I wonder what Chael Sonnen and Michael Bisping were saying to each other?

Nasty knee to the chest of Tito Ortiz crumbled him. I hoped he would win, but that knee would’ve ended anyone’s night and for Tito Ortiz, it came as a 2nd round TKO. Rashad Evans is still the #1 contender for Jon Jones championship title.

Mark Bocek vs. Joe Brammer
John Howard vs. Dennis Hallman
**Brian Stann vs. Rodney Wallace
Jon Madsen vs. Justin Wrenn
**Darrill Schoonover vs. James McSweeney
Marcus Jones vs. Matt Mitrione
Frank Edgar vs. Matt Veach
**KIMBO SLICE vs. HOUSTON ALEXANDER
Matt Hamill vs. Jon Jones

** Rodney Wallace’s nickname is “Shonuff The Master” — so, I’m picking him to win.

** Darrill Schoonover has been called back to military duty (he was in the Army for 4 years already) and he’ll be leaving for duty again soon after his fight.

** WAR KIMBO, ALL DAY SON.

Overall, a great show. Chris Lytle is a bad man. He’s never been knocked out in 49 fights, but came damn close to being KTFO in round 1 after an uppercut from Kevin Burns made his legs like jello for a second, but was relieved when the bell sounded to end the round. Lytle looked around to gather his senses for a couple of seconds, went to his corner and came back out in the 2nd round ready for more war. Dude was slinging haymakers from both sides, landing gnarly body shots with his right. Both dudes continued to slug it out, with Lytle being the aggressor for the rest of the fight, constantly moving forward and cutting Kevin Burns open for a bloody mess.

Clay Guida seriously needs to cut his hair, as much as it is awesome. I know it gives him character and makes him look like a Geico Caveman, but still, it has to mess up his peripheral vision. I would even say there is a chance he could’ve seen that kick coming at his head in round 1 that knocked him on his ass, but maybe not. Anyway, great fight, and Diego is gonna be a top contender for a long time.

Congratulations to the Ultimate Fighter season 9 lightweight and welterweight winners, Ross Pearson and James Wilks, both from Team UK on the show. Pearson won a decision against his teammate Andre Winner, and James Wilks looked very impressive in his 1st round submission victory against Team USA favorite DeMarques Johnson.

Frank Lester fought on the undercard, and I had $10 on him to win. He got submitted by Nick Osipczak, and they didn’t show it on air.

Now I’m looking forward to TUF Season 10 with Kimbo. And who the hell is the 7′ footer in the commercials standing behind Rampage and Rashad?

Just got back from Nowhere, Georgia…but in time to catch UFC 98.

Sherk vs. Edgar goes to a decision…who would’ve guessed? Ummm, I think it was almost guaranteed to go a decision, I wouldn’t have guessed anything else. Frankie Edgar wins via decision. According to Dana White’s twitter, “Sean sherk ran out of the ring and out the doors and down the street in his fight shorts and no shirt”.. LOL.

Chael Sonnen vs. Dan Miller…Sonnen says he’s gonna punch a hole in Millers face. So far, it’s looking like he’s right. Round three and Sonnen is pretty much dominating the fight, except for a couple of good, but unsuccessful guillotine attempts by Miller. Chael Sonnen wins via judges decision.

Drew McFedries vs. Xavier Foupa-Pokam “Professor X”.. the audience boos when Referee Yves Lavigne isi ntroduced.. and shortly thereafter, Drew McFedries KO’s Xavier Foupa-Pokam, knocks him down, Xavier recovers, back to his feat momentarily, then KO’d again by McFedries, knocked around some more before the referee stops the fight. Foupa-Pokam protests the stoppage, but it was fair, in my opinion. Drew McFedries wins by KO at 37 seconds of round one.

Hey, there’s Holly Madison from Girls Next Door and Dancing With The Stars…but I want to know who the other blonde chick is beside her.

btw: WAR Machida.

