When MMA fans hear about new promotions coming into the U.S. market, many of them think about the countless promotions that have lived and died. Others think of the current promotions that obtained a peak of less than good and then descended to the bottom are are barely hanging on. On Saturday night, the fans of this sport saw something different. HDNet Fights not only had very good production value, but also did things that other promotions seem to just throw together. There are, of course, a few differences between most upstarts and HDNet Fights. Mark Cuban can infuse the promotion with some money that many organizations simply cannot produce, and he has the capability to hold the event in a huge venue, the American Airlines Arena, in Dallas, Texas, an arena that houses his own Dallas Mavericks. Nonetheless, the event kicked off with some great action.

Great preliminary action, Main event works

The good thing about upstart promotions is that it forces them to find up-and-coming talent to fill their undercards. In this case, it wasn't exactly the most veteran of undercards, but definitely a suitable stable of young fighters and old fighters. Marcus Lanier improved his record against a weaker opponent in Lee King, but showed some promise in his wrestling abilities. Liam McCarthy got a much needed TKO win over Jason House. Jay White's record of 1-5 deceived everyone, but he pulled out an impressive submission victory over Patrick Castillo. Nissen Osterneck lived up to his new found hype as he defeated a decent Freddie Espircueta via ground and pound in the first round. Corey Mahon surprised some people with his win over an able Chris Bowles and improved his record to 8-0. There are definitely some flashes of talent within the group of guys on the undercard, and I'm sure we'll see more of them in future shows

Although there wasn't much in the realm of upsets on the main card, we did see some surprising outcomes. Tristan Yunker looked sickly on Friday when he failed to make the 170 pound cutoff, but Pete Spratt agreed to take 25% of Yunker's purse in order to fight. It worked out well for Spratt. Spratt smashed Yunker's eye early in the first round, cutting a deep gash below the left orbital. The referee stepped in and ended the bout in the first round. Krzysztof Soszynski defeated Robert Villegas after Villegas apparently broke his foot and was "flopping" to the ground according to the HDnet broadcast crew. Yves Edwards had a shaky first round, but came back in the second and was able to take Alonzo Martinez's back and sink the rear naked choke. Some excellent battles from some MMA veterans that seemingly haven't made their way back to the big leagues that are the UFC. Either way, it looks like HDNet has tapped into a resource that they can continue to use.

In the main events, Frank Trigg demolished a smaller looking Edwin Dewees by sinking in a kimura while on his back and rolling as Dewees tried to escape it. Dewees did not tap, and eventually, it looked as if Trigg may have cracked Dewees's arm. In the post-fight interview, Trigg led us to believe that it was broken. In the final fight of the night, Mayhem held off Tim Kennedy and won unanimously 29-28 to edge out Kennedy. After entering the cage with pinatas and candy, he walked toward the ring in silver tights and a red cape with a mask as if he was a pro-wrestler. Very entertaining for the Mayhem Monkeys in attendance.

Overall, the fights were fairly entertaining without too much controversy. Good performances from some unknowns, great outcomes for some veterans, and the main events set up the Frank Trigg vs. Jason Miller II. It wasn't a bad night for the first LIVE broadcasted event for HDNet Fights.

What really shined...

The most evident difference between HDNet and many of the other promotions was the commentary and broadcast interviewers. Although HDNet didn't provide the most in-depth broadcasting team, they did keep it informative and in-depth at times. It wasn't overly analytical and sounded more professional than many of the other promotions. Their in-cage interviewer was smooth in his asking of questions and asked questions that we as the fans would actually consider hearing. A vast improvement from Frank Mir's bumbling talk after WEC fights, and Joe Rogan's questioning after UFC fights. Impressive to say the least.

The production was also done in a different way than what we may see in the UFC. The arena wasn't lit up like is usually is for UFC events. It was dark, and the only light that was bright was the light hitting the cage canvas. During the entrances, the light show was full blown, but for viewers watching, the dim lighting around the cage had a very professional look and feel to it. We've seen this in boxing matches specifically, although not many of the huge title fights. In definitely kept up with the theme of not showing off ring girls, and more of the theme of professionalism that Mark Cuban stated in the past.

On another note, kudos to the balls of the man who interviewed Couture. Not only did he ask questions that MANY MMA interviewers never ask because they think it's respectful to just leave the issue alone, but he asked the question we all wanted to hear: When will we see you back in the cage, and will it be with the UFC? Couture stated it could be with the UFC if the co-promote with M-1, but that his fight contract ends in July and his employment contract ends in October. Couture hinted that we may see him against Fedor in October. They also asked Ken Shamrock some questions and he eluded to the fact that there may be a fight between himself and his brother Frank Shamrock. Why is it that HDNet has the balls to ask these questions and nobody else does?

