I’m excited about tonights fights! UFC 126 should be a good one. Here are my quick picks.

Although I’d like to see Vitor Belfort win tonight, my gut is telling me he’s getting TKO’d. So…

Anderson Silva over Vitor Belfort
Rich Franklin over Forrest Griffin (decision)
Ryan Bader over Jon Jones
Miguel Torres over Antonio Banuelos
Donald Cerrone over Paul Kelly
Norifumi “Kid” Yamamoto over Demetrius Johnson
Gabe Reudiger over Paul Taylor
Kyle Kingsbury over Ricardo Romero

well.. here is me picking fights for this site..

Mike Pyle over Jesse Lennox..
Peter Sobotta over James Wilks..
David Loiseau over Mario Miranda..
Matt Wiman over Mac Danzig..
Evan Dunham over Tyson Griffin, because I dig Dunhams ventriloquism..
Carlos Condit over Rory MacDonald..
Ben Rothwell over Gilbert Yvel..
Paulo Thiago over Martin Kampmann..
*Mirko CroCop over Pat Barry..
*Chuck Liddell over Rich Franklin..

**I’m picking Liddell and CroCop mostly because I want them to win, not really because I think they will. I hope CroCop doesn’t get served badly by Pat Barry.

Dan Henderson vs. Rich Franklin is a fight I’ve wanted to see for a long time now. Should be an action packed stand-up war. The fight is scheduled to take place at UFC 93 in Dublin, Ireland.

In a news release, Dan Henderson said “This is the fight my fans have wanted for a long time now, and they want to see me fight Rich Franklin.” Henderson continued “I think this will be a great fight for Ireland. It definitely will be exciting because we both like to stand and bang, and we both have knockout power. I’m excited to go to Ireland and to take on Rich; I think he’s a tough opponent and a huge challenge, but I don’t see myself losing to him.”

Rich Franklin had a similar statement, but of course sees himself winning the battle, saying ““Dan Henderson has great credentials, and he is going to be one of the toughest fights of my career, that being said, I’m planning on winning the fight, and I’m looking forward to fighting in the main event and fighting in Ireland. I love the fans, and the way they react by singing and chanting makes it a unique experience for me.”

Also scheduled for the same night is a rematch between Mark Coleman and Mauricia “Shogun” Rua. In February 2006, Mark Coleman defeated Shogun Rua at PRIDE 31 when Rua landed wrong and suffered a broken arm, ending the fight after only 49 seconds.

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.

Georges St. Pierre got his revenge on Matt Serra‘s upset victory last year by defeating him in the rematch by TKO in round 2 at UFC 83 tonight. GSP controlled the entire fight, opting to use his quick takedowns and wrestling to keep the fight on the ground and pound Matt Serra out. The final blows were some nasty looking knees to Matt Serra’s ribcage, and the referee stopped the fight because Serra quit defending.

The co-main event of the night was Rich Franklin vs. Travis Lutter. I was hoping for Lutter to win this fight, but evidently he has problems finishing armbars, because he had Franklin in what looked like a good armbar, but lost it. Travis Lutter just completely ran out of gas, and Franklin went to work, scoring a TKO victory in round 2.

Charles McCarthy vs. Michael Bisping went the way most people expected it to, with Bisping striking his way to victory. He looked really quick with his strikes, and McCarthy seemed to just cover up with his arms and wait for Bisping to quit striking, in return, I think McCarthy forearm got trashed. He was unable to continue after the completion of round 1.

