Bustamante came away with a Unanimous Decision win after nearly two years on the shelf, improving his overall record to 15-8-1 in the process. The result also marked the second time the former UFC middleweight champ has beaten Menne with the first coming at UFC 35 in 2002. Other notable instances of past success for the slick grappler include those over Ikuhisa Minowa and Matt Lindland.

A few other fighters with Zuffa ties also picked up victories at the event including Patrick Cote, Thales Leites, and Pete Spratt. The first two picked up finishes with “The Predator” knocking out Gustavo Machado in the opening round of their featured bout and Leites tapping Matt Horwich with an Arm-Triangle Choke, while Spratt won a hard-fought decision over Daniel Acacio.

Read below for a full list of AFC 2 results:

Luiz Fernando def. Pablo Javier Llampa via TKO (Strikes)
Rivaldo Junior def. Marcelo Rojo via Unanimous Decision
Emiliano Sordi def. Fabiano Capoani via TKO (Strikes)
Dileno Lopes def. Javier Ocampo via Submission
Ronys Torres def. Ferrid Kheder via TKO Round 1 (Strikes)
Pete Spratt def. Daniel Acacio via Unanimous Decision
Patrick Cote def. Gustavo Machado via Knockout Round 1 (Strikes)
Thales Leites def. Matt Horwich via Submission Round 2 (Arm-Triangle Choke)
Murio Bustamante def. Dave Menne via Unanimous Decision

PHOTO CREDIT – UFC

Cote explained his rationale, as well as his disdain for peers who take to less-noble means to get a sniff from the Zuffa matchmaking team, in a recent interview with MMAWeekly Radio where he elaborated on a Tweet telling Tim Sylvia to “shut the hell up, win fights, and stop begging.”

“You’ve been a champion in this organization; you know how things work,” said the French-Canadian of Sylvia, currently on a long-running campaign to finish some business inside the Octagon. “You’re not going to go anywhere by begging like that. I was just annoyed about begging, a lot of the begging, and I said loud what a lot of people was thinking. I have nothing against Sylvia. He’s been a great champion. He did a lot in the sport. He did a lot in the UFC. I hope he’s going to be back in the UFC. That’s not the point. The point was just about the begging thing.”

“The only thing you have to do is shut your mouth, win fights, and prove you deserve to be back in the big show by winning fights and by your performance,” Cote concluded.

The 32-year old striker plans on doing just that this weekend when he faces Gustavo Machado in Brazil to make it four straight outside of the UFC. Machado, a grappler by trade, holds an overall record of 22-8-1 and will enter their match-up having won a quartet of consecutive clashes (ten of his last eleven).

“I don’t have a lot of control about the decision who is going to put me back in the UFC,” Cote admitted. “My only power I have is be in shape and win fights and that’s what I’m doing. Three wins in a row, and I’m going for a fourth one. The UFC asked us to go to somebody better than my last two opponents, and with a winning record, so that’s exactly what we’re doing.”

“The Predator” is 16-7 in his career and even earned a shot at Anderson Silva’s UFC title based on a five-fight run. Unfortunately he severely injured his knee in the bout and was sidelined for more than a year, promptly losing a pair of subsequent outings against Alan Belcher and Tom Lawlor before receiving his release.

PHOTO CREDIT – UFC

Starnes is perhaps best known for his backpedaling performance against Nate Quarry at UFC 83 but holds an 11-5-1 record including past success against Jason MacDonald and Chris Leben. He is 3-2 in his last five fights with a first-round submission in his last outing over Nick Hinchliffe this past July.

Meanwhile, “The Predator” will be seeking his first win in the ring since mid-2008 after injuring his knee in a championship clash with Anderson Silva at UFC 90, then dropping back-to-back bouts upon his return to the Octagon. Prior to the losing streak Cote had won five consecutive match-ups including victories over Kendall Grove, Drew McFedries, and Ricardo Almeida.

News of negotiations between the two parties was first reported by Montreal MMA with MMAWeekly since confirming an agreement is now in place.

