1. Cain Velasquez (current ranking: 3). Cain was on top of the world a year ago after defeating the behemoth Brock Lesnar for the world title, a fight that made Cain a superstar. Since that fight, things haven’t been as stellar. He suffered a torn rotator cuff which sidelined him for over a year. When he finally returned, he lasted only a minute in the cage with new champ Junior Dos Santos. Still firmly planted in the top 3, Cain will fight Frank Mir this summer.

2. Brock Lesnar (currently unranked). Fresh off the loss to Velasquez, Brock’s stock tumbled slightly a year ago, but not that much. His standing was still as solid as ever, havaing defeated Couture, Mir and Carwin consecutively leading up to dropping the belt. However, another bout of diverticulitis and a tough loss to Alistair Overeem led Brock to announce his retirement from the cage. If he ever decides to return, I’d expect him to be back in the top 5 instantly.

3. Junior Dos Santos (current ranking: 1). One sided victories over solid pros Gabriel Gonzaga and Roy Nelson propelled JDS in to the upper echelon of heavyweights by last January. And as we know, he’s done nothing but take yet another step as the top dog in the world. I guess handing Shane Carwin and Cain Velasquez beatings will do that to a career. Although JDS has a full skill set, he’s probably the closest thing we have to a one-dimensional champ, based solely on the fact that he primarily punches his way to victory. Overeem is next.

4. Shane Carwin (current ranking: 7). At the time, Carwin was known as one of the heaviest punchers in the sport and had just one loss on his record. As discussed, Dos Santos punished him for a second loss in as many fights. Carwin likely fits among the top 5 or so, but inactivity has hampered his ranking. Back surgery will keep him out until mid year, at which time he could earn back his spot with just one win.

5. Fedor Emeliankenko (currently unranked). Sometimes the fall from grace happens overnight. After suffering his first true loss to Fabricio Werdum, the luster faded a bit, dropping him from #1 to #5. And things never got better for Fedor. A month after these rankings came out, he dropped one to Antonio Silva; and yet another one to Dan Henderson. His two subsequent wins over Ishii and Monson have gotten him back to his winning ways, but certainly not far enough to appear back in the top 10.

6. Alistair Overeem (current ranking: 2). While sitting at #6, Overeem was still considered a wildcard of sorts. Skeptics felt he wasn’t fighting a level of competition proportionate with his status. Todd Duffee and Brett Rogers were not Cain and JDS, they said. Since that time, he defeated Werdum and Lesnar to prove he belonged. Now at #2, he waits for Dos Santos and his crack at the UFC world title.

7. Fabricio Werdum (current ranking: 6). Riding his historic win over Fedor in 2010, Werdum broke into everyone’s top 10. But he waited an entire year before reentering the cage, and was met with negative results. A bad loss to Overeem had many questioning his place in the rankings. His UFC debut helped move him back into favor, defeating Roy Nelson. He says he wants to fight for a title, but to do so, he’ll have to put together at least another couple wins.

8. Frank Mir (current ranking: 5). After losing to Carwin badly and then winning in ho-hum fashion against Mirko Cro Cop, many questioned Mir’s relevancy in the UFC at the time these rankings came out. To his credit, the 2-time champ bounced back into the mix with more impressive wins against Nelson and Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira. So yes, he’s back in the mix. In fact, he’s supposedly worked himself into a #1 contenders match with Velasquez this summer. Not bad for a guy I wrote off a year ago.

9. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira (current ranking: 9). Last January, Big Nog was ranked #9 primarily because of who he is. After all, he’d only fought once in the previous year and a half—a quick KO loss to Velasquez. Today, he remains ranked in the exact same spot, primarily due to a perceived lack of depth in the HW division. He came up with a huge win over fast-rising Brendan Schaub, followed by another bad loss to Mir, this time breaking his arm in the process. If and when he returns, he could be relegated to a highly ranked stepping stone.