The other main-card results were:

Mac Danzig def. Mark Bocek by submission (RNC) – Round 2
MIchael Bisping def. Charles McCarthy by TKO (injured arm) – Round 1
Nathan Quarry def. Kalib Starnes by Unanimous Decision – Round 3
Rich Franklin def. Travis Lutter by TKO (strikes) – Round 2
Georges St. Pierre def. Matt Serra by TKO (strikes) – Round 2

Here are the results from the UFC 83 Preliminary Fights:

 Jason MacDonald def. Joe Doerksen by TKO (strikes) – Round 2
 Jason Day def. Alan Belcher by TKO (strikes) – Round 1
 Demian Maia def. Ed Herman by submission (triangle) – Round 2
 Rich Clementi def. Sam Stout by split decision
 Cain Valesquez def. Brad Morris by TKO (strikes) – Round 1
 Jonathan Goulet def. Kuniyoshi Hironaka by TKO (strikes) – Round 2

Who will be left to give him serious competition? Has Michael Bisping been given an opponent yet for his first middleweight fight? If so, I haven’t seen it. Although I imagine the UFC will set up Michael Bisping to fight the winner or loser of Silva/Henderson, but other than that, are there any other light heavyweights that could move down to 185lbs to fight Anderson Silva? Or are there any welterweights that could move up to middleweight to challenge him? I know in the past, Matt Hughes has expressed interest in fighting Silva, but I can’t see that happening at all, and I don’t see Matt Hughes having a chance at victory in a fight like that. I don’t see Bisping being able to compete on the level of either Silva or Dan Henderson yet, either. Maybe one day.

I’m of course interested in seeing how Evan Tanner performs Saturday night against Yushin Okami. Circa 2004, Evan Tanner would have beaten Anderson Silva.

I’m sure Rich Franklin still fits in the middleweight picture somewhere, but I don’t think a 3rd time would be a charm for him. However, I do think Travis Lutter deserves another fight with Silva.

What about other organizations? Are there any prospects the UFC could throw some money at and bring over to fight Anderson? Paulo Filho? Chael Sonnen?

In my opinion, if Dan Henderson doesn’t beat Anderson Silva, the best chance anybody would have is Matt Lindland (which won’t happen), or Jeremy Horn… yes, I said Jeremy Horn. I know he just got his ass kicked by Nate Marquardt, but I’m not using MMA math. Depending on how he performs Saturday night, I might include Evan Tanner.

This is my review of how I remember the fight:

This was the main event of UFC 77, and Rich came out looking more confident than he did in the first fight, looked like he was ready to stand with Silva, then Silva almost immediately went for the Thai clinch and it went like this: knees, knees, knee, kick, shin to ribs, knee to ribs, double knees, punches to face, Rich Franklin breaks free and is ready to slug it out some more… Another clinch, Rich Franklin gets a takedown!!!1! They’re back on their feet, Anderson Silva delivers more knees and punches, Rich is knocked out but saved by the bell at end of round 1, he is helped to walk to his corner.

Round 2 starts and goes like this: Anderson Silva lands knees, double knees, kicks to body, knees, knee to face, knee to ribs, punches in face, more knees, and Rich Franklin is asleep unconcious. Anderson Silva by KO again.

uhhh.. he says he is.. ok, yeah he just beat David Loiseau in a 3-round decision, and homeboy bypassed the humble route and during his post-fight interview went right to saying he thinks he deserves a title shot against Rich Franklin right now.. I’m not too sure about that. Yeah, Mike Swick was impressive tonight, and he has been impressive in all the fights of his that I’ve seen, but I want to see a couple more before I think he’s ready for Franklin.

But first, Rich Franklin has other fights to worry about, such as his upcoming October bout with Anderson Silva. This could be a troublesome matchup for Rich Franklin. I hope he’s working hard on his ground game, because I have a feeling Anderson Silva will be able to give him a war if it’s a stand-up fight. Of course, Franklin is definitley no Chris Leben. But we also know that Franklin is due to fight the middleweight winner of this seasons “The Ultimate Fighter” reality show unless he loses to Anderson Silva.

Back to Mike Swick though, I like the dude, and I want to see him go far in MMA. I’m afraid if he faces Rich Franklin too soon he’ll end up getting Quarryed. For the definition of “Quarryed”, watch the 2005 fight with Rich Franklin -vs- Nate Quarry.. Nate hasn’t fought since.