Adding to the theme of my previous post, I've gathered up a few more upcoming events that have some interest to the hardcore MMA fans around the world. There are some interesting events that are going to be fought in Asia. One of the biggest non-UFC cards that will take place in the U.S. this month will be the debut of Mark Cuban's MMA promotion, HDNet Fights. HDNet Fights will feature the return of Erik Paulson from a 7, yes... I said 7 year layoff from the sport of MMA. The card will also feature UFC vets Pete Spratt, Justin Eilters, and Drew Fickett. Also taking place will be Pancrase 8 that will feature Assuerio Silva and Yuki Kondo. There are also some other interesting fights that we'll look at later. Finally, Hardcore Fighting Championships will take place in Calgary that will feature Fedor Emelianenko's brother, Aleksander Emelianenko vs. Dan Bobish. Bobish replaces the always boring, but a quality punching bag in Wesley Correira. The card also features Ultimate Fighter 4 contestant Edwin Dewees, who lost to Chris Leben in the Ultimate Fighter 4 Finale. More fights on that card that are of interest as well. Let's get to the breakdown of these events in mid-October.

HDNet Fights looking for fantastic debut

Mark Cuban's new promotion that will be looking to gain more subscribers to HDNet as well as contribute to the overall success of the MMA community will be starting it's reign in the world of MMA on October 13th from the American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas. The card will feature 10 fights, the main event being Erik Paulson vs. Jeff Ford. A somewhat one sided battle due to Erik Paulson's extensive resume and Jeff Ford's limited experience and ability, this fight will still be interesting to some of the long time fans who remember Paulson during his Shooto days. If you don't know who Erik Paulson is, he was the first American to ever win the Light Heavyweight Shooto title and he defended it for an amazing five years. A black belt in ju-jitsu, Paulson also has extensive wrestling experience, boxing, and Tae Kwon Do. Erik receives his black belt from the legendary Rigan Machado. For those of you who may need some reference to modern days, Paulson runs CSW Training Center in Fullerton, California and trains such fighters as Josh Barnett, Sean Sherk, and did work with Ken Shamrock during his MMA career. From a grappling standpoint, Paulson was considered one of the best ju-jitsu submission fighters in MMA for awhile when he reigned supreme in Shooto. A very interesting comeback for Paulson.

A somewhat intriguing rematch bout will be the Pete Spratt vs. Anthony "TJ" Waldburger matchup. Spratt was a contestant on the Ultimate Fighter 4 reality series and lost both of his bouts and lost to Josh Koscheck. Although he had a fairly unsuccessful run during the show, Spratt does have one huge win over Robbie Lawler at UFC 42. Since his Ultimate Fighter 4 loss, he hasn't had an easier time in the MMA scene. Defeated by Marcus Davis, Tamden McCrory, and Anthony Waldburger within the last 6-7 months, Spratt will be looking to make some type of comeback. As stated previously, Waldburger actually beat Spratt in their matchup at King of Kombat on September 7th of this year. Spratt's main weakness consists of having almost zero submission defense. Waldburger is 8-3, with 8 submission wins. This could be an interesting fight considering Spratt should have some type of idea of how the fight will go. It could be the time for Spratt to learn submission defense.

Justin Eilers will be fighting Matt Thompson in a heavyweight bout. Eilers is fairly known for being fantastically knocked out at UFC 51, UFC 53, and UFC 57 by Paul Buentello, Andrei Arlovski, and Brandon Vera respectively. Other than those big names defeating Eilers during his UFC stint, he sports a 17-6-1 record with 11 wins by (T)KO. Eilers rattled of 7 straight wins following his defeat against Brandon Vera. He recently lost to Pedro Rizzo at UAFC - Art of War, but Scott Hough by TKO in April of this year. Primarily a puncher, Eilers will be looking to extend a new winning streak and possibly have a rebirth in HDNet Fights. Thompson is currently 6-3, fairly green in MMA so far, he's only been fighting since February of last year. His only major battle during that period was against Ben Rothwell in an IFL matchup in February of this year. He lost that fight via a 2nd round TKO. Thompson has some overall decent all-around skills. He has some decent knockout power and can fight on the ground as well with submission skills that are developing. Eilers will be looking for a spectacular knockout win, as Thompson will be hoping to add a bigger name fight to his record.

Drew Fickett's experienced submission tactics will be put to the test against a fairly new fighter in Anthony Lapsley. Fickett is most notably known for his UFC matchups against Karo Parisyan, Kurt Pellegrino, Josh Burkman, Josh Koscheck, Josh Neer, and Nick Diaz. Huge names in which he went a respectable 3-3 against, defeating Pelligrino, Koscheck, and Neer. His biggest upset win being over Josh Koscheck. Fickett has some unbelievable grappling ability and has yet to really show any type of dropoff in his skill. He's a bit of improvement away from breaking into the top names and turning some of those big losses into huge wins. Lapsley will be looking to show off some of his championship wrestling ability and from what I've heard from past events, a fairly dynamic ground game. He will have his hands full with with the ground master in Fickett.

That rounds up some of the interesting fights you can see on the HDNet Fights card. HDNet is available with almost every cable provider in the country now, check out the list to see if you can get it. It may be worth getting considering the man who is backing this promotion. Cuban will be looking to make a good dollar off the promotion and has the dollars to bring in big names that we would all love to see. This is just the first sampling of HDNet Fights. Check it out if you have the chance.

