Fight Talk

Anderson Silva and Sean Sherk held onto their championships at the UFC 73: Stacked pay-per-view on Saturday night in Sacramento, Calif.

Lightweight champion Sherk dominated Hermes Franca for five rounds en route to a unanimous decision victory. Kenny Florian staked a claim on the next title shot when he made Alvin Robinson tap out to strikes.

“No disrespect to anyone in the 155-pound division, but I finish fights,” Florian said after his victory.

Silva hung onto the middleweight title when he hammered Nate Marquardt for a TKO at 4:50.

Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira downed Heath Herring in a battle of heavyweights by unanimous decision. Herring missed an opportunity to put Nogueira away in Round 1, and he paid for it in the end.

Tito Ortiz battled Rashad Evans to a unanimous draw. Evans is now 15-0-1, and he should be set for big money fights for a long time, including the inevitable rematch with Ortiz.

Tito Ortiz, Rashad Evans, UFC

Rashad Evans will put his 15-0 record on the line against one of the top fighters in the world, Tito Ortiz (15-5) at UFC’s pay-per-view tomorrow night in Sacramento. Calif.

The event is called “Stacked” because it also includes a pair of title fights. “Muscle Shark” Sean Sherk (35-2-1) will defend the lightweight title against Hermes Franca (18-5). Anderson “The Spider” Silva (18-4) will put the middleweight belt up against Nate “The Great” Marquardt (28-6-1).

Other top fights include Alvin Robinson vs. Kenny Florian; and Heath Herring vs. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira.
For the full lineup, go to http://73.ufc.com.

FIGHTFEST BONUS: Cleveland fans can watch Fightfest live tonight at 8:30 p.m. at the House of Blues. I’m one of the announcers for this group, and we’ll be taping the show for SportsTime Ohio, which is the Cleveland Indians network.

Top fights will include Taiwon “The Iron Dragon” Howard vs. Mohammed Abdul Rashad; and Matthew Brown vs. Dan Kolbasowski in a semifinal bout in the 170-pound tournament.

Just two weeks after UFC 75: Champion vs. Champion on Sept. 8 in London, UFC will deliver another pay-per-view at the Honda Center in Anaheim on Sept. 22.

No main event has been signed yet, but that event may mark the debut of Mauricio “Shogun” Rua in the UFC.

Like Dan Henderson, Rua is a star from the PRIDE promotion, which UFC purchased in the spring. Rua (16-2) has won 12 of his last 13 fights, with his only loss coming to Mark Coleman when Rua suffered a broken arm.

Rua even holds a victory over current UFC light heavyweight champion Quinton “Rampage” Jackson.

Also expected to fight on the Anaheim are Mike Swick and Evan Tanner. Swick won five fights in a row before losing to Yushin Okami in April. Middleweight slugger Evan Tanner (32-6) will be fighting for the first time since beating Justin Levens in April 2006.

Welterweight Antonio McKee won a unanimous decision over Mike Dolce to give the IFL’s Tokyo Sabres a 3-2 win over the Portland Wolfpack.

The Tokyo win aired on June 29 on Fox Sports Net and ensured the Sabres a spot in the IFL playoffs.

Also winning for Tokyo were heavyweight Orvil Palmer and light heavyweight Vladmir Matyushenko.

The IFL semifinals are set for Aug. 2 in East Rutherford, N.J. The matchups are the Sabres vs. the New York Pitbulls and the Los Angeles Anacondas vs. the Quad Cities Silverbacks,.

I do like the idea of the team concept, although it’s going to take a while to catch fire. The key is to build loyalty, so the fans really care about seeing their hometown team win.

You can start getting ready for Saturday’s big UFC pay-per-view with a pair of preview shows tonight on Spike TV.

The UFC lightweight title fight between “Muscle Shark” Sean Sherk and Hermes Franca will be the focus of the “Countdown” show at 10:30.

Also, “UFC All Access” will pay a visit to Sherk’s hometown in Minnesota at 11:30.

The Sherk-Franca title fight will be part of “UFC 73: Stacked” on Saturday night at 10 at the Arco Arena in Sacramento.

Other top fights on the show include Tito Ortiz vs. Rashad Evans; Heath Herring vs. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira; and middleweight champion Anderson Silva vs. Nate Marquardt.

Sean Sherk, Hermes Franca