It may not have the big-name fighters of the UFC but the WEC once again delivered a strong overall card during WEC 42, highlighted by one of the year’s biggest upsets, as Brian Bowles scored a first-round TKO over pound-for-pound king Miguel Angel Torres.

Dominick Cruz and Joseph Benavidez put on three rounds of non-stop action that saw Cruz emerge victorious when it was all said and done. It was believed Cruz would be the next in line to fight Torres but Bowles had other ideas.

Here is a look at all of the night’s action:

Jameel Massouh vs. Leonard Garcia

Garcia didn’t come out as aggressively as I expected him to after the loss to Mike Brown. However, two minutes in Garcia dropped Massouh with a vicious right hand. Garcia went in for the kill but surprisingly Massouh was able to not only recover but get up and take Garcia down later in the round.

The round actually ended with Massouh on top of Garcia dishing out some ground and pound. Still, Garcia won the round by landing the big right hand.

Massouh took Garcia down again in Round 2 but almost got caught in a guillotine. He was able to get out of it and control Garcia for much of the round. Massouh actually almost choked out Garcia but gave up the hold for some reason and allowed his woozy opponent to catch his breath.

Still, it was a pretty convincing round for Massouh.

The two fighters entered Round 3, most likely even on the judge’s scorecard. Neither fighter dominated the third round but I gave it to Massouh because I thought he was the more active, aggressive of the two fighters. However, neither guy separated themselves.

This was a very close fight and a tough one to score. I gave it to Massouh, 29-28. Two judges disagreed, however, scoring it 29-28 for Garcia and giving him the split decision win.

Takeya Mizugaki vs. Jeff Curran

It was obvious from the start that Curran wanted to take this fight to the ground but Mizugaki did a great job of preventing that from happening. He showed tremendous takedown defense early on in the bout, not letting Curran implement his gameplan.

Mizugaki then flipped the script, taking Curran down and administering some ground and pound. Curran almost caught Mizugaki in an arm bar but wasn’t able to lock it in all the way.

I gave the first round to Mizugaki for the way he controlled Curran both offensively and defensively.

Curran opened up Round 2 with a lot of leg kicks and looked to show off his boxing skills, which seemed to be just fine with Mizugaki.

Mizugaki took Curran down to the mat and once again started to unleash some hard ground and pound punches. Both fighters were very active and Curran even had a guillotine sunk in at the end of the round but Mizugaki never appeared to be in real trouble.

I had it two rounds to none for Mizugaki heading into the third.

Curran again tried to take Mizugaki down but just like before, it was Curran who ended up on his back. Curran wasn’t doing a terrible job; Mizugaki just appeared to be bigger and faster.

Just when it looked like Mizugaki had the fight in the bag; Curran caught him in a triangle and almost choked him out. The only thing that saved Mizugaki from tapping in my opinion was the bell.

I had to give that round to Curran for his work from the bottom and his late triangle submission attempt that almost pulled out the win.

I scored the fight 29-28 for Mizugaki but Curran did work a lot from his back, so I can respect if some people saw it differently. One judge did but it was enough, as Mizugaki scored a tough split decision over Curran. A very good technical fight put on by the WEC.

Ricardo Lamas vs. Danny Castillo

Both fighters came out on the attack. Neither Castillo nor Lamas looked like they wanted to take the fight to the ground, even though both guys are very good wrestlers.

Lamas connected with a big head kick but Castillo responded with a combination to the head. Neither fighter did much damage in Round 1 but I gave a slight advantage to Lamas because I think he scored more with his body kicks.

Lamas started to establish himself early in Round 2 with nice combinations and head kicks. Castillo tried a couple of takedowns but failed and his pace started to slow down due to the blows he took. Lamas began to break down Castillo with his body and leg kicks.

Then, just as Lamas looked like he was taking control of the fight, Castillo unloaded a straight right hand that landed square on Lamas’ chin. Lamas fell to the mat; Castillo pounced and went in for the kill. The referee stepped in and stopped the fight.

What a turn of events. After a furious first round, Castillo looked as if he was tiring but a beautiful straight right found its mark and floored Lamas, who was fighting a brilliant fight up until that point.

Hey, that’s why it’s MMA. One punch can end a fight at any time and a perfect straight right gave Castillo a TKO win and handed Lamas his first career loss.

Joseph Benavidez vs. Dominick Cruz

As expected, Benavidez and Cruz came out with their hair on fire. Cruz took Benavidez down early but didn’t pounce on him. After a flurry by Benavidez, Cruz brought him down to the mat and then had to fight off a guillotine attempt.

Like always, Benavidez connected with a lot of leg kicks. It was a frenetic pace between these two fighters that resulted in a lot of combinations and kicks connecting. However, I gave Round 1 to Cruz because he took Benavidez down a couple of times. It was the only thing that separated the fighters in the first round in my eyes.

Cruz hurt Benavidez early in Round 2 with a nice combination to the head but Benavidez did a nice job of tying him up to prevent further damage. Benavidez started to have trouble with Cruz’s reach advantage, as he got tagged every time he came in.

It was a very strong round for Cruz, as he used his long reach advantage to frustrate Benavidez.

Round 3 continued to be non-stop action. Cruz connected on a big head kick that floored Benavidez. You could almost see the frustration on Benavidez’s face. He just couldn’t get inside on Cruz, no matter how hard he tried. He did everything he could. Cruz was just the better man on this night.

