We already knew that Chael Sonnen was borrowing heavily from pro wrestling for his promos but last night (Sat., Jan. 28, 2012) after his unanimous decision win over Michael Bisping, he outright stole an old promo from "Superstar" Billy Graham.

When Joe Rogan climbed inside the Octagon to ask Sonnen a question for the post-fight interview, Sonnen simply took the mic and did his thing.

Or I should say, Graham's thing.

This is a new low for Sonnen, whose schtick is so unbelievably tired, I can't imagine it will hold up for much longer, especially now that folks know he's straight up ripping off old pro wrestlers promos from way back in the day.

Above you can watch Sonnen's version but after the jump check out the original, from someone who actually knew how to cut a promo.

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As we reported here on Cageside a few weeks ago, Chael Sonnen asked CM Punk to walk to the cage with him for his UFC on Fox 2 fight against Michael Bisping this Sat., Jan. 28, 2012, at the United Center in Chicago, Illinois. Originally, everything appeared to be all systems clear with Punk getting the day off from a house show and Sonnen getting approval from the higher ups with the UFC.

Then word came down that Vince McMahon had pulled the plug on the whole thing and he would no longer allow Punk to even attend the show as a fan. And really, it's no surprise he did so.

The news that Punk was walking out with Sonnen caused a few ripples within the MMA media and now Ariel Helwani gets the answer as to why Sonnen ever wanted to walk out with him in the first place:

"1) We're friends, 2) I really like him, 3) It's his hometown, 4) He's a big UFC fan, and 5) There's major crossover. A number of years ago, I think we all thought we were going to have to compete with each other; boxing, MMA and wrestling were going to have to have their own fans and what we've learned with time is it's not true. People are crossover fans and just kind of all around fans, especially when you're talking about CM Punk here in Chicago, that guy is royalty around here. I think it would have been fun for both of us."

It's nice to finally hear a prominent member of the mixed martial arts world acknowledge the crossover appeal of WWE and UFC, especially considering the fact that so many attempt to shun the notion and treat it as though it has no merit.

The reality of the situation now is that Brock Lesnar is retired and Georges St. Pierre is injured and possibly out until November of this year. That means Chael P. Sonnen could be the biggest star on the UFC roster right now. That puts extra weight behind these words. When considering how influential he's proven to be to the fanbase he's spent so much time cultivating, one can't help but wonder what this will mean going forward.

That's not to say there will be any sort of deals cut between the two companies. Quite the contrary, in fact, as the two have remained mostly cordial with each other while maintaining as much distance as possible. But with Sonnen openly acknowledging the link between the two and cutting promos in his interviews like he's Hulk Hogan, it's safe to assume more and more fighters will follow his lead and lend themselves more to the entertainment side of the business.

Cash is still king, folks, and there's a lot of money to be made when you can cut a hell of a promo. The future of MMA could be a bunch of Sonnen knockoffs looking to maximize their value. And when they're working for as little at $6,000 starting out, they have every reason to want to increase their brand.

Watch Sonnen's full interview with Helwani after the jump. Helwani leads him into his Hogan-style promo at the end where he puts over how big his arms are and how much harm he's going to do to Bisping Saturday night.

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Yesterday we brought word that Kevin Nash had took to Twitter to challenge Ultimate Warrior to a $100K MMA fight on the night before WrestleMania. And according to the Wrestling Observer, RF Video has jumped in to offer a venue in Miami on that very night.

RF Video has offered Nash a venue in Miami on WrestleMania weekend. Rob Feinstein said he talked to Nash about it and Nash was all ready to go, but Warrior's people hadn't contacted him back yet.

Nash fired shot after shot on Twitter, baiting Warrior into a response, something he never actually got. The only thing Warrior said when it was done was that he would be filming a video response to all the madness.

And now it's here.

It's not train wreck TV like I expected. Actually, it's the furthest thing from that. It's simply Warrior burying Nash for being who he is, which is a politically charged con man who stepped over many a young talent and killed enough careers to fill an entire federation of stars.

It's just over 10 minutes of Warrior telling the truth about Nash. He even goes after Triple H, essentially stating what the rest of us already know. It's refreshing, really. The fact that it's coming from Warrior hurts its credibility, sure, but he wasn't outrageous here. Not until the end of the video, at least, when he basically makes it financially impossible for Nash to put an actual fight together.

For those who can't watch the video, I took the time to transcribe the text. Enjoy it all after the jump.

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When Chael Sonnen takes on Mark Munoz at UFC on Fox 2 on Jan. 28 in Chicago, Illinois, he will do so with WWE Champion CM Punk in his corner.

That's right, the best promo in MMA is hooking up with the best promo in pro wrestling to tear the house down at the United Center in the "Windy City." The Wrestling Observer has it:

Chael Sonnen confirmed last night that C.M. Punk would be in his corner for his 1/28 match with Mark Munoz at the United Center in Punk's home city of Chicago.

Punk was able to get the night off from a scheduled WWE house show in Evansville.

