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Since not many sites are giving good run-downs on the betting odds for upcoming MMA events, we thought we’d give you a look at a good way to win some extra dough or lose your paycheck (probably lose, if your luck is anything like mine) on January 19th. Excluding most non-UFC events - with exceptions like the EliteXC show in Miami on February 16th featuring Kimbo Slice - Bookmaker has the odds on all things UFC from now until the joint’s April Canadian-debut (UFC 83). Other sites have odds until UFC 81, which is probably more practical, given how many times odds can change leading up to an event (broken hands, anyone?). Sorry if you want to throw down some Bens on the undercards, odds are usually reserved for the big boys.

Here’s the lowdown from Bookmaker for UFC 80 (1/19):

BJ Penn -290
Joe Stevenson +230

Gabriel Gonzaga -250
Fabricio Werdum +200

Kendall Grove -330
Jorge Rivera +270
(more…)

You don’t pull the mask off the old Lone Ranger / And you don’t mess around with Joe Rogan:

(Joe repeatedly submits an anonymous challenger at 10th Planet Jiu-Jitsu. He should pay Mike Swick royalities for that first choke.)

(Joe chastises some broad on some show, then deals with her loudmouth husband.)

(Jeremy Horn, giving Chael Sonnen the business.)

— Middleweight veteran Jeremy Horn will be returning to the UFC at February 2nd’s “Breaking Point” event, replacing Thales Leites, who broke his hand during training and had to pull out of a scheduled match with Nate Marquardt. Horn has compiled an astounding professional record of 77-16-5 since turning pro in 1996, and holds notable wins over Chuck Liddell and Forrest Griffin. His last UFC fight was at UFC 60 in May 2006, where he defeated Chael Sonnen by armbar.

— Welterweight contender Jon Fitch, who has gone 7-0 since joining the UFC in 2005 and hasn’t been defeated since 2002, will face Akihiro Gono at UFC 82: “Pride of a Champion.” Gono is the former PRIDE vet who tied Tamdan McCrory into a pretzel during his Octagon debut at UFC 78, picking up a Submission of the Night bonus in the process. Fitch has also reportedly re-signed with the UFC for three more matches.

— The lineup for UFC 80 is official. (Yes, it will be airing live and on tape delay.) The lineup for the following week’s Ultimate Fight Night card is nearly set as well.

— The UFC’s PPV buys in 2007 decreased 5% compared to 2006. During those two years, UFC 66 (Liddell vs. Ortiz, 12/30/06) was by far the most popular event, with 1,050,000 buys; the three least popular cards — UFC 58, 64, and 72, with 300k, 300k and 200k buys, respectively — were all headlined by Rich Franklin.

I don’t know much about Shawn Tompkins, besides the fact that he briefly replaced Bas Rutten as coach of the Los Angeles Anacondas last year, and the fighters he trains at Xtreme Couture seem to revere him. Now that it’s been reported that Tompkins will be heading up the Xtreme Couture team for the IFL’s 2008 season, I decided to do some digging. It turns out that his professional fight career was brief, spanning only four fights in a Canadian MMA league called UCC. All four fights ended with him getting mounted and pounded out in the first round. You’d think he’d want to learn how to defend himself against that after his second GnP loss, but it didn’t happen. Below are the endings of all four of those fights. Ironically, one of Shawn’s IFL proteges was Chris Horodecki — now you see where he gets his ground game.

Shawn Tompkins vs. Matt Rocca, 6/2/00

Shawn Tompkins vs. Steve Vigneault, 8/12/00

Shawn Tompkins vs. David Loiseau, 5/12/01

Shawn Tompkins vs. Joel Leblanc, 10/19/01

After battling to a unanimous decision win over Ed Herman to take the middleweight contract on The Ultimate Fighter 3, Kendall “Da Spyder” Grove looked to be on the UFC’s fast track. The lanky Maui-native took his first UFC loss in August when he was knocked out by Patrick “The Predator” Côté, but he looks to get his momentum back on January 19 when he faces Jorge Rivera at UFC 80: Rapid Fire. We called Da Spyder to rap about banned substances, life as a reality show star, Dana White, and his place in the middleweight division.

CagePotato.com: Congrats on getting a fight at UFC 80. Will this be your first trip to England?
Kendall Grove: Yeah, first trip. I’m excited — there’s nothing like fighting in the soccer riot capital of the world. Who knows what’s gonna break out in the audience, man.

What’s your training routine been like?
I’m sparring a lot more — maybe two hard days and two light days of sparring — and every day I’m doing jiu-jitsu. I lift weights four times a week, and I run three miles every morning, first thing when I wake up.

Are you one of those crazy dudes who gives up booze and sex and all that when you’re getting ready for a fight?
Yeah. After my last fight against Patrick [Cote], I changed a lot of things in my personal life. I cut back on drinking. Because this reality show shit does get to your head, you know? Everybody wants to hang out with you. As for sex, yeah, my girl has been horny and she’s pregnant, so that’s pretty much out of the question. Other than that, I eat good, but I’m not afraid to go eat some milk and cookies or ice cream at night. I cheat a lot on my diet, but I’m 6′6″, 185. I’m Hawaiian-Ethiopian, you know what I mean?