I’m a big Benavidez fan but this was a bad match-up for him. The announcers said it was a tough fight to call. I disagreed. I thought it was an easy fight to score. I gave all three rounds to Cruz. The judges agreed with me for the most part, scoring the fight 30-27, 29-28, 29-28 in favor of Cruz.

Brian Bowles vs. Miguel Angel Torres

Torres got rocked early and almost went down. Bowles then took Torres down to the mat and connected with a few short elbows.

Torres came back with a combination but got rocked again and went down. Bowles pounced and unleashed two vicious left heads. Torres is out. Bowles shocks the world and puts an end to Miguel Angel Torres’ reign of terror in the WEC’s bantamweight division.

Wow, talk about your shockers. Not that Torres lost because Bowles is a very good fighter but the way he lost. This was a dominant first round for Bowles to begin with and for him to finish Torres was most impressive. There is a new king in the bantamweight division and his name is Brian Bowles.

Editors Note: It has recently been revealed that Gouveia has suffered a back injuury and will be unable to compete at UFC 102 as expected in a report from MMAJunkie.com. No news of a replacement opponent for Ed Herman in this musical chairs of injured fighters is available at this time.

With James Irvin sidelined due to a knee injury, Ed Herman (15-7 MMA, 4-4 UFC) has agreed to step in as a replacement and fight Wilson Gouveia (12-6 MMA, 6-3 UFC) on the preliminary card of UFC 102 on August 29 in Portland, Oregon.

The news of the expected match-up comes courtesy of a recent report by Sherdog.com.

Herman was originally supposed to face Aaron Simpson at UFC Fight Night 19 in September. While the bout is still posted on the UFC’s official website, it will now be canceled so Herman can meet Gouveia at UFC 102.

Herman last stepped into the Octagon in April, earning a unanimous-decision win over David Loiseau at UFC 97. The victory snapped a two-fight losing streak for Herman.

Gouveia is hoping to rebound from a third-round TKO loss to Nate Marquardt at UFC 95 in February. Gouveia had recorded back-to-back victories over Jason MacDonald and Ryan Jensen before his loss to Marquardt.

The expected card for UFC 102 is listed below:

MAIN CARD

Randy Couture vs. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira
Keith Jardine vs. Thiago Silva
Chris Leben vs. Jake Rosholt
Demian Maia vs. Nate Marquardt
Krzysztof Soszynski vs. Brandon Vera

PRELIMINARY CARD

Gabriel Gonzaga vs. Chris Tuchscherer
Wilson Gouveia vs. Ed Herman
McCully vs. Mike Russow
Todd Duffee vs. Tim Hague
Nick Catone vs. Mark Munoz
Evan Dunham vs. Matt Veach

A fight between Joe “Daddy” Stevenson (30-10 MMA, 7-4 UFC) and Spencer Fisher (23-4 MMA, 8-3 UFC) is expected to take place at UFC 104.

The bout is not official but MMAJunkie.com has cited a source close to the fight who said it’s in the process of being finalized.

Stevenson is coming off an impressive performance over Nate Diaz in June. Stevenson dominated Diaz on the ground and picked up a much needed win. Before the victory over Diaz, Stevenson had lost three of his previous four fights.

Fisher most recently defeated UFC veteran Caol Uno for his third consecutive win in the organization. During his three-fight winning streak, Fisher has also defeated Shannon Gugerty and Jeremy Stephens.

Fisher has now won four of his past five fights and six of his past eight overall, which has put him back in contention for a lightweight title shot.

Should Stevenson emerge victorious, he too would once again throw his name back into the hat for a title shot down the road as well.

Tito Ortiz, my man.

I have been an Ortiz fan all my life and say what you will about the Huntington Beach Bad Boy, he’s no dummy.

Ortiz is one of the most intelligent fighters in the world when it comes to business sense and it’s one of the main reasons him and Dana White butt heads so often. The two are actually a lot alike.

So it’s no surprise to me with Affliction closing its doors that rumors are flying around about Ortiz returning to the UFC. It’s a smart business move for both parties and White and Ortiz are nothing if not good businessmen.

Let’s look at from Ortiz’s side first. Not only did Affliction fold but Strikeforce couldn’t strike a deal to merge the two promotions before White and the UFC swooped in and partnered up with Affliction’s clothing company.

So Ortiz sees this and he’s been talking about signing with Strikeforce, right? But in all seriousness, how much longer before the UFC topples that promotion too? Six months? A year? Strikeforce is living on borrowed time and Ortiz knows it.

Face it Tito, it’s Dana White’s world when it comes to mixed martial arts and the rest of us are just living in it.

Now let’s look at it from White’s point of view. One might argue that White hates Tito but he would never pass up a huge moneymaking opportunity because of a little name calling in the media.

This isn’t some useless fighter that White can’t get anything out of we are talking about here. Ortiz still has a tremendous amount of value to the UFC and White knows it.

Think about it, even though Ortiz is no longer in his prime, how many fighters can still bring in the pay-per-view dollars that he can? Obviously GSP and Brock Lesnar are two, but after that who is going to blow away Ortiz in pay-per-view sales? It is a very short list.

Ortiz still equals big money for the UFC. White is a hot-head who always says what he feels at the time. However, he also doesn’t let those things get in the way of hurting the bottom line should the circumstances change in the future. This is one of those times.

Do White and Ortiz like each other personally? Probably not. But the bottom line is both men will make a lot more money together than they will apart, and at the end of the day that’s the one thing White and Ortiz have in common: making money.

The writing is on the wall in MMA. It is about to become a one-league sport. As the UFC continues to grow in power and net worth, all of its competitors are falling by the wayside.

