One of the biggest surprises of UFC 158 on Saturday night was Jordan Mein and incredible first round TKO over the veteran Dan Miller, although the UFC’s newest welterweight prospect is hardly a rookie. Mein has been fighting professionally since the age of 16, when he made his debut against another UFC welterweight rising star and super hipster, Rory MacDonald. But still, to win in the first round of his first UFC fight like Mein did was inspirational at the very least, and he’s already looking ahead.

According to MMA Junkie, Mein has a list of every welterweight in the UFC on a whiteboard so he can cross each one out as he knocks them off.

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Last week’s Wednesday Dunk Battle was one of the most hotly contested ever, pitting LeBron James and Blake Griffin (the two most prolific Wednesday Dunk Battlers of the season) against a sea otter and a guy who dunked through fire. The sea otter murdered them. But still, the idea is that the Wednesday Dunk Battle is HEATING UP, and this week we see who dares follow in Eddie the Sea Otter’s footsteps. Yes, LeBron James is in this one, too. Yes, I tried to see how many times I could write “Wednesday Dunk Battle” in one paragraph.

This week’s dunks:

1. Past-his-prime Kobe Bryant goes FULL PRIME on Josh Smith.
2. LeBron James runs a slant route en route to his one millionth alley-oop from Dwyane Wade.
3. Baylor’s Brittney Griner dunks on what might as well be everyone from Kansas State.
4. Louisville’s Chane Behanan uses the anger he’s felt trying to spell “Shane Bohannon” in his lifetime and brutally dunks over DePaul guard Worrel Clahar, who has NO IDEA what to spell.

You make the call. Please remember that your science is appreciated, and that voting in the poll below officially makes you a scientist. OF BASKETBALL DUNKS.

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We don’t cover women’s basketball a lot at With Leather — even when we approach it professionally, it opens to the door for way too many PRETTY GOOD BASKETBALL PLAYING FROM THE KITCHEN comments, which are more or less the asshole of popular opinion — but this is too good not to share.

A player for Lafayette, Indiana’s McCutcheon High School Mavericks tried to save a ball from going out of bounds and ended up draining an improbable, impossible-outside-of-trickshot-videos three.

Gabrielle Gary of the McCutcheon Mavericks hits an improbable shot trying to save a loose ball. She went on to lead the team with 7 3-pointers on the night and a career high 24 points to win 56-36 against the Lafayette Jeff Bronchos. Pete Gascho and Dan Morrison on the call.

Big thanks to the folks at Bob’s Blitz (Bob?) for giving us the heads up on this. In her next game, Gabrielle should try standing in the rafters and trying to bounce the ball into a trashcan.

An association of what, exactly?

Because Lingerie Football and the Bikini Hockey League can’t satiate America’s desire to see barely-trained women pretend to play sports in their underwear, the Bikini Basketball Association is about to become a thing.

The Smoking Section’s reaction to the news was YES, PLEASE!, so I’ll take the more weathered approach of staring at the computer screen for a few minutes, breathing deeply and resting my head on the desk. I’ve never understood bikini sports. They were probably a great idea in 1965, but in a world of repeating Brazzers ads I don’t really need almost-naked women bricking lay-ups to get my rocks off. I like sports, but I don’t need to finish mid-game to make them enjoyable. Also, isn’t the Bikini Whatever League sorta passe by now? Do we have to get all the way to Pro Panties Curling before we pack it in?

That being said, I put together a gallery of BBA ladies for your enjoyment, because of course I did. Also, I discovered a little Bikini Basketball League pre-season analysis on a Wu-Tang forum, which sounds about right:

I HAVE THAT BITCH ON MY INSTAGRAM ON THE LEFT SHES A WHoRE POTHEAD

I’ll let you figure out which picture he’s talking about.

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Back in July, former University of Nebraska women’s basketball player Charlie Rogers told police that three men broke into her home, held her down, carved horrific homophobic slurs into her body with knives, and tried to burn her home down with her in it because she’s a lesbian. The national response was incredible, as activists and support groups flocked to Nebraska to show their support as an ultimate stand against terrible, unacceptable homophobic acts and hate crimes such as this, and Rogers became the brave new face of survival and the universal need for equality.

Then yesterday happened.

But the Lincoln Police Department said Tuesday that “the physical evidence conflicted with Charlie Rogers’ version of events” and that “extensive investigation revealed numerous inconsistencies.”

Rogers was arrested Tuesday, police said. (Via CNN)

To her credit, Rogers will plead not guilty and her attorney called these charges a “kick in the gut”. It should be noted that this is her second attorney, though, as the first one quit because “things have changed”.

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You may have already seen this little nugget of women’s basketball trick shottery on ESPN’s Top Plays or in an email your feminist older sister sent you, but I didn’t see it until this morning because I save my chicks hoops for Thursdays when my pride is already mostly defeated.

On Monday night, the Concordia Cavaliers were tied with the College of Idaho Breastfeeders Coyotes 61-61 with .7 seconds left on the clock. Faced with the possibility of overtime, Cascade Collegiate Conference first-teamer Danielle Clauson knew she would need a miracle shot to win, otherwise she’d never be home in time to watch The Bachelor.

Noticing that her opponent’s back was facing her – I like where this is going – Danielle inbounded to herself off the defender’s back and hit a monster tomahawk windmill 360 layup for the win. As you can see in the video after the jump, the crowd just goes insane. Especially all the guys who were there and subsequently lost their man cards when leaving the arena.

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