Fight Talk

Rashad Evans maintained his undefeated record with a split decision over Michael “The Count” Bisping at UFC 78: Validation last Saturday in Newark, N.J.

Evans (11-0-1) had fought to a draw with Tito Ortiz in his last fight, so Evans still has credibility as a UFC main eventer. Now, Evans is positioned for a chance at even more validation if he can get a shot at UFC light heavyweight champion Quentin “Rampage” Jackson.

The bout was the first-ever meeting of “The Ultimate Fighter” champions. Evans won season 2, while Bisping won season 3.

Evans looked good early against Bisping (14-1), who wasn’t able to mount much offense. Bisping looked much better in Round 2 as Evans started to lose energy.

In the final round, Evans got his second wind and scored enough takedowns to convince two of the three judges to give him the win.

In the co-main event, Thiago Silva halted the momentum of Houston Alexander with a quick knockout in the first round. Everyone was stunned because Alexander had the makings of a future star.

In other fights, Frank Edgar won by unanimous decision over Spencer Fisher; Ed Herman knocked out Joe Doerksen in Round 3; and Karo Parisyan won a unanimous decision over Ryo Chonan.

The Ultimate Fighter 6 Update

Last week’s episode of “The Ultimate Fighter 6” saw Mac Danzig (17-4-1) of Team Hughes take on John Kolosci of Team Serra (8-4). Danzig completely shut down Kolosci’s offense and won in just under two minutes with the rear naked choke.

The fighters who are still alive include Danzig, Matthew Arroyo, Richie Hightower, Ben Saunders, Troy Mandaloniz, George Sotiropoulos and Tommy Speer. You can catch up on the entire series as Spike TV runs a TUF 6 marathon on Wednesday, Nov. 21 from 1-11 p.m. Eastern time.

Former Ultimate Fighter winners will collide in at UFC 78: Validation on Nov. 17 in Newark, N.J. Michael “The Court” Bisping (15-0) will take on Rashad Evans (15-0-1) in the main event.

Evans already achieved a measure of validation when he battled to a draw with Tito Ortiz on July 7 . Bisping is coming off a split decision win over Matt Hamill on Sept. 8. The winner could be in line for a shot at UFC light heavyweight champion Quinton “Rampage” Jackson.

In another battle of light heavyweight contenders, Houston Alexander (8-1) will battle Thiago Silva (11-0)

The company will wrap up the year on Dec. 29 in Las Vegas with UFC 79: Nemesis. Matt “The Terror” Serra (16-4) will face Matt Hughes (43-5) in a battle of two of the most successful welterweights in company history.

Also on that show, Chuck “The Iceman” Liddell will battle for his spot as a current top star when he faces PRIDE veteran Wanderlei “The Axe Murderer” Silva. Liddell is coming off losses to Jackson and Keith Jardine.

To start the new year, UFC will run a show in Newcastle, England on Jan. 19. B.J. Penn and Joe Stevenson will fight for the interim lightweight title, while the Sean Sherk substance controversy is worked out.

Finally, on this week’s episode of The Ultimate Fighter 6, George Sotiropoulos (8-2) of Team Serra beat Jared Rollins (9-4) of Team Hughes by TKO at the 2:49 mark.

After last week’s sudden departure of heavyweight champion Randy Couture, things were looking glum in the UFC. The promotion turned things around with a series of major announcements.

1. Brock Lesnar is coming to the UFC. After only 69 seconds of MMA competition. Lesnar is stepping up to the world’s No. 1 promotion. If anyone can make this jump, it’s Lesnar.

Lesnar has been successful every where he has competed. He won the NCAA national wrestling title, the WWE championship and the IWGP title in New Japan Pro Wrestling. Lesnar stepped into the cage for the first time on June 2, and he walloped Min Soo Kim in just over a minute.

Lesnar is an intriguing substitute for Couture in the UFC’s heavyweight division, simply because we don’t know if he will go all the way to the title or get dropped along the way. Either option is exciting.

2. Chuck Liddell will fight Wanderlei Silva in December. Liddell (20-5) has lost his last two fights, but he is still one of the UFC’s top stars. He is the perfect marquee opponent for the UFC debut of Silva, one of the biggest stars from PRIDE. Silva (31-7-1) is coming off losses to Dan Henderson and Mirko Cro Cop, so both men will be hungry for a win.

