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.

After the news this week that Mauricio "Shogun" Rua had re-injured his knee and had to pull out of his scheduled UFC 85 matchup with Chuck Liddell, the MMA community has been scheming as to who would replace Rua as a formidable opponent against Liddell. Unfortunately, the UFC has decided to use TUF alumni, Rashad Evans, to fill the gap.

From a pure business standpoint, this match makes sense. Rashad has had television exposure on both the Ultimate Fighter reality series and headlined UFC 78 alongside Michael Bisping, another TUF winner. We all know Chuck Liddell can sell a UFC by himself, so adding in Rashad to the mix could boost the numbers to a small degree. After all, both fighters should be well known to the casual fanbase.

As a hardcore mixed martial arts fan, I'm disappointed in the matchup. Rashad doesn't present a dangerous challenge for Chuck Liddell, and it wouldn't surprise me if the UFC uses a victory by Chuck Liddell as some sort of springboard to justify another title shot after Forrest Griffin battles Quinton "Rampage" Jackson later in the year. Does Liddell deserve a shot if he defeats Evans? Not in my opinion.

Before some of you give me the rundown as to why this matchup could be interesting, let me point out a few things. First and foremost, Rashad's wrestling game has been touted as being a problem for some fighters. His biggest problem has been implementing that wrestling game in many of his recent bouts against mid-echelon talent. Do you really think he can take down Chuck Liddell, a man who has been unbelievably tough to takedown for even better wrestlers and grapplers than Evans? Doubtful.

Secondly, Evans will have a huge disadvantage against Liddell's reach and striking ability.  Coupling that problem with the fact that Liddell is unbelievably tough to take down could present a very lopsided advantage for Liddell. For the hardcore fans out there wanting to see a the dream matchup of Shogun vs. Liddell, we'll now be treated to a matchup that really doesn't offer much. The UFC could potentially sell a good amount of pay-per-views with the two recognizable names though, and that may be the hard sell that the UFC is trying to shove down our throats.

A pure striker with uncanny takedown defense against a subpar MMA wrestler who has shown only glimmers of finishing ability. I'll take Liddell easily in this one.

The word on the street is that come May, Thiago Silva and Rashad Evans will square off in the UFC light heavyweight division.  For the second time in three fights, Evans will take on an undefeated opponent, and put the donut in his own loss column at risk.

This match makes all kinds of sense for various reasons, the first being each fighters records.  Evans sits at 11-0-1 and Silva sports a 12-0 record.  The 205lb division could not get anymore crowded, and this should alleviate some pressure. The winner would likely put themselves right on the doorstep of a title bout, which is something that has been rumored for Evans for months now.

Silva and Evans stylistically make for an interesting affair. Silva is a striker first and the quality that Evans has yet to tackle in the Octagon. In the mold of the other Silva we know so well, he comes forward and keeps on coming. Kicks, hands, knees; he puts the pressure on whoever is standing in front of him. Tomasz Drwal and Houston Alexander both found that out for themselves. It will be interesting to see how Evans handles this, its not his game.

Evans relies more heavily on his wrestling ability and strength, with his striking a secondary option.  Evans has seen the later rounds more often than he hasn’t, and his conditioning has held up well.  Silva on the other hand has a history of ending fights early.  Evans will likely be looking to pound out Silva.

Its always nice when we see two fighters of this caliber and such different attacks meet.  Evans’ last two fights have been rather lackluster, and Silva is the type of fighter who will make sure the fight is anything but a snoozer.  Lets hope this fight materializes.

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.

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 him on posters when he hadn't ever given them authorization. Apparently, Diaz has no knowledge of the October 20th event, and he put some skepticism into the event's card actually being legitimate. As far as the fight goes, Diaz sounded like he would not be fighting. Diaz also stated that his staph infection was possibly due to rolling around on an old ring that he and Jake Shields were using at one point during some training.

Kimbo vs. Tank is off

Cage Fury Fighting Championships is now cancelled for their Oct 12th event featuring Kimbo Slice vs. Tank Abbott. To be honest, this battle wasn't that interesting as far as the actual fight due to the fact that Tank gasses in about 2 minutes, but I was rather disappointed at the fact that we would not get to see what type of fighter Kimbo has become since his last fight with Ray Mercer. Kimbo has been training with the legendary Bas Rutten. It will be interesting as to who will pick Kimbo up as he is a big name on the Internet due to his various underground fight videos on the Internet and the infamous video of he and his crew paying a kid to literally get flying tackled by Kimbo. EliteXC could be potential suitor or Strikeforce. He's definitely a name that many casual fans may know and could draw some extra buys for an event.