10. Antonio Silva (current ranking: 10). Fresh off victories over Arlovski and Mike Kyle, Silva found his way to the top 10. But it wasn’t until just after the rankings came out that he made his big move by defeating Fedor. He thoroughly dominated the legend, making a case for becoming the favorite to win the Strikeforce Grand Prix. Shortly thereafter, he took a devastating loss to Daniel Cormier, knocking him back down a rung. Still, for reasons just discussed, Silva maintains a top 10 ranking, for the fact that no one else seems to fit.

Many times, you’ll see the bottom few fighters drop off the list, and be replaced by other fighters of similar quality. Not the case this time. Instead we saw only two fighters drop off, but they happened to be pretty big names—Fedor and Lesnar. That means somebody moved up. Let’s see who.

Josh Barnett (current ranking: 4). Barnett was most likely excluded based on the fact that his previous fights came against guys named Mighty Mo and Geronimo Dos Santos. But his results in the Strikeforce Grand Prix shot him way up the list. One-sided wins over Brett Rogers and Sergei Kharitonov put Barnett into the finals in a manner that looked too easy to believe. With his lofty #4 ranking, he needs a win against Cormier in the finals to earn his long-awaited return to the UFC.

Daniel Cormier (current ranking: 8). Cormier wasn’t ranked last January for one main reason—no one knew who he was. His biggest win was against a guy called Devin Cole on a Strikeforce Challengers card. Following that however, Cormier put a punishing beating on Dan Monson and then pulled off one of the upsets of the year by knocking out Antonio Silva. He continues to show high level skills and has many people talking about Cormier defeating Barnett and going on to face either Dos Santos or Jon Jones. Pretty lofty goals for a guy we didn’t pay any attention to a year ago.

Signing with Strikeforce is Marquardt’s chance to reinvent himself in the eyes of Zuffa management. He was released last summer for testing positive for elevated levels of testosterone. To make matters worse, the whole scene took place the day of weigh-ins, which jeopardized the entire event—Marquardt was in the main event of a UFC on Versus card along with Rick Story. It was announced immediately that Marquardt was released from the UFC.

He signed with BAMMA and a fight was scheduled. However, the fight never took place and Marquardt moved on from the organization. This will be his first fight since March of 2011. Woodley is 10-0 professionally and has stepped to the top of the Strikeforce roster despite some criticism for his wrestling-first attack. His most recent win was against Jordan Mein in January.

With Marquardt returning to Zuffa, it appears the olive branch has been extended. Marquardt has always had a nice guy image and perhaps that’s the reason—along with his year-long exile—for his signing. Fans are forgiving by nature, and if Nate manages to remain free of controversy and put on some good fights, his reentry to the UFC seems within reach.

Our first glimpse of Nelson came with the line, “I thought I fuckin won at least one round. I thought I won two rounds.” He wasn’t happy. Of course the judges disagreed. They awarded the fight to Werdum 30-27 on all cards. He wasn’t done either.

Later when we are watching Diaz describe the fight from his point of view, we could hear Nelson telling someone else, “I thought I probably won the 2^nd round,” and followed it up with,  “I thought I probably stole the 3^rd.” It was funny seeing the give and take between Diaz and Nelson in this scene as both guys were trying to act interested in the other’s misfortune. But just as quickly as Diaz asked Roy if he lost, he switched to telling everyone how he was robbed. At one point it seemed both were speaking simultaneously–to each other–about how the judges screwed them. Neither was listening to a word the other was saying.

Finally back in the concourse, Diaz was still holding court. This time Lorenzo Fertitta was present. Suddenly almost out of nowhere, Nelson appeared on camera again. This time saying, “All I know is I thought I won the 2^nd and 3^rd round. I don’t know what these judges are watching. They panned to show Fertitta’s reaction, which was laughter. Roy pressed on. “Seriously. If you put someone on queer street and they’re like this; that’s effective striking.” Lorenzo then must have realized it wasn’t a joke and stopped laughing.

I like Nelson a lot and I don’t even blame him for thinking he won. I can only imagine that while the fight’s going on, it is very difficult to also be a judge–an objective one at least. Nonetheless, watch the video. Not only is it admittedly funny, but the behind the scenes access is very interesting as well.