Cote is 13-7 in his career and had won seven of eight bouts including three consecutive TKO victories to earn a UFC title-shot. However, he subsequently shredded his knee shortly into the third round of his UFC 90 fight with 185-pound champion Anderson Silva. He then lost in his return to the Octagon against Alan Belcher seven months later and most recently fell by way of decision to Tom Lawlor at UFC 121 this past October. The defeat earned Cote his release from the UFC.

“The Predator” has found past success in the ring against Kendall Grove, Scott Smith, Jason MacDonald, and Ricardo Almeida. No opponent has been named for his Ringside MMA debut.

PHOTO CREDIT – UFC

News of Cote’s release came via his Twitter page where he said his time in the organization had “been an awesome experience,” while including he felt confident he would eventually make his way back to the Octagon.

The 13-7 Canadian had won five fights in a row prior to his recent run of bad luck and holds victories in his career over Kendall Grove, Ricardo Almeida, and Scott Smith.

PHOTO CREDIT – UFC

Sources close to the negotiations have recently confirmed the news to MMAweekly.com.

Cote, who blew his knee out in the third round of his title fight with Silva at UFC 90 last October, is hoping to make his return to the octagon sometime this fall. Reports state that he may be fight at UFC 104 which will take place this October from the Staples Center in Los Angeles.

Cote holds a career record of 13-5 overall and is 4-5 in the UFC. He had a rather ominous beginning to his UFC career back in 2004. The Canadian born fighter was 5-0 at the time while fighting for organizations in Canada and was called on to fill in at the last minute against former light heavyweight champion Tito Ortiz at UFC 50. Although he lost the bout via unanimous decision he certainly held his own against a much bigger more experienced opponent.

Cote fought once more for the TKO organization in Canada before he was offered another bout with the UFC. Unfortunately Cote went on to lose his next two bouts inside the octagon and made his way back up north to get a few wins under his belt. He participated on season 4 of The Ultimate Fighter and made it to the finale where he lost to Travis Lutter putting his UFC record at 0-4. He would then go on to win his next 5 bouts. Four of those victories were for the UFC. He earned himself a shot at Silva and the middleweight championship with an uninspiring split decision victory over Ricardo Almeida at UFC 86 in July of 2008.

He was an extremely heavy underdog going into his fight with the Spider. Although he made it to the third round he never had Silva in any danger and it seems as though Silva was toying around the whole time which drew sharp criticism from the fans, other fighters and UFC officials.

Cote has been rehabbing his knee since he had surgery to repair the injury to his knee. He has began training and is now splitting his time with his camp in Montreal and Mark DellaGrotte in Boston.

Cote confirmed his status with The Fight Network on Saturday.

According to Cote, he has already begun preliminary conditioning training for his UFC return.

“I will be back in the gym fully training in three weeks or so,” said Cote, who underwent knee surgery for a torn meniscus in November.

A 29-year-old product of Brazilian Top Team Canada, Cote injured his knee in a bout against Anderson Silva at UFC 90 in October.

Cote was the first man in Silva’s UFC career to go more than two rounds with the middleweight champion. The bout was halted when Cote landed awkwardly and fell to the ground, prompting the referee to stop the fight 39 seconds into the third frame.

Before challenging Silva for the 185-pound title, Cote racked up wins against Scott Smith, Jason Day, Kendall Grove, Drew McFedries and Ricardo Almeida.

The former middleweight champion of the now-defunct Canadian TKO organization has his sights set on Silva’s title. He says he wants to face the cream of the crop in the middleweight division upon his return.

“I want to fight someone in the top-five or top-10,” said Cote, who spoke enthusiastically about his prospective return to the promotion.

“I want Alan Belcher or the winner of Rich Franklin vs. Wanderlei Silva,” he said.

Another possible opponent mentioned by Cote is not under contract with the UFC.

“I would love to fight Vitor Belfort if he came to the UFC,” said Cote.

Belfort is coming off a sensational first-round knockout of world-renowned wrestler Matt Lindland at “Affliction: Day of Reckoning” on January 24. There are currently no plans to bring him into the UFC middleweight fold.

Cote, who is 14-5 in his professional MMA career, has been keeping busy since his injury.

On February 27, Cote was the color commentator alongside Mauro Ranallo, former voice of PRIDE Fighting Championships, for the Canadian-based “XMMA 7: Inferno” pay-per-view broadcast.