Hardcore Fighting Championships replaces Edwin Dewees with Sean Salmon

Salmon is a bit of a paradox in the MMA community. Most fighters usually communicate through MySpace or through interviews and don't give us a look inside the world of MMA. Sean Salmon has reached cult status as he had partnered with MMAJunkie.com and wrote a small column on the site chronicling his training and rise through the MMA ranks. After some unsuccessful fights in the UFC, notably losing to Rashad Evans via a highlight reel kick to the head, he was allowed to fight in lower organizations with only 1 fight left on his UFC contract. He has been doing fairly well, just recently winning his biggest battle in which he defeated Mikko Rupponen (16-5-2) in Finland. He improved his record to 13-4 overall in his career and now will be facing Marcus Vinicios (4-3) at the HFC card on October 19th.

Salmon will be fighting for the first time at 185 pounds and this could be intriguing for many reasons. First, Salmon is rolling right now, rolling right through some quality opponents and some not-so quality opponents. Defeating Rupponen was definitely an impressive victory that had to of given Sean a huge confidence boost. Secondly, if he can be impressive at 185 lbs, it could be a good career move as the 205 lb. division in the UFC is so unbelievably stacked, he'd stand almost no chance at moving up the ladder. At least at 185 lbs., there is some chance of getting near the top and possibly facing the upper echelon with some kind of chance to win.

No matter what you think of Salmon, the guy has a cult following that loves the fact that he let fans into the inner workings of his training sessions, fights, and everyday thoughts. More importantly, we got to see the side of a fighter that is rarely revealed, the mental game. I look forward to watch him battle it out with Marcus Vinicios and I hope his transition to 185 goes well for him.

More later...

This was just a small rundown of some of the events that have been going on recently in MMA. I will be back with some in-depth analysis of some upcoming cards and some of the current MMA news going on around the world. Read up on the previous articles regarding some of the non-mainstream events going on around the country and in Asia. There are definitely some great cards going on.

In the latest chapter of the saga that is Tito Ortiz, the "bad boy" of the UFC has seemingly caused multiple rumors to be released onto the Internet as to who he will be fighting next in the UFC. The presumption was that he would rematch Rashad Evans due to the draw that occured between the two at the UFC 73: Stacked because of a Tito Ortiz fence grab that ultimately caused the scores to be even at the end of the bout. With Ortiz's contract discussions in play, Ortiz has been flapping his gums about potential matchups that may or may not be in the works. Wanderlei Silva, Dan Henderson, and the already mentioned Rashad Evans are all possible matchups. It seems odd since Rashad Evans was the fight everyone assumes was going to happen and was said to be happening at UFC 78. It appears that matchup is still happening, but Ortiz has continued the rumors about other fights replacing that matchup. With all the other potential matchups in the air, are there benefits to the other possible opponents? I wanted to take a look inside those potential matchups to see if there really is a bigger benefit to producing those types of matchups. Would a Silva-Ortiz or Henderson-Ortiz fight be a fight that could save the year end events?

Rashad Evans rematch will disappoint

At UFC 73, Tito Ortiz vs. Rashad Evans was a highly anticipated matchup for the mere fact that it was a stepping stone for Rashad Evans to defeat to begin a run into the top contendership of the UFC Light Heavyweight Division. For Ortiz, it was a battle to prove whether or not he was still a fighter that could sneak into contention and cause some trouble and possibly a run for another title. Most MMA fans laugh at that prospect, but Tito Ortiz has the skills to come to life. Lately, his cardio has been under critique even though he trains in Big Bear, California, renowned for providing some altitude training as well as great camps full of top-tier fighters.

After the draw between Ortiz and Evans due to Ortiz's fence grab, the rematch was already being announced by Dana White. Many fans sighed in dismay due to the fact that fight was uneventful the first time around. Evans looked scared to be countered by Ortiz's sprawl and his striking was subpar. Ortiz looked to be pushing the pace, but began to tire late in the 2nd round. Let's get one thing straight, Tito Ortiz won the fight. He drew only due to the fence grab, that's the obvious insight on that fight that everyone clearly knows. But a rematch of an already boring fight that had some anticipation leading up to it only to be proven to be unexciting is something the fans do not want to see. Unless we see a Rashad Evans who will use his wrestling more and strike with a bit more aggressiveness, the fight will most likely go the same way it did the first time. For Ortiz, the rumor mill began most likely due to the fact that he wants a bigger fight, more money, and an easier route back into the picture. Is this rematch the only option right now for Tito Ortiz?