November, 2010 Rankings…

1. Georges St-Pierre (current rank: 1). OK, I guess some things do stay the same. GSP was on top of the world with a recent win over Hardy. He would go on to handle Josh Koscheck and Jake Shields and continue to be #1, despite his recent injury. He’ll stay at #1 until somebody can finally beat him—no one’s done that since 2007, and that was a fluke.

2. Jon Fitch (current rank: 6). Fitch was long believed to best fighter at 170 without the initials GSP. While that may still be true, he’s hit a bit of a dry spell, going winless since these rankings came out. A draw (albeit a punishing one) with BJ Penn and a KO loss to Johny Hendricks sent his career path a slightly different direction.

3. Josh Koscheck (current rank: 5). As mentioned, Koscheck lost to GSP to close 2010, but has rebounded somewhat. A 1^st round KO of legend Matt Hughes and a sluggish decision over Mike Pierce have at least set him back on track. If GSP ever loses the belt, Koscheck would be among the top contenders for whoever the kingpin is at that time. If GSP remains the champ, Kos can forget about a 3^rd chance.
4. Jake Shields (current rank: 9). Like some of the others, Shields’ stock has dropped significantly since these rankings came out. We gave him the benefit of the doubt in a controversial win over Martin Kampmann, but two straight losses after that took the luster off the former Strikeforce middleweight champ. He’s 0-2 since we posted these and is one loss away from dropping completely off the charts—and likely dropping out of relevancy in the UFC.

5. Nick Diaz (current rank: 3). Finally someone who went up in the rankings! Strong wins against Santos, Daley and Penn moved Diaz all the way to #2—until recently. He’s proven without a doubt he belongs in the upper echelon of the 170s now that he’s entered the UFC. But if you’re looking for a trifecta of troubling events, how ‘bout 1) his close loss to Condit 2) his supposed “retirement” and 3) his positive drug test. That’ll put his career and #3 ranking in temporary limbo.

6. Carlos Condit (current rank: 2). Condit just made a move up to #6 on our rankings after obliterating Dan Hardy. Honestly his two previous wins should have told us he was the real deal, beating Rory MacDonald and Jake Ellenberger. But we didn’t know how tough those two would become. Now we do. Condit is the new Interim champion and is saying he’ll wait for a fight with GSP. We’ll see how that plays out, but if there are any setbacks for St-Pierre, look for Condit to fight Ellenberger.

7. Martin Kampmann (currently unranked). Kampmann’s loss to Shields was so controversial that he didn’t drop at all in these rankings. But what did drop him out of the top 10 was another loss, this time to Diego Sanchez. Granted it was just as close and controversial as the Shields fight, but two in a row tends to move your stock in a negative way. A bounce back decision over Rick Story and his upcoming fight with Thiago Alves could move him right back up.

8. BJ Penn (current rank: 10). Penn was originally ranked at 8 mainly due to his reputation and name. He confirmed our thoughts with a very quick finish of Matt Hughes right before these rankings came out. He looked like he’d make another run. But then he got pummeled twice—a draw with Fitch and a loss to Diaz. With his future up in the air and this division adding new contenders seemingly every day, I would guess Penn’s stay on this list is a short one.

9. Thiago Alves (currently unranked).  Alves was considered a top contender for some time here despite two losses in a row. That’s because those two L’s came at the hands of the undisputed #1 and 2 guys in the world—GSP and Fitch. Since then, he’s been kinda run-of-the-mill. Wins over John Howard and Papi Abedi didn’t outweigh his loss to Rick Story. With the influx of talent at welterweight, he’ll have to beat Kampmann to find his way back to our top 10. Paul Daley (currently unranked). Leading up to these rankings, Daley was on a mission. Two fights since being ousted from the UFC and two big wins. A week later he would plant himself even more firmly in the top 10 with a KO of the year candidate over Scot Smith. But consecutive losses to Diaz and Tyron Woodley, followed by missing weight yet again left a bad impression on us and others. He might never return.

That’s lots of movement since November of 2010. Included are three fighters who dropped off the list, which means there must be three new ones to take their places. And here they are.