What do we think about HDNet Fights?

HDNet Fights is definitely not a poorly produced or commentated event. They have been able to pick up on some of the other MMA veterans out there that remain unsigned, and they have also been able to find some talent that is up-and-coming around the country and locally in the state of Texas. The event definitely had a more professional feel to it and was without the extravagant ring girls and the flashy lights and spectacle of some of the other U.S. promotions. It was a simple, laid back MMA promotion that had a feel of real professionalism, at least to this viewer.

Check out HDNet Fights on HDNet. The channel also re-airs past events such as the IFO, and will be broadcasting Yarennoka from Japan as well on New Year's Eve. Definitely check out that card as Fedor Emelianenko will be fighting Hong Man Choi, as well as a plethora of RANKED lightweight matchups will be occuring.

Mark Cuban's brainchild, HDNet Fights, will hold its second event in the promotion's short existence on Saturday evening. It will also mark the first live telecast for the promotion. The event will feature a main event rematch between Jason "Mayhem" Miller and Tim Kennedy. Also on the card, Frank "Twinkletoes" Trigg will put his wrestling to the test against a streaking Edwin Dewees, The Ultimate Fighter Season 4 contestant. Other interesting bouts include Pete "Secret Weapon" Spratt vs. Tristan Yunker, Yves Edwards vs. Alonzo Martinez, Nissen Osterneck vs. Freddie Espiricueta, and Jason House taking on Liam McCarty. We'll take a look at the fighters and make some bold predictions for the card.

Main Event
Jason "Mayhem" Miller vs. Tim Kennedy

Jason "Mayhem" Miller (19-5) must be chomping at the bit for this fight. Mayhem hasn't fought since May of this year during his short stint in the WEC in which he defeated Hiromitsu Miura. Before his move to the WEC, he was fairly successful in Icon Sport, racking up a 3-1 record while in the promotion with a big win over the heavy-handed Robbie Lawler. Mayhem also has some key wins over Falaniko Vitale, Egan Inoue, and Denis Kang.

The hype surrounding this battle is the rematch aspect. Tim Kennedy defeated Mayhem back in February of 2003 in a Extreme Challenge card. Kennedy won by decision, but Mayhem has stated in some recent interviews that he felt he was much stronger now. Although we haven't seen promotion from HDNet on national television, for hardcore fans, this should be a matchup of interest due to the fact that Tim Kennedy is riding a huge win streak.

Kennedy (8-1) has had a very good career so far. He's currently on a seven fight win streak and has been dominant in his performances in the IFL. Much like Mayhem, Kennedy has not fought since May of this year either. His last win was over the cardio machine in Ryan McGivern in the IFL.

Kennedy is a banger and has some knockout power. He has the ability to set up some great combinations and will use kicks to set up his gameplan from the get go. He has some wrestling abilities as well, but mainly will be looking for a ground and pound victory or a straight knockout. During his last battle with Ryan McGivern, he showed some great wrestling ability against another very able wrestler in McGivern. Kennedy may try to stay away from Mayhem's ju-jitsu, or simply pound him while trying to avoid being submitted.

If you've had the pleasure of seeing Mayhem battle it out in the cage, he's fairly well-rounded. He has some significant reach, decent striking, great knees in the clinch, and will also utilize leg kicks to set up his gameplan. His main "win" trait is his jiu-jitsu ground game. He has some decent takedown abilities, but if you take him down and get into his guard, his length is definitely an issue to deal with. Combine a plethora of submission game along with some fairly good standup, Mayhem is a handful for many fighters... ask Georges St. Pierre who was unable to finish Mayhem.

Leland's Prediction: Jason "Mayhem" Miller via submission, Round 3

Mayhem tends to start slow, which may be an advantage in that Kennedy may tire later on in the bout. I look for Mayhem to either stand and trade or become a victim of a takedown. Either way, Mayhem should have the advantage unless Kennedy happens to catch him. I'll take the wiley activeness of Mayhem over Kennedy in this one.
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Frank Trigg vs. Edwin Dewees

Frank Trigg (15-6) is a veteran of PRIDE, UFC, and was once the champion of Icon Sport. He's been around the MMA scene for quite some time, and is also the co-host of TAGG Radio. Trigg has an impressive skillset in that he's a black belt in Judo as well as a seasoned wrestler who was a finalist in the 2000 Olympic Trials. Trigg has also demonstrated some heavy hands in many of his past fights as well. He has defeated notable fighters such as Kazuo Misaki, Jason Miller, Renato Verissimo, and Dennis Hallman while having losses to Georges St. Pierre, Matt Hughes, Hayato Sakurai, Carlos Condit, and his most recent loss to Robbie Lawler.