“Who knows? I could have a second career outside of fighting,” said Cote jokingly.

“The Predator” is a Brazilian jiu-jitsu standout splitting time training at BTT Canada in Montreal under BJJ instructor Fabio Holanda and Team Sityodtong in Boston under muay thai coach Mark DellaGrotte.

Anderson Silva was delaying the inevitable

Unlike my colleague Sam Caplan, I truly believe that Anderson Silva was toying with Patrick Cote last night. Was he also being cautious? Yes. Anything can happen in a mixed martial arts bout and Cote is a fighter with knockout power that’s not to be tested. However, it seemed than when Silva chose to engage and bring pressure that Cote was there for the taking but Silva never chose to finish it. We’ve seen Silva fool around in the cage before but not to the degree that he was last night. He realized he was in there with a fighter who wasn’t even on his level and decided to fool with him for a couple of rounds. I’ll make no judgement on whether that’s right or wrong. It is what it is.

The fact that Cote went down with an injury is unfortunate but there is nothing to suggest that had the injury not happened that things would have turned around. Silva clearly won both of the first rounds and likely would have finished it in round three or four. In no way does Patrick Cote deserve a rematch. As many have pointed out, Silva only has five fights left on his contract. Do we really want to see him fight Cote again in one of those five fights?

Anderson Silva needs to move to light heavyweight

The man has cleaned out the middleweight division with the exception of a rematch with Yushin Okami and that’s a fight that not only won’t sell pay per views but will more than likely end poorly for Okami. It’s not a compelling and competitive matchup. Silva has proven that he can compete and win at light heavyweight and that’s where the most intriguing and challening matchups are going to be for him down the road. Pitting Silva versus any top ten light heavyweight in the UFC will sell pay per views. Matching him up against the Patrick Cotes of the world will not. Dana White is letting B.J. penn compete for two titles at the same time so why not Silva?

Thiago Alves has established himself as the clear #1 contender at 170 lbs.

The win over Josh Koscheck last night was a very impressive one. Koscheck looked the best that we have ever seen him and Alves was able to handle his takedowns and his striking with relative ease. Just the sheer size of Alves is going to make him a problem for any fighter in the 170 lbs. division and that includes Georges St. Pierre. The guy is cutting from 200 lbs. to get down to 170 and he was just so much more massive than Koscheck last night. He can power out of takedown attempts with pure strength and size. The way he picked apart Koscheck with leg kicks was textbook and he will present a real threat to the welterweight title once he gets his shot. As for Koscheck, he deserves a ton of respect for stepping up on short notice and fighting the fight he did. He proved last night that he belongs at the top of the welterweight class but Alves proved to be just too much for him.

Junior dos Santos proved his worth in his UFC debut

Wow, what a knockout. Was there a single part of his fist that didn’t crush into Werdum’s face? I mean every single inch of his fist seemed to hit Werdum square in the nose. Brutal, brutal knockout. This was a no-win situation for Werdum as if he won it was a fight that he should have won anyways and if he lost then people would say that he’s not as good as people were saying. The latter is what you’re hearing a lot of today. Werdum’s standup is improved but it ended up being his demise last night. As for dos Santos, he proved that he belongs in the UFC but let’s wait and see him fight a couple more times before we crown him the next big thing.

Sean Sherk vs. Tyson Griffin II needs to happen

This fight was so entertaining and it was a great way to open up the main card of the event. These guys were so evenly matched that it was hard for it not to be a great fight and they exceeded expectations. As it happens sometimes, when you throw two wrestlers against one another you end up with a kickboxing match. It just so happens that these guys are great kickboxers as well as wrestlers and we were treated to a striking clinic over the cours of three rounds. Both of these guys are established top five lightweights in the UFC and a rematch needs to happen sooner than later. If B.J. Penn beats St. Pierre and stays at 170 lbs. how about matching these guys up for five rounds for the vacant title?

Other musings..