Jake Ellenberger (current rank: 4). By far our biggest mover. He’s gone 4-0 since these came out and he’s been steamrolling competition. Most impressive was a 1^st round KO of Jake Shields and a unanimous decision over warrior Diego Sanchez. If you’re looking for a fast-rising bandwagon to jump on, jump on this one.

Rory MacDonald (current rank: 7). Only 22 years old, this guy is for real. Remember what he did to Nate Diaz? The fight that kept him out of the rankings in our original list was the fight we should all be thinking about. He was defeated by now-champ Carlos Condit with just seconds remaining in the fight. Had he made it through the round, MacDonald would have won the fight via decision and we could very well be talking about a 2012 fight with Rory and GSP.

Johny Hendricks (current rank: 8). Here’s another example of a guy flying up the charts. Wins over Mike Pierce and perennial #2 Fitch moved him up to 8, and possibly even further. In May he gets to fight #5 Koscheck in another challenging fight that would certainly label Hendricks as a “next in line” type of guy.

Here’s what I’m hoping you do.

1. Go to VigilanteMMA.com on your phone or iPad
2. Bookmark our home page
3. Add us to your favorite folder
4. Click on it every time you take a dump want to read our award winning journalism

My goal is to own the bathroom readers market. You can help by having us at your fingertips at all times. In exchange for making us your favorite mobile site, we’re going to give away a prize package to a lucky—and loyal—reader. Here’s all you need to do to enter. Post a screen shot on our Facebook Page of your phone or tablet with our logo on your device. Boom…You’re entered. We will announce a winner early next week so might as well get started now.

He was even asked how a fight with Rogan would end. Predictably, Jackson said, “I think I’d beat the shit out of Joe Rogan.” He conceded that Rogan has good jiu jitsu and went on to explain how he knows that.

“You know he’s got good jiu-jitsu because he’s so biased (towards) jiu-jitsu guys. You can hear it in his voice. Whenever a guy is a jiu-jitsu fighter Joe Rogan might as well be like playing rusty trombone.” At this point in the video you really need to see it to appreciate it. Rampage goes on to mimic Rogan giving a rusty trombone to a top shelf jiu jitsu player. Hilarious.

He also said he can sometimes hear Rogan’s commentary from cage-side because “Joe Rogan has one of those girly high-ass voices, you can hear his ass sometimes,” he admits. “I just want to tell him to shut the fuck up sometimes. You want to call me one-dimensional, ok kiss my ass.”

Definitely watch the entire video because Rampage is always one of the most entertaining fighters in the UFC to listen to. He combines humor in every interview, but at the same time, he’s no clown. His track record speaks to that. Jackson will fight Bader at UFC 144 in Japan this weekend.

Full Video…

Fellow octagon girl Brittney Palmer is set to be the upcoming Playboy cover girl next month; Arianny Celeste was a well-known Playboy playmate; and Chandella worked as a bunny as well. So nudity apparently isn’t the issue with the UFC. It looks like two factors might have come into play. One, Chandella didn’t disclose that she was in fact previously known as Ashton. Second, and probably more importantly, these nude pictures were slightly more graphic than Playboy shoots.

So far, Chandella could not be reached for comment, but we will keep trying. Likewise, UFC hasn’t commented yet either. I know we have plenty of Chandella fans on our site, so we’ll try to keep you updated.

**UPDATE: Chandella sent a public message via Twitter for the first time since the controversy started to break. Here is her full Tweet (feel free to use the SnapFish ad if you’d like)…

Almost a year and a half ago, I got to speak with a young fighter named Justin Salas, who was working his way up the local circuit, stringing wins together hoping to get noticed. Our loyal readers know that feature as “Who’s Next” which focuses on fighters hoping to make it big one day. Also that day, Justin made it clear to me that his goal was to challenge himself against the best fighters in the world. He knew the UFC was the only place he’d be able to achieve that goal. Sure enough, just as he told me, he won two big fights against UFC vet Rob Emerson; future star Joe Ellenberger; battled through some unusual adversity involving his foot peeling off mid-fight; and look where he is now. Fresh off the biggest win of his career—and the first of potentially many UFC wins, Salas made good on his promise to “make it.” Here’s our latest interview with UFC’s Justin Salas.