Although he had some fairly bad stints of running into the top fighters in the UFC, he has been making a fairly good run as of late. He defeated both Misaki and Miller toward the beginning of this year, and was involved in a war with Robbie Lawler that Trigg looked good in. He will be a very tough test for Edwin Dewees.

Dewees (34-10) has a significant amount of fights under his belt. His experience in the cage far exceeds Trigg's experience, but Trigg has fought some of the world's best fighters. Dewees, on the other hand, has fought a good amount of mid-tier fighters as well as fighters making their way up into the upper-echelon of his weight class. As of late, Dewees is coming off two losses, a knockout loss to Art Santore and a TKO loss to Jorge Rivera. His last fight was last November, and it looks like Dewees is refreshed and ready to continue his career.

Edwin is mainly a submission fighter, but has shown to have some power in his hands. His main skills revolve around wrestling on the ground, although he may be looking to keep it standing against an able wrestler in Trigg. Trigg has been known to be susceptible to having his back taken as was evident in his losses to St. Pierre and Matt Hughes. It'll be interesting to see if Dewees tries to take it to the ground or stand with Trigg.

Leland's Prediction: Frank Trigg via TKO, Round 2

Trigg has been working out at the Xtreme Couture gym in Las Vegas getting ready for this bout. I expect his wrestling to be very good, and he should be able to counter Dewees' attempts if they come along. Although Trigg has had problems getting his back taken in the past, I imagine Trigg will try to work his fists a bit more on top to soften up Dewees. I'll go out on a limb and take Trigg by devastating ground and pound or a stoppage due to strikes standing.
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In the past, I have been very critical that the UFC's middleweight division needs a kick in the ass. It seems that this statement hasn't been taken seriously by the UFC. The division is currently in a standstill due to the fact that Anderson Silva remains the undisputed middleweight champion and has no possible opponents that can challenge him for the title. Let's take a new look into the Middleweight possibilities or actually, the short list of possibilities.

UFC fails to convince Henderson

According to the UFC 78 Press Conference, it was said that Henderson is still not wanting to drop down to 185 lbs. to fight Anderson Silva. Is this a money issue? Is the UFC lowballing Henderson with a new deal? Fact of the matter is, the Middleweight division is by far one of the worst divisions in the UFC. It, in fact, is the least deep division in the promotion. What reason is there that Henderson wouldn't drop down to become the UFC champion at Middleweight?

The most obvious answer is that he would have to take on an ultra-dangerous Anderson Silva. Although Dan Henderson's Greco-Roman wrestling is a great counter for what Silva has to offer, Silva still possesses a black belt ju-jitsu ground game, a long reach and hard striking standup game, and has multiple tools to end fights. Henderson is a granite chin though. I imagine the fight has the potential to be a huge draw for many UFC fans. Does Henderson see that fight as a possible matchup that could hurt him? It's a possibility, but I think there are other motives.

I mentioned in my previous article that I felt Henderson was sticking to the Light Heavyweight Division because it garners bigger PPV draws, more money, and more prestige. Historically, the heavier weight classes bring bigger fights and draws. Could he simply want to fight through one of the best divisions in the world? I believe so. Henderson wants to fight the absolute best in the world, and the LHW division contains some of the greatest in the world. If he suffers another loss, he may take the money and drop to 185 to fight Silva in a card that I believe would definitely draw some huge numbers.

Unsigned talent goes elsewhere

Jason "Mayhem" Miller was one of the better prospects out there that could have at least made the division a bit more lively. He has some quality wins over Robbie Lawler and Denis Kang and sports an impressive 19-5 record. He has a fantastic submission game and decent standup, but more importantly to the UFC, he is a self-promoting machine. He has a large fanbase of MMA fans behind him who love his antics as seen during a few of the latest UFC events, a few great skit videos featuring Miller that include a spoof of the TapouT! reality show, and he loves to make grand entrances. I have no doubt that he would have gained more fans in the UFC and the extra exposure could have brought more fans into the sport or at least excitement in seeing him fight in the poor Middleweight division. Miller will fight Sean Salmon on the December 15th HDNet card.

Frank Trigg is another decent Middleweight at the end of his career, but nonetheless presents a fairly significant challenge to Anderson Silva because he has some very good wrestling skills. Barring a rear naked choke, Trigg could actually present a big problem for Silva. He has some decent power, but he doesn't have the range to stand with Silva. If Trigg went into the fight with a solid gameplan of putting Silva to the floor and was able to do that, it'd be a very interesting fight. He also presents problems to other fighters in the UFC, but his age is always a factor. This seems to be a case where White is still bitter over comments Trigg made during a few PRIDE broadcasts about the UFC. Trigg claims that he made them in regards to what PRIDE wanted him to say. Nonetheless, I'm still a fan of Frank Trigg for the mere fact that he will tell you exactly what he thinks. As Trigg mentioned in one of his most recent shows, "The UFC made me usable, Fox Sports made me famous, and my mouth made me infamous." Very true, Trigg's battle with Matt Hughes was a great battle, his gig on the PRIDE series put his face in front of millions, and his rants and pre-fight hype he generated made him infamous. For those reasons, Trigg should have been given a chance in the UFC. Trigg is now fighting Edwin Dewees on the December 15th HDNet card.

