It's the only MMA any of us will be seeing this week, so if you vehemently hate the sport of mixed martial arts, despise equally matched title fights and refuse to see spectacular finishes, don't watch Bellator 27 tonight on Fox Sports West. Your friends will make fun of you behind your back, but you can go to bed with the reassurance that you've effectively stood behind your belief of hating MMA. For those of you who want to get their fill of Bellator tonight, check out what Joe Soto said about Joe Warren leading up to his featherweight title fight.

"I think I'm a lot better rounded that he is. This isn't a wrestling, this is MMA. We don't know whose wrestling is going to be better until we get in there. I'm more well rounded - I'm going to kick his ass. It's going to take a different opponent for me to lose this belt - not Joe Warren. I've grown a lot in this sport, but I feel like I haven't gotten the opportunity to use all of my tools. Maybe Joe Warren will push me to use all of those tools. It would suck to lose to him; I never want to lose to a dirt bag like that."

When we interviewed Joe Warren while he was cutting weight for his Bellator tournament bout with Patricio Pitbull (which is the worst time to do any interview), he told us that he's been legally cleared to possess marijuana in California, Michigan and Colorado. There, now you finally have something in common with Joe Warren. [Source]

Share this story!

For those of you who aren’t familiar with the Nick Diaz and KJ Noons rivalry, the beef started back in Elite XC where a controversial doctor stoppage handed Diaz his only loss in the past 3 years. Winning a fight due to a doctor stoppage in the first round is a lot like winning a competitive eating contest because the kitchen ran out of buffalo wings. Obviously, there's unfinished business here. The moment we heard Scott Coker was hosting this rematch, we already knew the 209 would impress us with their linguistic firepower. In fact, Strikeforce’s entire marketing campaign seems to be based around the phrase 'Don’t be scared, homie', so you already know this is the start of something special. While the press conferences are still weeks away, here’s the first verbal dagger Noons threw at the Strikeforce welterweight champion.

"I already got one up on Nick. I beat the crap out of the guy. He’s had a good run, and there’s a lot of build-up for this rematch. We’ve both improved, this is a different weight class now, he’s gotten better, I’ve gotten better…it’s a different situation. But at the end of the day, I’m a true mixed martial artist, I have respect for the sport, and I am a good role model… Nick’s good for entertainment, but I come from a family of fighters. I started early, and I have respect for martial arts. It teaches you discipline, how to become a good person, and I feel that I am. On October 9th, I’m fighting a guy that, if I had a kid, I wouldn’t want him looking up to. He’s a trash-talking, pot-smoking chump… This is beyond a grudge match. I’m going to light him up like a Christmas tree. He’s going to have to kill me to lose. It’s very personal."

The fight goes down October 9th in San Jose, California which leaves five more weeks of verbal warfare. Noons vs. Diaz II has all the makings of a rawsometacular exchange that may end up on a future top ten list. Where KJ Noons smack talk will place alongside Chael Sonnen, James Toney, and Din Thomas’s words of wisdom is still unknown, but we’re proud to see KJ Noons isn’t going to let Nick Diaz have all the fun. [Source]

Share this story!

When the Kool-Aid man breaks through a wall in a commercial, all the kids start cheering. Imagine a seven-foot pitcher full of Kool-Aid breaking through your house screaming 'Oh yeah!', it's a horrifying thought. He might spill over and get some of himself on the carpet. The worst thing is, you can't do anything about it because he has the ability to drown you. That's scary, but not as scary as EA Sports MMA not being released in Denmark due to a law that prevents energy drink advertisements in the country.

The Scandinavian law prohibits all energy drinks from being advertised in the country and Strikeforce's main sponsor, Rockstar Energy, would feel the wrath of political correctness if EA sports removed them from their upcoming game. It seems like EA has decided not to release the game in Denmark in order to make the game as realistic as possible.

