UFC 85’s event card has been making some changes recently, and some of the matchups are beginning to look good for the fans. Fresh off his win over Charles McCarthy at UFC 83, Michael Bisping is now rumored to be taking on Chris Leben at UFC 85 in a clash of middleweight talent. Other rumors are suggesting that James Irvin may be replacing Chuck Liddell on the card after Liddell suffered a hamstring injury. Irvin would be taking on TUF alum Rashad Evans in what is likely to be a main card matchup, not a main event.

Bisping vs. Leben

Joe Silva may in fact be putting Michael Bisping on the road to having his switch flipped off against Leben, but it’s definitely a nice step up in competition and a quicker road to the upper-echelon of talent. Leben isn’t great on the ground, but he’s deadly in the striking department. His cardio has improved significantly, and his chin seems to still be in great shape after his big win over Terry Martin in the third round of their war. With a win over gatekeeper Alessio Sakara, he’s earned his way into fighting some good mid-level talent. He’ll have to first stop a resurging Michael Bisping at 185 pounds.

I love this fight due to the styles that are matching up here. Bisping has some decent boxing skills along with what looks to be an improved Muay Thai standup game. He isn’t impressive on the ground, and only uses a ground and pound game when venturing into that part of the fight. Leben also presents a danger on his feet, but works from awkward angles to confuse opponents into eating the huge overhand. He has a fantastic sprawl, great cardio, and an iron chin. This should be a war.

Irvin vs. Evans

This fight is a sleeper that could suddenly erupt into a full blown war. Most fans would dismiss this fight due to Irvin’s recent losses and his injury proneness, and the overall boring style that Rashad Evans brings to the table. Other fans wonder why someone like Irvin continues to get fights in the UFC. Irvin has a simple formula for maintaining worth. Go out and produce the knockout highlight reel, and he does exactly that. Houston Alexander found out only :08 seconds into their bout at UFN 13.

Why is this fight interesting? It’ll answer a question I’ve been wondering about Rashad Evans for quite some time. Can he last 3 rounds with someone as explosive as James Irvin? Three rounds with a fighter who has made a career out of “tagging” his opponent’s chin with brutal flashes of power from his strikes. It’s going to be a test for Evans that we really haven’t seen before. Many of his past opponents had the potential, but none of them possessed the power that Irvin has in his hands and knees.

The UFC makes its debut in Canada with an already sold out event in Montreal at the Bell Centre on Saturday night. The featured bout matches up Matt “The Terror” Serra against Georges “Rush” St. Pierre in a highly anticipated rematch  of their UFC 69 battle that saw Matt Serra upset St. Pierre. Rich Franklin will make his return to the Octagon after his second loss to UFC Middleweight champion Anderson Silva. He'll take on a venerable Travis Lutter who will test Franklin's submission defense. Other bouts scheduled include Canadian Kalib Starnes vs. Nate “The Rock” Quarry, Mac Danzig vs. Mark Bocek, Michael Bisping vs. Charles McCarthy, and Jason MacDonald vs. Joe “El Dirte” Doerkson, along with a slew of undercard bouts that are sure to entertain us. Let's take a look at the card.

Main Event: Georges “Rush” St. Pierre vs. Matt “The Terror” Serra
UFC Welterweight title bout

Oddly enough, Georges St. Pierre comes into this bout as a huge favorite while Serra once again remains the heavy underdog. St. Pierre's destruction of Matt Hughes at UFC 79 on short notice was stunning in the capacity of being unbelievably dominating. The fact that he can outwrestle any fighter in the weight class is a testament to his training regiment and work ethic. Wrestlers with plenty of credentials to back up their “smack” continue to fall to St. Pierre's superior skills. Pierre also has dynamic striking that is unparalleled in the division, but he has shown weakness in the standup at times, namely against his opponent, Matt Serra.