According to GracieMag.com, Ronaldo Jacare (7-1) didn't sign with the UFC, but has now decided to fight again in Jungle Fight a.k.a. MMA World League now. Why? This baffles me and I'm not sure if the UFC just lowballed him or what, but he will get absolutely no exposure in Jungle Fight and he will fight tomato cans until his name pops up later down the line again after he is sporting a ridiculous record. Kind of like Jason Reinhardt. Jacare is a Brazilian ju-jitsu black belt who placed second in the world at the ADCC championships in his weight class, only losing to Roger Gracie. He's ended every fight inside the first round. It's beyond me as to why he didn't sign with the UFC.

Well, then who the hell did they add?

Evan Tanner will make a new run back into the UFC... heh. One of the big points that people make about Evan Tanner is the fact that he self taught himself many of the techniques he used in the Octagon in his early days. Tanner sports a legendary 32-6 record and has fought nearly everyone. Baroni, Lawler, Terrell, Franklin, Sinosic, Ortiz, Minowa, Herring, Buentello, the list goes on. He hasn't fought since April of last year though. Why you might ask? Apparently Tanner had an excessive drinking problem that caused him to basically turn into a full blown alcoholic who roamed the country, randomly posting on his MySpace about his problems. Hit up Fightlinker for details.

This isn't an overwhelming good signing. Tanner is fairly old and may have a lot of ring rust due to such a long layoff. He also will have to battle through now coming off the alcohol and possibly have a very hard time doing so. Will we see a clean and sober Tanner who could begin another dominance run in the MW division? I doubt it, but people said the same thing about Randy Couture being too old to do much in the heavyweight division.

Existing talent

David Terrell (6-2) was the prospect that many were looking toward to bring some excitement to the division. Terrell never fights. He's basically permanently on the injured reserve list in the UFC because he seems to be the most injury prone athlete that I can remember besides Kerry Wood and Mark Prior of the Chicago Cubs. Terrell is a product of Cesar Gracie Ju-Jitsu Academy. It has produced fighters such as Nick and Nate Diaz and Jake Shields. Terrell is much of the same type of fighter with a great submission game on the ground. He would have presented some significant problems to the top tier of the Middleweight division. I wonder if we will actually ever see him fight in the UFC again.

Nate Marquardt was a fighter that was supposed to give Silva a challenge. He didn't, and I don't see him ever giving him a tough challenge. Okami is gone apparently because the UFC felt he was a boring fighter. Bad move by the UFC. Jason MacDonald can't even get through Franklin. Franklin has been destroyed twice by Silva in devastating fashion.

The Zuffa-owned WEC has Paulo Filho, who is a friend of Silva. Filho did state that he would fight Silva if he had to. I think the time is now that "you have to" pit these two great fighters against each other to help the UFC's MW division. Zuffa seems to want to pit both the organizations against each other. In the latest oddity, the WEC will go up against a UFC special on SpikeTV. WEC 31 has some unbelievable fights, but can it compete on Versus with the UFC on basic cable. The UFC will air a "Best of 2007" show at the same time. Very strange indeed.

Bisping, Evans, Henderson, and even Machida could drop down to Middleweight and make the division worth a damn, but it seems that they are content at sitting at Light Heavyweight for now. Machida has the best chance of making a splash in the LHW division so far since his style is unbelievably elusive, but I feel like he may get the White pinch for being boring. It is rumored that Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou could fight Machida on December 12th. Bisping and Evans winner may fight Tito Ortiz, so both could be locked into the division, or the loser may drop down. Henderson obviously is sticking to his guns and staying at Light Heavyweight. Will the UFC keep him out of fighting until he gets pissed enough to drop? I wouldn't put it past Dana White.

Final Thoughts

So, what can the UFC do since they've already allowed many of the natural middleweights to head to other organizations? Matt Lindland is available. Get over the little argument you have with him and just sign him. He is an opponent with a Greco-Roman background that could potentially counter Silva's strengths well. Matt Hughes has also talked about moving up to middleweight to take on Silva after he wins the Welterweight title. If Hughes can win his title back, look for that fight to happen as well. The most believable development in the division would be the fighters dropping down to the division. The loser of the Bisping vs. Evans fight could definitely make the cut to 185. Henderson is still on the line, but we could eventually see that happen. Machida is now fighting Soukodjou at UFC 79, and he still stands a very good chance at making waves at light heavyweight.

