Gone was the happy, smiling Junior dos Santos. The guy who's 12-1 with eight knockouts to his credit, sat on stage in Vancouver and gave his prediction for his fight against Shane Carwin on Saturday night at UFC 131.

"Shane Carwin comes from wrestling. I think I'm faster than him. As soon as he feels my hands, my speed, I think he's gonna try to take me down," said dos Santos (26:55 mark).

That was short and sweet, but it didn't even cause a ripple from Carwin. The 6-foot-2, 255 pounder believes in his power and keeps saying he'll stand and trade with the Brazilian.

"I am a great at wrestling and I was blessed with huge power in my oversized XXXL hands, but I've just got a lot to learn. [...] On Saturday I will be facing a guy that, like me, can finish a fight with one just punch. He comes from an amazing training camp and he is not only a powerful striker, but one of the most accurate strikers too," Carwin wrote in his Yahoo! Sports' "Monster" blog. [...] But I believe I will be

Shane Carwin's insertion into the main event at UFC 131 guarantees one thing, Junior dos Santos' opponent won't be running away if he gets drilled with some hard punches. That was a still a big question surrounding Brock Lesnar in his first fight back after the vicious loss against Cain Velasquez (Lesnar withdrew from the main event last month due to complications with diverticulitis).

It's tough to make a living in MMA without being able to take a punch. Krzysztof Soszynski, a grinding brawler in the UFC's light heavyweight division, knows that better than anyone.

Soszynski's a well-rounded fighter, but he isn't supremely talented. He often gets by on taking some shots and deliver more punishment back.

"I don't think anyone wants to get hit in the face. I just cover up really well. It's a mindset. I don't know how it is or how it happens. I have fun with it. If someone hits me, I want to hit them back even harder," Soszynski said (6:26 mark). "It's something that you're born with,

KosTshirtIt's a great marketing idea that apparently irks some other UFC fighters. Stephan Bonnar's new "Trash Talking Kids" t-shirt line is based on real-life fighters like Josh Koscheck, Forrest Griffin and Cain Velasquez.

Koscheck's "Josh Koshbygosh" shirt is pretty cool, right? Not according to Bonnar, who claims Koscheck had his lawyers call about the t-shirt.

"He got wind of it and he didn't like it and I tried to explain it to him firsthand. 'Like, look we're doing them for all the fighters. It's kinda a joke, just cartoon versions of the fighters.' His version is called Josh Koshbygosh and he kinda looks like a Cabbage Patch doll, because he really does. Anyway, so he didn't like it," Bonnar told Five Knuckles. "Turns out we won't be able to sell his but we will be able to sell the other ones. I didn't think his was gonna sell too much anyway. We're getting hit up his lawyers at the moment, it's been a pain in the ass."

Bonnar also made some interesting comments about

With Georges St-Pierre set to face Nick Diaz in October, it's looking more and more like the UFC's welterweight champ will make 170 pounds his permanent home. Is that a good for the sport? If GSP gets by Diaz, what's next?

Yahoo! Sports' lead MMA writer Kevin Iole joined myself on Las Vegas' "The MMA Insiders" show to debate the topic of the 170 division. Iole says if you believe the division is catching the champ, is just wishful thinking (4:27 mark).

During the "opening round" we also discussed the Diaz-GSP fight, Dana White vs. Roy Nelson vs. Frank Mir and the UFC president's World Cup concept for "The Ultimate Fighter."

Make sure you listen to part two with Kenny Florian and part three with Shane Carwin. "The MMA Insiders" airs each Friday from 6-7 p.m. and streams live here.

{ysp:live-poll poll_id="61689"/}

Tune in to Yahoo! Sports this Saturday for Fight Day, live from the Rogers Arena in Vancouver, British Columbia at 6pm ET/ 3pm PT. Fight Day will break down the fight card with its panel of MMA insiders.  Joining the panel is UFC welterweight Mike Pyle. Fight Day will also be joined by UFC heavyweight prospect Brendan Schaub and the UFC's Director of Canadian Operations, Tom Wright. Finally, Kenny Florian will discuss his cut down to featherweight, and Shane Carwin will talk about his return from injury.

Join us right here on Saturday for plenty of UFC 131 fun.

UFC 131 betting odds (Courtesy Venetian Las Vegas):

Shane Carwin (+160) vs. Junior dos Santos (-190) - Heavyweight

Diego Nunes (+240) vs. Kenny Florian (-320) - Lightweight{ysp:more}

Vagner Rocha (+350) vs. Donald Cerrone (-500) - Lightweight

Jon Olav Einemo +(210) vs. Dave Herman (-270) - Heavyweight

Mark Munoz (-125) vs. Demian Maia (-105) - Middleweight

Yves Edwards (+120) vs. Sam Stout (-150) - Lightweight

Jesse Bongfeldt (+325) vs. Chris Weidman (-450) - Middleweight

Jason Young (+220) vs. Dustin Poirier (-300) - Featherweight

Mike Massenzio (+190) vs. Krzysztof Soszynski (-240) - Light heavyweight

James Head (+110) vs. Nick Ring (-140) - Middleweight

Joey Beltran (+110) vs. Aaron Rosa (-140) - Heavyweight

Darren Elkins (+200) vs. Michihiro Omigawa (-250) - Featherweight

You can watch UFC 131 right here on Yahoo! Sports

With UFC 131 just around the corner, it's time to take a look at the walkout shirts from the headlining heavyweights, Junior "Cigano" dos Santos and Shane Carwin.

jrshaneshirts

Bad Boy's shirt for dos Santos comes in the familiar colors of the Brazilian flag, but have a bit of late-80s, Miami Vice, wearing-linen-suits-with-pastel-t-shirts-and-loafers-with-no-socks-vibe. Hopefully, Junior's cornermen will follow and dress like Crockett and Tubbs for Saturday night. Buy Junior's shirt for the slightly overpriced $39.99.

Carwin took a more cerebral, inspirational approach with his shirt, incorporating symbols that refer to war and engineering (his other job) as well as quote from "The Aeneid" by Roman poet Virgil. He even did a head nod to the fight taking place in Vancouver by using the Canadian spelling of "favours," though he could have bridged the differences by using the original Latin of "Audaces fortuna iuvat." (Ed. note -- I knew that taking Latin in high school would pay off some day!) Buy

The UFC's Fight of the Night bonuses are tricky. The cash is nice and the fans love the fellas who go for broke, but it doesn't necessarily lead to title shots or superstardom.

Guys like Chris Lytle (eight postfight awards) and Sam Stout don't care. Stout faces Yves Edwards this week at UFC 131 in Vancouver and is planning on doing the same thing that he does in each fight. If that means absorbing some punishment to dish out even more, then so be it.

Some have criticized that "Fight of the Night" mentality. Stout fired back during our conversation on RawVegas.

"I think that's ridiculous to say I'm not fighting to win," Stout said. "I have a more fast-paced style. Yeah, maybe it's a little reckless at times. You know, I may not have the most finishes, but you can't watch any of my fights and say I didn't put in my all."

The 27-year-old Stout is 5-5 with the UFC. He's won Fight of the Night honors five times, good for a total in excess of $200,000 in bonuses. He's also gone just 3-2