3. UFC will air on Spike TV for the next three years. This doesn’t sound like blockbuster news, but it will allow UFC to continue its growth over the next few years. Spike TV will air a new weekly fight series, 12 Fight Night specials and four more seasons of The Ultimate Fighter.

UFC 77 RESULTS

One year didn’t change things between Anderson Silva and Rich “Ace” Franklin. Silva won again in the UFC welterweight title fight at UFC 77 in Cincinnati. Silva retained the title with a TKO in Round 2.

In other top fights, Tim Sylvia beat Brandon Vera by unanimous decision; Alvin Robinson beat Jorge Gurgel by unanimous decision; and Stephan Bonnar beat Eric Shafer by TKO in Round 2.

Randy “The Natural” Couture stunned the MMA world when he vacated the UFC championship and left the promotion. Just weeks ago, it looked like UFC fans would enjoy a dream fight between Couture and Fedor Emelianenko. Now, neither one will compete for the top American promotion.

That’s because Fedor decided to sign with M-1 Mix-Fight Championships in his homeland of Russia. Apparently, the UFC wanted to throw a lot of dollars Fedor’s way, and that ruffled the feathers of Couture.

This means that the UFC has already failed to take advantage of its purchase of PRIDE. UFC folded the PRIDE office, signed Quinton Jackson and Mauricio “Shogun” Rua, but failed to land Fedor.

When the WWE purchased WCW in 2001, one of the few things WWE did right was to avoid overpaying the WCW guys. That would have rankled its established stars, which seems to what happened with Couture.

UFC 77: Hostile Territory is coming on pay-per-view this Saturday from Cincinnati, Ohio.

Rich “Ace” Franklin will get the chance to recapture the UFC middleweight title from Anderson “The Spider” Silva, who beat him for the belt one year ago.

Former UFC champion Tim “The Maine-iac” Sylvia, who dropped the title to Couture on March 3, will try to stay in contention when he faces Brandon Vera (8-0).

Other fights include Eric Schaefer vs. Stephan Bonnar; Alvin Robinson vs. Jorge Gurgel; Matt Grice vs. Jason Black; and Forrest Petz vs. Josh Burkman.

The pay-per-view will begin at 10 p.m. Eastern.

Say goodbye to PRIDE, as its parent company (UFC) officially shut the promotion down last week. It looks like UFC had no interest in keeping PRIDE open as a separate brand, especially since PRIDE lost its TV clearance in Japan.

UFC is promoting a battle of unbeaten light heavyweights as Michael “The Count” Bisping will battle Rashad Evans on Nov. 17 in Newark, N.J. Also on that show, Houston Alexander will fight Thiago Silva.

UFC has also started a syndicated show called “UFC Wired.” For a list of television station, go to http://www.ufc.com/index.cfm?fa=misc.wired&gid=7830.

Cage Fury Fighting Championships will celebrate its one-year anniversary on Oct. 12 at the Trump Taj Mahal in Atlantic City. The main event will feature longtime favorite Tank Abbott (9-13) vs. Kimbo Slice (1-0).

Bodog aired its seventh episode of action from its show in Trenton, N.J. on July 14. The featured bout was Trevor Prangley’s middleweight title win over Yuki Kondo.

Travis Fulton and Jason Riley scored upset wins over UFC veterans at the Fightfest event in Columbus on Sept. 29. Fulton beat Wes Sims by unanimous decision, while Riley downed Josh Shockman by unanimous decision.

The next Fightfest show is scheduled for this Saturday, Oct. 13, at the House of Blues in Cleveland. Female boxer Kelli Cofer and former New York Giant Bobby Jones (pictured) are among the fighters on the card.

Koa Ramos scored the biggest win of his young career, beating Rhalan Gracie in the main event of the Gracie Proving Ground show at the Blaisdell Arena in Honolulu on Oct. 6.

Hope you enjoy the new format. Thanks for reading Fight Talk!

Fightfest is coming to Columbus tonight (Sept. 29) at the Greater Columbus Convention Center, 400 High St.

Wes Sims and Josh Shockman, a pair of UFC veterans, will both compete on the show, while UFC veteran Sean Salmon and Pride star Eric “Butterbean’ Esch will be on hand to sign autographs.

Doors will open at 7, and bell time is 8 o’clock.

The IFL is looking for fighters for the 2008 season.

Tryouts will take place on Oct. 13 at the L.A. Boxing Gym in Costa Mesa, Calif.; on Oct. 20 the L.A. Boxing Gym in Mamaroneck, N.Y.; and on Oct. 27 at a Chicago location to be announced.