Krysztof Soszynski vs Andre Gusmao – Gnarly knockout win for Krysztof Soszynski in round one. Gusmao took some good shots without seeming hurt, but finally dropped unconscious from a right cross.

IRON MIKE TYSON IN THE HOUSE.

Matt Hughes vs. Matt Serra! -  I kinda want Hughes to win this, but I also like seeing underdogs win, and I think Serra is the underdog here. I just hope it’s an entertaining fight. Holy shit, Matt Serra using the Rocky entrance music. Awesome. I think I want him to win now…but of course, it’s hard to beat Bocephus music. Above average staredown between Hughes and Serra.

Round One: WOW Serra hurts Hughes badly! Has him rocked bad, but Joe Rogan says it was from a head-collision. Matt Hughes has Serra’s back now, this might be bad for Serra, Hughes has his hooks in, just under one minute left in round one. Serra escapes and their both back to their feet. Great fight so far. Round Two starts, and it’s spent mostly with Hughes in Serra’s half guard. Not much ground and pound from Hughes, and Serra was rolling his eyes at the lack of action. ROUND THREE, last round. Hughes takes Serra down, controls him, but Serra gets some good sub attempts, tries a triangle, omaplata, referee starts them back on their feet. SERRA THROWS HUGHES,  lands some good shots, controls, round over. Will it be enough for the win? Nope, judges give it a 29-28 unanimous decision victory for Matt Hughes.

Joe Rogan interviews Hughes after the fight, and Hughes mentions he is now a free agent and has no fights left with the UFC… he says he and Dana White will talk it over and see about one more fight in his hometown. Hughes also clearly says he won’t be fighting for any other organization.

LYOTO MACHIDA vs. RASHAD EVANS – I 100% want Machida to win this fight. I also hope the fight is entertaining, I hope Rashad brings it and doesn’t try to counter Machida’s counter.

Round One: How long will it take before they actually tough eachother? Machida throws the first strike, with a low leg kick that doesn’t land. So far one minute into the fight and nothing yet. There’s a kick from Rashad, it doesn’t land. Still no contact. I already hear boos in the audience. Machida is southpaw, and Evans is orthodox right now. NICE head kickfrom Machida, lands, but not enough to hurt Rashad yet. MACHIDA knocks Rashad down with a kick to the body. MACHIDA wins round one easily.

Round Two: THAT WAS AWESOME. Machida is unstoppable. He just left Rashad Evans unconscious laying against the fence. He probably broke Rashad’s nose, also.

I think I just heard Rogan say “Mixed Mortal Arts”..

BTW: Rashad Evans seems like a genuinely good dude. Good post-fight interview with Rogan, even under such disappointing circumstances for him.

PRELIM FIGHT RESULTS:

George Roop defeats Dave Kaplan via judges decision
Yoshiyuki Yoshida defeats Brandon Wolff via guillotine, round one
Kyle Bradley defeats Phillipe Nover by TKO, round one
Tim Hague defeats Pat Barry by Guillotine, round one
Brock Larson defeats Mike Pyle by arm-triangle choke, round one

**Rumor has it that two of the fighters’ mothers got into a fight in the audience? I need to hear more about this entertainment.

A lot of people were expecting this to be the best UFC show ever, and the fight card certainly had some great match-ups.

Ryo Chonan vs. Brad Blackburn – Brad Blackburn won via decision

Dan Evensen vs. Pat Barry – Pat Barry won via TKO from kicks to the leg.

Matt Hamill vs. Reese Andy – Matt Hamill won via TKO from punches.

Antoni Hardonk vs. Mike Wessel – Hardonk won via TKO from punches.

Yushin Okami vs. Dean Lister – Okami won via decision.

Cheick Kongo vs. Mustafa Al-Turk – Cheick Kongo won via TKO from punches.

Wanderlei Silva vs. Quinton Rampage Jackson – Rampage won via KTFO out of Wanderlei.

CB Dollaway vs. Mike Massenzio – CB Dollaway won via TKO, but he got rocked early on and then it damn sure looked like he started to tap from a guillotine but the referee didn’t see it. I’ll need to see a .gif or replay.

