“CBS would be out of their mind to put that rinky-dink [Strikeforce] . . . on the air again . . . and without that backing, [promoters] won’t have the money to pay [Emelianenko].

The guy just got his face smashed in by Brett Rogers. Do you know what Brock or [UFC heavyweights] Frank Mir and Cain Velasquez would do to Brett Rogers? It’s time to bring this guy [Fedor] in, to see Brock Lesnar smash his head.”

Despite White’s disappointment in the card, “Fedor vs. Rogers” peaked with nearly 5.5 million viewers and both Strikeforce and CBS have gone on the record to say they’re satisfied and encouraged by the figures.

“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.

After practice we were all sitting around, we were actually going to come back later at night to work out again, and he basically told us, ‘Hey guys, I’m going to pull out of this thing.’

There’s a lot of [H1N1] cases…around here. There are a lot of confirmed cases of it. I don’t want to say it’s that for sure, but it wouldn’t surprise me.

He was very excited for this fight. He was always in good spirits. I could tell he was kind of let down today and he told us he felt really bad.”

Heavy.com: Was this the first time you tried to cut from 220?

Anthony Johnson: Yeah, I never get that high. That’s the heaviest I’ve ever been in my life. But I got an injury when I was getting ready for Matt Brown, I hurt my knee again. When you get injured, you don’t do much. You sit around and eat and get fat. That’s exactly what I did.

Heavy.com: What weight do you usually start at?

Anthony Johnson: Usually I start at 210. That ten pound difference made a big impact. You know what I mean? It kicked my butt, but I was prepared for it. I was prepared to just grind it out and get down to 171. And 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.

Heavy.com: What were you at the day before the weigh-ins?

Anthony Johnson: Well, I was working with this trainer, a friend of my agent. He wanted me to try barely eating anything but getting a lot of fluids in me. So we did that, and I was 192 on Monday and I should have been less than 185 on Wednesday and I wouldn’t need to make the hard cut on Friday. The trainer told me, “drink a lot of water and don’t eat too much”. So I did that, and then on Thursday I did a three hour workout and dropped from 198 to 183. I was 192 and I drank all of this water that he wanted me to drink and got back up to 198. Doing his thing, it was cool but I think the process got started too late. If I’d done things the way I always did, I would have been fine, but trying this new method, this new way of doing things, really jacked my body up.

Heavy.com: Have you given any thought to jumping up to middleweight?

Anthony Johnson: I will eventually. Right now, I like 170. There’s nothing you can really do about it except try to cut. You know, I haven’t missed weight in two years. I always try my best, and when I don’t succeed, it irritates me and I get bummed out. It pisses me off, it pisses off the UFC and it pisses off my fans. It makes everybody mad, you know?

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 7 left a real bad taste in my mouth. I was already salty about it and that was the main reason I did not want to do season 10. I liked everyone on my team and I chose my team for a number of reasons. If I could do it over I would choose all the same guys, except next time I WILL choose the camera man. My team and I had great chemistry and we got along great. Rashad and his team didn’t even like each other. The only reason I’m blogging this is that I want everyone to know what’s really up. The show is for entertainment and it could be edited in many different ways, which doesn’t always tell the true story.

The show is called the Ultimate Fighter, not the Ultimate Coach.

Quinton “Rampage” Jackson blogs about his highly-criticized appearance as a coach on The Ultimate Fighter 10 opposite fellow former light heavyweight champ Rashad Evans. Team Rampage fell to 0-5 on last night’s episode of TUF 10 and will need a win from their final three draft picks to avoid being swept.

Click here for more The Ultimate Fighter 10 coverage.

“I think [Henderson] won the fight. Some people will say it might have gone the other way, but he definitely won the fight.

I just don’t get started. It’s something I’m trying to work on. I’d like to just go out there and get going right from the start, but I didn’t. I just got my ass kicked for the first two rounds and then decided I’d get fired up. I’m obviously disappointed in myself. I didn’t go out there and show what I had the first couple of rounds. I asked my coach, ‘What round are we in?’ He said, ‘Fourth.’ I said, ‘Oh, [expletive], I better get going.’”

Click here for more WEC 43 news.

Pictured: Donald Cerrone

Dave Doyle: “Would the WEC fighters lose something if you moved them from the smaller WEC cage to the bigger UFC Octagon?”

Dana White: “Actually, we’ve been talking about making the Octagon smaller. We’re considering making it smaller. [UFC matchmaker] Joe Silva wants it. I think he wants to turn the thing into a [expletive] bathtub. Have them fight in a little tollbooth.”

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 fight too much. I believe the first one didn’t happen as I wanted. I was surprised, and it will not happen again now because I’m much more experienced. I’m not saying it will be now or later, but when it happens, I’ll prepare myself a lot to be in my best shape because he is a tough opponent, and I want to give the show everybody expects from me.

[Anderson Silva and I] talked. It was a big misunderstanding and it was solved the way men have to solve any problem: talking face to face. Anderson is a great guy, and we finally put a period on that story.”

Wanderlei Silva talks to Sherdog about the January 2 matchup between middleweight champ Anderson Silva and Vitor Belfort at UFC 108, a likely future rematch with Belfort, and mending his relationship with Silva.

“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 on his upcoming opponent Shane Carwin in an interview with the Las Vegas Sun. Lesnar and Carwin are slated to square off on November 21 in the main event of UFC 106 in Las Vegas.

“[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 tough wrestler, I can see that being an issue. But Matt isn’t really known for his submissions or having knockout power in his hands, so I’m just going to train every aspect of mixed martial arts and I’m excited about this fight because he’s not known for his Jiu-Jitsu and my Jiu-Jitsu is getting really good. If he ends up taking me down, I’m straight with working off of my back or getting into some scramble with him and possibly submitting him. In the boxing category, I feel like I’m faster than him and more well-rounded than him. In the kicking department, I’m working with Phil there and now I’m working into being a Muay Thai fighter, so I’m just going to go out there and mix it up in every aspect. I actually had a very good wrestling career also and I try not to doubt myself in any aspect of the sport. Doubt is where a weakness is about to come in, so I’m just ready to mix it up man. I’m ready to take him down, I’m ready to defend his takedowns and I’m just confident man. I haven’t lost and I’m always working to get better, so I have no reason to doubt myself. I just want to be an all-around great fighter.”

Rising light heavyweight Jon Jones talks to Fight Hype about his December 5 showdown with Matt Hamill at The Ultimate Fighter 10 Finale.

“I was impressed with my performance,” Slice said of his fight with Nelson, adding that he’s now training with American Top Team in preparation for a December bout at The Ultimate Fighter 10 Finale, though whether he’ll be competing in the heavyweight tournament finals remains to be seen.

“No one ever approached me with no rematch with Seth, and I never turned that shit down. That right there is B.S. It didn’t happen,” Slice responded when asked about Petruzelli’s claims that he declined a rematch. “If Seth signed with the UFC, and if Dana and them want to match it up, damn right I’ll run it again with him. We don’t even need to do it in a ring. We can do it bare-knuckle style because I don’t like liars. I’ve never turned down a rematch with anybody. Anyone I fought, I’ll fight them again.”

The Ultimate Fighter 10 Coverage