"We are adhering to laws in Denmark that restrict the use of energy drink product placement in-game, and therefore are not shipping EA SPORTS MMA in that region. Our game authentically recreates the sport of MMA in every facet, including energy drink in-game sponsorships on fighter shorts, gear, and in fight venues."

These nutty countries and their laws. Fortunately for Japan, they have a law to make every videogame cover look as dope as possible. Check out the official Japanese cover of EA Sports MMA.

Share this story!

In all fairness, the entire MiddleEasy crew was supposed to go to the UFC Fan Expo in a taco truck and serve up carne asada goodness for fans of the site. Sadly the idea didn’t work out after we learned that tacos are not an approved cuisine at the John B. Hynes Center. Not sure what Boston has against all things delicious, but it was depressing enough to make Zeus stay home and do his laundry while Cat Von C started drinking Stevia-infused Red Bull while a two hundred pound Brazilian female bodybuilder drilled blue-belt level Jujitsu on her (true story, you can ask her). Once the dust settled on their respective weekends, Zeus has clean clothes for the next three weeks and Cat Von C finally earned her blackbelt in mean-mugging. On the opposite end of the country, I ended up making the daytrip up from NYC to Beantown where I met Bloodstain Lane as he navigated through crowds of enraged fans and created a two-part video for all you folks couldn’t make it to Boston because gas was too expensive:

And part two...

Share this story!

I could be looking too far into it, but when Dana says that you '[Expletive] the UFC' by pulling out of the fight the day before weigh-ins, it looks like that may denote a lifetime ban. In fact, it did constitute a lifetime ban in the promotion, but in ZUFFA years, a lifetime is only ten months. Here's what Dana White said back in November of 2009.

Ariel Helwani just broke the news that Dana White has accepted Karo Parisyan back in the UFC and he will be facing Dennis Hallman at UFC 123. If you had 10,000 years to predict what could happen today in the MMA world, Karo Parisyan coming back to the UFC would be at the 8,000 year mark. We followed Karo Parisyan all the way to Australia just to see this guy fight, now that he's fighting on American soil, it will make it a little easier. Props to Karo on striking another deal with the UFC and for making the world aware that 'his judo is the best in the world, all the other judos are done by little girls'. [Source]

Share this story!

The greatest thing about Alistair Overeem accepting Fedor's challenge to fight him after he's done with the K-1 Grand Prix is that he actually watched a Bloodstain Lane video on a message board and responded. Next step for Alistair Overeem is to accept my friend request on Xbox Live. The guy plays Tekken 6 and Bad Company nonstop. The request is still pending, but if he accepts, it just may be the greatest video moment I've ever experienced (even greater than finding out Bubble Blaster will defeat Dr. Wiley in Mega Man 2). Check out what the Reem said about the potential match-up that everyone wants to see.

"About the fight I can be short;

The fight is definite. I've waited long enough for Fedor, [he] did not answer so now I do K-1. Fedor and M-1 may now wait for me. And all that happiness around 'M-1 and characters' does not amuse me.

However, the fight 'Overeem vs. Fedor' will definitely [happen], no one has to be afraid of that."

Also, it's important to note that horse meat may be illegal in the United States, but it's not illegal at the carniceria on Santa Monica and Normandie in Hollywood. [Source]

Share this story!

I used to think the meaning of life was somewhere inside the cut Jose Benevidez left on Miguel Torres’ forehead, but it turns out those were just Miguel’s deepest thoughts about the perfect plate of carnitas after a warm bath. If the meaning of life was actually hidden in plain site, it would probably be found somewhere between Mariusz Pudzianowski’s deltoids. A few months ago, I drove to Moosin to get a good look for myself, but after a full sixty seconds of staring at his back, all I saw was testosterone-enriched sweat hitting the canvas, splashing into my camera lens. About a minute later, the world’s strongest man was submitted by Tim Sylvia in a barrage of strikes, silencing a crowd of Polish fans that collectively consumed more alcohol than David Hasselhoff stocks in the barn behind his house.