Now a rumored deal between the UFC and ESPN basically puts the nail in the coffin of all other MMA promotions. That is the last thing the UFC needs to eliminate all other competition and basically make mixed martial arts a one-sport league, similar to the NFL, NBA and MLB.

And we all know Tito loves the big stage. Excuse me if I can’t see Ortiz competing in Bellator’s next tournament that will be aired in Vietnamese on some obscure channel two days after the live event. Not going to happen.

So will Ortiz return to the UFC? I believe he will. It makes sense on all levels for both Ortiz and the UFC to reunite and make all the money they can together.

You can hate Ortiz and you can hate White but they don’t make too many poor business decisions and this comes down to being a smart business decision for Tito Ortiz. The UFC or Strikeforce? That’s like choosing between Megan Fox and …well, someone who isn’t Megan Fox.

So like Dana White already said in his Twitter teaser, “Welcome back Tito.”

Update: A representative for Wanderlei Silva is quoted in a new report by Fighters Only as saying a formal offer has not been extended by the UFC and that Silva’s preference is to sit out until February in order to allow his body time to heal.

Wanderlei Silva (32-10-1 MMA, 2-5 UFC) has discussed moving down to the middleweight division for a while now. Apparently, the MMA legend’s first fight at 185 pounds will come at UFC 105 in Manchester, England against Michael Bisping (17-2 MMA, 7-2 UFC).

Silva is currently in negotiations to face Bisping in the main event of the Spike TV-broadcast event according to a recent report on MMAJunkie.com.

UFC officials are hoping to officially announce the contest as soon as next week.

If the fight takes place it will be Silva’s first in the middleweight division after spending most of his career weighing 200 pounds or more.

In June, Silva dropped down to 195 pounds when he met Rich Franklin in a catchweight bout. Silva lost a unanimous decision to Franklin in what most MMA fans considered an entertaining fight between the two veterans.

Silva remains wildly popular with fans but he’s now 33-years of age and he’s only recorded one win (Keith Jardine) in his last six fights.

Bisping returns to his home country of England where he will be looking to rebound from a vicious knockout loss to Dan Henderson at UFC 100. The loss to Henderson was just the second defeat of Bisping’s MMA career.

UFC 105 takes place at Manchester Evening News Arena in Manchester, England. The card airs in the U.S. on same-day tape delay.

Over the last year, Dana White and the UFC spent countless hours and a tremendous amount of money to promote UFC 100 – which was billed as the most important night in Mixed Martial Arts history.

There were countdowns on both Yahoo! and Spike TV leading up to the event. Even ESPN – which had previously given MMA very little coverage in the past – spent all week leading up to UFC 100 promoting the spectacle.

I had waited months to see UFC 100. Yet when it was over I turned to the room full of people I was watching it with and asked, “That was it?”

UFC 100 was no different than any other UFC pay-per-view event. It was a few fights, they showed me Turkish from the movie Snatch sitting in the crowd and then I was given the disturbing mental image of Brock Lesnar mounting his wife.

For a normal UFC card, I would say this was pretty good but this wasn’t supposed to be a normal pay-per-view event. This was supposed to be the biggest night ever in the sport. It was supposed to be the Super Bowl of MMA.

If that’s the case – and it was the case – then White and the UFC badly missed their mark Saturday night.

When I tuned into this card, I didn’t have the same feeling as all the others. I had a knot in my stomach, like I do when I watch the Super Bowl or the College Football National Championship Game. This was supposed to be special. I thought in a lot of ways we were celebrating the sport and giving thanks to some of the guys who helped get it to UFC 100.

Where was Chuck Liddell? Where was Matt Hughes? Where was Tito Ortiz? OK, the last one was a joke. What a mean though, how about a video recap of the previous UFC cards, right? With all the promotion the company did for this, there must have been a lot of first time viewers for this pay-per-view.

I thought showing highlights of some of the UFC’s greatest fights of the past would have served two purposes. For us old time fans it would have been kind of a nice look back on such a historic night and for the new viewers it would have served as a history lesson.

But instead people tuning in for the first time saw Dan Henderson take a vicious cheap shot (which he later admitted was unnecessary and that he did on purpose) on a fallen opponent that was knocked out cold. Then by the end of the night new fight fans must have been questioning whether they were watching UFC or WWE.

I’m sorry but I didn’t get what the UFC was doing here. I know Liddell was in the crowd but I would have liked to hear from a couple of these legends about how far the company has come since they first entered the UFC and things of that nature.

Hey, it was their night. It was a night for the fighters and the sport of MMA. It was a night for the fans. We all deserved more than a few fights. Hell, we will get the exact same thing in a couple of weeks when we buy UFC 101.

And I don’t want to hear it was supposed to be just another pay-per-view. That’s bull. Ask the UFC what its advertising budget was for UFC 100 compared to any other event it’s ever put on. It wasn’t just another night. That’s not how they sold it and that’s not how it was marketed.

It’s funny because leading up to the event the UFC treated 100 like a special event but the night of the card, it was business as usual. I found that extremely odd and very poor judgment on White’s part.

UFC 100 was supposed to be a night that would be forever remembered for much more than just the fights in the Octagon. In the end it was but for all the wrong reasons, thanks to Dan Henderson and Brock Lesnar.

The UFC got its headlines but not the ones it wanted because the company didn’t know how to handle a huge event. People who say Dana White can only take this sport so far can rejoice because he really blew a big opportunity at UFC 100.

White should remember that the next time he promotes something as “the biggest night in the history of the sport,” he should probably at least make it more special than the event he put on a couple of weeks earlier.