Serra's abilities are underrated by many fans of the sport. He has very good jiu-jitsu skills on the ground, and his strength can become a huge factor as the fight progresses. He's very tough to defeat by a finish, and he's never been submitted in MMA competition. I firmly believe it'll be a good test for St. Pierre if it becomes a chess match on the ground. The x-factor is Serra's heavy hands. He has some decent striking skills for a smaller welterweight, and with power behind them, we've seen what they can do against St. Pierre.

Bottom line: St. Pierre should win this fight within the first three rounds. He has great power, athleticism, dynamic striking, range, reach, and is coming off a stunning performance against Matt Hughes. Serra definitely has a shot on his feet, but I don't believe he can submit St. Pierre on the floor. Serra has great submission defense, so I'd stray away from St. Pierre defeating him there, but I do believe he can work some wrestling skills to open up the striking.

Leland's Prediction: Georges St. Pierre via TKO, Round 3

Rich “Ace” Franklin vs. Travis Lutter

Rich Franklin is looking to get back on the track back to another title shot. How many title shots can one have after being destroyed the previous two tries? We don't know, but Franklin is still a formidable opponent for anyone trying to make a run at Anderson Silva. He has good power, decent striking, big blow ground and pound, and he's not half bad on the ground either. He's a well-rounded fighter, but he isn't great in any one thing.

Lutter, on the other hand, is a great jiu-jitsu fighter on the ground, but he lacks the powerful hands that Franklin possesses. The biggest problem for Lutter is getting through Franklin's submission defense, a defense that has helped Franklin remain unbeaten by a submission throughout his 25 fight career.

Franklin should take this one. He has fantastic submission defense, and has the hands to defeat Lutter on his feet or on the ground. Franklin has taken on great grapplers in the past, and has always came through with his crushing ground and pound.

Leland's Prediction: Rich Franklin via TKO, Round 2

Michael Bisping vs. Charles “Chainsaw” McCarthy

How do Tom Hanks and Saturday night's UFC 78 event relate to one another? Simple. There is one scene in the movie BIG in which Tom Hanks is working at a toy company as an adult when in actuality, he's a boy who was turned into an adult by a wish to an arcade game at a carnival. We have all seen the movie. In the scene, Hanks is in a meeting with the top executives going over quarterly numbers and sales. During the lecture regarding the sales, Hanks is playing with the toy that resembles a building that turns into a robot. Hanks raises his hand and the character played by actor John Heard asks Hanks what the question is. Hanks replies, "I don't get it", in which Heard asks, "What don't you get?". Hanks replies, "I don't get it. It's a building that turns into a robot, what's the fun in that?". A very hilarious scene from a great movie. But what does that have to do with UFC 78? As soon as Evans vs. Bisping ended, I simply stated to myself... I don't get it.

What don't you get!?

Before I seemingly rip into this boring event, I will say that it was perceived by most of us in the MMA community that this card was going to be a disappointment. The laughable attempt by Dana White to hype Michael Bisping and Rashad Evans in some of the conference calls and press conferences never blinded me with visions of grandjeur about the event. With that said, what about this event didn't I get? Take a seat:

• Why was the event card so weak? There seemed to be not one single fight that stood out remarkably in my mind before the event began. I wasn't excited for one particular fight as I have been on other cards. It'd be a much different feeling if there was a fight I wanted to see, but it came up short. I understand that mixed martial arts is unpredictable, but there isn't unpredictability and excitement in a fight I could care less about. My prediction would be... I don't care.
  
  
  
  • There are many thoughts as to why the card suffered. Mainly, many of the champions are injured or coming off recent fights. The lightweight division's top tier is in gridlock due to the Sean Sherk case. The middleweight division just had a title shot. The welterweights are also in gridlock due to the taping of The Ultimate Fighter and the title defense coming out of the show between Matt Serra and Matt Hughes. Quinton Jackson has a broken hand and Randy Couture is in a dispute with UFC's management, as we all know. That leaves the titles in each weight division locked up for now and unavailable for the 78 event.
  
