Right from the start of the match, Evans was not only show boating but also showing great prescence of mind and cage awareness by bobbing in to strike Liddell and moving out immediately. Every time Liddell tried to press Evans in to a compromising position, Evans would circle out and get a few nice strikes in as well. Many people thought Evans might try and take Liddell down, but credit to Evans and Greg Jackson for their gameplan, Evans used his speed to hit and move. The only time Evans got cornered towards the end of the first round, Evans showed that he had some really good striking by tagging Liddell with some nice right hand strikes. Every strike that landed increased Evans’ confidence in himself.

As the second round started, it was evident that Liddell was not able to get his game plan going against Evans’ excellent game plan. When the final seconds finally came, Liddell was going for an uppercut at the same time as Evans went for the overhand right (Liddell’s favorite strike) and caught him straight on the button/ on his chin and knocked Liddell out cold!

Evans shows with this victory that not only is he a legit threat in the 205 pound division, but he is ready for his shot at the title. Evans also silences critics who doubted his ablity when faced with a big name opponent, someone who was a proven top 10 fighter.

The way I see it, Evans should be next in line for the title fight. The only other contender at the same level is Lyoto Machida and although he has been really impressive in his victories, has not really had such a dominant performance against such a big name.

My feeling is that the next fights in the Light Heavyweight division would be
Rashad Evans vs Forrest Griffin and
Lyoto Machida vs the winner of a possible Rampage – Wanderlei or Rampage – Shogun fight.

Fight #1: Rousimar Palhares vs Dan Henderson

For a detailed breakdown, check out my breakdown of the fight.

Here’s the quick recap: Rousimar has really strong BJJ from the guard and from the top. Henderson has a tendency to be taken down. If Hendo cannot keep the fight standing and bang Palhares out in the first minute or two, Palhares by decision. Palhares has the better ground skills. I see him sweeping Hendo from top position and showcasing his strong BJJ skills to either get a late tapout or get a grinding decision against the former PRIDE champion.

Prediction: Rousimar Palhares by decision

Fight #2: Yushiyuki Yoshida vs Karo Parisyan

This fight has been scrapped.

Fight #3: Rich “Ace” Franklin vs Matt “The Hammer” Hammil

This is another fight that is interesting. Rich Franklin is coming back to the 205 division after a long time. What made Franklin a dominant champion in the 185 pound division was his strength and size advantage. At 205, Franklin gives up the strength advantage to Hammil. Look for Franklin to utilize leg kicks to keep Hammil at bay and try to tee off on Hammil.

No one knows how good Hammil now is on his feet. He has a track record that shows that he might come in as good as he has ever been. Hammil’s game plan seems to be pretty simple. He will stand with Franklin, move around and get a few power punches in. Hammil will then move Franklin around, get a double leg and let go with his patented ground and pound.

Prediction: Matt Hammil by TKO – Round 3.

Fight #4: Rashad Evans vs Chuck Liddel

This one seems like it is tailor made for a showdown. Chuck Liddel is coming off a long layoff due to injury after his decision win over Wanderlei Silva. Rashad seems to have taken even longer to finally fight Liddel.

Rashad has the speed advantage in this fight. He is lighter, smaller and faster than Liddel. With Greg Jackson’s planning, the gameplan I see them having thought up is simple. Hit and move, create angles in a way that mimicks Liddel’s style. Throw a few good punches and leg kicks in and immediately try and capitalize with either a leg kick or take the fight to the ground.

Here is the problem: Liddel has probably the best sprawl and takedown defence in the game. You can tag Liddel a few times, but without getting tagged yourself. Liddel will definitely look to come in a fresher fighter and similar to his last fight, will draw on his arsenal of tricks again after a long time. Look for a quick second round KO from Liddel. Rashad seems headed towards his first ever loss in MMA.

Prediction: Chuck Liddel by KO – Round 2

The UFC finally announced what was already expected by the MMA community: Randy Couture is back in the UFC.

The only difference was, he was still the heavyweight champion AND the announcement that the fight between Randy Couture and Brock Lesnar, something that we have spoken about, will be for the heavyweight championship. This is a great opportunity for Brock who, in only his 4th professional fight will be fighting for arguably the most prestigious title in the business, The UFC Heavyweight championship. But where does this leave Interim champion Minotauro Noguiera? What about Frank Mir? The man who gave Lesnar his very first loss in his first UFC fight?

According to Dana White, the winner of the Randy vs Brock fight will then take on the winner of the Big Nog vs Frank Mir fight in a title unification fight. This is similar to a tournament for the title, the only difference being that there are two fighters holding belts who should ideally be fighting each other. Unfortunately, since the interim champion is unavailable due to his involvement with The Ultimate Fighter Season 8, the format of the goings on will be as mentioned above.

