Santos lost some respect and Nick Diaz thinks he’s ready to box Roy Jones Jr.

- Junie Browning’s even dumber and drunker brother Rob left The Ultimate Fighter as quickly as he arrived. And everyone rejoiced.

- Speaking of MMA on TV, “Bully Beatdown” may be as fake as “The Hills.”

- Tickets to the UFC’s historic 100th show sold out in a matter of hours. Scalped tickets are going for up to $24,000. Seriously.

- Sorry Chuck, but if your biggest problem is all the porn stars trying to party with you to advance their own careers, you don’t have that many problems.

- Bellator Fighting Championships: The most interesting MMA league that nobody seems to care about.

- Tune in to CagePotato.com tomorrow night starting at 10 p.m. ET for live results of UFC 97: Redemption. Will Mauricio “Shogun” Rua show up in shape for his do-or-die fight against Chuck Liddell? Does Thales Leites have a chance in hell of stealing the middleweight belt from Anderson Silva? Are there any other fights on this card genuinely worth getting exciting about?

- Also, if you want to win a DVD of “Never Surrender” (starring BJ Penn, Georges St. Pierre, Quinton “Rampage” Jackson, and Anderson Silva), enter our latest caption contest!

Here’s a weekly rundown of MMA content from Ben Goldstein of CagePotato.com:

- Former WWE star Bobby Lashley picked up his second MMA victory at last weekend’s “March Badness” event, winning a decision against palooka Jason Guida, but proved that he’s not quite ready for prime time.

- What’s more embarrassing: The revelation that Lyoto Machida drinks his own urine, Bob Sapp’s starring role in Frankenhood, or Keith Jardine being named the 82nd-ugliest man in the world by a major news outlet?

- Legendary referee “Big” John McCarthy shared some stories about the gory, Wild West days of the UFC.

- Despite all evidence to the contrary, Chuck Liddell thinks he can become the UFC light-heavyweight champion again.

- Two exciting up-and-comers with cool nicknames who have been screwed over by referees in the past will be fighting each other in June.

- Junie Browning explained that his insane behavior on The Ultimate Fighter was all part of a master plan. Amazingly, it worked.

- Swing by CagePotato.com next Wednesday evening for our live coverage of UFC Fight Night: Condit vs. Kampmann, and remember to watch the premiere of The Ultimate Fighter: Team U.S. vs. Team U.K., directly after at 10 p.m. ET/PT.

Here’s a weekly rundown of MMA content from Ben Goldstein of CagePotato.com:

- Unless he has a great performance against Mauricio “Shogun” Rua next month, the UFC might not want Chuck Liddell to fight for them anymore.

- “King Mo” ruled and L.C. Davis got handled by a scrub at Sengoku: Seventh Battle. You can watch some of the fight videos here.

- Former UFC light-heavyweight champ Tito Ortiz and porn legend Jenna Jameson just had twins.

- After testing positive for three different unapproved painkillers following UFC 94, the Nevada State Athletic Commission smacked Karo Parisyan with a nine-month suspension, a $32,000 fine, and voided his last win.

- We looked at a one-legged mixed martial artist and a sexy Arianny Celeste magazine shoot.

- The full fighter roster for the “UFC 2009 Undisputed” video game was released. But where’s Randy?

- Denied justice in the “Lubrigate” scandal, BJ Penn may be starting a cult at his shadowy island fortress.

- If you have absolutely nothing going on Saturday night, why not watch former WWE star Bobby Lashley beat the bejesus out of Clay Guida’s brother at “March Badness”? Roy Jones Jr. will also be boxing in the main event. (You remember boxing, right? It’s like MMA, except you only get to throw punches, and you have to wear these weird pillow-things on your hands. And there’s no choking!)

Here’s a weekly rundown of MMA content from Ben Goldstein of CagePotato.com:

- “Ultimate Fighter 6″ winner Mac Danzig took his second-straight loss at UFC Fight Night 17 last Saturday. But at least he didn’t get his contract shredded like those three other guys who lost.

- After the Georges St. Pierre greasing fiasco at UFC 94, the UFC has decreed that only official cut-men (and not random entourage members) will be allowed to apply Vaseline to fighters’ faces during matches.

- Seth Petruzelli, the light-heavyweight who knocked out Kimbo Slice with an off-balance jab at EliteXC’s final show last October, will be returning to action next month at a hybrid boxing/MMA card that’s being organized by Roy Jones Jr.

- Professional screw-up (and former “Ultimate Fighter” castmember) War Machine was charged with misdemeanor battery after a little misunderstanding at a gay nightclub.

- Strikeforce’s first event following their purchase of Pro Elite will feature a superfight between the two greatest trash-talkers in MMA.

- Top-ten welterweight Karo Parisyan could be facing a long suspension after testing positive for three different banned painkillers after his last fight.

- Quebec is considering a change to its policy on combat sports that may jeopardize the UFC’s scheduled return to Montreal in April, which is slated to feature Chuck Liddell and Anderson Silva fighting in separate matches.