UFC 138 Gears Up, UFC On Fox Looms On The Round-Up

MMA Nation Round-Up provides you with daily coverage of the latest in news, multimedia, and analysis throughout the world of combat sports. Today we bring you continuing coverage of UFC 138 and UFC on Fox, as well as the method to Nick Diaz's madness. Plus Mandy Moore's UFC on Fox prediction, for some reason. Let's start it up.

- With UFC 138 a day away, middleweight headliners Chris Leben and Mark Munoz put on a smile at the UFC 138 open workouts. Full photo gallery can be seen here.

- After the open workouts Munoz was interviewed by the assembled media. The former NCAA champion appeared in good spirits, proclaiming, "I feel the best I've ever felt in my whole entire life."

- Dallas Winston returns with more of the best previews in MMA. Today's UFC 138 special: Cyrille Diabate vs. Anthony Perosh and Terry Etim vs. Edward Faaloloto.

- Though there's more to Etim vs. Faaloloto than meets the eye. In actuality, the lightweight bout provides a combination of "intriguing back stories and historical significance" that may soon be extinct in MMA.

- Meanwhile, Chris Leben released the second edition of his UFC 138 lead-up video blog. Per Leben: "This is my 21st fight in the UFC. I must be doing something right."

- Yet even with UFC 138 right around the corner, it seems like all of Zuffa's marketing power is geared towards UFC on Fox. The promotion released the TV schedule for the momentous occasion and MMA Nation has complete coverage.

- Speaking of UFC on Fox, "Big" John McCarthy has been appointed the referee of the historic main event.

- And just in case you were curious about Mandy Moore's UFC on Fox prediction, I'll just leave this here.

- In non-Mandy Moore news, UFC bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz posted this photo after a training session with Danny Martinez, Kyoji Horiguchi, and Kid Yamamoto (via @TheDomin8r).

- Cesar Gracie stopped by The MMA Show to explain the genesis behind Nick Diaz's unrepentant call out of Georges St. Pierre after UFC 137. Per Gracie: "When I speak to Nick, I have to speak in '209ese' and that's the language he understands."

- After earning a broken hand as a reward for his blistering first-round knockout of Tyson Griffin at UFC 137, Bart Palaszewski looked like he might be out of action until April 2012. Fortunately for "Bartimus", that turned out not to be the case.

- The UFC is releasing The Ultimate Fight Collection, a 20-disc set with over 50 hours of fight footage from June 2010 to June 2011. We leave you with the sneak peek below.