Brock Lesnar’s training partner at Minnesota Martial Arts Academy and fellow UFC heavyweight Chris Tuchscherer talked to the Las Vegas Sun about Lesnar’s illness and his decision to withdraw from his November title defense against Shane Carwin, which has since been rescheduled for UFC 108 on January 2:

He actually practiced (Sunday) and thought he might be feeling alright. He said, ‘Wow, I think I’m doing OK today,’ (Monday) he got here and it was the same old stuff — fatiguing right away, not being all there.”

Welterweight Anthony Johnson, who weighed in 6 pounds over the 170 pound division limit on Friday for tonight’s UFC 104 event, talks to Heavy.com about missing weight and a future move up to middleweight.

“I was in the sauna for an hour and I lost three or four pounds right off the bat. I knew it was coming off. That’s why I said that if I had another hour or two, I would have been able to make it. I got out of the sauna, and I think I was out too long because my sweating stopped, and when I got back in the sauna I couldn’t get anything else off. That’s what broke me.”

They edited the show to make me look like I didn’t care about my team, but as you can clearly see I was coaching against a T.U.F. show champion (Rashad) and he came from the Ultimate Fighter so he knows how to play the camera and be fake. The behind the scenes stuff from season [...]

Donald Cerrone, who suffered a narrow unanimous decision loss to Ben Henderson in the WEC 43 main event, doesn’t agree with those who think he won the fight: “I think [Henderson] won the fight. Some people will say it might have gone the other way, but he definitely won the fight.”

UFC President Dana white hinted at the possibility of the UFC shrinking the Octagon, in a Q&A with Dave Doyle of YahooSports. The reasoning behind it is uncertain, and Dana did not touch on it in the Q&A at all, but I certainly have my reservations.

“I believe Anderson would destroy Belfort.I think it’s a very interesting fight. Belfort has good boxing skills and is a good athlete, but everybody knows that he has a weak psychological aspect and I think he will shake when he gets in the Octagon with (Silva).
Of course [Belfort and I] will fight. I want this [...]

“He’s a tough guy. He’s undefeated, but some of the guys he’s beaten aren’t worthy of having on your record. He hasn’t fought anybody. He’s fought (Gabriel) Gonzaga, so I really think he’s 1-0. He’s a tough guy and a wrestler. But he’s a Division II national champion — enough said.”
UFC heavyweight champ Brock Lesnar [...]

“[Matt Hamill's] going to be a big step up in competition for me and a really good test for me and I’m stoked about it.
I think his wrestling will play a factor in the fight. I usually fight guys who are Brazilian Black Belts or guys who consider themselves strikers, but with Matt being a [...]

During a Monday conference call with media, UFC heavyweight Kimbo Slice, a contestant on The Ultimate Fighter 10 whose opening round fight against Roy Nelson, billed as “the biggest in Ultimate Fighter history”, airs on Wednesday, talked about the fight and commented on a potential rematch with Seth Petruzelli, who handed him his only career MMA loss last October.

On the heels of his Tuesday announcement that he was “done fighting,” Quinton “Rampage” Jackson has posted another blog post (”Who’s the baby?”) in which he says he’ll “be damned if anybody disrespects me”.

The complete post from Jackson’s official website is re-published after the jump…

UFC President Dana White today appeared on the Carmichael Dave Show to respond to Quinton “Rampage” Jackson’s Tuesday announcement that he was “done fighting” to pursue a full-time acting career, saying that the popular former light heavyweight champ is “acting like a baby” but is free to do what he wants.

The UFC has a history of counter-programming their competition, that is, putting on their own show opposite the competition’s. When Affliction debuted on July 19, 2008 headlined by Fedor Emelianenko vs. Tim Sylvia on pay-per-view, the UFC threw together a full night of fights on Spike including Anderson Silva’s light heavyweight debut. Most recently they aired bouts from UFC 100 on Spike only a month after the event, to counter Strikeforce: Carano vs. Cyborg. It stood to reason they would try to do something along those line when Emelianenko makes his Strikeforce debut, in fact UFC president Dana White had already said publicly that they had in the works a third November event to be headlined by BJ Penn vs. Diego Sanchez, and hinted that it would air on network television.

Thanks for all the concern from my friends and fans on my health. Let me explain the situation that occurred this evening. I’ll start off by saying there’s nothing to worry about at this time. My health is great. I feel incredible and I am in peak tip top shape.My weight cut was only [...]

“Nate’s been bothering the UFC about getting somebody to stand up and bang with him, because Clay Guida went in and just took him down and out-wrestled him. Stevenson did the same thing. Everybody knows I am a great wrestler, but I’m also a great striker and I want to have a good stand-up battle. I mean, if he really wants someone to go in there and stand up and bang with him? I’m that guy.”

– UFC lightweight Melvin Guillard discusses his UFC Fight Night 19 headlining matchup against Nate Diaz with UFC.com.

UFC lightweight champion BJ Penn, fresh off his successful title defense against Kenny Florian earlier this month at UFC 101, recently told the Hawaii Tribune-Herald that he hopes to fight top 155-pound contender Diego Sanchez within the next two months and would like a third matchup with current welterweight title-holder Georges St-Pierre.