Nick Diaz Thinks He Will Get Suspended After Paul Daley Win

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SAN DIEGO -- MMA Fighting spoke to Nick Diaz following his thrilling win over Paul Daley on Saturday night. The Strikeforce welterweight champion talked about the way the fight played out, why he thinks he will get suspended after the fight, why he thinks he is overworked and whether his teammate Gilbert Melendez's win inspired him.

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Fedor's Camp Offers Fight at 220; Dan Henderson Unconcerned With Weight

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It's a fight that Dan Henderson discussed prior to ever signing with Strikeforce, so the promotion's reigning light-heavyweight champion would gladly temporarily move up a division to accept a match with Russian legend Fedor Emelianenko.

Henderson's manager Aaron Crecy told MMA Fighting that while the fighter has yet to receive an offer for the bout, Strikeforce did ask for confirmation he would take the fight before beginning talks with Emelianenko's M-1 team. Those discussions remain ongoing, but as far as Henderson's concerned, he'll take the fight at any weight class.

"Dan has indicated he'd love to have the fight and he hasn't shied away from that," Crecy said. "He'd love to have the fight, and have it at heavyweight. He's happy to challenge Fedor there."

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What you need to know from the TUF debut

"I ain't here to make friends. I ain't here to win new fans. This is strictly business for me."

The first words out of Brock Lesnar's mouth in the debut of the 13th season of "The Ultimate Fighter" were in form of the most cliche of reality TV cliches. This bodes well for the season. Read on for a recap and spoilers from the first episode of ... "The Ultimate Fighter."

Good news of the day: The fighters were pleased to find out that they did not have to win a fight to make it into the house, as was the custom in the past few seasons. What has returned is the wildcard. Less than two minutes into the show, Dana White drops his first f-bomb, saying that the UFC wants guys who are bleepin' fighters.

Instead of the fights, the fighters are put through workouts to show off their skills for Lesnar and Junior dos Santos. Lesnar has his strength and conditioning guru check on the cardio of each fighter, while dos Santos explores the "international language of fight." Dos Santos points out that he is more concerned about the fight style of each competitor, while Lesnar is more concerned about cardio.

Standouts of the day: Brock is most impressed with Len Bentley, while Shamar Bailey and Ryan McGillivray catch Junior's eye.

Ugh, that sucks of the day: Myles Jury, who also stood out, hurt his knee in practice. While he says it's fine, I've been watching this show long enough to realize that this is a bad sign.

Picks of the day: Lesnar and dos Santos head to the office to make their picks, meaning that it won't be like gym class, where each fighter will go and stand with their team. I hope it's more like cheerleading tryouts, where you read from a list that's posted outside the gym. Some cry with happiness, some cry with sadness.

Nah, Dana White just reads the fighters name from a list. Lesnar gets first pick by virtue of a coin toss. In order of how they were picked, the teams are:

Lesnar:
Len Bentley
Charles Rader
Tony Ferguson
Clay Harvison
Myles Jury
Chris Cope
Nordin Asrih

Dos Santos:
Shamar Bailey
Ryan McGillivray
Javier Torres
Ramsey Nijem
Zach Davis
Mick Bowman
Keon Caldwell

Second biggest reality TV show cliche of the day: Let's explore the house and claim rooms! The teams break up by floor, with Lesnar's team upstairs and Team dos Santos downstairs. Somehow, I still have faith that hijinx will ensue.

Saw that coming from a mile away of the day: Myles Jury has a torn ACL, and the doctor won't let him fight. Lesnar is surprisingly supportive. Jury thinks he's going to stay around and learn from the coaches while he heals. Dana White bursts that bubble and sends him home, to be replaced by Chuck O'Neil and his fantastic Boston accent.

Fight pick of the week: Dos Santos gets first fight pick, and he puts his first pick, Shemar Bailey, against Lesnar's last, Nordin Asrih.

Finding religion of the day: In an interesting oddity of matchmaking, both fighters are deeply religious. Bailey is a preacher's son, while Asrih is a German Muslim who adheres to his religion's pillar of praying five times daily. Asrih says that he feels more focused after prayer.