In the end, the UFC doesn't have a plethora of options at all. They will be banking on Hughes to win to increase his standing again. Lindland is still a non-option for Dana White. Henderson won't drop down and many of the other options have signed with other organizations or are existing fighters who are either injured or too far down the line to make an impact within the next year. Hopefully we will see some activity from the UFC into grabbing some talent out there. The upcoming TUF season will also feature Middleweights, so we could see a huge influx of talent.

In my travels of listening to almost every interview I could get my hands on and keeping up with the news in the mixed martial arts world, I thought I would write a little rundown of the Fedor Emelianenko rumor mill. Right now, as everybody probably knows, he has all but confirmed that he has signed with Russian MMA promotion M-1 MixFight. The announcement will be made at Mark Ecko Enterprises offices on October 23rd in New York City. After months of speculation as to where Fedor Emelianenko was going to sign, the news broke on TAGGRadio that Fedor had signed with a new Russian MMA organization. That new organization was later confirmed to be M-1, but it was now under new ownership. In the article by Loretta Hunt of Fight Network, it was stated that an undisclosed American entertainment company had bought M-1 Mixfight. Finkelstein, Fedor's agent, was also part of the management of M-1, but was now going to be a consultant to the company.

After the announcement of his signing, the UFC Heavyweight Champion Randy Couture resigned his position with the company. He vacated his title spot, commentator duties, and his general position as ambassador to the UFC. In a press conference yesterday for UFC 77: Hostile Territory, White stated that Couture was still UFC Heavyweight Champion because he was still under contract to Dana White. Regardless, Randy Couture hasn't announced a return to the UFC and all indications are that he won't be fighting in the Octagon anytime soon. 

The big question now is who has bought the M-1 organization and who will be bringing M-1 into the international scene as a new player in the MMA community? Since it has been pretty apparent that names have been thrown around and proven to be not in the hunt, let's run through the latest rumors: 

•  Mark Cuban is not the buyer. It has been said by many journalists that have close sources to M-1 and Cuban that a purchase deal is not the case. Ed Fishman recently stated on FightOpinion Radio that Mark Cuban was more interested in obtaining a television deal with M-1 in order to broadcast their events on HDNet fights. It seems more inline with what Cuban should try to do, get his foot in the door, rather than run into the market guns ablazing and possibly risk doing something that will lose him money quickly.

• Ed Fishman is also out of the running. Again, his FightOpinion radio interview stated that he may be trying to work some kind of deal, but not as the purchaser of the company. Although Fishman has been in the MMA news as a potential suitor to the M-1 organization, he basically said he was in the MMA picture, but not as a buyer of Mixfight.

• The McMahon rumors are clearly one of the more outrageous ones. The founders of the WWE and Global Media could be looking to expand their company into mixed martial arts, a sport that has been taking fans away from pro-wrestling. Although this sounds like a possibility, I have heard from many sources that they are definitely not in the mix as far as potential buyers.

• The most interesting rumor has come from Frank Trigg at TAGGRadio. Throughout this entire deal, he has been spot on for once with most of his sources. He stated on his Thursday show with Gorgeous George Garcia that he thought with some certainty that the company that owned the Staples Center was most likely the buyer. Further research revealed that an entertainment giant named AEG owned the Center, along with many more venues and sports teams.
  • View their website here. AEG owns venues such as the Staples Center, the Colosseum at Caesar's Palace, The Forum in L.A., home of the L.A. Kings, The Toyota Sports Center, The Home Depot Center, The O2 in London, and many others.
  • They also have future investments in venues in Berlin, the Sprint Center in Kansas City, a stadium in New Jersey, and Citizens Bank Arena in Ontario, Canada.
  • AEG owns a number of sports franchises.
    • Four European hockey clubs and also the Los Angeles Kings.
    • MLS Soccer Teams: Chicago Fire, Los Angeles Galaxy, Houston Dynamo, and Chivas USA
  • AEG produced some huge sporting events
    • Regularly produce ESPN Boxing
    • HBO Boxing: Lewis vs. Klitschko, Mosley vs. De La Hoya, Klitschko vs. Sanders World, Jones Jr. vs. Gonzalez, Tarver vs. Johnson, Hopkins vs. Eastman.
    • Produce soccer matches for world renowned EPL soccer club, Chelsea FC.
    • MLS, NBA, NHL All-Star Games
    • ESPN X-Games, FIFA Women's World Cup Finals, U.S. Figure Skating Championships, and 2002 Super Bowl Championships
  • AEG produces concerts for big name popular music artists
  • AEG also has numerous divisions inside their company, including merchandising franchises.