• Gray Maynard, while not the most exciting fighter, is a legitimate lightweight and passed his toughest test to date by beating Rich Clementi in convincing fashion. Clementi was riding a hot streak and Maynard completely controlled him and made Clementi fight where Maynard wanted the fight to take place. As he develops into a more well rounded fighter he will be a name to watch at 155 lbs.
• Does Josh Burkman have a place in the UFC anymore? He’s now lost three straight fights to Mike Swick, Dustin Hazelett, and now Pete Sell. Burkman’s style isn’t exciting and he’s losing fights. I think the UFC lets him get some more fights under his belt outside of the promotion before coming back.
• The Chicago crowd was terrible. I’ve heard some poor crowds before but Chicago was right up there with one of the worst. The booing was terrible during almost every fight. If a punch wasn’t being thrown there was booing. Money talks and obviously the live gate was huge but the way the crowd acted last night they don’t deserve another event.
• Why is Drew McFedries still in the UFC? Because he either knocks someone out or gets finished quickly? I understand keeping fighters on the roster who make fights exciting but McFedries is B level talent and that may be generous.
• Overall I thought the show was a good one except for the main event. It wasn’t on the level of UFC 84 or anything but it was entertaining with some good fights. Overall I give it a B.

It appeared as if Cote tweaked the knee during the second round while engaging with Silva but was able to shake it off and continue the round. During the opening moments of the third, however, the knee gave out on Cote and he was unable to continue the fight, awarding a disappointed Anderson Silva a TKO victory.

Before the accident Silva was more or less toying with Cote for the first two rounds, picking his spots and delivering vicious strikes almost at will when he wanted to, landing a nasty head kick, a vicious knee, and a straight left that rocked Cote’s head backward. Cote was unable to land anything significant but came out of the first two rounds almost unscathed except for a small cut on his forehead.

Both fighters were visibly disappointed with the outcome as Anderson Silva clearly wanted to finish the fight the right way and Cote was upset that his opportunity to shock the world had been taken from him due to an injury and not because Silva took it from him. There is no word on whether a rematch will take place at this point but it would seem only fair to both fighters, especially seeing as how Cote survived for two rounds against the sport’s most dangerous fighter.

In other action on the card, Thiago Alves won a unanimous decision victory over a very game Josh Koscheck. Alves caught Koscheck early on with a left hook that landed behind Koscheck’s ear and dropped him. It appeared that Alves might be able to finish from there but Koscheck was able to recover quickly and fight Alves tooth and nail until the end. Alves was able to pepper Koscheck’s legs with devastating leg kicks throughout the fight and also fended off all of Koscheck’s takedown attempts. It was an impressive win for Alves over a very legitimate welterweight contender. Alves proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that he is the clear cut number one contender for the 170 lbs. title in the UFC.

Gray Maynard was able to secure a unanimous decision victory over Rich Clementi in the third fight on the main card, using his outstanding wrestling ability to smother the crafty Clementi. Clementi never really threatened during the fight, on the feet or standing, and Maynard was able to take him down at will and neutralize Clementi’s ground game. The Chicago fans, who thought the fight was boring, booed Maynard during the decision and he apologized to them for a boring fight during the post-fight interview with Joe Rogan.

Junior Dos Santos shocked most of the MMA world in defeating Fabricio Werdum in the opening moments of the first round. Dos Santos landed an absolutely crushing uppercut right on Werdum’s nose that dropped the Chute Boxe fighter to the ground. From there Dos Santos pounced on Werdum and landed a couple more shots before the referee stepped in to stop the fight. Impressive UFC debut against a heavyweight who was widely considered one of the best heavyweights in the world.

During the event’s opening bout on the main card, Sean Sherk bounced back from his loss against B.J. Penn, winning a unanimous decision victory over Tyson Griffin in what went down as one of the best fights of the evening. Griffin and Sherk traded blow for blow in the standup game because neither fighter was effectively able to take the other fighter down and keep them there. Sherk was able to take Griffin down a couple of times but was never able to keep him there. Griffin was always able to get back to his feet, shrug Sherk off him, and away they went with the kickboxing match. The two fighters seemed to be almost mirror images of one another and that made for a great fight with lots of striking action. Sherk did enough with the takedowns and his standup to come away with the decision.