Fight of the Day: Nordin Asrih (Team Lesnar) vs. Shamar Bailey (Team dos Santos)

Round 1: Bailey quickly uses his strength, wrestling. He takes Asrih down and moves to side control. Asrih gets back to his feet for a second, but Bailey brings it right back down. Bailey's wrestling is fantastic, but he seems content to get the pin. It takes him much too long to figure out that it's OK. He can throw punches. Near the end of the round, he lands some big elbows, but for as long as he had control, Bailey should have done much more damage.

Round 2: Asrih starts the round with a kick, slips and falls on the ground. Bailey jumps on top of him, gets full mount and pins Asrih. However, this not being a wrestling match, no one slaps the mat and he has to continue fighting. Asrih shows some flashes when he reverses Bailey and tries for a guillotine. But the round was Bailey's. In the final minute, he gets full mount and throws strikes.

All three judges score it for Bailey, and he says after the fight that his strategy worked because he didn't want to show off everything that he could do in his first bout on the show. In his parting shot to his team, Lesnar says, "Wrestling is powerful in this sport."

Darn straight, Brock. What did you think of the first episode?

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Buzz builds for guest Octagon Girl at Brazil event

With Ultimate Fight Night 24 in the books, it's time to concentrate on the important things in life - who will be the guest Octagon Girl in Brazil?

Cage Potato stumbled across this interesting candidate. For those who like images of the beaches in Rio de Janeiro and the skimpy bathing suits comes Juliana Salimeni.

She popped in a recent Sherdog photoshoot of the TUF 13 set in Las Vegas. Apparently, she's a pretty popular television personality in Brazil. The UFC may need a teeny-bit more fabric for the Octagon girl uniform shorts. As long as she stays away from the N.Y. Jets and Joy Behar, Ms. Salimeni (NSFW) should be fine. Let's root for her to make it to the August UFC event in Brazil.

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Emotional Aoki submits Beerbohm at Strikeforce

Japanese fight favorite Shinya Aoki started Strikeforce: Diaz vs. Daley with a bang on Saturday night in San Diego, submitting Lyle "Fancypants" Beerbohm in less than two minutes.

Despite a low, defensive stance, Aoki was able to take Beerbohm down early. Beerbohm had no takedown defense. Aoki then followed with a rear naked choke, switching it to a neck crank. After throwing a body triangle, he cranked Beerbohm's neck until he tapped at 1:33 in the first round.

Aoki, one of two Japanese fighters on Strikeforce's main card,  was emotional as his name was announced as the winner. Because of the devastating events in Japan and training for his fight, Aoki has still not met his newborn child. He now gets to go home a winner on a four-fight win streak.

Beerbohm has lost his second bout in a row. He dropped a decision to Pat Healy in February and now has a record of 15-2.

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Streak of bad luck hits American Kickboxing Academy fighters

Someone must have broken a mirror while under a ladder as a black cat crossed their path at American Kickboxing Academy, the gym that trains Cain Velasquez, Josh Koscheck, Mike Swick, Josh Thomson and a slew of elite fighters. Two of their fighters had to withdraw from fights this week.

First, Jon Fitch pulled out of his planned rematch with B.J. Penn. The two were slated to fight at UFC 132 after they fought to a draw at UFC 127. No replacement has been named, but Penn is still expected to fight on the card.

Then, Mike Kyle was forced out of next week's Strikeforce bout with Gegard Mousasi with a broken hand. Strikeforce is looking for a replacement.

This is after Velasquez hurt his shoulder in training for a bout with Junior dos Santos, Koscheck broke an orbital bone against Georges St. Pierre, and Swick went through a laundry list of ailments that have kept him from fighting.

Since it's opening day for baseball, AKA fighters may want to think about pulling some ideas from "Major League" and "Bull Durham" to remove whatever curse that has befallen them. Sacrificing a live chicken might be a bit much -- especially for animal rights crusader Thomson -- but a bucket of KFC and chicken bones on their cage just may do the trick.

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