• The last rumor that I could touch on is Mark Ecko, the clothing designer who is hosting the press conference. Ecko's Enterprises company has been known to produce press conferences and upscale parties for events, so it may seem as if they are just producing the event. To me, this seems like the case. You could make a case for Ecko himself. He has recently been in the news for buying Barry Bonds's historic home run ball that passed Hank Aaron's home run record.
  • Ecko is the clothing designer that creates the lines that sport his name, ECKO. He also produces G-Unit clothing. He also owns his own production company, Mark Ecko Entertainment, but it mostly focuses on interactive entertainment as in computer video games and console games.

Fight rumors

The most credible rumor has been Mark Hunt possibly fighting Fedor on a New Years Eve Japanese card. It's possible that this could be on a K-1 Hero's event. Hunt has been a free agent for quite some time and it would set up a rematch of their battle in which Hunt was actually impressive in smothering Fedor and getting close to submitting him. Another rumor was the Ricardo Arona rumor in which he was said to have signed with M-1. Arona later refuted the rumor and said he had not signed with anyone yet, but did seem to push the UFC as the place he wanted to go.

The ridiculous rumor of the week was the fight between Ken Shamrock and Fedor Emelianenko. This was one of the most absurd rumors that Shamrock refuted on TAGGRadio this last week. He did state he would love to fight Fedor, but as we all would probably say, Ken may bite off too much in that fight.

Interesting rumors

AEG is an interesting rumor because they own so many venues across the U.S. and have been moving into the European market. This could be a move for them to move into the Asian market as well. Adding MMA to their already extensive lineup of sports franchises is a bold step considering MMA's huge growth over the last few years. With their big production values as well, we may see a return of PRIDE-like entrances and themes to their shows. Obviously, they will have huge money considering they were behind the signing of English soccer superstar, David Beckham.

Ecko is also intriguing considering he owns a production and entertainment company that generally has stuck to a certain genre, but never live events or sports. Ecko is known to be an avid sports fan, so it would be no surprise that he has become intrigued by MMA. He could potentially promote a new clothing line along side a MMA promotion as well. International sales along with international stars promoting his product. It's a great idea as far as marketing a product along side a sport that has a history of using clothing as an advertising scheme.

With all of that said, we won't know officially until Monday who has bought the organization. Sit back for a ride because once this is announced, the MMA communiy will be in a free fall of speculation and possibilities. Get ready for an exciting weekend with UFC 77 and the announcement on Monday of Fedor's contract.

The UFC Middleweight Division has been scrutinized lately due to the upcoming UFC 77 main event, Anderson Silva vs. Rich Franklin. If you look down the list of middleweights trying to work their way up the ranks to get a shot at Anderson Silva, you cannot find a single fighter who deserves a chance. Many have began their runs, but fell short in recent fights. Rich Franklin and Anderson Silva are the only fighters at the top of one of the weakest divisions in MMA, if not the weakest. Let's take an inside look at the UFC's middleweight division and really see if there is any potential for it to improve any time soon.

Current situation in the division

Currently, Anderson Silva is dominating the division. His recent wins over Nathan Marquardt and Travis Lutter were a bit different, but wins regardless. Marquardt proved to be no match for Silva, even though many fans felt Marquardt may have had a potential shot at beating the Brazilian. Lutter had some fairly decent attempts at ending the fight, but was unable to catch Silva in a submission. Both fighters are far from being back in the picture for a title run. Franklin fought Silva at UFC 64 in a title defense matchup. Silva came in and completely destroyed Franklin with his signature knee strikes in a Muay Thai clench. The result of that bout has been driving fans to pick Franklin in their upcoming rematch in Franklin's hometown. Should Silva be that big of a favorite?

Yes, he should. Silva's striking is the best the Middleweight Division has to offer. His lanky physique may fool the casual fan, but when he lands strikes, his opponents seem to crumple to the mat as if they were shot. The great thing about Anderson Silva's unbelievable striking is that he can concentrate more on his ground game because his standup is so good. Reports from his camp confirm that he has been working on his ju-jistu game extensively and will be very tough to take on the ground. It remains to be seen if he can handle the ground game, but his long legs and height definitely help him in that area of MMA.

Let's get into hypothetical mode here. What if Franklin beats Anderson Silva at UFC 77? Silva drops down to beat up on two unsuspecting opponents and most likely regains the rematch while Franklin possibly takes on MacDonakd or Okami... again. I'm not too keen on MacDonald actually beating Franklin, but Okami could edge out Franklin in a bout. He nearly submitted him in their last bout. Okami vs. Silva, in my opinion, is not a very interesting fight. Silva wins, regains a shot at the title again against Franklin, and the cycle repeats itself. What I'm getting at here is that no matter how you want to move around the players in the Middleweight Division, Silva and Franklin seem to be running toward an endless cycle. MacDonald and Okami don't seem to have the skills to move up into the top, although Okami could potentially beat Franklin. We have come to a crossroads in the discussion. Who the hell does the UFC bring in to make this division worth a damn?