The sessions will begin at 11:30 a.m. local time, and the IFL is looking for guys who have had at least one professional fight.

If you missed the Elite XC show from Honolulu two weeks ago, you can check it out today (Saturday) on Showtime at 2 p.m. Eastern and Pacific.

Even if you don’t subscribe to Showtime, the channel is airing for free on cable this weekend, so you can check out the fights.

The main event of the show is a battle between Robbie Lawler and Murilo “Ninja” Rua.

Renzo Gracie’s New York Pitbulls won the IFL championship over the Quad Cities Silverbacks. The team did not win anything in 2006 but never lost in 2007.

The starting lineup for the champions consists of lightweight Erik Owings (3-2), welterweight Delson Heleno (12-3), middleweight Fabio Leopoldo (5-3), light heavyweight Jamal Patterson and heavyweight Bryan Vetell (3-2).

Two big upsets rocked the crowd in Anaheim at UFC 76: Knockout on Saturday night.

The biggest stunner was a split decision victory by “The Dean of Mean” Keith Jardine over Chuck Liddell.

After an even first round, Jardine started to get the better of “The Iceman” in Round 2. Jardine finished the fight with more strong punches, and the judges gave him the win 29-28, 28-29, 29-28.

Forrest Griffin turned in an outstanding performance as he upset debuting PRIDE star Mauricio “Shogun” Rua.

One point made the difference as Jon Fitch eked out a split decision victory over Diego Sanchez. The deciding judge scored the fight for Fitch 29-28.

In other bouts, Tyson Griffin defeated Thiago Tavares by unanimous decision; and Lyoto Machida downed Kaz Nakamura.

Chuck Liddell will compete in the main event of “UFC 76: Knockout” Saturday night at 7 on pay-per-view.

Liddell is a heavy favorite to defeat “The Dean of Mean” Keith Jardine. If Liddell loses, it will be difficult for him to get into position to recapture the UFC light heavyweight title from Quentin “Rampage” Jackson.

Also, PRIDE veteran Mauricio “Shogun” Rua (16-2) will make his UFC debut against Forrest Griffin (14-4). The winner could be in line to face the Liddell-Jardine winner or possibly the champion, Jackson.

Other fights include welterweights Jon Fitch (19-2-1) vs. Diego Sanchez (19-1); light heavyweights Lyoto Machida (10-0) vs. Kaz Nakamura (11-6); and lightweights Tyson Griffin (9-1) vs. and Thiago Tavares (13-0).

Kenny Florian stepped to the front of the group of lightweight contenders when he beat Din Thomas with the rear naked choke in the first round. Florian took advantage of an apparent knee injury and is now a strong contender for Sean Sherk’s UFC lightweight belt.

Chris Leben won a close fight in the third round over Terry Martin. Leben was on the verge of losing when he popped Martin in the jaw with a left hand. Leben nailed Martin again to end the fight.

In other fights, Nate Quarry beat Pete Sell on a third-round TKO. and Nate Diaz defeated Junior Accunsao with the guillotine choke.

Kenny Florian will fight Din Thomas in the main event of UFC Fight Night tonight at 9 p.m.

Other top fights on the show include Chris Leben vs. Terry Martin (middleweights), Junior Assuncao vs. Nate Diaz (lightweights) and Pete Sell vs. Nate Diaz (middleweights).

After the show, the new season of The Ultimate Fighter will begin. This season’s coaches are Matt Hughes and Matt Serra.

The New York Pitbulls are one victory away from the IFL championship. They scored a 3-2 win over the Tokyo Sabres in the IFL semifinals in East Rutherford, N.J.

Middleweight Dan Miller, heavyweight Brian “The Philosopher” Vetell and lightweight Deividas Tauresevicius won the first three fights to lock up the win for New York.

The Pitbulls will take on the Quad Cities Silverbacks for the IFL title on Sept. 20 in Hollywood, Fla.

Robbie Lawler won the Elite XC middleweight title with a TKO of Murilo Rua of Brazil on Saturday night.

Lawler improved his record to 15-4, while Rua dropped to 14-8-1. Showtime televised the card from Blaisdell Arena in Honolulu, Hawaii.

Gina Carano defeated Tanya Edinger with the rear naked choke, while Nick Diaz won a split decision over Mike Aina.

In another close fight, Joey Villasenor eked out a split decision win over Riki Fukuda.