The official results of the card are below:

Pete Sell def. Josh Burkman Decision (Unanimous)
Hermes Franca def. Marcus Aurelio Decision (Unanimous)
Dan Miller def. Matt Horwich Decision (Unanimous)
Spencer Fisher def. Shannon Gugerty Submission (Triangle Choke) 3 3:56
Thales Leites def. Drew McFedries Submission (Rear Naked choke) 1 1:18
Sean Sherk def. Tyson Griffin Decision (Unanimous)
Junior dos Santos def. Fabricio Werdum KO (Punches) 1 1:21
Gray Maynard def. Rich Clementi Decision (Unanimous)
Thiago Alves def. Josh Koscheck Decision (Unanimous)
Anderson Silva def. Patrick Cote TKO (Injured knee) 3 0:39

HT: AOL Fanhouse

‘‘I’m telling all my friends to bet on me,’’ Cote said, ‘‘because they’re going to make a lot of money.’’

‘‘This guy will need 10 punches to my face to knock me out, and I’ll just need one,’’ Cote said. ‘‘I have a good chance. He won’t exchange with me, and I’m not scared of him.

‘‘He wins a lot of his fights before they start because his opponents are intimidated and scared of him. I’m not scared of anyone in my weight class, especially him.’’

Now, correct me if I’m wrong, but didn’t the man that Silva just annihilated, James Irvin, have something similar to say? Something about “I’ll take 30 of his punches to land 10 of my own”? A word of advice for Patrick Cote: let sleeping dogs lie, my friend. If there’s one thing in the UFC’s middleweight division that you do not want to do, it’s piss off Anderson Silva. We saw Silva pissed off at the beginning of the second round of his fight against Dan Henderson because Henderson more or less layed on him for the first round. Silva didn’t like that, and in response, he went to work on Henderson with a barrage of strikes before choking him out. I understand that Cote wants to talk a big game to put hype behind a fight that otherwise has no hype around it, but I have a feeling that he will learn a serious lesson inside the cage.

During the bout, Johnson had been on the receiving end of several eye pokes from his opponent, Kevin Burns. In spite of multiple warnings, Johnson still received a severe poke during the third and final round of the fight. After taking the finger to the eye, Johnson retreated to the canvas and covered up. Referee Steve Mazzagatti then called a stop to the fight and later ruled Burns the winner via TKO.

I would be remiss if I didn’t file a complaint and seek recourse for the outcome of the Anthony Johnson  fight results this weekend,” Pavia stated during a forum post in the Underground forum at MixedMartialArts.com.

“Anthony Johnson has accepted what has happened and has shown nothing but class through the process,” Pavia added towards the end of his post. “This was most evident in the first round when he inadvertently kick Kevin Burns in the groin and backed off and apologized.  He didn’t not call Kevin Burns out for the six or so eye gouges with and open hand or for pouncing after putting three of his finger print on the back of his eye socket.  Rumble told me he thought his eye popped out.”

Whether Pavia will have any success in trying to get the decision overturned remains to be seen, as fight outcomes are rarely changed after the fact. Complicating matters is the fact that the Nevada State Athletic Commission may not even allow a decision to be overturned. Pavia expressed that he still believes the commission may take action.

“While there may not be a code section that affords the opportunity to overturn a decision as (NSAC Executive Director Keith Kizer) informed me, he has always considered all input and done his best to effectuate justice,” said Pavia.

But a big storyline that hasn’t gotten as much play as it deserves, and likely because MMA media sites only have so much staff and space to devote to coverage, is Kevin Burns’ controversial third round TKO victory over Anthony “Rumble” Johnson.

First, the fight between Burns and Johnson was excellent. Burns proved his win over Roan Carneiro was no joke and that he belongs in the UFC. Credit goes to UFC V.P. of Talent Relations Joe Silva for unearthing yet another diamond in the rough.

That said, the outcome of the bout should be appealed by Johnson’s camp and overturned by the Nevada State Athletic Commission.