In my mind, yes. Tito needs to prove he can be put into the lower top-tier of fighters with a win over an up and comer. He barely beat TUF fighter Forrest Griffin in a controversial split decision. He beat down an older, slower, and gassed Ken Shamrock twice and basically hyped the fights so much that by the time they came around, people were actually somewhat excited for them. A very good job in self-promoting those matchups by Tito Ortiz, you have to give him a bit of credit for that, but it doesn't put him close to even breaking into some of the top contenders in the Light Heavyweight Division. The UFC thought so by pitting him against Liddell in a grudge match that ended with Tito being caught in the third round. Close to seven months later, he gets downgraded to fighting Rashad Evans after fighting the champion, Chuck Liddell. He proved that he wasn't what he used to be. I think he sorely needs an impressive win over a great wrestler like Rashad Evans to really begin a climb toward the top. With the Light Heavyweight Division being flooded with new fighters, Tito isn't in that top tier yet. He hasn't fought consistently this year, and needs to string some wins together before his time is over.

On the flip side, I think a rematch will disappoint. It was fairly unexciting during their first encounter. Rashad's style doesn't counter Tito's style all that well. Pitting two takedown fighters against each other and having one of them shy away from using his primary skills didn't bode well for the fight the first time around. Ortiz's defense is a lot better than most fighters Rashad has faced. His boxing wasn't as effective as it has been in the past when he fought Tito before. We could have the makings for another boring fight, or we could see a much improved Ortiz or Evans. Rashad is now stuck in the Ortiz charade not knowing whether he will be battling the Huntington Beach Bad Boy or having his fight pushed back because Ortiz shmoozed the Joe Silva into a different matchup. For right now, Evans-Ortiz is still the matchup that is up for UFC 78. Will it go on? Nobody knows, but there are two other potential matchups that have been rumored.

Dan Henderson wants to fight at 205

It's been reported in a few publications and in interviews that Dan Henderson wants to fight at 205. The consensus from the MMA community is that Henderson should drop to Middleweight and give Anderson Silva a run for his money. I fall within the latter group. I think Henderson would be an excellent matchup with Anderson Silva, and I'd actually go as far to say he would dominate the Brazilian striker. Last week, rumors surfaced from Ortiz that Henderson may be a possibly matchup that could be set soon. If this fight happened, what would the UFC's thinking be behind it? Are they trying to load up some type of end of the year card with potentially great fights? Of course they are, but Ortiz vs. Henderson?

First of all, Henderson's standup is much better than Ortiz's standup. Henderson's power alone would probably crush Ortiz early in the fight. His wrestling skills are more honed that Ortiz's ground game, although you can knock Henderson to some extent due to some of his showings in PRIDE. During his PRIDE reign, he was outwrestling by some far less skilled ground fighters. To me, this potential matchup is murder for Ortiz. If Ortiz has been renegotiating a new contract, the obvious reason as to why he will be coming back is to sell tickets. Henderson isn't the type of guy to play along with that notion. Also, you can't sell too many tickets talking a huge smack game when you get destroyed by a big name fighter such as Dan Henderson. It doesn't work that way. If the UFC wants to get their money's worth out of Tito Ortiz, I think lower level fighters are the way to go until he proves himself to be back in shape and fighting at a high level again.

Wanderlei Silva rematch in the works

Another hot rumor that has been out there is the possibility of a Tito Ortiz vs. Wanderlei Silva rematch. Rematch you say? If you haven't seen it, Ortiz fought Silva back in UFC 25 in which he threw Wanderlei down to the ground for most of the fight and dominated him in ground and pound fashion. He didn't TKO Silva, but won an unanimous decision. If you watch the fight in-depth, you can definitely see Wanderlei's size difference from then to now. He is much bigger, stronger, and has a much better takedown defense than he used to. The rematch rumors were first spoken by Ortiz during a speech at Little Creek Casino in Shelton, WA this past weekend, sourced by Fightlinker. I think this is a horrible fight right now for a number of reasons.