So, how does all this affect the parties involved? Let’s take a quick look:

1. Randy Couture: This is the natural’s third return to the UFC and as always, there were a few compromises. His fight with Fedor is still uncertain, although, the possibilities towards it happening seem higher now. He does not even get to fight Noguiera immediately. He has to return to action and face a monster in Brock Lesnar, who is a really good wrestler, plays the same game as Randy and is bigger and younger. Beating Lesnar, of course, would mean that the need for a Fedor fight would reach a crescendo and would be the ultimate heavyweight fight in MMA!
2. Antonio “Minotauro” Noguiera: Big Nog has to be really confused right now. He should be the ideal choice to fight Randy but was put into the TUFs latest season. He now has to wait and fight Frank Mir to be able to prove to the world that he is the true world champion, should he get past Frank Mir. He also has to live with the fact that the UFC is almost giving signals towards the fact that they are still not very comfortable having him as their champion since his appeal in the US is limited to hardcore MMA fans – the smaller segment of the core audience.



3. Brock Lesnar: Definitely the biggest winner in the whole situation. Lesnar’s impressive win over Herring catapulted him to top contender status in a division with very little options. With two out of three contenders for Couture’s title engaged in the latest season of TUF and Cheick Kongo out of action for a good amount of time, Lesnar gets the goose and the golden egg and gets to fight the world champion. Lesnar has a really good chance against Couture, especially since his game plan is virtually a mirror of Randy’s favorite gameplan – use strikes to get the opponent to the ground, control him with ground and pound and get the TKO or decision victory. Add to that the fact that he is younger, faster and stronger than Couture, this opportunity seems like something he can take to the sky.
4. Frank Mir: How would you feel if the guy you beat suddenly gets a shot at the real world champion according to your boss and you get a shot at the interim (read not real) one? After having defeated Lesnar to get a go at one of the best in the business, you now are told that you have to win against Noguiera and then go ahead and fight once more to get to the glory and fame that you want must surely suck. However, this gives Frank a good opportunity to focus on his immediate goals and gives him something to motivate himself for: a fight for the title.
5. Fedor Emelianenko: Fedor is probably the only person waiting to see this go down as much as all the fans around the world. If Noguiera comes out of this as the winner, he has already beaten Nog twice and has nothing to prove. If either Randy comes out of this the winner, there is the possibility of a dream fight to take place and a lot of money to make. If Lesnar is the champ, the debate is rekindled and there is something left to prove for which Fedor will surely be amped up. Should Mir win, he might not be that intrigued simply because beating another BJJ whiz is not something he has done before.

Regardless of what anyone thinks, the return of the Natural does bring a breath of fresh air into the UFC heavyweight division and I am sure will mean a lot more interesting matches will be forthcoming in the near future in a rather lacklustre division.

The biggest winners in this situation is of course, the UFC and Dana White!

UFC 88 is a cross roads for many different athletes. Some, young and hungry, look to move to the next level and closer to their dream of a title shot whereas, others, veterans of the sport, looking to get back to where they once where and hoping to win their way back to the title shot by beating the young lions who look to make them a stepping stone to future glory. This fight in a way, sets the mood of the evenings’ most talked about fights.

Rousimar “Toquinho” Palhares, a BJJ black belt and BTT fighter, made the mainstream audience take notice with his victory over Ivan Salavery but has been for a long time, one of the most talked about products out of the Brazilian Top Team. He is an excellent ground fighter with better than average strikes. He uses his strikes mostly as setups for a takedown so that he can implement his ground game. He comes from the same BJJ pedigree as current UFC interim heavyweight champion Noguiera and will definitely try and take the match to the ground and try and get a submission, once he gets past the first few minutes of the first round. What remains to be seen is how dominant he can be on the ground against an excellent wrestler in Dan “Hollywood” Henderson.

Dan Henderson, one of the most acclaimed MMA middleweights of all time, is coming off two title match losses and is fired up and ready to get some wins under his belt. His right hand is by now legendary and having KO’ed Wanderlei Silva, no one thinks that Hollywood is an easy opponent on his feet. Dan is probably the better wrestler and will be able to defend Palhares’ submission attempts pretty well, having being able to do so against Minotauro as well in PRIDE.

Hendo’s game plan seems pretty simple: Keep the fight on the feet as much as possible and go for the KO. If that doesn’t work, keep ground control and look to get mount and go for the Ground and Pound from there on. What remains to be seen is whether Hendo can keep Palhares’ shots at bay and remain aggressive and attacking past the first few minutes if he is taken to the ground by Toquinho.

A real toss up but I believe this will be a decision victory for Henderson.

Prediction: Dan Henderson by Decision.