Art of War UAFC hasn’t skimped for talent on Saturday’s 10-bout card at the American Airlines Arena. But it’s hard to say what fight fans can expect from Ron “H2Oman” Waterman these days.

Waterman is one of the most respected fighters in the game – being 6-foot-2 and 280 pounds of solid muscle helps, as does his 12-3-2 MMA record between 1999 and 2004. But Waterman decided to take the pro-wrestling route; he has fought only three MMA bouts in the past two years, submitting for the first time in his career in a loss to Roger Gracie at Bodog Fight – USA vs. Russia.

Waterman’s opponent is Mario “Big Hurt” Rinaldi, a familiar face in Bodog Fight and main eventer Jeff Monson’s training partner. Rinaldi is 5-1 in MMA action, but has added experience in submission wrestling. This is a perfect opportunity for Rinaldi to make a name for himself against a big-name opponent.

It’s not every day you can watch a fighter who has beaten Chuck Liddell. This Saturday is one of those rare opportunities, as Jeremy Horn squares off against Jorge Santiago at the Art of War UAFC’s debut pay-per-view in Dallas.

Horn locked a triangle choke on Liddell way back in 1999 at UFC 19. That was Liddell’s first television appearance; he got his revenge two years ago with a TKO at UFC 54. Horn bounced back to win two more fights for UFC before joining the IFL. At 79-15-5, the jiu-jitsu expert is one of MMA’s true grizzled veterans.

Horn is also a –260 chalk to defeat Santiago on Saturday. The underdog is 13-7, most recently downing Andrei Semenov in convincing fashion at April’s Bodog Fight – Clash of the Nations. Santiago has the proverbial puncher’s chance, but Horn is easily the toughest opponent of his young career. Gumbymania will be running wild.

Aside from the main event at Saturday’s “Art of War 3” pay-per-view in Dallas, the welterweight matchup between Keith Wisniewski and Carlo Prater is garnering some deserved attention. Prater is a slim –125 favorite at press time.

Wisniewski comes out of Duneland Vale Tudo with an MMA record of 21-11-1. He’s beaten Prater twice via unanimous decision for the FFC promotion, but lost his last four matches, most recently to Erik Oganov at Bodog Fight – USA vs Russia.

Prater is 20-4-1 with a hybrid style that incorporates Thugjitsu, itself a mix of boxing and grappling. Since his last loss to Wisniewski two years ago, Prater is 4-1, including a controversial decision over previously undefeated Anthony Lapsley at the first Art of War event.

Prater is listed at 5-foot-9 on the PPV site, two inches shorter than his American opponent, but they are essentially the same size. This fight could be the highlight of the 10-bout card.

The Art of War UAFC promotion continues to prepare for its September 1 debut pay-per-view event: “Art of War 3 USA vs. Brazil.” The main event features Jeff “Snowman” Monson against Pedro “The Rock” Rizzo. Monson was a –225 chalk at press time.

Monson is a submission specialist with an MMA record of 23-6. His biggest fight thus far was a heavyweight title match against Tim Sylvia at UFC 65; Monson lost via unanimous decision, suffering a separated rib in an otherwise dull matchup.

Rizzo, the taller and slimmer fighter in this bout, is a tremendous striker with a background in Muay Thai, where he went 31-0-1. But his relative lack of “killer instinct” has limited Rizzo to an MMA record of 15-7, including key victories during his UFC peak over Mark Coleman, Dan Severn and Josh Barnett.

That peak was six years ago; expect the Snowman to wait for an opening and choke Rizzo out.

The Dallas-based Art of War promotion (full name: Art of War Undisputed Arena Fighting Championship, or UAFC for short) is holding its third pay-per-view event on Sept. 1 at the American Airlines Center.

The debut event in March at the AAC saw around 6,000 people watch Pedro “The Rock” Rizzo down Justin Eilers via unanimous decision. This time around, Rizzo returns to the main event representing Brazil against Jeff “Snowman” Monson of the United States. Monson was the clear favorite at press time.

