Coming up at UFC 88, Martin Kampmann has a huge fight against Nathan Marquardt. With four straight victories (over Jorge Rivera, Drew McFedries, Thales Leites, and Crafton Wallace), Kampmann could see himself in the middle of the title picture with an impressive victory.

Looking at the current roster of UFC middleweights - is there really a top contender out there? Of course, one of the main reasons there isn’t a top contender is that Anderson Silva has convincingly beaten most of them.

Patrick Cote gets the next shot, but does anyone give him much of a chance? After that, there’s Yushin Okami or possibly Paulo Filho and that’s only if Filho would ever agree to fight his training partner and friend.

Therefore, Kampmann finds himself in a pretty good spot. With a big victory against Marquardt and possibly one more (maybe against Filho if the WEC and UFC middleweight divisions come together), Kampmann could get a match with the UFC’s top fighter in Silva. Of course, those are two very difficult fights for Kampmann to win.

Nevertheless, Kampmann hopes to get in the cage with the middleweight champion.

“I’d love to fight Anderson Silva. He’s very good, but everyone can be defeated,” said Kampmann.

Kampmann has little doubt that a match-up with Silva would be a very difficult one.

“I think I’d win, but I know it’s a very tough fight.”

FiveOuncesOfPain.com has learned from two independent sources in the last 24 hours that USKBA middleweight champion Nick Catone is expected to face Amir Sadollah at UFC 91 on Nov. 15 in Las Vegas.

Bout agreements between Catone and Sadollah have not been signed but could be finalized by early next week.

Both Sadollah and Catone have fighting roots on the East Coast with Sadollah having made a name for himself as an amateur while a part of Team Combat at the Combat Sports Center in Richmond, Virginia.

Meanwhile, Catone has fought for two major regional promotions on the East Coast and currently trains out of UFC middleweight Ricardo Almeida’s gym in New Jersey.

Sadollah had never fought pro before being selected to compete on the seventh season of “The Ultimate Fighter,” where he successfully defeated Gerald Harris, Matt Brown, and C.B. Dollaway (twice) en route to becoming the winner of the show’s middleweight tournament.

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Joe Riggs has experienced a lot in his life and in his fighting career. He originally got involved in MMA as a 290-pound heavyweight and eventually fought all the way down at 170 pounds; he’s dealt with an addiction to pain killers and his wife’s miscarriage; and he’s fought in high-profile bouts against notable names such as Matt Hughes, Nick Diaz, Kendall Grove, and Diego Sanchez.

Riggs found himself at a crossroads after requesting and being granted his release from Zuffa almost two years ago. In that time he and his wife experienced the birth of their first child and Riggs found a new home with the San Jose-based Strikeforce promotion.

However, nothing is ever easy when it comes to the life of Joe Riggs. While competing for Strikeforce in June and matched up against a relative unknown in Cory Devela, Riggs’ troublesome back gave out and he was forced to submit just 1:22 into the first round. Then in June, he was slated to fight Luke Stewart on the Strikeforce show that was headlined by Josh Thomson winning the lightweight title from Gilbert Melendez.

However, the match with Stewart never happened because Riggs disclosed on his licensing form with the California State Athletic Commission that he had taken a non-narcotic pain-killer in order to cope with back soreness. After taking a tuneup fight in July for the Rage in the Cage promotion, Riggs is set to return to the spotlight on Sept. 20 during Strikeforce’s second-annual event at the Playboy Mansion, where he will meet top-ten middleweight Kazuo Misaki.

Riggs took time out of his training scheduled to speak exclusively with FiveOuncesOfPain.com to address reports he has his sights set on returning to the UFC; how his camp reacted to those reports; whether he still plans to drop to 170 if he’s able to beat Misaki; his thoughts on the California State Athletic Commission’s decision to deny him a license to fight Stewart in June; whether fighters should be allowed to use pain-killers prior to fights; and more.

Sam Caplan: You’re a guy that has experienced a lot of highs and lows in your career and in your life. How are things going for you these days?

Joe Riggs: They are going good. My family is wonderful. My son is one years old now and getting older. Things are going good. If my family life is good, then everything goes good with it.

Sam Caplan: The last time you were supposed to fight for Strikeforce was in June but you were denied a license by CSAC because you disclosed you took a painkiller for your back. I know you could get yourself in trouble if you speak out, but nothing is going to change if people keep quiet. What is your overall assessment of how CSAC operates?