Frank Mir vs. Antonio Rodrigo “Minotauro” Nogueira – Wow, total domination by Francisco Mir. TKO’d Nogueira in round 2.

Rashad Evans vs. Forrest Griffin – Rashad Evans won via TKO in round 3.

Yeah, not play-by-play, because I’m lazy.

1st fight on the main card is Matt Brown vs. Dong Hyun Kim. Matt Brown’s entrance music is awesome and appropriate – Devil Went Down To Georgia by Charlie Daniels. Also, Dong Hyun Kim’s college major is JUDO. That is pretty awesome. The first round was great, back and forth, but mostly with Kim getting the best of it. I give round one to Dong Hyun Kim. The second round seems like someone messed with Matt Brown’s copenhagen or something, he is definitely winning round two, beating Kim in the Thai Clinch. Less than a minute left in round two and Dong Hyun Kim seems really tired. Kim has taken some nasty body shots. Round three ends with more elbows to the body from Matt Brown. Round three starts and uh oh, Kim took Matt Brown to the mat and has knee-on-belly, but Matt Brown is able to stand back up. Kim is having more luck with his takedowns in round 3. Matt Brown is bleeding from his face now, Kim landed an elbow, but I don’t think it was enough to win. Who knows. Maybe a split decision. Matt Brown asks his corner “do you think I won?” — I think so, but some could argue rounds one and three went to Dong Hyun Kim. Damn, Matt Brown has a gnarly gash under his eyepiece. JUDGES DECISION: Dong Hyun Kim.

Martin Kampmann vs. Nate Marquardt – Martin Kampmann is the real Slim Shady. Anyway, I’m predicting another judges decision for this fight. Hopefully I’m wrong. Kampman OH SHIT Marquardt with the head kick, will Kampmann survive? Damn, I was just about to say Kampmann landed a nice right hook before Marquardt kicked him in the dome. Ever since, Kampmann has been taking nasty strikes. KAMPMANN down and the fight is stopped. Wow, they were just talking about Martin’s great stand-up game, but after getting caught with the headkick from Marquardt, he never fully recovered and Nate continued to flurry all kinds of strikes at him before referee Mario Yamasaki stops the fight. NATE MARQUARDT wins via TKO.

Dan Henderson vs. Rousimar Palhares – WARRR Hendo. Also, Big Boi from Outkast is in the audience sitting next to Rampage Jackson. Southernplayalisticcadillacmuzik. Crumblin’ Herb. Hendo is going apeshit with Palhares on his back, Hendo trying to land bombs, but lets Palhares get back to his feet. Good kick by Rousimar, but Hendo punches back, nice spinning heel kick attempt by Rousimar Palhares but it didn’t land. Finally they close in on each other again, and Palhares throws some good strikes himself, punches and kicks, Hendo knocks him down again and throws more bombs, but they’re both back up now. These dudes fight when they get close, damn Palhares gets a takedown and has now side control, now in Hendo’s half guard, only 10 seconds left in the round though. Great round. I want Palhares to lose simply because he’s wearing that stupid Condom Depot ad on his ass. Round TWO Palhares is winning this round so far, he had Hendo is a gnarly heel hook just a second ago. Score a vicious takedown before that. He’s on his back now with Hendo going for some kind of choke. Lets him up and tries to land an uppercut. Palhares might be tired, hell they both might be tired. Henderson is back in Palhares guard now. Referee stands them back up due to a lack of action on the ground. 30 seconds left in the round. Dude am I seeing Joachim Hansen in Dan Henderson’s corner? I can’t tell but I’m seeing some pale white dude with arm tattoos. No, I’m pretty sure it’s not Joachim Hansen. Ok, we’re in round 3 now. Nothing has happened in round 3. One minute left. oh damn and Hendo knocks Palhares down but lands in another leglock, Hendo escapes and they’re back to their feet. The fight ends with Hendo throwing bombs at Palhares on his back. This will be a unanimous decision victory for Dan Henderson. If it’s not, something is wrong.