VigilanteMMA: First, congratulations on winning your UFC debut. It had to be a big moment for you. Tell us a little about the overall experience of your first fight on the biggest stage.

Justin Salas: It was a great experience; I had a great time the whole time. It was really cool to be on that level of a production. Something I’ve never experienced. Everything’s just a little bigger and better and louder and more high-quality. I tried to take it in as much as possible. There’s just a whole ‘nother level of intensity that goes along with it. When you get out in the cage it’s a little intimidating. But you start to feed off that energy. It’s something I’ve always dreamed of doing and once I got in there, it definitely didn’t let me down. It was everything I thought it would be. I’m hooked.

VigilanteMMA: The first thing I noticed in the fight was how big Anton was. That guy’s ripped.

Justin Salas: He’s a very physical guy and intimidating looking. He’s freakin’ shredded. For a 55, he’s all there.

VigilanteMMA: Plus he looks real solid in the cage. He stuffed a few of your early takedowns. Did you expect that?

Justin Salas: At this level, everyone’s such a good athlete, it’s very seldom that you’re gonna go in and shoot a takedown and take someone down right away. If it’s there, I’m gonna take him down, but he was real strong and stopped my initial penetration. It (an unsuccessful takedown) gives me an idea of which side’s his heavy hip? Which hip is he gonna lay down? Some guys try to go over the top for a guillotine; some guys try to stuff the head. Another thing is I was just a little bit tight (in the beginning of the fight). I was trying to find my rhythm and get in that zone. He stopped them, but it didn’t discourage me. It wasn’t like “Oh man, I’m not gonna be able to take this guy down.” I know the game well enough to know that you usually don’t take him down the first time.

VigilanteMMA: The same is probably true about your gameplan going into the fight? I imagine you had to adjust on the fly out there?

Justin Salas: Sometimes when you get in there, it (the gameplan) goes right out the window. But I really felt it was just like I expected. I knew he was going to be a big strong, physical 155 pounder. He hit really hard; he was throwing hard straight shots, we knew that from the video. I like to keep lateral movement, constant movement. I don’t like to stand in front of anybody, especially someone like him. I didn’t want to give him the opportunity to engage me. I wanted to engage him. There was a couple times he got me going backwards, which felt a little dangerous—I didn’t like it. Trevor (Wittman)—props to him because he’s a great coach and he recognizes that—he was screaming at me “don’t go backwards; lateral movement!” (Then) when I started pushing him backwards, he lifted his shoulders and his head went back. That’s when I can do the most damage and he couldn’t me hit very hard when I got under his shoulders and his head goes back. That was the gameplan and I feel like for the majority of the fight I did what we planned and got the win. I put myself in position to dictate the fight.

VigilanteMMA: I’ve been keeping tabs on you for a while now, and your striking was always surprisingly good for a guy with a wrestling background, but now it seems your striking is starting to carry you? You looked so smooth and crisp Wednesday.

Justin Salas: Yeah, I’m getting more and more comfortable. I’m working with Trevor Wittman, one of the best in the world. He’s been honing my striking in. In the gym in practice, I’m real smooth and sometimes I get on people with my striking and I have a lot of success. But once you get out there in a real fight against top level opponents, I’ve noticed I do good, but I come our thinking “man, I can strike better than that.” It’s an experience thing. In practice you mess up and run into a punch with a 16 ounce glove, it’s like “oh I ran into a punch,” but in a fight if you run into that same punch, it might be over. I think my striking is there. If you watch me in the gym, I even have a smoother striking ability that I haven’t displayed yet. It really motivates me because I’m getting more comfortable in there, and I can feel myself each fight letting go a little bit more. And I hope that with experience I can keep improving until I’m just a smooth as I am in the gym.

VigilanteMMA: One cool thing I saw Wednesday was between rounds. Your coaches, Trevor and Leister Bowling were so calm and positive. That’s got to be reassuring.