It's kind of funny to think now but I can remember a few weeks back when Punk tweeted to Sonnen that he couldn't send him a direct message on Twitter because Sonnen isn't following him. Twitter rules, and what not.

I thought that was interesting but didn't think it would expand beyond maybe Chael wanting to pay him a compliment or something that has nothing to do with anything substantial for either guy. Now, just a short time later, news comes out that Punk will be in Sonnen's corner for a huge fight.

What's surprising here is that the UFC is okay with this. In times past, UFC President Dana White has done everything possible to avoid viewers associating WWE with UFC. He's done this while maintaining a good relationship with Vince McMahon, however, so I suppose it was only a matter of time before someone convinced him to let them do something like this.

What will be truly special is if Sonnen wins and they have enough time to let him cut a promo live on network TV with Punk standing inside the Octagon with him. That will surely piss off plenty of the MMA purists but it makes old pro wrestling marks like us Cagesiders eager in anticipation.

There's also the chance Punk will never be shown on TV and there's even a chance Sonnen's entrance isn't shown due to time constraints. Hopefully that all gets worked out beforehand.

Either way, this sounds delicious, right?

UPDATE: According to Ariel Helwani of MMAFighting.com, Punk will simply walk out with Sonnen but will not stick around to be in his corner. I've reached out to Sonnen but have yet to receive a reply.

Though Brock Lesnar didn't take a dive against Alistair Overeem last night at UFC 141 and almost certainly won't make a shock return to WWE Raw in just two days time as their latest mystery man, the truth is close enough that a former colleague of Lesnar's like Chris Jericho who knows his modus operandi can plausibly make those false accusations and get away with it.

Throughout his career, Lesnar has always sought the easy road and looked for an exit strategy when things weren't going his way. When Vince McMahon decided that Brock Lesnar was a failure as the top star on Smackdown in early 2004 and it was time for him to drop the WWE title to Eddie Guerrero, it didn't take long for a burnt out Lesnar to hand his notice into the company. Supremely confident in his athletic ability, Lesnar thought his local celebrity and raw talent would be enough to snag him a place on the Minnesota Vikings football team, but quickly gave up on the idea of an NFL career when he realised it wouldn't be that easy.

For a while it looked like Brock was up shit creek without a paddle, as he was embroiled in a lengthy legal dispute with WWE over the restrictive terms of his multi-year non-compete agreement, which precluded him from going into MMA, and it looked like he was resigned to his fate of returning to WWE for a worse deal than the one he had before. But at the last second he found a Joker card up his sleeve, when a desperate Antonio Inoki signed him to a lucrative New Japan Pro Wrestling deal in the autumn of 2005, despite his ongoing lawsuit with WWE. Inoki's Hail Mary completely failed, as Lesnar was an expensive flop as IWGP Heavyweight champion, but worked out perfectly for Lesnar himself, since it gave him the time and resources to obtain a favourable settlement from WWE, allowing him to start his MMA career in earnest. There was still the IWGP title to deal with, but Lesnar showed his gratitude to the struggling New Japan promotion by playing hardball and failing to fly to Japan for a scheduled title defence against Hiroshi Tanahashi, which led to him being stripped of the belt.

That brings us to this week, where Brock Lesnar was setting up his UFC get out plan before he even stepped foot in the Octagon, by making it clear that he wouldn't refuse Vince McMahon's big bucks if he came calling. One very halfhearted performance later that didn't play to his strengths, leading to a quick defeat at the hands of the best heavyweight kickboxer in the UFC, he then immediately handed in his notice to Dana White by announcing his retirement from MMA. You didn't have to be Sherlock Holmes to realise that Brock was doing the spade work to angle for a quick return to WWE, because he knew he couldn't hang with the younger, more well rounded athletes that have emerged in the heavyweight division while he's been more preoccupied with recovering from two bouts of diverticulitis than improving his fighting skills.

Indeed, Dave Meltzer on his latest Wrestling Observer Radio show speculated that Brock "just came in to get beat", because he wasn't the same Brock of three years ago and knew in his heart after training that he wouldn't be able to take Overeem down and there went his chances of victory. Moreover, Meltzer had heard about Lesnar's idea to jump straight from UFC to WWE should he lose for the last few weeks:

"[Dana] said that he didn't know that this was happening, but I will say this, all week long I had heard from plenty of people that if Brock was to lose he would, and I shouldn't even say all week because I heard for the past three or four weeks that if Brock were to lose don't be surprised to see him in WWE fairly soon.... When he started with the [retirement] speech, I thought, you know, OK, very very interesting, because it was clearly practised, he knew ahead of time. I don't know if he had told anyone but there were rumours going around, not so much that he was going to quit, but there was an offer out for him and if he lost in a bad way, which the feeling was if he lost it would be in a bad way, that he wouldn't be able to be a main event fighter again and without being a main event fighter he wouldn't make millions for a fight and Brock is not a guy who is going to fight for $500,000 or $700,000. He's just not going to do that, especially when he can, in his own mind, make far more than that doing pro wrestling."