Joe Rogan in the audience interviewing Randy Couture. Randy says the same stuff you’ve already heard him say about the upcoming fight with Brock Lesnar.

Now we get to see an unaired preliminary fight featuring Tim Boetsch vs Michael Patt. It seems obvious that Boetsch wins by the way Mike Goldberg led us into the fight “earlier tonight we welcomed Tim Boetsch” or something like that. Maybe I’m wrong. Nope, I’m right. First round knockout for Tim Boetsch. Thanks for the spoiler, Goldberg.

Rich Franklin vs. Matt Hamill – damn I like watching both of these guys win, I don’t really have a favorite for this fight. Should be a great matchup too, in my opinion. Both dudes from Ohio I think, and are friends, but hopefully that won’t be noticeable in tonights fight. Ok, I’m rooting for Matt Hamill now because he’s playing Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Simple Man” for his entrance music. AWESOME. Ok, all the action happened within the last minute of round 1. Hamill got a takedown, nearly got armbarred by Rich Franklin, Hamill defended well, caught a knee to the face from Rich Franklin on the way back up, kinda looked like it might’ve been an illegal knee, dont know though, will have to see it again. ROUND TWO starts. I don’t know why the hell Matt Hamill isn’t going for more takedowns. Franklin is way outstriking. Referee pauses the fight to check a cut on Rich Franklin, looks terrible, but they let the fight continue. Joe Rogan says Franklin lost a big chunk of meat. lol. Franklin is kicking Hamill’s ass right now though, because Hamill isn’t going for takedowns as often as he should. Franklin just kicked Hamill in the balls also. Hamill is going for takedowns now, but not getting them. Hamill is a tough mofo though. ROUND THREE starts. Rich Franklin just ended the fight with a great kick to Matt Hamills ribcage/liver. Fight over. RICK FRANKLIN wins by TKO.

Chuck Liddell vs. Rashad Evans – LOL @ Rashad Evans doing the GSP nipple twist before the fight. Greg Jackson must teach them to do that. Holy shit, let me tell you what the hell just happened. My fucking COMCAST cable company just quit on me and my Pay-per-view went out during the damn Liddell/Evans fight. Assholes piss me off. Anyway, Chuck Liddell threw another damn body shot leaving his guard down and Rashad Evans connected to his chin and knocked him the fuck out. RASHAD EVANS WINS BY KNOCKOUT.

Sign up on our UFC Forum!

Yep, MMARated.com is reporting that Rich Franklin will move up to light heavyweight and fight Matt Hamill at UFC 88.

This will be an interesting fight, and should be a great war, but it’s not really a fight I was hoping to see. Hell, I’m still upset that Matt Hamill won’t get another shot at Michael Bisping, but oh well, that’s history. I’m a fan of both Hamill and Franklin, so I hope they both bring their best to the fight and put on a great show. The main event of the night will be Chuck Liddell vs. Rashad Evans.

ULTIMATE FIGHTING CHAMPIONSHIP® HEADS TO ATLANTA FOR
UFC 88: BREAKTHROUGH
CHUCK “THE ICEMAN” LIDDELL vs. “SUGAR” RASHAD EVANS
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2008 LIVE FROM PHILIPS ARENA

Tickets On Sale Saturday, June 21 at 12pm ET

Las Vegas, NV (USA) – Home to some of the greatest fighters in mixed martial arts, the UFC® light heavyweight division is without question the most competitive in the sport. On Saturday, September 6th, two of the weight class’ best – legendary former champion Chuck “The Iceman” Liddell and unbeaten rising star “Sugar” Rashad Evans – will finally meet in the Ultimate Fighting Championship® organization’s historic first trip to Atlanta for UFC 88: BREAKTHROUGH, live at Philips Arena.