Justin Salas: It’s a great feeling. I feel really blessed to have the coaches I have in Leister and Trevor. They’re a great team. They work so good together, so I’ve got a clear picture of the next round. Sometimes you see a coach try to help their fighter but they’re really not giving them helpful information. Like “you need to get after this guy; you need to put the pressure on him.” But as a fighter, what does that look like? “Get on this guy”…what does that look like? As opposed to “I need more lateral movement; more forward pressure; more jabs.” They give me a specific goal so I can attack it. It’s a night and day difference. I just trust them so much.

VigilanteMMA: Have you watched the fight yet?

Justin Salas: You know, I haven’t even watched the fight yet. I haven’t even been able to find it yet.

VigilanteMMA: Well, I won’t spoil it for you but Anik and Kenny Florian had some nice things to say about you. Most notably how well rounded you are and how strong you looked all the way through the 3^rd round.

Justin Salas: I can’t wait to watch it. I’d like to hear that. That makes me feel good, because I felt like that was a really cool matchup for me to face a big physical guy like that, that was on a big winning streak. He’s a star in Europe and he’s coming in riding like a ten or eleven fight winning streak.

VigilanteMMA: Speaking of winning streaks, you’re no stranger to stopping streaks are you?

Justin Salas: That’s two really tough fighters that I put an end to long winning streaks (the other was Joe Ellenberger in October, who was 12-0 before losing to Justin), so it just shows I can step up.

VigilanteMMA: Being well-rounded, as the announcers said, must be your biggest goal as a young fighter who’s still learning every day?

Justin Salas: Look at all the champions and they can overcome obstacles on the fly. I’ve got a lot of room to grow. It makes me feel really happy to feel that way. Just to know I’ve got a lot of room to grow, the sky’s the limit.

VigilanteMMA: We talked about Kenny Florian doing the announcing. He’s got so much experience and has had more success than almost any other fighter in your weight class. He’s seen it all. Did you get a chance to speak to Kenny in Omaha and pick his brain at all?

Justin Salas: I’ve got a ton of respect for Kenny. Obviously I’ve been watching him fight in the UFC for a while now. I really admire his style. He’s so mentally solid and technically he’s got to be one of the best fighters in the UFC. I really would have loved to talk to him to see what he thought about my fight. I’ve got an open mind and I’m hoping to learn in any way. I’ve tried to actually borrow a couple things from Kenny and add it to my style as far as his foot movement, and the real smart tactical way he approaches fights.

VigilanteMMA: Besides your coaches, is there a go-to guy who you can talk to and ask questions? Maybe someone who’s a little further along in their career than you?

Justin Salas: I’ve got a lot of guys in the gym obviously. Like Nate Marquardt is a guy I like to pick his brain in different areas and see how he approaches his career. And I’ve also been out to train with Ben Henderson. We actually started together the same exact day out here in Denver. Me, Alvin Robinson and Ben all started together. Obviously he progressed into the WEC and the UFC faster than I did so he’s ahead of me in experience. But I’ve been out to train with him. He’s one guy that I consider a friend. A lot of other guys around that I get to spar with like Donald Cerrone and people like that. I like to mix it up with them and see what they’re doing. Hopefully now that I’m in the UFC, I’ll maybe get some more opportunities to mix it up with other people. Grudge is my home and it will always be my home; but once in a while you have to get out of your comfort zone and get some different looks. Here in my camp though, I’d say Nate has definitely been a mentor to a lot of us, and Duane (Ludwig).

VigilanteMMA: And what about your day-to-day crew?

Justin Salas: I have a lot of guys who are there for me every day, helping me in camp. These are the guys pushing me in camp, grinding me up. I really owe a lot of my success to L.T. Nelson, Justin Gaethje, Justin Houghton, Alvin Robinson, Rob Gooch, Vinny Lopez and Brandon Thatch. These guys helped me get to the UFC and they’re gonna be there soon, I guarantee it.

VigilanteMMA: So you have to tell me. Based on what time it was when you texted me Wednesday night—more like Thursday morning—how was the celebration? Did it get nuts?

Justin Salas: (Laughs) We didn’t get too crazy. I watched the rest of the fights with my girlfriend and family. We definitely had a couple beer s and let my guard down and let myself be happy and feel good about the win and being in the UFC. We didn’t get too crazy though.