I know Dana White doesn’t like to listen to anyone but he may want to start talking to others who have experience running a sports league because as far as outside of the Octagon goes, UFC 100 was a miserable failure.

For years I have been one of the people who have been saying Mixed Martial Arts needs more than just the UFC to take that proverbial next step.

However, as the biggest night in the sports history nears, I find myself reconsidering my position on this subject and asking, “Does MMA really need anything other than the UFC to prosper?”

It has been my argument for many years that more organizations providing competition with the UFC the better it will make the sport overall. But if you look at the history of sports, that’s not necessarily the case.

What competition does the NFL have? The NBA? MLB? Golf, tennis and NASCAR – with a couple of minor exceptions here and there – have all of its stars competing under one major organization.

None of those sports appear to be struggling from the lack of “competition.” As a matter of fact, having all of their best competing against each other has helped those sports thrive into the huge sensations they’ve all become in this country.

Now let’s move to boxing. OK, what killed boxing more than anything besides the corruption in the sport? It was all of the different promotions creating 100 different championship belts, therefore making it almost impossible for the top fighters to compete against each other. Does the name Fedor ring a bell?

So would it really matter if we only had the UFC? When a top fighter like Fedor, Nick Diaz, Jake Shields, etc is fighting for another promotion, what are MMA fans always saying? “I hope he signs with the UFC soon.” So, as far as fans go, wouldn’t it be better for us if all the great fighters were under one promotion to begin with?

Now, obviously this argument is more complex. Tito Ortiz and others would argue that this would hurt options for the already underpaid fighters. That maybe true but I’m looking at this purely from a fan’s perspective and from that point, perhaps the Strikeforces and Afflictions of the world are just watering down the sport.

If you ask me, I would much rather see their top fighters in the UFC, watch the best fight the best and be done with it. Seriously, what are we really accomplishing by having Fedor in Affliction and Nick Diaz in Strikeforce?

Like I said, this is a recent change in philosophy for me that happened when I was thinking about the new UFL football league. I have worked in the NFL and covered both college and pro football. Nothing will ever compete with either sport, so even trying is futile.

That scenario shifted my thinking to the UFC and how the company is celebrating the historic UFC 100. Strikeforce is a nice little promotion. Affliction has Fedor and a solid heavyweight division. But aren’t these guys just delaying the inevitable?

The UFC has become a giant and in my opinion taking them on in the world of MMA is becoming almost as much a losing proposition as other football leagues challenging the NFL.

Perhaps it’s time for others to step back and let the survival of the fittest take its course. Let the UFC have all the best talent and give the fans the best fights between the best fighters in the world. Instead of having a few different promotions, let the UFC become the NFL of Mixed Martial Arts. Would that be such a bad idea?

One final point I want to make clear. I am not suggesting we do away with regional MMA and things of that nature, just like I wouldn’t suggest getting rid of Arena Football. I am talking about any promotion in direct competition with the UFC. Regional MMA is an asset because it’s a tool to help young fighters get experience and become good enough to someday fight in the UFC.

In my opinion, promotions like Strikeforce are fighting a losing battle. They may stick around for a few years but in the end, they simply don’t have the money or the resources to compete with the UFC. All they are really doing is paying a couple of fighters above market value to keep them away from Dana White.

So as the UFC approaches its 100th event, I would like to hear your feedback on this topic. Do you feel MMA needs multiple promotions like I did for years or do you feel the UFC can survive as one power league like the NFL or NBA?

When we hit UFC 200, where do you think the sport of Mixed Martial Arts will be at that time?

I’m starting to think when people refer to Mixed Martial Arts as “UFC,” they really aren’t as misinformed as I once thought they were.

A rumored main event between Rich Franklin and Chuck Liddell at UFC 103 in Dallas won’t be taking place.

The news comes courtesy of a recent report on MMAJunkie.com.

Apparently Franklin has been approached with a list of fighters as possible opponents for a main event bout at UFC 103 but Liddell isn’t one of the options.

Franklin was originally looking to return to the octagon in December after defeating Wanderlei Silva last month but UFC officials approached him about headlining the UFC 103 event in Dallas.

Dana White and Co. are most likely looking to ride Franklin’s momentum after his exciting slugfest with Silva.

Franklin is currently without a contract. He fulfilled his obligations with the UFC after his fight with Silva. Although he is expected to sign a contract with the organization in the coming weeks, so don’t expect Franklin to end up with another promotion.

Franklin is expected to appear in the main event against an opponent to be named later.

UFC 103 is also expected to feature Josh Koscheck vs. Frank Trigg, Hermes Franca vs. Tyson Griffin, and Efrain Escudero vs. Cole Miller.

A welterweight bout between Martin Kampmann (15-2 MMA, 6-1 UFC) and Mike Swick (14-2 MMA, 9-1 MMA) has been reportedly been finalized for UFC 103.

The news of the expected bout comes courtesy of a recent report on MMAJunkie.com.

Kampmann has won two straight fights at 170 pounds after moving up from the middleweight division. Kampmann is coming off a split-decision win over Carlos Condit at UFC Fight Night 18 in April. The Xtreme Couture fighter is an impressive 11-1 in his last 12 fights.

Swick is currently riding a four-fight winning streak of his own in the welterweight division. Swick is coming off a second-round TKO victory over Ben Saunders at UFC 99 earlier this month. Swick is 9-1 overall in his last 10 fights.

UFC 103 is expected to take place Sept, 19 in Dallas, Texas.