Pancrase - Rising 8 from Tokyo, Japan

Although not fielding some of the most exciting fighters in my opinion, they are names that many MMA fans have probably heard before. Assuerio Silva will be taking on Kestutis Arbocius in his first title defense after being crowned the Heavyweight King of Pancrase after defeating Tatsuya Mizuno at Pancrase - Rising 5 in May. To be honest, I'm not a huge fan of Assuerio Silva, but I regret missing him pound Mizuno because I haven't seen him actually knock anyone out in ages. His boring, boring battle with Cheick Kongo at UFC 70 made me want to tear my eyes out. Same thing with his bout against Tim Sylvia. This bout looks to be intriguing considering Arbocius is 6-1 in Pancrase and loves to knock opponents out. Assuerio Silva is a brown belt in ju-jitsu, a black belt in karate, and a very able Muay Thai fighter. Silva has a lot of skills that he can use to knock out opponents, but he can also do some things on the ground. I've always thought his weight was an issue as far as his speed and actual standup fighting goes. Sometimes, he comes off as slow in his kicking and standup, but his size definitely helps him in ground situations. I think Arbocius may have the skill to catch Silva, but as I've seen from Silva in the past, his clinch work has saved him from inevitably being knocked unconscious and helped him regain composure to continue the fight. It should be a fairly decent battle.

Yuki Kondo is considered a MMA legend. Fighting since 1997, he has over 10 years in real MMA competition against some of the best in the world. He has fought primarily in PRIDE and Pancrase throughout his career compiling a 46-20-6 with notable wins over Evangelista Santos, Akihiro Gono, Semmy Schilt, Guy Mezger, and Frank Shamrock. Yuki Kondo's big knock in his career is that he could never defeat any of the mid to top tier veterans and ranked fighters in either organization. He was overwhelmed by Phil Baroni at PRIDE Bushido 10 :25 seconds into the fight, lost in a split decision to Dan Henderson at PRIDE - Shockwave 2004, and was knocked out inside 3 minutes by Wanderlei Silva at PRIDE - Final Conflict 2004. Those are some of his most notable recent losses. Kondo overall has only lost by (T)KO or Submission 6 times in his large career, the 11 other losses being by decision. He's very tough and dodgy to knock out on a consistent basis, as is evident in splitting with heavy handed Dan Henderson who also possesses an unbelievable wrestling background. Kondo is a veteran of the art of Pancrase and Shorinji Kempo, giving him some very good ground tactics that have been his crutch for the last few years. An interesting fact is that Kondo has knocked someone out since 2003, even with the 13 KO victories to his credit. Kondo will be taking on Yuji Sakuragi. This matchup may actually be beneficial to building Kondo back up. Sakuragi sports an 8-8 record notably being beaten by Riki Fukuda by unanimous decision at Pancrase - 2006 Neo-Blood Tournament Finals. To be honest, Sakuragi hasn't been impressive in his last two fights and is very susceptible to the submission. Look for Kondo to continue his non-knockout streak and submit Sakuragi.

With those two big name battles on the Pancrase card, it may be worth tuning into if you are a fan of the ground tactics and chess game that is MMA on the mat. Assuerio Silva, from what I hear, looked pretty good in his last bout and hopefully he will treat the crowd to some excitement that I have yet to see from him. Kondo is considered a huge legend in Japan, a superstar if you will, so he will definitely sell some tickets for the Pancrase event there. I'm really amped for that battle, but maybe we will see some sort of sick submission from Kondo, something along those lines maybe. It's something to at least check out and if you have a chance to watch it, could be worth seeing the Japanese talent that's in the undercard.

Hardcore Championship Fighting: Title Wave from Calgary, Alberta on October 19th

This card did feature Wesley Correira vs. Aleksander Emelianenko, but Correira had to pull out, so now we will be getting a much better battle in my eyes, Dan Bobish will be taking on Aleksander. Aleksander obviously is the brother of PRIDE Heavyweight Champion Fedor Emelianenko, ranked #1 in the world in the Heavyweight Division in most rankings. Aleksander isn't the greatest grappler and doesn't have an unbelievable transition game like his brother, but he does has a very good boxing skillset. I vividly remember his bout with Sergey Kharitonov in which he used movement to the side along with angled punches to soften up Kharitonov and eventually finish him. Aleksander does have excellent Sambo skills as well. Dan Bobish will be a test and a load for Aleksander. He usually fights at over 300 lbs., usually 330 lbs. Even more bizarre, 5 out of his last 8 wins have been by submission, obviously using his immense size to overwhelm opponents. He also has knockout power to boot. To be honest, this somewhat is an intriguing matchup. A guy that big will be a true test for Aleksander, but with his superior boxing skills, Bobish will have his hands full.

Edwin Dewees will make an appearance against Marcus Vinicios and the women will battle it out with a bout between Sarah Kaufman and Ginele Marquez. The card looks to have some fairly new up and comers fighting on it as well. It should be an event that will excite the crowd and the MMA community should definitely keep an eye on. Overall, October is looking to be the month of secondary promotions really showing their colors to the MMA faithful.