VigilanteMMA: Well, I’ll stop the questioning right there since no one is going to believe that. But lets talk briefly about your short term plans. Do you go on vacation? Start training right away?

Justin Salas: Right now I’m in the mindset that I’m going to take a week or two off. Just heal up the bumps and bruises and clear my mind. And since I’m healthy, I can get right back in there and start training and get another fight. I really want to gain the UFC experience. If I can be ready and show the UFC that I’m always ready, that could help my career. They can see me as a go-to guy and a tough durable fighter that they can always rely on coming out in great shape and putting on a show and getting better every fight.

VigilanteMMA: Is it too early to start thinking of possible next opponents for you?

Justin Salas: There’s just so many tough guys at 155, no matter where you looking, from the newcomers to the veterans. I told Joe Silva and Dana White, ‘thanks for the opportunity; this is awesome; I’m healthy and ready to go again as soon as I can get on a card.’ So I imagine they’re going to throw me back in the mix. Really whoever they put out there for me, I’m willing to fight anyone. I really am. I’m here to fight the best fighters in the world. No matter who they put in front of me, I look at it as a challenge and an opportunity. No matter what, I’m going to learn from it and get better every time. That’s my responsibility as a UFC fighter. This is an opportunity that people would die to have and there’s no way I’m going to waste it.

VigilanteMMA: Lastly, Jake Ellenberger was the big winner of the night Wednesday. And his brother Joe was in his corner—the guy you just defeated, which more than likely earned you your UFC contract. Did you bump into them at the arena? Are you and Joe cool with each other?

Justin Salas: Oh yeah. They’re both killers. They’re good fighters. Joe was a really talented wrestler about the same time as me. Yeah, I talked to them, told Jake good luck. They told me good luck and congratulations after the fight. Definitely a lot of mutual respect. They’re the kings of Omaha. Last night when Jake came into the arena, you can tell he’s the king of Omaha. That crowd was roaring for him. And he didn’t let them down either, he put on a show. Him and Diego went at it and that was cool to see. And I would suspect Joe will be coming into the UFC too, because he’s just as tough (as Jake).

VigilanteMMA: Again Justin congratulations on your big win. We all couldn’t be happier that you made it to the UFC and picked up your first win too. Let’s talk again soon.

Justin Salas: Definitely. Thanks for the support and call any time.

VigilanteMMA: And I’ll let everyone know to check out your new website at www.jbomb.biz.

By STRIKEFORCE Bantamweight Champion Miesha “Takedown” Tate:

You often discover whether you possess fight or flight instincts when the going gets tough. Is it our instinct to escape the situation and run to the nearest safe haven, or do we decide to stand and fight, despite obvious risk, pain and embarrassment? Sometimes we wait our whole life to find out the answer to this kind of question, yet, luckily for me, my moment of realization arrived in my very first mixed martial arts amateur bout in 2006.

I was 19 years of age at the time, had wrestled for four years, but had no clue what MMA was and had never before heard of the UFC. In fact, I had no desire to ever fight at this stage. I was just interested in learning a bit more about submission wrestling, having wrestled with the boys’ team since during high school.

As I became more and more interested in the sport of mixed martial arts, though, I started to contemplate the idea of actually competing and using my wrestling skills as a solid foundation in the sport. One day I decided to attend my first mixed martial arts fight and, though it was only an amateur event, it appealed to me and was something I wanted to see more of in the future. Then, as the event ended, the announcer grabbed the mic and revealed to the crowd that he would be hosting an all-female fight card in three weeks and that all fighters were welcome to try out and compete.

So, with only my wrestling background and just three weeks of striking training, I decided to give it a go and compete at that event. I went up against a dangerous Muay-thai kickboxer that night and, knowing how little striking experience I had, naturally realized I would be up against it. She and her husband owned their own Muay-thai gym and, of course, she was very well-drilled on her feet and had been doing it since she was a young girl.

I won the first round thanks entirely to my wrestling skills. I was able to go out there, take her down very quickly and then keep her there for the majority of the round. I used a little bit of ground-and-pound once I had secured the takedowns, but, for the most part, was just looking to control and outmaneuver her. When I went back to the corner, I was told by my trainer that I needed to punch more when we were on the ground and that I should look to score more damage when in advantageous positions.