After a doctor’s examination revealed that WEC lightweight champion Jamie Varner still hasn’t recovered from a broken hand, Yahoo! Sports is reporting that WEC officials are now discussing the possibility of creating an interim belt.

Varner fractured his hand in a close win over Donald Cerrone back in January. The current WEC lightweight champion posted on his Twitter account that the doctor who examined him “pulled the rug out from my feet” by telling Varner he won’t be ready to fight anytime soon.

WEC spokesman Dave Sholler said the organization wishes Varner a speedy recovery but at the same time the WEC can’t put a division title on hold and that they are working on the possibility of an interim title while waiting for Varner’s hand to heal.

“Right now, we’re considering it,” Sholler said of an interim title. “We have to consider it. Who will fight for it? We haven’t decided that as of yet. There are no firm plans yet, but it’s something we have discussed.

“There are a lot of great contenders in the lightweight division. We definitely feel some people are ready and chomping at the bit. Reed and Sean will keep discussing it.”

Sholler is hoping a decision regarding the interim title will be made by the end of the week.

A night after one of the best slugfests in recent UFC history, I am reading column after column that no one lost the fight.

That isn’t accurate. I watched the fight. Clay Guida lost. Diego Sanchez landed more power shots, totally dominated the first round and won the fight.

My point is let’s not sit here and pretend that Diego Sanchez didn’t win that fight because it takes away from his impressive performance in a tremendous fight. Sanchez should be applauded for winning a war but instead the articles I’m reading are giving Guida more props for fighting hard and losing.

And I’m certainly taking nothing away from Guida. Not many fighters could weather that first round storm, come back the way he did and almost steal the decision away from Sanchez. That was an impressive display of heart.

Guida proved he has a chin of granite and the desire I wish some of the more talented fighters in the UFC fought with every time they stepped into the Octagon. He’s a true asset to the organization.

Having said that, am I the only one who is tiring a little of his “The kid trying hard in gym class” act? The way he was bouncing up and down after the fight kind of bothered me. Don’t try and hide the fact that you are tired. Sanchez kicked your butt all over that cage.

The second the cameras were off I guarantee Guida stopped jumping up and down like the “Energizer Bunny” reputation he’s built up for himself and dropped to the floor, so spare us all the drama.

Getting back to all these ridiculous columns I have been reading, though. They are so predictable. Every time I watch a great football game the same type of stories surface about how there were no losers out on the field.

The reason I hate these so much because I believe it takes away something from the winner. One team found a way to gut out a win in a great game. Don’t they deserve some credit for that?

The tougher the opponent, shouldn’t the victor receive even more praise for finding a way to get by their opponent on that day? I think so. To say that there is no loser is also saying there is no winner and that is diminishing a great accomplishment in my book.

On Saturday night, Diego Sanchez was at his very best. He came out strong but he met an opponent in Clay Guida who was up to the challenge and refused to go away. Guida probably could have been knocked out in the first round but his heart and determination made him fight on.

Guida deserves a lot of credit for that but Sanchez deserves even more because he was the one who proved to be the better man in a great fight. At the end of the night it was Sanchez who got his hand raised.

Besides, for all the talk of how tough Guida is, didn’t Sanchez prove he’s even tougher? He won. Read the recent Yahoo! story on the fight. A majority of it talks about how tough a fighter Guida is but you know what? Sanchez showed that he’s a pretty tough fighter in his own right, so give the guy who actually won the fight his due.

Despite what you may read at other sites, there was a winner on Saturday night. His name is Diego Sanchez and he deserves more respect for winning than the guy who fought hard and lost.

It’s a shame that more people don’t see it that way because after his performance last night Sanchez deserves all the headlines, not Guida.

Affliction has finalized its card for Affliction: Trilogy by officially announcing a middleweight bout between Vitor Belfort (18-8) and Jorge Santiago (21-7).

Belfort is going for his third straight victory in Affliction. He has already disposed of Terry Martin and Matt Lindland thus far in impressive fashion.

He enters “Affliction: Trilogy” with four consecutive wins and five victories in his past six fights.

Santiago is making his Affliction debut and is currently one of the hottest fighters in the middleweight division. He has recorded nine straight victories. During that span he won Strikeforce’s first-ever same-day four-man middleweight tournament and World Victory Road’s Sengoku middleweight belt.

Santiago most recently competed in January when he defeated Kazuo Misaki via fifth-round submission, while Belfort last fought in July where he beat Martin via second-round KO.

Since arriving at FiveOuncesOfPain.com I have written a couple of editorials praising UFC President Dana White’s shrewd business sense, most notably his signing of Kimbo Slice to be on “The Ultimate Fighter 10” this fall.

I even saw a few comments from the good folks here at Five Ounces that made me laugh accusing me of being Dana White himself.

I make no apologies though. I respect Dana as a businessman. I think he’s a smart guy and I truly respect people who build themselves up from nothing and become a huge success.

Those people really fascinate me.

On the other hand, I don’t always agree with how White handles himself on a personal level. I don’t agree with the way he treats people sometimes, including fighters.

Some argue that the way he acts will hurt the UFC in the long-term and only allow it to reach a certain level of success. I think that’s a legitimate argument.

So while I do respect the way White has built up the UFC with his take-no-prisoners approach to doing business, I had to chuckle when I heard his reaction to what Mirko Cro Cop did to him.

I’m sure you’ve all heard the story by now. After his TKO victory over Mustapha Al-Turk at UFC 99, Cro Cop informed White that he was leaving the UFC to fight for DREAM.

