UFC 96: Quinton Rampage Jackson vs Keith Jardine pre-fight video

Here's some pre-fight footage of Quinton Rampage Jackson and Keith Jardine talking about their upcoming fight at UFC 96: Jackson vs Jardine. Pretty typical stuff here, "can't look past my opponent", "training hard", "yadda yadda yadda." Somebody needs to come up with some new pre-fight talk. Maybe break out into song and dance. Or do a magic trick. God, how I would love for a fighter to do a magic trick during their pre-fight interview.

Check out Keith Jardine's video after the jump.

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Dana White's UFC 95 Video Blog - 2/21/09

Here's Dana White's latest video blog, chronicling his times at UFC 95: Sanchez vs Stevenson. Highlights include various shots of the ring girls and Rampage Jackson, uh, giving lapdances to the ring girls. And also sometimes they show the ring girls. Did I mention ring girls yet? Because there are ring girls in this video. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to roll my jaw off the floor like some sort of cartoon character.

UFC signs middleweight Yoshihiro Akiyama

The Ultimate Fighting Championship announced today that it has signed middleweight contender Yoshihiro Akiyama to an exclusive promotional contract that will see him step into the UFC Octagon for the first time this summer.

"I'm excited to bring Akiyama into the UFC and I can see him making an immediate impact in the middleweight division," said UFC President Dana White. "Besides his great judo and submission game, he's a finisher, and UFC fans are going to love watching him because he always shows up to fight."

This is hugely interesting. Akiyama is sort of a controversy in Japan. He wins, but he gets booed because he's viewed as dishonorable (he was found guilty of greasing after a victory over Japanese legend Kazushi Sakuraba). And you know if you get booed by the Japanese you've really done something wrong. But he's good. And he's Japanese (well technically he's a Korean born in Japan). And he fights in Dream, which means the UFC is serious about coming after the Japanese organizations. All of which probably has huge ramifications, I'm just too dumb to figure it out. The UFC...and...cookies? There's going to be more cookies? For me? For dinner? Yay, I did it! I figured it out! I'm the best!

BJ Penn probably won't return until late summer

UFC President Dana White told multiple press outlets last week that BJ Penn's next title defense against No. 1 contender Kenny Florian would probably be for UFC 99 on June 13 in Cologne, Germany. However, Penn's older brother and manager J.D. says that the date isn't feasible.

"No, it's too close to BJ's last fight," the elder Penn wrote in a text message. "He wants to spend time with his baby."

Penn, 30, welcomed his first child, daughter Aeva, to the growing Hilo clan in October 2008. However, the new father spent a substantial amount of time thereafter promoting and training for his Jan. 31 mega-fight against UFC welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre at UFC 94 in Las Vegas.

"We are still negotiating the fight," the elder Penn said. "No date [is] scheduled, but we are thinking late July or early August."

Kenny Florian is keeping his hopes up though.

"I talked to my manager Joe Cavallaro today and [UFC matchmaker] Joe Silva told him June 13," Florian said to Sherdog.com on Monday. "That was the date they wanted because they wanted it to be the main event and the only main event. That's what fight made the most amount of sense for June 13. July [11, UFC 100] apparently is backed up, so July's probably out of the question, and August..."

"For me, it's the fight that I want and it's the fight he wants and we both need to come to terms on it, so if that's what I need to do to make it happen, if I have to wait, then I have no choice," he said.

"Schedule-wise it makes it a little difficult because money-wise, you expect a certain amount to come in and I've been trying to budget things accordingly," said Florian, who earned $80,000 for his last win. "It might be a little tougher now."

It's sad, but sometimes I really wish BJ Penn was hard up for money so he'd be forced to fight way more often than he does. Despite the thrashing he got by GSP, he's still one of the most talented fighters in the world, and him fighting just twice a year is frustrating. Here's to hoping he loses all his money in some sort of pyramid scheme and spends the next five years living off the streets. And here's to hoping it's to my pyramid scheme. I'm rich!

Dan Hardy makes eye contact with GSP

Dan Hardy got a relatively easy knockout win over Rory Markham at UFC 95: Sanchez vs Stevenson. After the win, he told The Sun that during the fight he locked eyes with Georges St. Pierre and the two shared a brief staredown moment.

"There are so many good guys in my division but I managed to lock eyes with Georges St Pierre outside the cage and we had a moment where I was like - 'I'm coming for you, I'm coming for you.' But I know I've still got improvements to make. There are some guys I need to pick off on my way up to him. But whoever the UFC send me next, I'll be ready."

This is a fight I'd really like to see happen. Not because I think it would be competitive, I've just never seen a fight end by murder before.

Demian Maia is pretty good at BJJ

Demian Maia (10-0) put on another Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu clinic on Chael Sonnen (21-10-1) last Saturday at UFC 95: Sanchez vs Stevenson, submitting him with a beautiful triangle choke in just the first round. He earned a $40,000 "Submission of the Night" bonus for the win, making this his fourth "Submission of the Night" in just five fights (which he's all won by submission). He's already made $215,000 in post-fight bonus money alone. Which is, ya know, almost as much as I make in a day. That's right ladies, I said a day.

It's pretty clear we're dealing with one of (if not the) best BJJ practitioners to ever fight MMA, but it's what Joe Rogan said during his entrance that really has me psyched about this guy. He's submitted Gabriel Gonzaga? The same gigantic Gabriel Gonzaga that manhandles heavyweights and has won Mundials? And he makes Frank Mir feel like a brown belt because he simply dominates him on the ground? These are legit heavyweight BJJ blackbelts we're talking about. I knew Demian Maia was good, but I didn't know he was second degree BJJ blackbelt who beats other heavyweight blackbelts good. I mean, aw geez, is this a boner? No, no it's not. It's two boners.

Jake Shields to fight Joe Riggs at April 11 Strikeforce event

It's been confirmed that former EliteXC Welterweight Champion Jake Shields (22-4-1) will take on UFC and Strikeforce veteran Joe Riggs (29-10) on the main card at Strikeforce's April 11th show in San Jose, California, which will also feature a main event fight between Nick Diaz and Frank Shamrock.

Jake Shields is probably the best middleweight not in the UFC right now and Joe Riggs is, well, a guy who fights. Shields is coming off an eleven fight win streak while Riggs has gone 4-2 since getting dropped by the UFC. I'd like to say this'll be a competitive fight, but the only way I see it going is Shields taking it to the ground early and getting an easy submission. If that's your idea of competitive then, yeah, I guess it will be competitive. Just like the time I challenged that guy in a wheelchair to a stair climbing contest. Oh, yeah, it was so competitive.

...Right up until I lost. I still say he cheated.

Demian Maia and Chael Sonnen discuss UFC 95

Here's a pre-fight video of Demian Maia and Chael Sonnen talking about their upcoming fight at UFC 95: Sanchez vs Stevenson this Saturday (February 2, 2009) at the O2 Arena, United Kingdom. I'm glad Maia is aware that Sonnen's game plan will be to avoid the ground and simply outpoint him. And I'm glad Sonnen is aware Maia isn't afraid to pull guard. It'll be interesting to see the two of them try and nullify the other's game plan, knowing full well the other's game plan will be to nullify their game plan. Uh, or something like that. Was that even a sentence?