  
  • The matchmaking abilities of Joe Silva have definitely come into question. I mean, Michael Bisping vs. Rashad Evans was terrible. I won't put the blame on matchmaking for it because I imagine Dana White had something to do with this fight coming to life when he couldn't conjure up another bout with so many divisions in lockdown (see previous point). Fisher-Edgar looked like a decent matchup to many fans, but all I thought about was Fisher's decisions and how they stacked up against Edgar's style, mainly a takedown fighter. It didn't bode well at all, and a friend thought I was nuts when I said you might as well run out and get some food while this snoozefest is on. Karo Parisyan vs. Anybody is a bad matchup. I hate to tell ya, but Karo still hasn't worked on his power enough to finish someone. He has slick ground moves, but matching Chonan up with him was disappointing. I would have rather seen Akihiro Gono switched with Chonan. Swap out these couple of fights with some undercard battles, and it would have been a bit more exciting.

Those are two biggest contributing reasons to such a poor card, and the UFC won't be able to avoid more of their events having the same problems. I can understand some of the problems, but having just an overall weak card entirely could have been avoided. There were some very good fights on the undercard that intrigued me as a hardcore fan. Gono vs. McCrory was interesting, and it ended up being a very interesting fight with an unorthodox submission victory. I didn't believe the Reinhardt hype at all, but I am a fan of Joe Lauzon. Chris Lytle vs. Thiago Alves was a matchup that I thought was particularly interesting. It seemed to be a good matchup for both competitors and it delivered. The only problem was that the cut Lytle sustained somehow caused the doctor to stop the fight. Another fight ruined by poor judgment in my opinion.

Dare I say, I thought the Joe Doerksen vs. Ed Herman fight was probably one of the most exciting fights on the card for the pure fact that it was a back and forth battle. Herman showed potential and improved strength in his abilities as a fighter. It was clear that he was stronger than Doerksen and was able to control top position easily, but the BJJ skills of Doerksen came into play during the end of the second round. Herman was saved by the bell. Herman's sloppy standup striking managed to win him a third round KO though. Definitely a back and forth battle of ups and downs.

Final Thoughts

The UFC could have done a better job with this card's main card lineup. When a fight like Herman vs. Doerksen makes a run for fight of the night, there is obviously something wrong with the top fights. Matchmaking a few decision fighters against other decision fighters isn't acceptable. Come on UFC! I understand making the casual fans happy is where it's at, but can you throw the hardcore fans a fight?

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.

UFC 78: Validation will roll into the Prudential Arena in Newark, New Jersey on Saturday night. The card features a main event between two TUF winners, Rashad Evans and Michael Bisping. In a light heavyweight matchup, Houston Alexander will be looking to continue his domination of the division by taking on a heavy handed Thiago Silva. Spencer Fisher also looks to keep a good thing going in an explosive battle with Frankie Edgar. The card also features a number of good undercard matchups that should either excite the crowd or bore the fans to death, we'll see who shows up to win. Let's take an in-depth look into what many consider the UFC's weakest card to date, but take a closer look and you may find some gems.

Rashad Evans vs. Michael “The Count” Bisping

Arguably, both of these fighters could definitely cut down to Middleweight and make the division worth a damn, but instead we will see both fighters try to make a run at moving themselves up toward the upper heap in the Light Heavyweight division. Rashad comes into the bout sporting a 10-0-1 record, but has yet to fight any of the top competition. His last bout against Tito Ortiz caused a small controversy due to Ortiz grabbing the fence causing the score for the round to be a draw. Ortiz won the first round 10-9 and lost the last round 9-10 to Evans. It caused the fight to end in a draw and a promise of a rematch. It's rumored that the winner of this matchup will fight Ortiz.

Bisping is also coming off a controversial fight that is considered one of the worst decisions by a judging crew in MMA this year. Many fans believe Matt Hamill won their matchup at UFC 75. Bisping also comes into this matchup with an undefeated record of 14-0, but like Evans, hasn't fought top competition.

