Given Palaszewski’s well-rounded attack, Griffin will certainly have to be prepared to produce on a number of fronts when they square off on Spike TV during the preliminary lead-up to the PPV headlined by Nick Diaz vs. B.J. Penn.

The 15-5 Griffin recently addressed his approach to fighting in general and why he feels “comfortable” by the challenge Palaszewski presents, explaining to MMAWeekly, “I love the striking game, I like kicking, I like punching; I like it all. I think every one of my fights I’ve thrown at least one low kick. At the same time you’ve got to be a smart fighter and this is (MMA). You’ve got to pick your opponents apart and being where you think they’re the weakest and where you have the greatest advantage.”

In terms of what area he feels he can excel at against the 35-14 “Bartimus”, Griffin said he may rely on some of his mat-based acumen to bring home the win and hopefully move within a fight of facing 145-pound champion Jose Aldo.

“I go into fights feeling like I can out-strike anybody, I can out-scramble anybody, I can out-grapple anybody, and I feel like my conditioning is always the best going into fights. I don’t think it gives me any less comfort or more comfort to know he’s got a little bit of a weakness in wrestling.”

Fans can catch Griffin’s go at Palaszewski when things fire up at 8:00 PM EST on Spike with the broadcast’s other bout featuring Dennis Siver’s scrap with Donald Cerrone.

PHOTO CREDIT – UFC/SUCKERPUNCH

Griffin, who will meet Bart Palaszewski at UFC 137 on the Spike TV portion of the event’s preliminary pairings, wants to become a restaurateur when his fighting career is over. For now, he settles for using his other passion as a way to remain in fit physical condition.

The Xtreme Couture member has won five “Fight of the Night” honors, but is just 1-3 in his last four bouts and was last seen defeating Manny Gamburyan in June by Majority Decision.

“Food is definitely one of the bigger passions in my life,” said Griffin, in a recent interview with the UFC’s website. “I’ve been trying to create healthy stuff that tastes good in camp and keeping the good, fattening stuff out of camp.”

Griffin’s main delights include a tomato and basil soup with fried eggs along with a fruit and oat shake. The ability to find healthy foods has also helped Griffin drop down from lightweight to featherweight.

The win over Gamburyan was important to Griffin’s career, as he had already received one special exception by UFC President Dana White after his controversial decision loss to Nik Lentz because White felt like Griffin should have been declared the winner.

“Beating Manny, I thought I acquitted myself pretty well,” Griffin said. “I guess it didn’t turn out that way because it wasn’t a very exciting fight, but Manny fought for the title and he was world-ranked. I feel like I’ve already beaten one of the top guys and I have to keep winning to keep myself out there.”

UFC 137 takes place October 29 from Las Vegas, Nevada and features a main event pitting Nick Diaz against B.J. Penn.

PHOTO CREDIT – UFC

The October 29 match-up was recently revealed by the UFC.

Though Palaszewski is 4-1 in his last five fights including a win over Anthony Pettis, the decision to drop down marks a move designed to give him more of a size advantage than was the case during a successful career at lightweight. The 28-year old has gone 35-14 in a career spanning nearly a decade with 27 stoppages including night-ending offerings against Zach Micklewright, Ryan Schultz, and Kyle Watson. The fight will also mark his debut in the Octagon

Xtreme Couture’s Griffin found success on the scorecards against former title-contender Manny Gamburyan last month at UFC Live 4 in his unveiling at 145 pounds after earning past victories over Hermes Franca, Thiago Tavares, Gleison Tibau, and Clay Guida before the UFC welcomed smaller weights with the addition of WEC’s roster.

It is expected Griffin vs. Palaszewski will join the preliminary portion of UFC 137 where other planned pairings include Brandon Vera vs. Eliot Marshall, Tim Credeur vs. Brad Tavares, and Sam Stout vs. Dennis Siver.

PHOTO CREDIT – UFC

Beyond the disadvantages now in his rear-view from being simply an undersized lightweight the change in atmosphere may also help rekindle the blaze Griffin seemed to be on earlier in his career. After starting his out with a 12-1 record, the only defeat by way of decision to current lightweight champ Frank Edgar, Griffin has fallen in four of his last six fights including losses in his previous three outings with two the result of barely being outpointed on the judges’ scorecards.

The 14-5 Griffin holds past victories over Hermes Franca, Clay Guida, and Urijah Faber. He last fought at UFC 123 in November where he found himself on the wrong end of a controversial decision giving Nik Lentz a split decision win many felt he didn’t deserve.

Reports from MMAJunkie.com stated both fighters have been approached about the match up, with one of the two verbally agreeing to the bout.