Here’s the undercard, with the American fighters listed first.

Jeremy Horn vs. Jorge Santiago
Keith Wisniewski vs. Carlo Prater
Ron Waterman vs. Mario Rinaldi
Hector Munoz vs. Cristiano Marcello
Alex Andrade vs. Fabiano Capoani
James Damien Stelly vs. Luis Arthur Cane
Keith Wisniewski vs. Carlo Prater
Anthony Njokuani vs. Keyon Mike Jackson
Jason Maxwell vs. Thomas Schulte

I finally got my hands on a few photos from UFC 74 of Randy Couture vs. Gabriel Gonzaga and Georges St-Pierre vs. Josh Koscheck. Click on the album to the left or the picture above to view.

We touched yesterday on Randy Couture’s TKO of Gabriel Gonzaga (-135) at UFC 74. This could very well be a watershed moment in MMA betting, and it has to do with the recent UFC takeover of PRIDE.

Gonzaga was made the No. 1 contender to Couture’s heavyweight title after knocking out Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic at UFC 70. That monumental upset whipped bettors into a frenzy to fade the eternally underrated Couture in last week’s title defense.

Mistake. Couture did benefit from a clash of heads that left Gonzaga with a broken nose, but otherwise had little trouble dispatching the inexperienced challenger in the third round.

It appears the level of competition in the heavyweight ranks at PRIDE has been overvalued stateside. At the very least, the transition to the octagon is an obstacle for fighters coming over from Japan. Either way, as Couture proved yet again, experience counts in MMA.

Saturday night just gets more and more interesting. First Renato “Babalu” Sobral beat on David Heath causing him to lose a massive amount of blood; only to choke him out after Heath had clearly tapped out - Fucking Jerk!

On a more honorable note: the man of the night, Randy Couture, reportedly broke his arm during his bout with Gabriel Gonzaga! On Sunday Couture was “told by doctors that he’d broken his arm during his third round TKO stoppage,” reports The Fight Network.

The “TKO stoppage” meaning the massive kick by Gonzaga that Couture blocked with his left arm. That same deadly kick that destroyed Mirko Cro Cop in UFC 70.

Saturday night’s EliteXC event was sweet redemption for Victor “JoeBoxer” Valenzuela (6-2-2). After two years of verbal battles with Charles “Krazy Horse” Bennett (18-14-2), the two were set to settle the score since their draw back in August of 2005.

Bennett had predicted a first-round knockout over Valenzuela, but was only correct on half of his prediction (that being the timing, not the victor) when he tapped out due to strikes at 3:23 of Round 1.

Bennett came out looking for the knockout throwing heavy shots that he was mostly unable to land. The fight went briefly to the ground, and once they were both stood up again Bennett seemed to be tired.

Valenzuela took full advantage and threw numerous punches, overwhelming Krazy Horse and beating him down until he tapped out. After the fight Valenzuela was thrilled to put it all to rest, and to have finally shut up Bennett’s overactive mouth.

The UFC’s cleaning lady will be sending a stiff bill to Dana White after cleaning up this mess. David Heath’s forehead split open and began gushing blood one minute into the second round after Renato Sobral gave some nasty elbows to the face.

Normally one would feel that losing a few gallons of blood by way of blow after blow to the face would be punishment enough for the disrespect Heath showed by wearing a T-shirt with Sobral’s mugshot on it from a recent arrest would be enough. Apparently Sobral didn’t feel it was…

Sobral said that he needed to teach Heath a little respect, and he felt that this would be best shown by completely knocking Heath out after he had already tapped out. Sobral held on to his anaconda choke for roughly three seconds after the tap, even with Mazzagatti trying to get him to release.

What do you think of the whole situation? Personally I think Mazzagatti let the fight go on for longer than it should have, that is struggling self defense while being blinded by blood that Heath was doing, not “intelligent defense”.