This battle will be a matchup of conflicting styles to an extent. Bisping definitely would rather stand and Rashad seems to like to work the standup enough to set up his wrestling abilities. Bisping showed some good boxing technique against Hamill and seems to have improved his standup significantly, but he showed hesitation in running through Hamill because he was a wrestler. We could see the same thing from Bisping in this battle unless he somehow works on being aggressive against a wrestler. Obviously, he wasn't comfortable in his abilities enough to get into the zone of a wrestler in his last bout, but Hamill didn't try to do much when taking down Bisping. Bisping also had zero takedown defense against Hamill. It should definitely be a gauge for Bisping to learn from. Evans has some decent standup with a combination of kicks and punching. His defense is okay, but his wrestling ability will be the skill that could propel him to win this fight.

My pick for this fight will be Rashad Evans based on the pure fact that Bisping's sprawl was non-existent in his last bout. I believe Evans will shoot his hips and put Bisping to the floor pretty quickly, and I don't think Bisping has the massive power to knockout Evans very quickly. Bisping has knocked fighters out, but in the UFC, he remains cautious. He doesn't want to overextend his stride and get caught or get taken down quickly. Rashad doesn't really have finishing power, so I'll take him by decision

Pick: Rashad Evans by Unanimous Decision.

Houston Alexander vs. Thiago Silva

Houston is somewhat of a sensation in the UFC currently. He came in to fight Keith Jardine as a late replacement likely to lose to Jardine and ended up spectacularly knocking him out instantly. His raw power is uncanny in providing him knockouts. His last bout against Alessio Sakara proved to be a quick fight and wasn't entirely a test to Alexander's abilities. Alessio came out before the battle stating he was going to try to fight with Houston's strength because he felt he had a better boxing game. Bad idea playing into Houston's strength. Will Thiago have a better gameplan?

Silva, if you hadn't noticed, is a Chute Box fighter, hence the last name. Like many of the Chute Box fighters, he possesses some outstanding Muay Thai skills and a good ju-jitsu base on the ground. Silva is the type of opponent the UFC looks to be setting up for Houston to punch out. Although Silva has some great standup, Houston's power could be a potential problem for Silva. Interestingly enough, many people said that about Tomasz Drwal. I found it odd how people picked Drwal who seemed to have horrible standup, but a ton of power. Drwal's looping punches were evident in many of the fights leading up to the bout and it almost seemed as if he was just swinging for the fence with no regard as to how he would defend the counter. Silva took advantage. Houston seems to have a better gameplan for strikers though. If he can't catch you standing, he will catch you in the clinch. Silva has had some impressive battles, but I believe Alexander's strength will be no match. The X factor is Alexander's cardio. Will he be able to continue battle if it hits the second round?

Pick: Houston Alexander via first round (T)KO.

Frank “The Answer” Edgar vs. Spencer “The King” Fisher

A battle of a couple of bangers, this fight looks to have the makings of a great back and forth battle. Fisher has experience on his side sporting a veteran record of 20-3, Edgar is fairly new with a 7-0 record. I'll make this a brief breakdown since I'm rather interested in seeing how this fight will pan out because it's a fairly tough battle to determine. Both fighters are very well-rounded, tough as nails, and have had some very good success. Edgar took out Bocek recently at UFC 73 and a very tough Tyson Griffin at UFC 67. Fisher is coming off an exciting battle against Sam Stout at UFN 10.

This is going to come down to who can outstrike their opponent before they decide to hit the mat, if they do at all. Fisher is unbelievably tough to beat and has only been stopped once, the other two losses being by decision. Edgar seems to also be the type of fighter who has a tendency to go the distance much like Fisher has done recently. I believe Fisher's experience, toughness, and overall ability to recover should push him through on this one.

Pick: Spencer Fisher via Unanimous Decision.