How do you think you match up with Rivera?
I think I match up good. We’re both tough, tough fighters. We both fight ’til the bitter end. I think it’s going to come down to conditioning. I know that towards the end of the second or third rounds, he starts to slow down a little, and kinda’ paces himself. I think I’m just going to put it on him — I’ll dictate the pace of the fight. Rivera’s a seasoned vet, and I think he’s a good opponent, regardless of his losses. Everybody loses. That’s why I love this sport, MMA and the UFC, because nobody is invincible. Anybody can get taken out, just by one punch. I think he’s going to be a tough opponent and an exciting fight for me.

Who do you like in the BJ Penn/Joe Stevenson fight?
I’m friends with both of them, so right now I’d just say I’d like to see a good fight. May the best fighter win. I know BJ —he’s another local boy from Hawaii doing his thing. He’s one of my heroes that motivated me. And here comes Joe Stevenson. I lived with him for two years — he’s one of the reasons why I got on The Ultimate Fighter, so it’s hard for me to pick. I’m right in the middle. I got two real good friends fighting each other.

How about Gabriel Gonzaga’s fight against Fabricio Werdum?
I think Gonzaga will pull it off. He’s a tough, tough dude.

Do you think marijuana should still be a banned substance for mixed martial artists?
I don’t think so. It’s definitely not an enhancement drug. [laughs]

Nick Diaz got a six-month suspension for testing positive for marijuana, and Sean Sherk got six months for steroids — do you think that’s fair?
I don’t think so. See, marijuana is a touchy subject. I’m a rock star — I’ve been smoking weed since I was in the 6th grade, I can openly say that. But I’m also clean when I fight. I cut that shit out — I’m a professional. Don’t get me wrong, my first six fights, I fought high, I fought stoned. But when you get to this level, you have to take responsibility. It’s your job. I stop doing that stuff three months out. I just think they blew it way out of proportion. What did they say with Nick Diaz? “Oh, him smoking weed made his pain threshold higher—”

It’s ridiculous.
It’s stupid. Steroids actually make you run faster, make you stronger — it’s a performance enhancer. And weed just makes you gain weight and be lazy. [laughs]

(more…)

(Dana White, checking out Melvin Guillard’s junk.)

With this new interview for the Baltimore Sun’s MMA Insider blog, Melvin Guillard joins Quinton Jackson and Frank Shamrock in the ranks of fighters who can’t even fake sanity when speaking in public forums. Read on for the interview’s highlights, where Guillard switches back and forth between delusional and incredibly fucking delusional:

On his moral victory over Rich Clementi at UFC 79: “He didn’t take my heart. I took his heart before he got in the ring. He was scared to fight me before he got in the ring…when I see him again, I’m going to fight him again…I went home for New Years and the places he wants to go, he wasn’t even there. He knew I was going to be there looking for him. He never showed up anywhere. As long as he keeps hiding from me, running from me, I’m winning the war every day…he was holding on like a scared little bitch [during the fight]. He was holding on for dear life as if if he let me go, he knew he would lose the fight…When I do fight the next jiu-jitsu guy, I hope they have a prayer for him — I’m not going to be so nice anymore.”

On Clementi’s “Suck It” gesture after the fight: “He put his nuts on the back of my head. When I catch him, I’m going to kick him in his [expletive deleted] nuts…My dad always told me if a man spit on you or slapped you, [expletive deleted] kill him. And if he put his nuts on my head on national TV, I’m going to [expletive deleted] kill him, period…as I’m getting up, it’s like he kicked me in the back of the neck, and it pushed me back down a little bit. So, I’m like, ‘What the [expletive deleted]?’ And, I jump up like, ‘No, he did not just put his nuts on my neck.’ So, that’s why I went after him like I did.”

On popularity: “I got booed before the fight, I got booed after the fight, but I’m still one of the crowd favorites.”

On the origins of his psychological issues: “Nobody is ever going to stand in front of me and beat my ass. My mom did that all my life so those days are over with.”

(more…)

Interviewer: “Is son following in dad’s footsteps?”
Joe Daddy: “No, no, no, he’s much smarter than me. He’ll probably get a degree, and—”
Joe Jr.: “1 + 99 is 100.”
Joe Daddy: “So, he’s in the first grade and he’s smarter than me already.”

OMFG, these two need to take their act on the road; for more moments of brilliance, watch the Raw Vegas clip below. CagePotato wishes Joe the best of luck in his championship match against BJ Penn next Saturday. We’re pulling for the devoted family man, rather than the burger-eating bar-brawler.

Because some of you asked for it during our recent roundup of the lamest, here are our picks for the best. Please post your opinions in the comments, but keep in mind that nu-metal is for fairies, and French rap music will absolutely not be tolerated.

5. Shonie Carter (UFC 53) — “Superfly,” Curtis Mayfield

Shonie Carter is only 35 years old, but he acts like he’s goddamn Ossie Davis in Do the Right Thing, always trying to tell the youngin’s bout the way things oughta be (and occasionally getting dropped from contracts as a result). No, “Superfly” doesn’t get a crowd riled up to see blood — Mr. International would rather use his entrance to showcase his taste in ’70s soul hits. In other words, fuck y’all.

4. Forrest Griffin (UFC 72) — “I’m Shipping Up to Boston,” Dropkick Murphys

True, it doesn’t take much to get Irish people in the mood for drinking and fighting, but in a room full of Celtics fans, playing this song is like throwing chum into shark-filled water. When you’re actually in Belfast public broadcast of the Dropkick Murphys is irresponsibly dangerous — but then again, “Irresponsibly Dangerous” is Forrest Griffin’s middle name. The only thing that could have made his entrance at UFC 72 better is if Griffin convinced Mark Wahlberg to walk out to the cage with him.

(more…)