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CON: Randy Couture. Not that I don’t want to see him fight, it’s just as though he gave up. He realized certain fights and certain contracts weren’t happening and he crawled back, let’s not kid ourselves. Couture realized he was beaten and wants to come back for one or two big paydays and that is that. This isn’t about champion vs. interim champion. This isn’t about #1 vs. #2. This is about Couture getting big money to beat down Brock Lesnar. Or as Couture is quoted here by Lorreta Hunt, “I know (Emelianenko) expressed interest in this fight,” Couture told reporters Tuesday, “but I think if people are to take him seriously and give him credit as the number-one heavyweight in the world, then he needs to come fight me. That makes sense to me.” Yeah, beating Tim Sylvia in 30 seconds proved nothing. He needs to come to your house under your rules after you balked. Give me a break. Fedor is not signing with the UFC whether it’s because he’s demanding too much or because the UFC won’t give him a one-fight contract. You pretty much just wasted a year of life but you’ve lost all leverage in calling out Emelianenko.

CON: Brock Lesnar. Or to be more specific he said in the conference call, “who gives a s*** about Fedor?” Well Brock, around the globe a great number of people who give less of a “s***” about you. When the fight is over please tell me, like Shaq, how Couture’s ass tastes.

CON: Rampage’s situation. Why do so many people feel the need to defend him on a daily basis? As I said in the comments, if he hit your mother with his monster truck you’d certainly feel differently. Why do we care so much about criminals and not victims in this society? I don’t even care if he was crazy; if you’re crazy who cares what punishment you get? He still hurt people. I LOVE Rampage, I really do, but to blindly defend him in this situation is just stupid to me. He hurt people and damaged property and deserves to be punished regardless of the reason. I agree with Adam Morgan’s editorial and what happens when he’s off his rocker a second time?

CON: Yamma Pit Fighting. It’s been almost 5 months and still no second event? I HAVE YOUR T-SHIRT! Yes, I even wear it sometimes late at night when I walk my dog. Especially on nights like tonight when I forgot my usual Monday morning trash day won’t happen due to Labor Day and apparently I’m the only dumb person on the block that forgot about it. That’s just embarrassing on a neighborhood level. Then you have to do that walk of shame the next morning and drag it back into the garage. And screw you YAMMA, again, I have your shirt. I can’t imagine you’re out of business what with your brilliant marketing, super duper cage creation and dozens of grade A fighters. Not buying it!

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Rashad Evans is the heavyweight winner of the second season of “The Ultimate Fighter;” he has a strong pedigree as a former college wrestler; he trains with one of the best camps in the world at Greg Jackson’s MMA in Albuquerque, N.M.; and he’s undefeated with an 11-0-1 record.

He’s also going to lose in brutal fashion this weekend at UFC 88 against Chuck Liddell via first round TKO.

Evans fans will be up in arms when they read this but I’m not suggesting he’s not a good fighter. I’m simply making the case that he doesn’t have what it takes to defeat the former UFC light heavyweight champion.

Style-wise, Evans is tailor made for Liddell. During Liddell’s seven fight win streak that lasted from 2004-2006, he was matched up primarily against ground-based fighters that couldn’t pressure him in the standup. Tito Ortiz, Randy Couture, Renato “Babalu” Sobral, and Jeremy Horn are all capable on their feet but they are all clearly better when it comes to the ground. Liddell not only handled them, but he handled them with relative ease.

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This isn’t the first or last time you’ll read an opinion piece second guessing the lack of promotion for EliteXC’s next CBS broadcast on Oct. 4. So let me join the club and express my bewilderment over the lack of marketing for a show will no doubt be the most pivotal in ProElite’s brief history.

We all know by now the situation ProElite is in. A quick read of their recent SEC filing makes it clear that they currently do not have enough funding to make it into 2009. Maybe they’ll get it and maybe they won’t. But it’s going to be very hard to make the case that investors should take a chance on a promotional company in a space where competitors are fading into oblivion if they don’t draw a strong rating on Oct. 4.

We also know that EliteXC has had to make significant cutbacks, most notably their marketing budget. I don’t know if the Kimbo Slice billboard near the UFC offices in Las Vegas is still being displayed, but I think odds are that it’s come down. So if we question their lack of marketing push thus far for Oct. 4, we have to be realistic; we aren’t going to see billboards in Times Square or a major ad blitz on the Howard Stern show. The money for that kind of viral promotion simply isn’t there.