First, Wanderlei Silva is a huge signing for the UFC and Dana White has publicly said that Wanderlei was a guy he dreamed about signing. Dana seems to have the notion that Silva is a guy who can make the UFC a lot of money. Instead of setting up Silva for a possibly lay and pray beatdown by Ortiz, get him some experience in the cage first unlike the other PRIDE fighters that have been sent in too early. I'm not saying that Ortiz would necessarily win in that manner, but I'd rather see a tune up fight for Silva before a major fight. A lot of you may think that an Ortiz vs. Wanderlei fight may not be a major fight, but with the Ortiz hype machine in full gear before the fight, it will become a ridiculous spectacle. Be assured, Dana White would be hoping Ortiz exploits the hell out of the media to anger Silva into a war of words.

Second, Ortiz would probably be signed to a new deal. One fight into his new deal, he possibly gets devastatingly knocked out by Silva after a much hyped campaign by Ortiz to bring in the big dollars. Fans watch him as he gets destroyed and of course, many fans love it! But now what happens? Ortiz's value in the light heavyweight division begins to go down the tubes. People will say that he dodged the rematch with Evans, he got destroyed by Silva in their rematch, and his days as a top ranked fighter are over, needless to say, they may already be over. With the amount of talent in that division, Ortiz is almost a lock for underperforming and being beat out of the division. I'm not even going to get into the type of fights he may get if he beats Evans in a rematch. Can someone say Lyoto Machida? Nobody wants to fight that guy, and he's coming up through the rankings and may run into Ortiz soon. Fact is, having someone like Ortiz, although hated, produces hype and brings in more PPV buys and sales. Getting him possibly murdered by Silva would not bode well. Let Ortiz prove his worth, give him someone lower or the rematch with Evans and let him make you some money on some of the lower level light heavyweight bouts. Give him a huge fight later on into his contract.

Last, Wanderlei Silva has already mentioned that fact that he would like to fight Forrest Griffin to avenge Mauricio Rua's loss at UFC 76. I believe that this is a much better matchup for the UFC to promote. The whole "avenge" storyline will be hyped to death, the UFC vs. PRIDE debate will be brought up again and again, and it's a fight that if Griffin can win, will solidify a shot at the title for him. On the other hand, Silva will have the chance to have a strong showing against a guy who has had success, but isn't exactly the best fighter there is in the division. The matchup makes much better sense to me, but due to Griffin's horrendous gash that he received from "Shogun" in their matchup, we may not see this fight for quite some time.

In retrospect, Ortiz could market the Silva battle as a rematch, and would be the right guy to pull Silva into a war of words. Ortiz is a master at hyping fights and to his credit, many fans may hate him but he always seems to do well in the pocketbook. The UFC could work a rematch angle, as well as another UFC vs. PRIDE debate just like the rest of the fights. Wanderlei would definitely get upset over any comment Ortiz makes, and the war of words alone would make this fight hotly anticipated. Wanderlei's debut in the Octagon alone would make any hardcore MMA fan want to see this matchup.

Putting it all together

Until Ortiz's contract is figured out, we won't find out what's going on with his next matchup. He has one fight left on his contract, and he has stated that in his dealings with the Fertittas, owners of the UFC, he was offered the deal that he wanted. So why hasn't it been signed and the matchup confirmed? I have no idea. Rashad Evans is now waiting in the wings of the contract negotiations. Rashad could be matched up with someone like Houston Alexander or Lyoto Machida if the Ortiz fight does not happen. To be honest, I think Rashad gets destroyed in both fights, but that's speculation as far as if those fights would happen in light of Ortiz being matched up with someone else.

Henderson and Silva are a bit more intriguing, but I don't think Ortiz deserves that kind of huge matchup. But what do I know? I know that Ortiz is a media mogul for the UFC. I know that no matter who they put Ortiz in with, he will hype that fight to the max and every casual MMA fans who doesn't realize that Ortiz hasn't beaten a top contender since 2006 will eat the hype up with a spoon in hand. Eventually, even the hardcore fans will show some interest, although the consensus would be that Ortiz would be beaten. I doubt the Henderson rumor has any truth to it. Wanderlei Silva vs. Tito Ortiz does have some merit though. With a big marketing scheme that the UFC can deploy for that matchup and the hype that Ortiz could create with a bit of smack talk with Wanderlei Silva, the matchup could become a hotly anticipated rematch. Don't hold your breath though.

SOURCES

Fightlinker.com: Tito vs. Wanderlei Silva or Rashad Evans
TaggRadio: Tito vs. Henderson <--- Debunked, but still worthy of analysis

Apparently, some people did not believe the rumors were true or didn't read any MMA news for an entire week... here you go.