Cro Cop had officially signed just the one-fight deal but according to White, the two had agreed in principle for Cro Cop to fight two more bouts after UFC 99.

It was not to be. White believes Cro Cop was just using his quick stop in the UFC as a tune-up fight before moving on to DREAM. White was predictably outraged when he found out what had gone down.

“He [expletived] me,” White said. “The first time in the history of the company I do one over the phone. He promised me a three-fight deal and he [expletived] me.

“He didn’t keep his word. He talked about honor and all this other [expletive] and he [expletived] me.

“He fed me this bull [expletive] about wanting to take a run for the title, and what I think he did was, he went out and did this. He turned down every other [expletive] fighter I offered him, because I needed him to fight Cain. He didn’t just poke Al-Turk; he poked me, too.”

As Bill Murray would say, “I had to laugh.”

The first thing I thought off when I read those comments was: How does it feel Dana?

How many fighters over the years do you think have said the exact same thing about you? How many people have you screwed over in your life to get where you are today? How many “handshake deals” have you turned your back on?

Hey, I don’t judge. I do whatever I need to do to get ahead. But I also don’t cry wolf when karma kicks me in the ass like it has done once or twice before. When you screw people over to get on top, you can’t cry if someone else does the exact same thing to you.

I’m not saying I agree with what Cro Cop did. Personally I think he’s one of the most overrated fighters in the sports over the last three years. He’s just not the same guy he was back in his PRIDE days, so I don’t see this being a huge loss for the UFC.

However, I think Dana White has a lot of balls, both good and bad.

He has the balls to take a dying company and turn into a multi-million dollar business. He has enough balls to make bold decisions without caring what other people think and let’s give the guy his due, he’s right a lot more times than he is wrong.

On the other hand, he has a lot of balls to cry like a baby when one fighter out of 10,000 finally screws him. Take the Tito Ortiz incident for example.

Ortiz didn’t like the way he was treated in the UFC and White has gone out of his way to slam Ortiz in every interview he does.

Ortiz is a UFC legend Dana. Nothing you do or say will ever change that, so stop acting like a girl who got stood up at the prom. Be the bigger man for once.

Tito needs the media attention. Just let him have it and move on. Don’t try and make it seem like he never meant anything to the UFC because it cheapens the sport for people like me who have followed it since the mid-90’s.

Now with this whole Cro Cop fiasco; let it go. So the UFC doesn’t have Mirko Cro Cop. Who cares? There is no need to drag this on in interviews for the next five years and hold some kind of stupid grudge because you didn’t get your way one time in your life.

You aren’t the Godfather. You are the President of the UFC. Sometimes you need to act like a president of a company and not one of the fighters it employs.

Remember, you may have gotten screwed by Cro Cop but my guess is that White is still way ahead on the “Screwed” scoreboard. And again, when you screw people over for a living even you are going to get caught every now and then.

That’s just life. Deal with it.

The featherweight division in the WEC continues to create exciting match-ups.

A featherweight bout between Leonard Garcia (12-4) and Jameel Massouh (21-5) has been signed for WEC 42 on August 9th according to a recent report by MMAJunkie.com.

This will be Garcia’s first fight since his loss to WEC featherweight champion Mike Brown back in March. Garcia posted back-to-back wins over Hiroyuki Takaya and Jens Pulver to earn a title shot. However, he lasted just two minutes against Brown before being forced to tap-out from an arm-triangle choke.

Massouh is hoping to bounce back from a unanimous loss to Rafael Assuncao in his WEC debut in April. The defeat snapped Massouh’s impressive five-fight win streak and it was just his second loss in his past nine fights.

This is expected to be an exciting fight. Garcia has always been a fan favorite due to his aggressive fighting style. Of Garcia’s 12 career wins, none have gone the distance.

Meanwhile, 10 of Massouh’s last 14 fights have ended by knockout, TKO or submission.

One of the most famous phrases in the fighting world is “pound for pound.”

We use that to transcend weight classes and compare fighters, so we can decide which ones are the best in the world. And let’s not kid ourselves we all have our pound for pound favorites.

One of mine is Urijah Faber. The California Kid meets all my criteria for being one of the premier fighters in the world. And to be frank, he’s one of my favorite fighters to root for personally.

He can beat his opponent in a variety of different ways.

He rarely loses.

He does unique things in the ring that we’ve never seen before.

He finishes off his opponents when the opportunity presents itself.

He takes on all comers.

He is a very entertaining and talented fighter.

He respects MMA and is a great ambassador for the sport.

Put that all together and those are the main reasons I always have Faber ranked at the top of my pound for pound rankings. Having said that, I believe that after Sunday night, Faber will be 1-2 in his last three fights.

As we all know, fighting is often based on match-ups. First let me say that I am not in the “Mike Brown got lucky camp.” Those people who think Brown won with a lucky punch the first time out couldn’t be more misguided.

Brown is a darn good fighter. He’s won nine straight fights and hasn’t lost in nearly four years.

And even before the big right hand that dropped Faber, he was tossing the former featherweight champion around the cage like a rag doll. So, luck had nothing to do with Brown’s victory. He was the much better man that night.

But I think if we were talking about overall skills, a lot of us would give the edge to Faber. Not many fighters have the diverse arsenal of striking, wrestling, Muay Thai, submissions and defense that the California Kid possesses.

However, I believe Brown is just a flat-out bad match-up for Faber. This happens in MMA sometimes. I think the most famous case was in one of the biggest moneymaking fights of all-time between Tito Ortiz and Chuck Liddell.