Tyson Griffin is coming off a two-fight win streak in which his last bout was by a devastating TKO over Hermes Franca. The Extreme Couture fighter has racked up an impressive 6-1 record over his last seven bouts, with his only loss in that span coming by way of a very close decision at the hands of Sean Sherk.

Jim Miller is also coming off of two straight wins over Steve Lopez and “The Ultimate Fighter 6” winner Mac Danzig. The 15-2 fighter has only tasted defeat once since joining the UFC late last year, losing a decision over highly ranked Gray Maynard.

Although not officially announced, UFC 108 is rumored to take place at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, with an anticipated match-up between Anderson Silva and Vitor Belfort for the UFC Middleweight Championship.

MMAjunkie.com was the first to break the news of the matchup.

Griffin has not competed since losing a unanimous decision to Sean Sherk at UFC 90 this past October. The defeat dropped Griffin’s lifetime UFC record to 5-2 and his overall record to 12-2. The Xtreme Couture product has notable victories in his career against Urijah Faber, Duane Ludwig, Clay Guida, and Thiago Tavares.

Dos Anjos is a submission specialist who lost his UFC debut to Jeremy Stephens at UFC 91 this past November. The native Brazilian was knocked out at 0:39 of round 3 after Stephens connected on a long-distance uppercut.

In addition to Griffin vs. dos Anjos, UFN 18 will also reportedly feature bouts involving TUF 8 light heavyweight winner Ryan Bader vs. Marrero, TUF 8 lightweight winner Efrain Escudero vs. Jeremy Stephens, Aaron Simpson vs. Tim McKenzie, Junie Browning vs. Cole Miller, newcomer Ronnys Torres vs. Melvin Guillard, and Steve Steinbeiss vs. Ryan Jensen. The two-hour Spike TV telecast will precede the season premiere of the ninth season of The Ultimate Fighter.

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

MMAWeekly.com is reporting

The report, which cites sources from both camps, indicates that both parties have verbally agreed to accept the bout and that bout agreements will be signed and delivered by week’s end.

Sherk returned to action on May 24 at UFC 84 following a six-month suspension handed down by the California State Athletic Commission for testing positive for performance enhancing drugs following his successful UFC lightweight title victory over Hermes Franca at UFC 73 in July of 2007.

Sherk’s initial suspension was for a full year but was reduced to six months through a lengthy appeals process. Because he was not able to get the suspension overturned, the UFC was forced to strip Sherk of the lightweigh title.

Upon his Octagon return, Sherk was dismantled by new UFC lightweight champion B.J. Penn, losing via TKO after the referee decided to stop the fight at the completion of the third round following a flurry of knees and punches from Penn.

Griffin, a member of Randy Couture’s Xtreme Couture gym in Las Vegas, improved his MMA record to 12-1 following a unanimous decision victory over Marcus Aurelio at UFC 86 in July. The win also improved his UFC record to 5-1 with his lone loss coming to Frankie Edgar at UFC 67. Since suffering the one and only defeat of his career, Griffin has gone 4-0 with wins over Clay Guida, Gleison Tibau, and Thiago Tavares.

He is the only fighter ever to defeat current WEC featherweight champion Urijah Faber when the two fought at Gladiator Challenge 42 in 2005.

UFC 90 is scheduled to take place from the Allstate Arena in Rosemont, Ill., just outside of Chicago. It will be headlined by a UFC middleweight title defense by Anderson Silva against Patrick Cote. Other bouts expected to take place include matchups between Diego Sanchez and Thiago Alves; Melvin Guillard vs. Spencer Fisher; Fabricio Werdum vs. Junior dos Santos; and Gleison Tibau vs. Hermes Franca.

From GracieFighter.com:

“That guy (Tyson Griffin) doesn’t want to fight me because he thinks he’s somewhere higher up than me? I just beat a guy that’s better than him. When was the last time he finished a fight anyways against any 155 pounder that was half decent on the ground..oh yeah never.”

These is an extensive back story involved between Griffin and both the Diaz brothers. To briefly summarize, Griffin used to train with the Diaz brothers but he left them to train with Xtreme Couture and both Nate and Nick Diaz saw that as an act of betrayal and have been dirty on him ever since.

I think that a fight between Griffin and Diaz would make a lot of sense now, considering Griffin has worked his way back up into the title picture and Diaz has just leapt up the rankings with his win over Pellegrino. Add into that the bad blood between the two and you have a very intriguing, exciting and meaningful bout.

Read more Nate Diaz content on FiveOuncesOfPain.com.

Wetherspoon is out with an injury and will be replaced by Jaime Jara. Jara is a middleweight but has agreed to fight Metcalf at a catch weight of 175 lbs.

This is the only change to the card that we’re aware of.