MMA Link Club: Roy Nelson returns to his roots, Bellator files suit, and "Punkass" weighs in

- TUF Enough: MMAmania interview exclusive with UFC 137's Roy Nelson (MMAMania)

"I feel standing, like I think I've stood up with some of the best heavyweights in the world. I stood up with Junior [dos Santos] so like, I think I might regress for this fight and go back to my roots, go back to my first five or six wins were all submissions. Maybe I'll regress in the chain of being an MMA fighter."

- Interview with Dan "Punkass" Caldwell from the Tapout Crew at NYCC 2011 (TheFightNerd)

"I think Kenny [Florian] is a really exciting fighter in his past matches, he just needs to fight the right people... me personally, I think the 155 lb. division looks a little more inviting again. I think he should go back to 155 and try his hand there. Some of those guys would match up better with his style."

- Exclusive: Matt Lindland Says "Chael Would Finish Anderson Before Round 4" (BleacherReport/MMA)

"I think the rematch would look just like the first one, except I’ve got a game plan for Chael to finish him before the end of the third round. So, yeah it’ll look similar to their first encounter, but with some additional techniques and strategy, it won’t make it to the championship rounds."

- When Good Submissions Go Bad: Six Fighters Who Ignored the Tap (CagePotato)

“A lot of people have asked me about me holding the choke on [Jens Pulver] and if I felt I held it too long, and my answer has been the same since day one: I didn’t hold it long enough.” — BJ Penn

- 10th Planet's Scottie Epstein talks about 'Never Back Down 2' (MiddleEasy)

"I met Michael Jai White in a restaurant with a friend who was a big fan of Black Dynamite and Spawn and he got all excited so I said what's up. I've known him before from Legends. So when he saw me he was all excited saying what's up and then he said "oh, I thought you were someone else..."

- Dana White Slipping in AskMen’s “Top 49 Most Influential Men” Poll (5thRound)

"Despite swallowing up his biggest competitor and landing an ever-elusive broadcast network deal with FOX this past year, AskMen’s readers voted UFC president Dana White (Pictured) as the 38th most influential man of 2011.For a mixed martial arts representative to crack the Top 49 list is an accomplishment in itself, however White was rated #32 in last year’s poll and #9 in 2009."

- Update on Bellator-Desert Rage Litigation (MMAPayOut)

"Last week we reported that Bellator had sued Arizona promotion Desert Rage Full Contact Fighting claiming the Arizona-based promotion interfered with contracted Bellator fighters for its upcoming event in Yuma on October 22nd as Desert Rage was set to hold its own event nearby on the same date."

- Dan Wheldon, MMA and Accepting the Risks of Danger in Sports (MMAFighting)

"Luck is the intangible that athletes alternately crave and fear, because they never know if it's going to work for or against them. For IndyCar racer Dan Wheldon on Sunday, luck was not on his side. I don't know nearly enough about auto racing to say whether Wheldon could have done anything to prevent his involvement in the crash at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, but I doubt it."

- Number 1, With an Asterisk (NBCSports/MMA)

"Condit was never the true No. 1 contender. It was only Diaz’s public relations blunder of missing two press conferences in two days that caused White to pull him from the main event and replace him with Condit. That’s not to say Condit wasn’t ever in the discussion of top contenders; he’s 9-1 under the Zuffa banner and was breathing on the champion’s neck."

- Opinion: Dana White is not the right man to lead the UFC during their era on Fox (FightOpinion)

"Dana White has been the catalyst for the UFC’s growth from 2005 to present day. He is the most influential man in the sport and transformed UFC into an MMA empire. ... Dana White was the right man at the right time to get the UFC to this business point. However, he is not the right man moving forward."

- Grappling with Issues – 10/19/11 (Five Ounces of Pain)

"How much gas does Rich Franklin have left in the tank? Will Alexis Vila cruise to the Bellator Season 5 Bantamweight Tournament crown? Is Roy Nelson at risk of getting released without a win at UFC 137? Should Bellator consider holding events on a new night come 2012? Keyboard warrrrriors….come out to plaaaay-yay!"

- K-1 and MMA (MMAConvert)

"The bottom line is K-1 is in trouble.  “K-what?” you may ask?  Yeah, that’s the problem.  In the U.S., K-1 never really got that big.  But it was huge in Japan, and in other parts of the world where kickboxing is the equivalent of what Western boxing is here in terms of acceptance and popularity.  “Okay, but what does K-1 have to do with the sport of mixed martial arts?” you may ask?"

Photo: MMAWeekly.com