Bring in the ringers

Who can the UFC actually bring in to give this division a much needed kick in the ass? The obvious choice is Paulo Filho. Filho is currently the middleweight champion in the WEC, a promotion owned by Zuffa. Since he is likely under a Zuffa contract, bring him over to the UFC to give Silva a challenge on the ground. Filho is known for his amazing ground tactics and is currently ranked in the top 5 of middleweights in the world. He could prove to be a significant test for Silva. Although he wasn't very impressive in his title win over Joe Doerkson in his lone WEC bout, he was able to also use some decent standup. When I say decent, I mean ok standup. He managed to loop some punches and catch Doerkson. I feel that it wasn't impressive technique, and Filho certainly doesn't have the reach that Silva has. Filho's main strength and overall gameplan is taking you down and submitting you.That's exactly why he'd be a great fit for a title run against Silva.

The reported rumor according to George Garcia of TAGGRadio is that Frank Trigg may be making an appearance against Paulo Filho in the WEC. As of today, a deal hasn't been struck and Trigg remains adamant in stating he wouldn't fight if it wasn't for the title. What if Trigg manages to take out Filho? Trigg has much better standup in my opinion. He also has some fairly good wrestling, but would probably need to work on it extensively to really counter Filho's ground tactics. If he can manage to stay away from Filho's submissions and gain the upper hand in the standup war, he may be able to irk out a victory over Filho. Will he make a run at the UFC title at Middleweight? I'm not completely sure. If the WEC signs him, it'll end a small beef that Zuffa had with Trigg over comments he made as a PRIDE commentator about the UFC. They may keep him as the WEC champ since he is 35 and nearly the end of a career. Or they could send him on his way to the UFC to make an impact on the division. Anything is possible with such a weak division. In my opinion, Trigg won't be hitting the UFC ever again.

The most interesting addition would be Matt Lindland. Although Dana White has a real problem with Matt Lindland and vice versa, it's possible that Lindland's skill alone may get him another chance in the UFC. A powerful wrestler with some great ground tactics along with some knockout power, Lindland has had only 2 losses in the last 2 years, one to Quinton Jackson and another to Fedor Emelianenko, both guys being outside of his base weight division. Lindland would be a fantastic addition, but he is rather old as well, although hasn't shown much in diminishing skill. Can Dana White get past his issues with Lindland and bury the hatchet to improve the division? Doubtful, but I would love to see it happen.

We could make a case for Joe "Diesel" Riggs. He fought Eugene Jackson in their Strikeforce bout and demolished him with a brutal ground and pound. But is Riggs better at Middleweight? He looked like he was, but he was taking on an older Eugene Jackson who could not handle Riggs's power. Riggs is also locked in with Strikeforce for a bit, and participating in the Middleweight Tournament that Strikeforce will be putting on. If he can manage to demolish the competition the same way, could he earn a shot at Cung Le and Frank Shamrock? Cung Le is a possibility, but Shamrock would probably run from the prospect of fighting a very tough "Diesel" Riggs.

Big names

Dan Henderson is the most talked about light heavyweight who has the title for the welterweight division in PRIDE. Welterweight in PRIDE was around 185. Should Henderson drop down? YES!! Please! Henderson dropping down could potentially begin a cycle that will see Silva being beaten and having Franklin, Henderson, and Silva in the running instead of two fighters. Add in Filho and maybe Lindland, we could see a surge in the fights and talent in the division. Henderson's wrestling and awesome power would be a problem for Silva, along with Hendo's granite chin. It's beyond me why Henderson doesn't drop down.

Michael Bisping, you say? I'm not completely convinced he would do much in the Middleweight division. Simply put, he's a striker who doesn't have awesome knockout power, but he can throw the leather on the ground. He doesn't have great takedown defense, as was evident in the Matt Hamill fight, and his ground game, although improving, wasn't the finishing type. I think he'd be a mid-tier to upper-tier Middleweight who would feel the pain of the 3 big names if Henderson decided to drop.

Ryo Chonan is another name being thrown around. Honestly, Chonan had the most insane flying scissor kick to heel hook submission I've ever seen. He has apparently decided to fight at Welterweight in the UFC for the time being. Could he make an impact at the Middleweight level? Most likely, he couldn't. Although he has a tough chin and can take a beating, he'd have to pull off some amazing wins in order to get to Silva, in which case he'd probably get beaten into a pulp.