“Chuck Liddell vs. Rashad Evans is a battle between the former champion looking to get a shot at reclaiming his crown and the undefeated contender looking to earn his first title shot,” said Dana White, UFC President. “Chuck is a great wrestler and Rashad has shown improved striking skills so there is no way of telling what will happen when two fighters of this caliber collide. This is going to be another incredible fight, and I am so excited to bring UFC 88 Atlanta.”

Originally scheduled to face off against each other on June’s UFC 85 card in London, a torn hamstring sidelined Liddell and forced him to withdraw from his bout with Evans. But if anything, the additional wait has steeled the resolve of both men to not only win this fight, but to end it in spectacular fashion for the loyal UFC fans of Georgia.

UFC 88 marks the organization’s first event in the state since Augusta’s UFC 13 show in May of 1997, and it’s first ever event in Atlanta. To kick off this inaugural event, White stated he will hold a UFC 88 press conference with Liddell and Evans in downtown Atlanta next Tuesday, June 24, and that later that day, the two fighters will attend an autograph session at Lenox Mall from 2 to 4pm ET.

Tickets for UFC 88: BREAKTHROUGH will go on sale Sunday, June 21 at 12 Noon ET and will be priced at $604, $404, $254, $154 and $79. Tickets for UFC 88 will be available at Philip’s Arena Box Office, all Ticketmaster outlets, online at ticketmaster.com or by calling 404.249.6400.

UFC® Fight Club™ members will have the opportunity to purchase tickets to this event Wednesday, June 18 at 10am ET via the website www.ufc.com. A special Internet ticket pre-sale will be available to UFC newsletter subscribers Friday, June 20 starting at 10am ET. To access this presale, users must register for the UFC newsletter through www.ufc.com.

UFC 88: BREAKTHROUGH is available live on pay-per-view at 10 p.m. EST/7 p.m. PST on iN DEMAND, DIRECTV, DISH Network, TVN, Bell ExpressVu, Shaw Communications and Viewer’s Choice Canada for a suggested retail price of $44.95 for standard definition or high-definition broadcasts (where available).

One of the biggest stars in American sports, Chuck Liddell (21-5) is a fighter who needs no introduction to fight fans. Fresh off a thrilling three round win over Wanderlei Silva last December in a fight which easily lived up to over four years of expectations, the 38-year-old – owner of knockout wins over a Who’s Who of 205-pound stalwarts, including Randy Couture (twice), Tito Ortiz (twice), Renato Sobral (twice), Jeremy Horn, and Kevin Randleman – continues on his quest to regain his UFC Light Heavyweight Championship from Quinton “Rampage” Jackson; but to get there, he has to get by Evans, only the third undefeated fighter Liddell has ever faced.

“I’m excited to be back in training, and I’m excited to have this Rashad fight back on – I’m going to put pressure on him and put him
down, because, unfortunately everyone has to have their first loss,” said Liddell. “It’s been a white since I fought on the East coast, so I’m looking forward to going out there and giving this knockout to Atlanta.”

Evans (16-0-1) burst on the UFC scene in style in 2005 when he won the heavyweight division of season two of The Ultimate Fighter®, winning four fights en route to the title. Dropping back to his natural weight class at 205 pounds, he has kept the momentum going with five wins and just one controversial draw against former light heavyweight champion Tito Ortiz in July of 2007. Among his victims are standouts Stephan Bonnar and Jason Lambert, and in his most recent bout at UFC 78 last November, he pounded out a three round decision win over previously unbeaten British star Michael “The Count” Bisping. Now Evans has his sights on taking down a UFC icon on September 6th.

“I’m honored to fight Chuck, it’s good to fight someone who has been where you want to be. This is going to be a tough fight though, I know someone is gonna be finished, and I think it’ll be Chuck,” said Evans. “I’m excited to go to Atlanta, I’ve heard great things about the city, I’ve never been there before, but I know there’s no better way to experience a place than to have thousands of people all there to see you fight.”

The remaining bouts for UFC 88 will be announced in the near future. All bouts live and subject to change. For further information on the UFC visit ufc.com or uk.ufc.com or ufcespanol.com.