I was always a big Ortiz fan but after watching these two fighters go at it the first time, the rematch didn’t hold much drama for me. I thought if Ortiz and Liddell squared off 100 times, “The Iceman” would have won around 97 times.

Liddell just presented a terrible match-up for the ground and pounding Ortiz. Liddell, who had arguably the best takedown defense in MMA history, just wouldn’t allow Ortiz to shoot in and bring him to the mat.

This made Ortiz one-dimensional and forced him to stand and slug it out with Liddell. It was only a matter of time before one of the sport’s greatest strikers would emerge victorious.

I see this being the same kind of bad match-up for Faber. The two fighters may technically weigh the same but anyone with eyes can see that Brown is the bigger man.

I have lifted weights for many years and I’m a pretty solid guy. But I weigh the same as Cheick Kongo. Trust me – and you can ask my wife if you don’t believe me – Kongo is a much bigger dude than I am, despite us weighing exactly the same and both having muscular builds.

Physically, Brown is thicker and stronger than Faber and we saw that in the first fight, well before the knockout. Is there any reason to believe that’s going to change on Sunday night? I don’t think so.

Now Faber can fight a lot of different ways but he’s most effective when he either clinches and strikes from close range or takes his opponent to the ground with his excellent wrestling skills. I just can’t see him doing either to the bigger, stronger Brown.

This means Faber will most likely be forced to stand and exchange and while he is comfortable in fighting that style, that’s advantage Brown.

Faber is a fighter who is going to knock you out with a couple of precision shots, not one huge blow. With Brown’s power, it’s one and done, as Faber found out in the first fight.

And just like in the Ortiz-Liddell match-up, I think it’s only a matter of time before Brown takes advantage, lands a big shot and comes away with the win.

As I scanned the Internet this past week, I saw a lot of people chalking this fight up to Faber and basically calling it a mere formality. I couldn’t disagree more. Faber may win because he’s one of the best fighters in the world but even if he does regain the title, it’s going to be a war.

Like I said, Urijah Faber is one of my favorite fighters and I will be rooting for him on a personal level Sunday night. However, if I’m being objective, it will be Brown who answers his critics at WEC 41 and scores another resounding win, putting his name in the pound for pound discussion as well.

Shortly after inking a new deal with the UFC, Frank Trigg (19-6 MMA, 2-3 UFC) now has an opponent. The MMA veteran will face Josh Koscheck (12-4 MMA, 10-4 UFC) at UFC 103 in Dallas.

Sources close to the event have recently confirmed the news of the bout to MMAJunkie.com.

Trigg will be making his first appearance in the UFC since 2005. He recently signed a four fight deal to return to the organization after back-to-back losses to Georges St. Pierre and Matt Hughes led to his release from the company four years ago.

Trigg is currently riding a four-fight win streak heading into his bout with Koscheck

After winning seven of his first eight fights in the UFC, Koscheck has gone just 3-3 in his last six fights. Tough decision losses to Georges St. Pierre and Thiago Alves are understandable but then came a surprising TKO defeat to Paulo Thiago in his most recent outing.

Koscheck will look to get back on track September 26 when he steps into the cage against Trigg.

Love him or hate him, you have to respect him.

I am a person who enjoys studying successful people. I like to know what they did to get where they are so I can take some of those qualities and apply them to my everyday life.

There may be no more intriguing human being on the planet to study than Dana White and his latest decision to bring Kimbo Slice into Season 10 of The Ultimate Fighter is proof positive of that.

As soon as Yahoo! Sports broke the news of the Slice signing Monday night, my phone started ringing off the hook with friends asking me if I could believe it.

Of course I can believe it. It’s the smart business move made by one of the smartest businessmen on the planet.

First, let’s get a couple of things out of the way. Kimbo is not a good MMA fighter and most likely never will be. I know it, you know it and White knows it.

So why sign him then if the guy can’t fight? That’s simple.

Say what you want about Slice’s fighting ability; he is one of the only non-UFC fighters that the average fan cares about. I’m not talking about you guys who come to Five Ounces of Pain every day.

I’m talking about the average Joe sports fan who still finds Chris Berman funny. Just for the record, Berman stopped being funny around 1997.

Think about it. Other than Tito Ortiz, who out there is a bigger draw than Slice? Fedor? No way. We all love Fedor because we are huge fight fans but do you think the average Joe on the street relates to Fedor?

The guy has never even been on American TV. Most average people haven’t seen him fight or know very little about him, so while Fedor is arguably the best fighter on the planet, he isn’t that mega draw yet.

White knows all this and he also knows that any organization that lands Slice instantly gets a huge drawing card. So why not make that organization the UFC?

The Ultimate Fighter TV show is losing steam. White already gave it a shot in the arm by naming Rashad Evans and Quinton “Rampage” Jackson the coaches for Season 10.

Now you throw in Slice, a guy White once called a “joke’ and a “bum” and you are talking about monster ratings for the UFC.

So in one fell swoop, White has not only prevented a rival promotion from signing one of the biggest free agents on the market, he brought the fighter in himself to drive up his own ratings. Brilliant.

If you want to witness White’s genius, tune into the “TUF” Season 10 Finale on December 5. If Kimbo makes it that far, it should be the most watched program ever on Spike TV and a huge moneymaker for White and the UFC.

Meanwhile, Strikeforce, Affliction and all the other organizations will be sitting there watching White with that smug smile on his face, knowing he got the best of them yet again.

But wait, here is the best part. If Slice does indeed win the show and earns a UFC contract, that’s when White gets his cake and eats it too.