Karo “The Heat” Parisyan vs. Ryo “Piranha” Chonan

Finally, Karo will fight again and try to make a claim that he deserves a damn title shot already. He comes into this fight at 17-5 with a long layover after his fight with Josh Burkman at UFC 71 in which he made Burkman miss haymakers nearly the entire fight. Pariysan is strictly a judo fighter who loves to put down the hip toss in his matches and dominate his opponent with ground work and fleet footedness. He isn’t overly powerful and has in fact won 7 out of his last 9 fights via decision. To be perfectly honest, I’m not a huge fan of Pariysan for the mere fact that I believe he will get overwhelmed at the top of the heap. He seems to have a great way of avoiding damage, but can’t deal out enough damage to stop an opponent, leaving open the possibility of being beaten in later rounds. Will he be able to stop the “Piranha” from defeating him? I believe he can.

Chonan is a veteran ex-PRIDE fighter with a background in judo. He is most famous for being completely dominated by Anderson Silva in their PRIDE Shockwave 2004 matchup, but somehow pulling off one of the most difficult submissions in the flying scissor heel hook. Quite an impressive fight. Chonan has problems with power as evident in his losses to Dan Henderson and Phil Baroni, and he’s susceptible to the better submission fighters as evident in his loss to Paulo Filho. He was beaten inside the first round by the Brazilian ju-jitsu expert. Although he’s taken some big losses to some strong opponents, Chonan is fairly well-rounded with decent striking skills and an overall excellent judo game. He’s a bit small at 185, but he will be bigger since he is dropping down to 170 for the UFC. Look for him to have a bit more power and size on Parisyan.

A tough matchup indeed. I believe Chonan has the judo skills to really stop Parisyan from moving in on him for big hip tosses and judo moves that could temporarily put Chonan in bad positions. Parisyan is still very well rounded and active in his fights early. Parisyan should be able to keep working Chonan tired and end the fight in a decision win. It’ll be interesting to see if Parisyan shows up with some more power since he’s been off for months and hopefully gaining strength and training during that time.

Pick: Karo Parisyan via Unanimous Decision.

Thiago “Pitbull” Alves vs. Chris “Lights Out” Lytle

Alves is an American Top Team prospect with power in his hands. He has 7 fights in the UFC, 5 wins, with his most notable victories over John Alessio, Tony DeSouza, and Kuniyoshi Hironaka. He has some hard striking that could overwhelm the veteran Chris Lytle. Lytle has been around for quite awhile. He’s a very good submission expert with a number of losses against some big name fighters, but he has been able to been nearly everyone that isn’t near the top of the heap. He’s lost to Matt Hughes and Matt Serra most recently, both by decision. He’s only been stopped once in his 14 losses, losing 13 by decision, making a statement for Lytle’s longevity in his fights.

Alves’s main weakness is his submission defense. In two of his losses, he suffered submissions to Spencer Fisher and Derrick Noble. Problem is, Alves’s power is a huge factor for Lytle, but Lytle seems to avoid the big punches and take the fight to the ground. This is going to be my small upset pick of the night, I’m going to go with Chris Lytle via submission.

Pick: Chris Lytle via submission, second round.

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.

Since I'm really not completely interested in an in-depth capacity to most of these issues, I'm going to go through a simple rundown, a bit of analysis, a bit of opinion, and some thoughts for everyone to think about when it comes to the recent news that has been flooding the MMA community in the last few days. The rundown will include the death of PRIDE, Fedor Emelianenko rumors, Rashad Evans will take on Michael Bisping, Nick Diaz's new interview, and more news. Let's get into it.

Death of PRIDE

Zach Arnold over at FightOpinion has some pretty good breakdowns up of the PRIDE shutdown in Tokyo. Yahoo Japan reported on Thursday night that Jamie Pollack, the Zuffa-appointed legal advisor who was spearheading the operations in Japan for the newly bought PRIDE, has shut down the PRIDE Worldwide Office in Tokyo. Pollack apparently fired all the employees with a telephone call. The Japanese media coverage is pretty extensive with many reactions from current fighters in Japan and organizers. K-1 matchmaker Sadaharu Tanigawa, Shinya Aoki, and DEEP promoter Shigeru Saeki had comments that you can check out. A really eerie situation.