Throughout the course of the fight, Burns kept getting his fingers caught on Johnson’s face. Johnson pointed this out several times and referee Steve Mazzagatti warned Burns multiple times about the infraction. However, that did not stop Burns from poking Johnson in the eye in the third round as he put out his hand to jab. Just like any normal human being taking a direct poke to the eye and feeling blinding pain, Johnson hit the deck and covered up. From the live angle, it almost looked as if Johnson went down from a punch and was truly TKO’d. However, replays from a better angle clearly showed that Johnson had taken a direct poke to the eye.

The fight was called to a stop and there was a delay. Mazzagatti was talking to several officials at cageside and the Spike TV showed zoomed in replays of Johnson taking the poke. It seemed like a done deal that Burns was going to lose via disqualification but when it came time for the official announcement, Burns was pronounced the winner via TKO.

I was shocked and amazed at the outcome. I can understand why there might be some initial confusion after Mazzagatti called a stop to the fight. But why did he get the decision wrong even after conversing with people around the cage? It makes little sense but something needs to be done. Rarely does it make sense for a fighter to appeal the outcome of a fight but in this case, it does. If Johnson raises hell, I don’t see how NSAC doesn’t overturn it.

My biggest problem might be with Burns’ repeated use of his fingers. After the fight was over, Burns said during the post-fight interview with Joe Rogan that he has to jab with an open hand because he’s fractured the hand three times in the last 18 months. That’s a valid excuse, except for the fact that I thought open palm strikes were illegal? Why was he allowed to routinely attempt an illegal punch? Maybe Burns has a medical reason for using the method, but rules are rules.

To Burns’ credit, he was contrite about the infraction and said he believes Johnson deserved a rematch. It almost sounded as if he had a problem with the outcome as well. Hopefully the commission gets involved and justice is served.

Both fighters are coming off very impressive victories in their most recent outings. Anthony Johnson destroyed TUF 6 finalist, Tommy Speer at April’s UFN 13 via first round highlight reel knockout. Kevin Burns on the other hand came out of nowhere to submit BJJ specialist, Roan Carneiro earlier this month at UFC 85: Bedlam.

The UFC has done some impressive scrambling so far to put together a decent looking fight night card. Currently, the card looks like this;

• Anderson Silva vs. James Irvin
• Brandon Vera vs. Reese Andy
• Hermes Franca vs. Frankie Edgar
• Jake O’Brien vs. Cain Velasquez
• Anthony Johnson vs. Kevin Burns

Read more UFN 14 content at FiveOuncesOfPain.com

First, UFC 76 will be a full nine-match card after all. Fresh off his IFO win earlier this month, Rich Clementi is back in the UFC and back in action against Anthony Johnson. The two will face off on the UFC 76 undercard on Sept. 22 in Anaheim, Calif.

That’s a pretty damn good last-minute addition match.

It also looks like another match has been added for UFC 78. While not official, it has appeared in the MMAWeekly.com rumors section and that rumors section is pretty damn good. According to the site, David Terrell will finally return to the UFC and will be taking on Ed Herman.

Hey, it’s no main event but it’s pretty damn interesting.

I’m really looking forward to UFC 78 on Nov. 17 in Newark because it’s not all that far from Philly (where I live) and having the UFC back in the Northeast has been a long time coming. The card itself isn’t all that bad, either.

Here’s what we could be looking at:

- Tito Ortiz vs. Rashad Evans (hasn’t been officially announced but a recent newspaper report indicated it’s going down)

- B.J. Penn vs. TBA (my money is on Joe Stevenson for the title)

- Karo Parisyan vs. TBA (could be Hayato Sakurai, could be Hector Lombard, could be someone else)

- Spencer Fisher vs. Frankie Edgar (Dana should give them the match of the night bonus right now)

- David Terrell vs. Ed Herman (rumored)

- Joe Lauzon vs. Jason Reinhardt (according to Reinhardt)

Tito, B.J. and Karo all on the same card offers a lot of star power to the Philly, New York, and Jersey fanbase. This part of the country loves recognizable stars. If you’re not a known quantity, you might not get much attention. If I go to a concert in Philly everyone marks out for the headliners. But the opening band could be the greatest in the world but if the people don’t know their name, the crowd seems pretty bored.

Hey, what does a guy have to do to get a Big Nog vs. Andrei Arlovski match added to this card?

You can read the report by clicking here.