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Middle Easy caught this footage of Gegard Mousasi and King Mo having a few words at an open workout in Hollywood for the upcoming Strikeforce “Nashville” show.

It looks like Strikeforce “Nashville” is going to get a fourth fight after all, and Bobby Lashley is going to be a part of it. The question is, who’s his opponent?

Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker told Nick Solomon, reporting for JabsNGrabs.com and MMAWeekly.com, on Wednesday that the promotion had already submitted an opponent for Lashley and was awaiting approval from the Tennessee Athletic Commission. He declined to name the opponent.

If the match-up is approved, Coker told Solomon that the bout would likely be the fourth bout on the CBS televised portion of the event.

Well, we know it probably won’t be any of Strikeforce’s high-profile heavyweights. Alistair Overeem, Brett Rogers, Andrei Arlovski and Antonio Silva are all slated to fight in May. It’s obviously not going to be Fedor, and Fabricio Werdum is still on deck for him as far as we know. I don’t know who it will be, but hopefully it’s someone who will push him harder than Wes Sims did. Good move getting Lashley some network television exposure though.

“I have to tell you something; a lot of people underestimate Dan Hardy, and it’s a big mistake. It’s a big mistake that I’m not going to do. Dan Hardy is the most dangerous guy that I’ve fought so far…If you look at all my big fights, all the fights that I had a lot of pressure (with) B.J. Penn when I did the ‘Primetime’ (show), my revenge against Serra, Matt Hughes when I had the rematch,” he said. “(With) all those great fights, I performed better when I’m under pressure…When I’m under pressure, I’m more nervous. I’m more awake, and my reaction time is better, so that’s a good thing for me…[Hardy] is a thinking fighter. He’s very technical in the way that he fights. He’s a great counter-puncher…My life will end March 27, and it’s a chance for me also to redeem myself where I felt [like I was] in the same situation. I never (have) been so pumped up in my life for a fight.”

—Georges St. Pierre reassuring the media he is not underestimating Dan Hardy

When we try to analyze this fight and how Dan Hardy can win, it’s easy to look back at the Matt Serra upset. Dan Hardy hits hard and if he catches GSP off guard like Serra did he can definitely pull off the upset. That said, it’s pretty difficult to surprise someone more than once. GSP is well aware of how Hardy can hurt him and I don’t see him putting himself in situations that play to Hardy’s strengths. I don’t necessarily agree that Hardy is the most dangerous guy that GSP has ever fought, but the mere fact that GSP has convinced himself he is means Hardy is going to have to beat St. Pierre at his absolute best on March 27. Anything’s possible, but I damn sure wouldn’t bet on it.

Image via CombatLifestyle.com

When we think of drugs of abuse in mixed martial arts, or any sport for that matter, we usually focus on steroids. However, there’s seems to be an alarming trend of fighters abusing a different kind of drug — prescription meds. Karo Parisyan and Paulo Filho’s careers have taken a turn for the worse because of them, and if it wasn’t for James Irvin getting caught, he says his career was headed in the same direction.

“The Anderson Silva fight, I have 25 stitches across my cheek from when he blasted me,” the mixed martial arts fighter told The Canadian Press. “Every day when I look in the mirror, I have a clear reminder of what those drugs did to me and what lies ahead of me if I was ever to start using that garbage ever again.”

…

“It wasn’t until a time that I just stopped taking them that I realized I needed them just to keep on functioning,” he said. “At that time I had become an addict and I was hooked on them.

“I never even heard the word withdrawal,” he added. “I didn’t know what withdrawals were. I didn’t know what was going on. I didn’t know to speak to a doctor about it. I took it the wrong way, kind of the cowardly path. I just kept on using the prescription drugs, but it’s a tough push-pull kind of thing in my line of sport. Injuries are a common thing, it’s something you’re always dealing with. And when you have bad ones, sometimes you have to take those medications.”

Irvin (14-5 with one no contest) now says the positive drug test was a blessing in disguise. He had become trapped.

“I needed to get caught,” he said. “I needed to get in trouble for it and wake me up and get off of those things.”

“Since then, since I’ve had that suspension, (since) I’ve been drug-free, it’s been the happiest time of my entire life. I can honestly say that,” he added. “A lot of people throw that around, but I can tell you (it’s true) with my family, with my wife, my training. I’ve found a new love in training again, it’s something that I had lost while using those prescription drugs and I just feel like a new person.”

Unfortunately in this sport, injuries are essentially unavoidable, and with those comes legal prescriptions for pain medication. No one ever sets out to get hooked on them, but it happens. Hopefully other fighters will learn from their peers like Irvin that just because a doctor provides them doesn’t mean they aren’t extremely dangerous if you abuse them.

James Irvin takes on Alessio Sakara this Sunday night at UFC on Versus 1, and no, he doesn’t want a rematch with Anderson Silva.

Whoa, check this out. EA released a new video with actual gameplay footage of EA Sports MMA today. Looks badass if you ask me. What do you think?

There’s one channel I skip right through without fail when I’m watching TV and that’s the Discovery Health network. They’re always showing one surgical procedure or another. I’m not terribly squeamish, but it’s just too much for me to watch a doctor tinker with someone’s brain fully exposed in crystal-clear HD. I was never meant to be a doctor, that’s for sure. Anyways, if you’re like me, you’ll probably want to skip this video of the special procedure Miguel Torres went through to properly fix that nasty gash Joseph Benavidez opened up on his forehead at WEC 47. It’s not the worst thing you’ll ever see, but you do get a better look at Miguel’s skull than you probably ever wanted.

The second episode of UFC Primetime ‘St. Pierre vs Hardy’ airs Wednesday night at 10PM ET/PT on Spike TV.