Of course, Dana will do everything in his power to stop Brock from showing up on WWE TV anytime soon, just like Vince McMahon successfully managed to delay the start of Brock's MMA career by a couple of years, even though ultimately Brock got the last laugh in that legal battle. The question becomes whether Dana will resort to the stick of his lawyers like Vince did almost eight years ago or take the carrot approach of offering Brock a big payday to face someone like Frank Mir or Roy Nelson on FOX to keep him in the UFC fold for another fight or two. After all, Brock wouldn't be the first pro wrestler or even MMA fighter to renege on a speedy retirement vow.

This definitely warrants some attention.

One of the biggest names in professional wrestling in the past 10 years has suddenly found himself unemployed.

Following a first round technical knockout (TKO) to Alistair Overeem at tonight's (Dec. 30) UFC 141, former WWE Superstar Brock Lesnar retired from the sport of mixed martial arts (MMA).

"My hats off to Alistair Overeem. I've had a really difficult couple of years with my disease. Tonight is the last time you will see me in the Octagon. I want to thank everybody -- the Fertittas, Dana White. Everybody you've been great. I'm here to say that Brock Lesnar has officially retired. I promised my wife, my kids. If I won this fight I'd fight one more time for the title. If I lost, I'd retire."

It's been a rough couple of years for "The Next Big Thing" who was perhaps hours away from death when diverticulitis and the Canadian healthcare system formed a tag team and doubled up on the former NCAA champ's intestines. He made a return at UFC 116 and won a rousing fight against Shane Carwin but came up short a few months later against Cain Velasquez.

Booked opposite Junior Dos Santos during a season of the UFC reality show The Ultimate Fighter, Lesnar was set to meet the Brazilian to decide the number one contender to the heavyweight crown but his gut trouble resurfaced. Now with a second consecutive loss, the big guy has called it quits.

Right now, it isn't a question IF Lesnar returns to the WWE but WHEN. There should be no doubt that Vince McMahon personally gave his former Superstar a post-fight phone call to A, console Lesnar on his loss and B, ask if the Minnesota native wants to make a truckload ... no, a boatload ... no, there isn't a vessel that's been built yet that could hold the amount to money the two men could make.

Following Lesnar's announcement, WrestleMania became a worldwide trend on Twitter.

What do you think, Cagesiders? Will we see Lesnar in Miami?

Wow.

After what was hyped as the biggest heavyweight fight in the promotion's history, Brock Lesnar failed to win his return bout against the debuting Alistair Overeem in the main event of UFC 141.

The fight started off with both fighters exchanging and it was obvious from the beginning the former Strikeforce champion was far more comfortable on his feet than his opponent. Several failed takedown attempts from the former NCAA champion led to a devastating body attack from the Dutchman that proved to be Lesnar's undoing.

Now, after losing two fights in a row -- the first being to Cain Velasquez back at UFC 121 -- in definitive fashion, "The Next Big Thing" is hanging up his 4XL four ounce gloves. After Lesnar's recent comments where he all but signed a new contract with the WWE, it seems the time might be ripe for his return to the squared circle.

While the UFC might have been hoping to milk one last fight from the hulking behemoth, Lesnar has decided that he's had enough of "real fighting." On top of that, his stock -- and his reputation as a top-ranked heavyweight -- have taken a major, "Ubereem"-sized hit. That in itself might also hurt his chances at getting his old job back.

Coming off a win, Lesnar returning as the conquering hero would have done big business for the WWE but promoting someone many could look at as a "UFC also-ran" could prove to be a harder sell for Vince McMahon and company. While that is certainly something to consider, Lesnar's name and following is still worth something among wrestling fans.

Can a trip to Stamford be far behind?

Brock Lesnar will climb back inside the cage tonight at UFC 141 in Las Vegas, Nevada, against Alistair Overeem for his first fight in over a year. It's also the first time he will compete following his surgery to remove 12 inches of his intestine due to complications with diverticulitis back in May.

He looks healthy and raring to go, telling press at the pre-fight press conference that he's "an underdog with a big f*cking bite."

His WWE career has only ever come up in conversation once or twice and he's remained coy regarding a potential return. He keeps pushing the line that he works for the UFC and that's that but he also makes sure to leave the door open to head back to the squared circle.

Here's what he said recently about it (via LATimes.com):

"I was recently asked to be on a WWE Legends video game, and when I did it rumors sprouted I was coming back. I'm an ultimate fighter. I know (pro wrestling's) always there. If the organization sees business to be made off me, I don't think anyone in their right mind would turn down money, do you?"

That's quite the turnaround from sentence to sentence. He's an "ultimate fighter" but he won't turn down the big money payday Vince McMahon has been trying to use to lure him back to the WWE.

What should be interesting is seeing what happens in his fight against "The Reem" tonight, not just because it will likely have a major effect on his future MMA career but because it may also affect his drawing power in pro wrestling. There's a big difference between coming back as a guy who was successful in the UFC and won the heavyweight title and beat some of the best in the world and a guy who did all that before fighting a few guys who were bad match-ups and getting embarrassed to the point he took off on the business.

That's not to say that's what will happen but it's certainly something to watch out for. Stay tuned, Cagesiders.