Korean Zombie by Tri-Coasta

If you haven’t seen the fight yet make sure you watch Spike on Saturday night. They will also televise Mir vs. Carwin at 10/9c.

Has there ever been a referee in any sport as beloved as Big John McCarthy? MMA fans are heading to Twitter with their requests to get Big John back in the UFC, with the “Tweet Bomb” as their choice of weaponry. A ‘Tweet Bomb’ is when one Tweet is sent over and over again to get the message out. This time it’s being sent to Dana White:

@danawhiteufc BRING BACK BIG JOHN! #UFC

I don’t know if it will work. But Frank Trigg, Tito Ortiz, Mark Coleman, Phil Baroni are all back in the UFC, so why not Big John? I’d bet the fighters want him back.

What do you think?

This is the UFC 102 Post-Fight Press Conference, following the tremendous battle between Randy Couture and Antonio Rodrigo Noguiera.

The Card with weigh-in results:

Main Event
Randy Couture (220) vs Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira (231)

Keith Jardine (205) vs Thiago Silva (205)
Nate Marquardt (185) vs Demian Maia (185)
Brandon Vera (205) vs Krzysztof Soszynski (205)
Chris Leben (185) vs Jake Rosholt (185)

Ed Herman (185.5) vs Aaron Simpson (185)
Gabriel Gonzaga (259) vs Chris Tuchscherer (258)
Justin McCully (238) vs Mike Russow (260)
Tim Hague (263.5) vs Todd Duffee (251)
Nick Catone (185.5) vs Mark Munoz (185.5)
Marcus Aurelio (156) vs Evan Dunham (155)

The Odds:

Latest News:

• UFC 102 Ready to Hit Trailblazer Country Rear Naked Joke
• Dana White Considers UFC 102 a Success Despite Slow Ticket Sales MMA Junkie
• Nate Marquardt Video Blog Bloody Elbow
• MMA Live UFC 102 Weigh-In Special ESPN
• Randy Couture UFC 102 Video Blog, Ep.3 MMA Mania
• Nate Marquardt Feels He Can Win Anywhere MMA Weekly
• Tuf Snub Leads Tuscherer to UFC 102 Yahoo!
• Jake Rosholt Needs to Beat Chris Leben (Video) Raw Vegas

Cro Cop beat Mustapha al-Turk with a first round TKO at UFC 99, possibly with the help of an eye poke that was not seen by referee Dan Miragliotta. While Cro Cop won in the cage, many will brand him a loser for what was revealed shortly after the fight.

Cro Cop told UFC president Dana White that he would not be returning to the UFC because he had already signed a 3-fight agreement with DREAM. The background here is that White signed Cro Cop to a one-fight deal — something he never does — and had a verbal committment on 2 others.

White had this to say to Yahoo! Sports:

“Isn’t that a dirty [expletive] thing to do?” White asked rhetorically after being queried about Filipovic’s deal with DREAM. “He [expletived] me. The first time in the history of the company I do one over the phone. He promised me a three-fight deal and he [expletived] me.”

While speaking with reporters on a prefight conference call, Filipovic enthused about his return and said he was gunning for a title shot. All the while, he apparently knew he was in it for a one-fight deal.

Cro Cop didn’t impress me in the fight. al-Turk was swinging like he was in a bar fight, and frankly does not look like he belongs in the UFC. While I think Cro Cop would have won anyway, the eye-poke may have helped him to that end.

It’s my opinion that Dana White would be wise to replace Cro Cop with the only fighter he beat in his first stint in the UFC: Eddie Sanchez. Sanchez dominated Jay White at Bellator 6 here in Chicago. He was 3-3 in the UFC and had he been in the ring with Cro Cop at UFC 99, he would have beat him into submission. He certainly is a better fighter than al-Turk.

Now Cro Cop is free to run back to DREAM where maybe he can get a rematch with, I don’t know, the vaunted Hong Man Choi.

MMA Frenzy has details on other TUF 10 cast members, including 4 NFL veterans. No Johnnie Morton.

MMA Junkie reports that Ben Rothwell will fight Chase Gormley on the “Affliction: Trilogy” card in August.

Keyboard Kimura is compiling a list of the top 100 fighters in UFC history. Get your list in via their comments sections or the e-mail on the linked post.

Check out this uncomfortable hug and interesting from conversation with Wanderlei Silva, via Rear Naked News:

Shawn Tomkins talks about how to beat Lyoto Machida at World Extreme Fighter via The Garv.

The California Kid says no mistakes this time MMA Weekly.

So he can spell Fedor’s entire name correctly but he doesn’t know that it’s Dana White and not “Dan”? And as a basketball fan, I have to add that anyone that “takes a page” out of anything the Golden State Warriors have done is headed for a big FAIL. Anyway, it was entertaining. As was UFC 98.

Hey– follow Chicago’s MMA on Twitter. Just click here.