As far fetched as this sounds, Robbie Lawler is always a name that should come up. Currently fighting at middleweight, could he make a run toward the UFC? It's always a possibility. He has heavy hands and has matured his game a bit. In his win over "Ninja" Rua in EliteXC's Uprising event on September 15th of this year, he showed a patience in his bout as was able to coast through the bout without ever really gassing himself as he has in the past. Lawler could prove to be a force with his unbelievable power.

Final thoughts

Henderson should drop to Middleweight and give Silva a run for his money. Imagine the matchups then. If Silva beats Franklin, line up a Hendo vs. Silva fight. If Franklin ends up beating Silva, Henderson can take on Franklin. Either way, it puts another huge name in the division who can take out either fighter and set up a number of matchups to get back to the title. Add in a very good Matt Lindland and possibly Filho or Riggs, the division could actually become interesting. A lot of the ideas I expressed here are long shots, but White needs to man up and sign Lindland. He's a free agent and a very good fighter. Henderson needs to realize that owning the Middleweight division could potentially get him a pay day that he wants. Make it happen.

I was listening to Trigg's side project, a podcast known as TAGG Radio, yesterday during my long workday. I will say that I am a fan of Frank Trigg's insight into the MMA world. He has access to many of the top gyms in MMA, and he has some very good analyst skills. He isn't the greatest wrestler in the world, and I think he'd readily admit he's been beat bad because he didn't train in other areas of MMA that he should have, but he's a pretty good fighter. Anyways, the TAGG radio team had Keith Kizer, the NSAC Executive Director, on their show. For those who don't know, Kizer basically approves fights. That is one of his day-to-day operations he does. I must say, they asked great questions and to the credit of Keith Kizer, he answered all of them. I found a few points that were hit to be rather interesting.

First, the main point I found very interesting was the Sean Sherk appeal. Keith had stated that there were only two real ways he could possibly overturn the ruling. He would either need to prove that the test was messed with or "spiked". Now, if you aren't familiar with the testing process, Keith explained that there was a seal on the bottle, and a person from the NSAC watched the fighters take a leak, then the bottle is sealed. It is then signed by that person and the fighter, then handed off, and literally signed by every person it passes through. Obviously, if the seal is broken when it gets to the lab, it was obviously tampered with. This seems like a very unlikely defense against the ruling by Sherk's attorney. I'm sure he knows that it's nearly impossible to spike a test. The other way a fighter can potentially fight a ruling is to prove that his supplements were tainted by a trainer without any knowledge, or somehow prove that he was able to physically produce over 2 ng/ML of nandrolone in his system. Let's break this down a bit further to see how the NSAC would potentially look at this.

Kizer stated a case in the past, Orlando Salido's case in Nevada. If you don't know, Orlando Salido is the IBF Featherweight Champion, but he is under review for testing positive for steroids before the fight. Now, in comparison, Sherk tested at 12 ng/mL of nandrolone in his body. The normal is 2 ng/mL and it has been proven a high performance athlete can obtain a level of 6 ng/mL, but even that is suspicious. NSAC has highly skilled doctors that say above 2 ng/mL is an unbelievable stretch, accoding to Kizer. Salido tested at 7 ng/mL. His defense was a defense that Sherk may have quite possibly thought about using. Salido stated that the combination of cutting weight and working excessively hard was the reason he tested above 7 ng/mL. Let's get something straight, and Kizer brought this up as well. If that was the case, how many athletes would test over 2 ng/mL on a regular basis? A shitload. It would be much more common if that was the case. And it isn't. Kizer even referenced a number of cases where he believed a fighter had no knowledge he was taking steroids, but his trainer was supplementing steroids in drinks. It's the fighter's responsibility. I agree with that, I mean, if you are suddenly bulking up ridiculously and are in amazing shape for doing half to three-quarters the work you usually do to get ready for a fight, something is up. Go get yourself tested by an independent doctor. Find out, and own up to it. It'd be much more likely you could just sit out the fight, cancel it, and not face suspension. Get the drug out of your system, fire your trainer, and get back in the game clean. As far as Sherk goes, I don't see how he can win. If he proves a trainer spiked his supplements, it's his fault according to the NSAC. He won't prove that he can naturally produce 12 ng/mL nandrolone. It's not possible to produce that much unless you juice, it just isn't. He won't prove it was tainted when he tested. I mean, what else can he do? It'll be very interesting to see what happens. But Sherk is being ruled by the CSAC, not the NSAC, so we will see what happens. CSAC has proven in the past that they have some wierd decisions on cases.

If you get a chance, definitely go listen to the podcast at TAGG Radio. They also went into length about the Nick Diaz situation with his marijuana use, medical marijuana use and if fighters are going to be able to fight if they are prescribed it, and also talked about possibly rule changes in Nevada for MMA, specifically knees on the ground. Very good show, hats off to the guys at TAGG Radio.