But there is such a thing as guerrilla marketing. It’s relatively inexpensive to work the press and do interviews on television, radio, and on the Internet. A few days after announcing that Randy Couture would fight Brock Lesnar at UFC 91 on Nov. 15 the two were shuttled off to Bristol, Conn. to do PR work with ESPN. After EliteXC made it official that Ken Shamrock would be Slice’s opponent, there was so little fanfare that the company didn’t even so much as host a conference call with the two.

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When: Saturday, Nov. 15, 2008
Where: MGM Grand Garden Arena; Las Vegas, NV
Watch: Pay-Per-View

Here’s the latest on the UFC 91: Couture vs. Lesnar event:

• Brock Lesnar vs. Randy Couture @ HW (official) - (UFC Heavyweight Title)
• Kenny Florian vs. Joe Stevenson @ LW (official)
• Amir Sadollah vs. Nick Catone @ MW
• Gabriel Gonzaga vs. Josh Hendricks @ HW

Card subject to change. All matchups are rumored unless stated otherwise.

Check out more UFC 91 content on 5 Oz. of Pain.

I don’t know why they’re calling this the UFC 88 video blog because nothing related to UFC 88 has happened yet. Almost the whole thing has been related to UFC 91 and the upcoming fight between Randy Couture and Brock Lesnar. Oh well. This video details their trip to Bristol, Connecticut to do a bunch of promotional stuff for ESPN for the Lesnar vs. Couture fight as well as their trip to the premiere of the new season of the HBO series Entourage.

Brock Lesnar and Randy Couture get together on ESPN to talk about their upcoming fight at UFC 91. Good on ESPN for recognizing the importance of this fight for the UFC and not just mentioning on their program but actually bringing the fighters involved on their program and having them talk about the bout.

With an urgent need to draw a strong rating for its DREAM.6 event on Sept. 23 at the Saitama Super Arena in order to maintain its broadcast relationship TBS, DREAM has added two major heavyweight attractions just weeks out from the event.

DREAM has made it official that Mirko Cro Cop will be taking on current Strikeforce heavyweight champion Alistar Overeem. Additionally, the promotion has announced that former PRIDE star Sergei Kharitonov will be fighting for the promotion against K-1 standout Siala “Mighty Mo” Siligia.

The heavyweight bouts will complement the semifinals and finals of DREAM’s middleweight Grand Prix that will feature Gegard Mousasi vs. Melvin Manhoef and Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza vs. Zelg Galesic with the winner of each semifinal fighting one another for the title later that night.

HDNet issued a press release Wednesday afternoon to formally announce a long-term partnership to televise Affliction’s MMA events. The precise duration of the agreement was not specified in the release.

The events that will be televised on HDNet will be 60-90 minute specials to air immediately prior to major Affliction pay-per-view events, similar to the format utilized between Affliction and Fox Sports Net prior to the promotion’s first show on July 19.

The agreement between HDNet and Affliction will commence during Affliction’s “Day of Reckoning” show on Oct. 10 in Las Vegas at the Thomas & Mack Center.

“This is the beginning of a long-term partnership with Affliction that encompasses live MMA, co-marketing and top fighters for the top weekly show in MMA - Inside MMA on HDNet,” HDNet Fights CEO Andrew Simon is quoted in the release. “Affliction has quickly become one of the top organizations in MMA which means it is a must have for HDNet.”

According to the press release, three matches will air beginning at 7:30 p.m. ET with Kenny Rice, Bas Rutten, and Ron Kruck handling the broadcast duties. So far, only two of the three matchups set to air have been announced, which include former IFL heavyweight champion Roy Nelson fighting former UFC heavyweight title challenger Paul Buentello and welterweights Mike Pyle and Jason High.

Soon after this past Friday’s episode of HDNetFight’s Inside MMA, we reported that Tito Ortiz confirmed he was talking with UFC and Elite XC. Here is more video from Inside MMA, where Tito talks about his future and which company he may fight for next.

Be sure to check out the HDNet Video Vault for lots more fights and MMA action!

Here is the second part of Dana White’s UFC 88 video blog featuring the conference call with Randy Couture and Brock Lesnar. This video also features the now famous Brock Lesnar line “Who gives a s– about Fedor?” Oh, and apparently Couture and Dana White are buddy-buddy now. Look at that smile on Randy’s face. Money talks, right?

Mauro Ranallo of Fight Network Radio contacted FiveOuncesOfPain.com earlier today to let us know he conducted a one-on-one interview with UFC heavyweight champion Randy Couture that will be airing on today’s show.