The idea of doing physical damage to my opponent was something completely new to me at this stage, though, as I was still very much in pure wrestling mode.

I went out for the second round and remember throwing a flurry of one-twos, which backed my opponent up to the corner. It was then that she put me into a Thai clinch and started going to work. I had no idea what this thing was that she had me caught in and had no clue how to defend or escape it. So, while I tried desperately to take her down, she was happily kneeing me in the face over and over again. One of the knees then shattered my nose, breaking it immediately.

Nevertheless, I kept trying for that double-leg and eventually got it. By this time, though, I was very dazed and didn’t really know what was going on. This allowed her to capitalize and get her hooks in when we did finally hit the ground. I was now curled up in a ball, wary of being hit and choked out. I basically had nowhere to escape. She then postured up and began raining down punches on my ears, just for good measure.

This was a very pivotal moment for me in my career, because after taking severe punishment like that for the first time in my life, I reached an unexpected moment of clarity. I watched the blood pour from my nose and accumulate in a red pool beneath my face, and yet wasn’t at all intimidated or scared by what was about to come. It was a strangely serene moment, one that highlighted just why I was there and what I needed to do to get myself out of this situation.

I thought to myself, ‘Well, this is the route you chose, Tate – now you’ve got to get your ass off the floor and deal with it‘. I finally realized what I was there to do, and accepted the harsh truth – this wasn’t a wrestling match… it was a fight!

Without a second thought, I tried everything in my power to get out of a potential submission and start kicking her ass again. I bucked her off like crazy, she slipped into the guard position and that allowed me to get up on my tip toes and wail away with punches as hard as I possibly could. Blood was going everywhere. It was all over my face and her gloves. I didn’t care anymore.

Now fully amped and excited, I walked back to my corner at the end of the round with a spring in my step, eager for the next round to hurry up. I now understood what I was there to do and realized what being a fighter was all about. I wanted more of it. Unfortunately, it was at this very moment that my trainers looked at me with disgust, in a way that suggested my nose and face were beyond repair and that I had no chance whatsoever of going another round.

They made an executive decision and pulled me out of the fight, something which obviously bummed me out a little bit, but, in hindsight was the right decision. After all, I wasn’t getting paid for the fight and all medical expenses were on my head.

Still, I quickly knew after that fight – after the blood had dried and my nose returned to its normal place – that MMA was the sport for me. I was pushed beyond my limits, physically and emotionally, and yet was still craving more at the end of it all.

I was all fight, not flight.

My March 3 challenger and opponent, Ronda Rousey, has never faced this type of make or break moment during her 4-0 mixed martial arts career. Yes, she was very accomplished as a judo player, winning a bronze medal at the 2008 Olympics, but she has yet to taste her own blood in a grueling MMA bout. She’s yet to prove she can battle back from any adversity at all. Questions have never been asked of her.

All four of her MMA wins so far have arrived inside the first minute, and she has yet to face anybody that has so much as tested her, let alone come close to disfiguring her face and beating her. She’s been carefully matched, she’s been pampered and she’s been protected. The truth is, going into this world title fight with me, Ronda is still to discover whether she is even a real fighter.

However, on March 3^rd, the night we meet for my STRIKEFORCE world bantamweight champion, Ronda Rousey will learn just how hard and horrible the sport of mixed martial arts can be. I will take great pleasure in dragging her into deep waters for the first time in her life and then drowning her there…

For more updates from Miesha Tate, follow here on Twitter @MieshaTate

In fairness, he appeared to be smirking when he said it, but he did back up the bold statement by talking about being confident in his abilities. For the record, Weidman’s “finishing” record isn’t bad. In his four UFC fights, he’s submitted two guys in the first round and has gone the full distance twice. In his four pre-UFC fights, he finished three fights—all in the first round.

So what do you think about Weidman’s claim that he would finish a guy who hasn’t even lost a fight in six years? Is he crazy, or is he the man to finally upend the champ?