Because like I stated above, there is no way he can hang with the likes of Gabriel Gonzaga, Cheick Kongo and the rest of the UFC’s heavyweight division. No way. He will be gone in a blink of an eye. White is basically using Slice to get what he wants and then throwing him away.

So in the end, White will have poached Slice from his rivals, made a ton of money for him and the UFC, produced record ratings for The Ultimate Fighter and proved that Slice couldn’t compete in the UFC like he stated all along.

How is that for smart?

Four former NFL players will join Kimbo Slice as part of the 16-member cast of “The Ultimate Fighter 10.”

Sources close to the cast members told MMAJunkie.com that at least four former NFL players have been selected to compete on “The Ultimate Fighter 10,” a heavyweights-only season of the UFC’s reality series that debuts September 16 on Spike TV.

The four former players known at this time are Marcus Jones, Matt Mitrione, Brendan Schaub and Wes Shivers.

Jones is the most well known to NFL fans. A former first-round draft pick of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers back in 1996, Jones spent eight seasons in the NFL, although he never lived up to his lofty draft status. Jones enters the show with an MMA record of 4-1.

Mitrione played nine games for the New York Giants in 2002. He comes to The Ultimate Fighter with no professional fights, although he reportedly fought as an amateur.

Schaub is a former fullback who spent some time on the Buffalo Bills roster, although he never actually appeared in a game. He has shown some promise as an MMA fighter, going a perfect 4-0 early in his career. Schaub has won all four of his fights by first-round TKO.

Shivers had a short stint with the Atlanta Falcons in 2000. He is currently 0-1 as a professional MMA fighter but he did go 4-0 as an amateur. After playing three games with the Falcons in 2000, Shivers left the NFL and focused on his MMA career.

The UFC has officially announced that its UFC 102 card will take place on August 29.

While the company has yet to officially confirm a venue for the event, the Rose Garden in Portland, Oregon is expected to host the card.

The main event for UFC 102 is expected to be a heavyweight match-up between MMA legends Randy Couture and Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira.

While no bouts are official the rumored card for UFC 102 at this time are:

Randy Couture vs. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira

Demian Maia vs. Nate Marquardt

Keith Jardine vs. Thiago Silva

Matt Hamill vs. Brandon Vera

Chris Leben vs. Jake Rosholt

Wilson Gouveia vs. James Irvin

Gabriel Gonzaga vs. Chris Tuchscherer

Nick Catone vs. Mark Munoz

Junior dos Santos vs. Justin McCully

Evan Dunham vs. Matt Veach

So I’m sitting at home watching another boring episode of “The Ultimate Fighter: Season 9.” At this point I just feel obligated to watch the show as an MMA fan. I have totally lost interest, don’t really care who wins and really only wait for Dana White to appear and rip some poor soul for not having what it takes to be a fighter.

But tonight was worth watching. Not for anything that happened on the show, but for Spike TV’s “Inside the Octagon” segment that airs during one of the commercial blocks. Tonight’s guest was Forrest Griffin, the original Ultimate Fighter winner.

Griffin was talking about his recent loss to Rashad Evans and his upcoming fight with Anderson Silva at UFC 101. During the brief interview he said something that really struck me. When asked how he would respond to his loss to Evans, Griffin said:

“I’m not the best fighter in the world. I shouldn’t be champ of anything. This is a way for me to kind of man up. It’s not about being the best fighter in the world. It’s just about committing yourself to winning for one night.”

That statement made me think of two things. First, it’s no wonder Griffin is one of the most popular fighters in the world. But more importantly, it’s that kind of comment that makes Griffin the perfect opponent to get Silva out of his funk.

Now I don’t want to go into the Anderson Silva debate here. But regardless of what your stance on The Spider may be at this time, it’s hard to argue that for whatever reason, the Silva we’ve seen during his last two fights is not the same fighter that’s stepped in the octagon in the past.

I think there may be a lot of differing reasons as to why that may be but most MMA fans agree Silva hasn’t been himself in his last two fights against inferior opponents.

I think most of us would also agree that White has been irate over Silva’s last two performances. The Spider is one of UFC’s top fighters and White can’t have his crowds booing him after two consecutive fights.

After the Thales Leites fight, White knew something needed to be done, so he called on one of his most trusted fighters to fix the problem.

There is no question that Griffin is one of White’s favorite fighters. White loves guys with heart and no one on the UFC roster has a bigger heart than Griffin. No one.

White also has a soft spot for what Griffin has done to help catapult the UFC into the mainstream. He has called the finale of “The Ultimate Fighter: Season 1” between Griffin and Stephan Bonnar, “The most important fight in UFC history.”

So it makes sense that White would ask Griffin to bring out the best in Silva. Griffin’s very nature won’t allow him to sit back and be boring like Leites. Griffin doesn’t enter a fight just hoping to survive. He gives everything he has and would rather lose than lay on his back and just survive for five rounds.

White knows this about Griffin. He knows Silva needs a push. It’s a perfect matchup.

When Griffin makes comments like “I’m not the best fighter in the world. I shouldn’t be champ of anything,” it makes fans want to root for him. But win or lose at UFC 101, you know he’s going to come to fight and he’s going to give everything he’s got. Dana White knows it too.

And here is a prediction: No one will be booing at the end of the Forrest Griffin-Anderson Silva fight.

Forrest Griffin may not be the best fighter in the world but he is, and always will be, Dana White’s ace in the hole. And oh by the way, he’s a darn good fighter as well.