During the interview, Couture addressed a number of topics including the situation involving Fedor Emelianenko, his upcoming return at UFC 91 against Brock Lesnar, as well as some initiatives he plans to push for regarding improved rights for fighters.

You can listen to Fight Network Radio at 3 p.m. ET on Sirius Satellite Radio or at HardcoreSportsRadio.com.

Earlier today we were treated to the announcement from Dana White that Randy Couture would be returning to the UFC. Not only will he be returning to the UFC but he will be fighting Brock Lesnar in a bout that White himself called “the biggest fight in UFC history.” And while it may not be the most meaningful fight in UFC history, he’s very correct in calling it the biggest fight in UFC history. Why? Because this fight and the fighters involved all revolve around one thing: money.

It’s not about whether or not Lesnar is legitimate enough to deserve a title shot. It’s not about what’s going on with Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, Frank Mir, TUF 8, and the interim title situation. It’s not about where Fabricio Werdum, who was told he would get a title shot sooner than later, goes from here. And it’s almost certainly not about the fight that Randy supposedly left the UFC for, which is the fight with Fedor. It’s about money.

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While reported rumors had been running rampant in recent days, UFC President Dana White made it official on Tuesday afternoon that the promotion’s estrange heavyweight champion Randy Couture has re-signed with the promotion.

Calling it the “biggest fight in UFC history,” White also announced that Couture will be defending his heavyweight title vs. Brock Lesnar in his return at UFC 91 on Saturday, Nov. 15 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.

Both Couture and White confirmed that all legal issues between all parties have been resolved and Couture is returning to the UFC under terms of a new agreement. Couture revealed that the new contract was for three fights.

Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira will remain the UFC interim heavyweight champion and will defend his title vs. Frank Mir in December. According to White, the winner of Nogueira vs. Mir will fight the winner of Couture vs. Lesnar to determine an undisputed heavyweight champion in what he dubbed as a tournament.

White was asked about a possible fight for Couture against Fedor Emelianenko but White indicated that while the promotion was interested in making it happen, Emelianenko already has an existing contract that they will not attempt to interfere with.

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Saturday, November 19, 2005 is a date I will always remember quite well. It was the date of UFC 56 and the night that UFC President Dana White made a trio of Earth-shattering announcements.

First, White announced that B.J. Penn would be returning to the UFC. It was a shock at the time because Penn had been stripped of the welterweight title and taken to court the year prior after going to Japan to fight for K-1, which the UFC considered a violation of his contract. Right before the announcement was made at UFC 56, Penn and the UFC were set to go to trial a month later and the concept of Penn ever fighting in the UFC again appeared like a long shot.

That same night it was also revealed that Tito Ortiz had not only re-signed with the UFC but would be one of the coaches for the third season “The Ultimate Fighter” and that the opposing coach would be long-time rival Ken Shamrock. Furthermore, it was announced that the two would reprise their classic 2002 showdown at UFC 40 in a pay-per-view rematch following the airing of TUF 3.

Lost in the shuffle was the fact that White also announced a mega-rematch between Randy Couture and Chuck Liddell during the company’s year end show on New Year’s Eve weekend. Two months later the UFC promised another announcement to be made during UFC Fight Night 3 and it delivered when White told the world that Royce Gracie would be returning to the UFC and would fight Matt Hughes at UFC 60 in May later that year.

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Despite some major glitches with our website last week, we still managed to declare a winner for our Frank Edgar Trivia Contest - reader “BG” from Virginia Tech University.

“BG” got all the answers correct and he wins a custom designed Frankie Edgar t-shirt from frankedgar.com.

The trivia contest questions/answers are as follows:
1. Edgar has been an assistant coach for WHAT sport at WHICH New Jersey university?   Wrestling at Rutgers University

2. Training mostly on the east coast, what school does Edgar train at when he heads to California?  American Kickboxing Academy

3. Six of Edgar’s last seven fights ended by Unanimous Decision. HOW did the ‘other’ fight end and at WHICH event was it?  Via TKO by Strikes @ UFC 73

4. Edgar wrestled at WHICH Toms River High School: North, South, East or West?  Toms River East High School

5. WHAT part of Edgar’s body was kicked off during a fight earlier in his career? And WHO kicked it off?  His Ear by Jim Miller

FiveOuncesofPain.com has several contests planned for the next few weeks and we have many unique prizes to giveaway!