MMABay.co.uk reports that Michael “The Count” Bisping is all set to face Wanderlei “The Axe Murderer” Silva at UFC 105 in Manchester, England.

Bisping is coming off a devastating KO loss to Dan Henderson at UFC 100 whereas Wanderlei is coming off a decision loss to Rich Franklin in what was an exciting fight at a catchweight of 195 pounds. The fight is scheduled to be at middleweight meaning that Wanderlei will have to make the full cut down to 185 pounds this time. Judjing by his last fight, this might be a tough task for the Brazilian superstar. To add to this, Wanderlei has lost 5 out of his last 6 fights and that makes this fight extremely important for him to win.

Should be an absolute war. Bear in mind the papers have not been signed yet, although knowing both fighters, if Joe Silva has approached them with this, the deal should be done soon.

Old school fans might remember the picture above as Ultimate Japan. But what is it doing on a website after so many years?

The rumour of the day is that UFC is planning to restart its operations in Japan!! The date is not yet decided but possibilities of it being as soon as next year around the same time is not out of the question.

In a recent interview with the japanese media, Lorenzo Fertitta and Dana White made some announcements that included their tentative plans for Japan. Its been more than a year since Dana White announced his interest in Japanese fighters such as Kid Yamamoto, Takanori Gomi and Sakuraba. Add to that the fact that UFC matchmaker Joe Silva is really high on Shinya Aoki, this makes for an interesting news piece indeed!

With both Sengoku and DREAM reportedly not in the best of shape financially, the UFC entrance into Japan could be timed perfectly by around end of year next year.

Another really interesting thing for the UFC to do would be to get ex-PRIDE fighters such as Wanderlei Silva, Rampage Jackson, Antonio Noguiera, Shogun Rua, etc to fight in front of an audience who are already enamoured by them. The platform is all set. The return is awaited.

MMARumours will definitely keep all of you posted on developments as and when they happen.

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.

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.

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