Many fighters have had tough paths to the cage. Some have come up from poor families, been beaten by their parents or have seen mixed martial arts as their only way out. Iman Acchal has faced all of those things and crossed an ocean to become a fighter.

Achhal was born in Morocco and is Muslim. As is the custom, her parents arranged for her to be married to a man she didn't know. After seeing friends go through the same custom and be unhappy, she decided that she needed to leave and go to America. That wasn't very easy, as her parents would not receive the money they were promised for her wedding if Iman left. When she told her parents she was leaving, her mom beat her. As she said:

Even as an MMA fighter, that was the worst beating of my life.

Here in the United States, she has carved out a life for herself, and found solace in fighting. After winning three amateur bouts, she will make her pro debut with the Ultimate Warrior Challenge on Saturday night against fellow rookie Felice

After officials from Quebec threatened to stop UFC 97 from happening, the UFC braintrust traveled north to make sure that the event still happened. Tickets were already on sale, and a full card, which includes Anderson Silva vs. Thales Leites and Chuck Liddell vs. Mauricio Rua, had already been scheduled. Lorenzo Fertitta and Marc Ratner's efforts proved effective, as the fights will go on as scheduled, though foot-stomping won't be allowed. It's good that they added in that caveat, as it's foot-stomping that truly makes people think that sport is barbaric. I assume that the Three Stooges are also banned in Canada.

John Baker, a catcher with the Florida Marlins, is fighting for a starting job on his team. However, this is hardly the first scrap he has gotten in. He trained with Cesar Gracie's gym in California over a few winters, and for now, he's just fine sticking with getting bowled over by runners from the other team.

"Just getting beat up in there was enough for me at this point," Baker says with a laugh. "I think once I'm done playing baseball, I'll probably get into jiu-jitsu. Groundfighting. Martial art. That was what I enjoyed the most when I was training in it."

Though catchers are notoriously the scrappiest players on a baseball diamond, Baker does not have fond memories of being knocked out. In fact, he doesn't have any memories of it at all.

"I just had the overwhelming urge to sit down even though you're already laying down. That's all I remember. I remember throwing a left hook and then having somebody standing over me two seconds later."

So, there you have it. The day-to-day

Our friends at Yardbarker let us know about a contest to win a signed poster from Frank Shamrock.

He had to pick something out of the room to sign; personally, I wish he would have pulled out a tooth and autographed it. To win, make your case in the comments over at Yardbarker of who is the best Strikeforce fighter. Feel free to talk about Jake Shields because he has signed on to fight Joe Riggs for Strikeforce on April 11, or Cung Le and his dancing skills.

There is not a lot of memorabilia out there that your wife will let you hang in your living room. She doesn't want the house looking like a sports bar, or worse, like this place.

But this is the kind of memorabilia you just may be able to convince your wife to hang above the couch. Randy Couture's likeness is handpainted onto the shorts, so the effect is much more artistic than, say, a pair of random gloves thrown into a frame. It's not exactly Pollock or Picasso but it still shows your love of Captain America without making your home the House of Tacky. You can buy it here for a mere $899.99.

Generally, the UFC Countdown shows are fairly formulaic. One of the following generally applies: I had a rough childhood but now I'm a good father, or we grew up so poor in Brazil, or fighting gave me an outlet/taught me how to stand up for myself as a high schooler. Then it turns to watching a fighter lift an awkward, heavy object above their head -- say, a keg or a truck tire -- and claims from trainers that our camp won't let him lose.

My favorite part of every show is the trash talk montage. Each fighter, along with members from his camp, go on and on about what they're going to do to each other. Their promises never show up in the actual fight, as a fighter wouldn't truly share his game plan, so it's nothing more than theater. So, let's make it fun. Below are assorted quotes from last night's airing of Countdown to UFC 95. Try to match up each quote with Diego Sanchez, Joe Stevenson, Nate Marquardt or Wilson Gouveia. Read past the pictures for answers.

1. It's up to me whether I

Joe Rogan, UFC commentator and noted friend of Mary Jane, is not pleased with Kellogg's. The cereal company dropped Olympic gold medalist Michael Phelps as a spokesperson after Phelps was caught in a picture taking a hit off a bong. Rogan posted an open, profanity-laced letter to Kellogg's on his blog. In it, he says that the company should have supported Phelps, and reminded Kellogg's that they would take a significant hit in profits if stoners stopped buying their products.

Do you guys even know your consumer statistics? Well, let me fill you in on some of my own personal scientific research on the subject, because I have been closely studying my own purchases for over 20 years, and I can tell you that I’ve been high 100% of the time I’ve bought your s***. I mean, do you guys ever think about what you sell? Pop tarts? Are you kidding me? I would be willing to bet that 50% of the people buying pop tarts are stoned out of their f***ing minds ... There’s nothing quite like being stoned

Joe "Daddy" Stevenson practices the mean face that he will use in Saturday's fight against Diego Sanchez. Try your hand at a caption in the comments, and find out the winners from our last Create-a-Caption.

First place: Le asks an off-camera Hong Man Choi if there's something stuck under his shoe. -- K-J-MMA-Armchair

Second place: Teacher! Teacher! -- ClipsSucks

Third place: FAME! I'm gonna live forever! -- Fightchica

The special Going To Hell But Man That's Funny Award goes to:

Cung Le didn't know how else to tell Matt Hamill that the time was 12:30. -- K-J-MMA-Armchair