My thoughts are that Zuffa really dropped the ball here. Instead of buying PRIDE and using the already established name that PRIDE had built up in the Japanese MMA community, a community that is one of the largest in the world, Zuffa decided to buy contracts, then kept the fate of PRIDE in limbo for so long that there was nothing they could really do with it. I'm by no means a huge expert on the Japanese MMA community, but I do feel the PRIDE name in Japan was something that they should have kept around due to the popularity of the promotion.

Secondly, Zuffa's representation in Japan should have at least given some kind of warning or a few weeks notice that the organization was going to be shutdown and there would be a D-Day as far as when the company would close its doors. The repercussions of the actions that occurred has now caused much of the Japanese media to criticize Zuffa. It damages some momentum of a possible entry with a new MMA promotion or an extension of the UFC promotion into Japan, if there was any momentum to begin with. With all sorts of rumors regarding a possible UFC-WOWOW television deal in Japan, it's obvious that Zuffa will be entering the MMA market in Japan in the future. This series of events won't bode well for the hype they can generate there. In the end, the MMA community there may just shrug it off and enjoy the potential MMA that they will get to see from the new promotion that Zuffa will provide. We won't know until they hit the Asian market, but this shutdown of the PRIDE offices in the manner that it was done will not help them.

Lastly, I've heard many rumors circulating on a possible UFC Japan promotion. No idea whether it will be a new MMA promotion by Zuffa that will be in Japan or if it will be an extension of the current promotion in the U.S., but I'm sure it will swap fighters and provide a base in Japan for new talent. This is obviously all up in the air and isn't a confirmed rumor. I've only heard some things from Japanese media outlets that have been floating around on an April-May start to the organization. I've also heard that Zuffa would be hiring a Japanese marketing firm to do the advertising, which is a very smart idea. Either WOWOW or the primary Satellite PPV carrier over there that dealt with PRIDE will get the deal, and it'll be a huge moneymaking venture when you have an audience of over 300 million with access to the PPV. Granted, you won't get that many people buying it obviously, but it's still a huge audience of potentially over 1 million buys and probably even more than that. Anyways, this is all purely speculative and my sources aren't completely reliable, but do work for media outlets in Japan. Purely something to think about and hopefully will happen. I will say that they will make a move into the Japanese market, they have to with all the rumored dealings with WOWOW.

Fedor Emelianenko signs with new Russian organization

According to TAGG Radio and Frank Trigg, Fedor Emelianenko has signed with a new Russian MMA promotion that consists of some former M-1 people that were part of the M-1 promotion and apparently some new backers as well. The contract is supposedly for $10 million, and no word on how many fights, or if it's a deal that locks him into the promotion to do whatever they want with him as far as sponsorships, etc. Trigg stated that his source was inside the Emelianenko camp, but he did state later in the segment that he really didn't believe that deal had happened because a Russian organization couldn't make their money back on such a huge deal because there would be no star power to fight Fedor.

I actually somewhat agree with Trigg's assessment. Russia isn't exactly a huge money market. They are going to be promoting the organization solely on the fact that Fedor has superstar status in Russia, and people will want to see him fight. For MMA fans, people want to see him fight someone worth a damn. Josh Barnett vs. Fedor Emelianenko has been one of the most anticipated battles that many fans have wanted to see for quite some time. That would sell to the MMA fans, but a fight that features Fedor Emelianenko against former drunken power station worker/ex-KGB officer who started training MMA a year ago would not be something we would rush to see. It really depends who they can get to fight Fedor. If the contract consists of Fedor getting $10 million, but has to do whatever their organization says he has to do including sponsorships, mass media promotional stuff like commercials, etc., then maybe it would pan out as a profit due to the fact that Fedor could make up to $50 million in advertising for an organization. They grab $40 million, he takes his already determined $10 million. This was one of the points Trigg said could be a possibility. It definitely sounds like an old school way of a contract, but who knows what's going on.