I was pretty disappointed leaving Boston without the answers humankind have been seeking eternally, but luckily, we get to see Mariusz return to action against Butterbean on September 18th at the Atlas Arena in Lodz, Poland. We’re not sure if he plans on revealing the meaning of life, but he does plan on showing the world that he has at least two full rounds of cardio and that he doesn’t hit like a girl.

"You’ll see a much leaner and fifteen kilograms lighter Pudzian. When I started MMA trainings I weighed one hundred and thirty-eight kilograms, now it’s only one hundred and eighteen. I’m smaller, but much faster."

I have lifted weights for more than twenty years, it was impossible to built an MMA conditioning in a few months. I have concentrated on improving this aspect for the last three or four months. After the Sylvia fight I took a week off to recharge my batteries and immediately got back to training. I started a specialized cardio program to prepare my body for MMA exertion."

"First we started on a bike, then after four or five weeks I began running. I had to loose some of my weight to better endure oxygen exertion. The process is ongoing, but I feel that everything is going the right way. I have a few weeks of hard trainings left and I need to use them to the full extent. I know my schedule and believe me it won’t be easy at all. Nothing but, training, sleeping and eating over and over again."

"Butterbean you said that Pudzian hits like a girl. Come to Poland and I’ll show you how Polish girls hit!"

In MMA, most fighters come back stronger from their losses. In Mariusz Pudzianowski’s case, that’s the scariest possible outcome for any future opponent. Although Butterbean has been hinting at retirement for the past few years, that doesn’t mean he’s less dangerous an opponent for Pudz. With a 77-8 professional boxing record and a 15-7 Pro MMA record, Butterbean is bringing well over a decade more experience into the ring with him on September 18th. Win or lose, it’s probably going to be his last fight. After that, he plans to focus on promoting Moosin and managing his BBQ Restaurant in Jasper, Alabama. On a completely unrelated note, if you’re ever at a karaoke bar with Butterbean, never pass him the microphone and ask him to sing 'Poker Face'. I’ve already tried and he said no. [Source]

Share this story!

A lot of people criticized Strikeforce’s decision to give Brett Rogers a title shot immediately following his loss to Fedor Emelianenko last year. This past spring, Ubereem agreed with those critics as he made short work of Rogers and ended his first title defense in just shy of four minutes. To be fair, the UFC also gave title shots to two fighters immediately following losses: So what if those two fighters were Mauricio ‘Shogun’ Rua and BJ Penn, it still happened. Even Bellator announced Roger Huerta will face lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez in Philadelphia, despite his recent loss against Pat Curran.

Strikeforce caught on to this trend and according to Josuel Distak (boxing coach to Ronaldo Jacaré and Rafael Feijão), the next challengers for the middleweight and light heavyweight belts are none other than Dan Henderson and Gegard Mousasi:

“We’re preparing ourselves, setting our strategy for these belt defenses.”

“I think that the hardest one is on our way… I believe it’ll be against Dan Henderson or (Gegard) Mousasi. I think both of these fighters might confront us.”

Nevermind stringing together wins and earning your title shot, getting a run at the belt after a loss is the new black. Everyone is doing it. [Source]

Share this story!

Carlos Newton should be undefeated based on how cool he looks. The same goes with Sokoudjou or any other guy that competes in MMA with a full set of dredlocks. We all wanted them, but our parents firmly held onto the belief that long hair was a gateway drug that led to smoking marijuana, wearing tie-dye shirts and owning an acoustic guitar with a Bob Marley sticker on the back. Instead, we all had to settle for Stussy and Yaga shirts which, in retrospective, was a horrible replacement. Damn.

Apparently these same set of rules didn't apply to Carlos Newton, and in this interview with TrainingWithThePros, he breaks down the exact technique on the infamous 'one-inch punch' and even throws a couple of Wu-Tang Clan references in there to further solidify the fact that we were correct in our assessment of Newtown's coolness. Props to Sherdog for the picture.

Now that we know how to properly execute a one-inch punch, the question still stands: Why hasn't anyone used this in the clinch? [Source]

Share this story!