Fedor should be signing with the UFC if he really wants to fight the best in the world. Obviously the knock against the former PRIDE heavyweights and former PRIDE fighters in general has grown since "Shogun" Rua lost to Forrest Griffin, and the lackluster 5-7 record of former PRIDE fighters vs. the UFC Competition. If Fedor doesn't sign with the UFC, say goodbye to his #1 ranking and to be honest, many fans would be utterly disappointed. I'm sure his representation could care less and I wouldn't doubt that they are trying to profit off of his legendary name, but no Fedor in the UFC is ridiculous.

Rashad Evans vs. Michael Bisping headlines UFC 78?

This is a rather disappointing fight. I'm somewhat interested in what the preview segment will look like for this event. "Rashad Evans, coming off one of the most lackluster, boring, and downright hesitant performances of his career against Tito Ortiz, he will be looking to prove his worth against Michael Bisping. Bisping recently came off a robbery win over Matt Hamill, who nearly 90% of the MMA community feels won, thank you Jeff Mullen and Cecil Peoples." I just don't get it. And yes, that statement had some personal opinions in it. The first part is what I was getting at. Evans was utterly disappointing against Ortiz, but I think if he watches the video of the Hamill fight, he will realize that Bisping had literally zero takedown defense. I mean, if I could say something less than "zero", like maybe he had a "negative" takedown defense in that battle, I would. Rashad's strength will be his shoots in the bout. Bisping will be looking to thrash him with strikes. Rashad's boxing skills were horrible in the Ortiz fight, so I wouldn't be looking for a standup war. That's my initial analysis, a classic striker vs. wrestler matchup. I will say that it could potentially be exciting if...

• Evans actually shoots more than 2 times during the entire fight. He needs to try for at least 7-10 takedowns, much like a Jake Shields would do against a heavy striker.
• Bisping has some kind of takedown defense. It baffles me that he trained with Rampage Jackson and didn't learn to sprawl or identify a shoot. Was Hamill's ability that deceptive?
• It could be real exciting if Evans decides to show off some improved striking like Hamill did and surprises Bisping.

Those are the only ways I see of that fight doing anything as far as excitement goes. It's possible, but I've never been a fan of Rashad's style. He isn't much of a finisher in my mind, and for as much as he bobs and weaves, it would seem he would have much better boxing. Anyways, for right now, this fight seems like a crappy filler main event until December.

Nick Diaz interview on the Jordan Breen Show

Head on over to Sherdog and listen to the Jordan Breen show as he did an interview with probably the best interviewee you can find in the world of MMA, Nick Diaz. Some of the more interesting talk was the Diaz rant about the Vegas fighters who are at Xtreme Couture's gym that used to be in California with Cesar Gracie. Notably, I loved the quotes regarding Tyson Griffin and Dave Camarillo and how they betrayed them. Diaz also called out Tyson Griffin, and challenged someone to set up the fight between one of his guys or himself against Tyson Griffin.

For the second time he's been interviewed by Sherdog, he ranted about the food industry and organic foods, talked about the weed issue a little bit, but the bigger news out of it was the fact that Nick stated he had hired a Public Relations firm to handle him as far as interviews so he could be more well prepared for interview, promotions, and advertising. It was very ironic considering he still ranted on about various aspects of the MMA world even though he somewhat hinted at the fact that he would be a bit more restrained. Classic Nick Diaz and I'm glad he didn't restrain himself.

The highlight of the interview was when Breen asked Diaz about the Mark Moreno fight that he was scheduled on October 20th with the No Limit Fighting promotion. Diaz had no knowledge of the event and ranted about promotions stealing his name and putting hi