It seems like just yesterday the MMA world was bracing for an invasion of fighters from PRIDE, including Mauricio “Shogun” Rua and Kazuhiro Nakamura. Both men lost last week at UFC 76. Ho-hum.

Instead, it’s obvious the next crop of MMA stars is coming out of The Ultimate Fighter series. These aren’t necessarily the best athletes in the sport, but they’re being trained by the best. MMA as we know it is still a new sport, and the small handful of people that have been at the top of the mountain are now coaching and training these willing newcomers.

The most obvious examples right now are Keith Jardine and Forrest Griffin, both big underdog winners at UFC 76. But the list of TUF alumni knocking on the door is long: Diego Sanchez, Josh Koscheck, Matt Serra and Joe Lauzon among them. We’re on the verge of something special with this new generation of fighters.

Randy Couture and Gabriel Gonzaga (Images)

It’s always sad to see an athlete’s career in decline. It’s sadder still in combat sports, because that decline can result in physical harm. We didn’t need to see Trevor Berbick beat Muhammad Ali.

Then again, fight fans can be premature when they write off someone’s career. In 2006, Randy Couture retired at age 42 after his second consecutive loss to Chuck Liddell, only to come back one year later and dominate Tim Sylvia (-275) for the UFC Heavyweight title.

Couture broke his arm in August defending the title in otherwise convincing fashion against Gabriel Gonzaga. He probably won’t fight again until 2008. Should he even bother? That depends on whether UFC can arrange that elusive matchup between Couture and Fedor Emelianenko. Neither man has anything else left to prove; Emelianenko has been dormant since April’s BodogFight appearance versus Matt Lindland. At this rate, neither he nor Couture will ever fight again – unless it’s against one another.

Chuck Liddell Vs. Keith Jardine: UFC 76 (Images)

Despite Chuck Liddell putting up a terrible effort against Keith Jardine at “UFC 76: Knockout” on Sept. 22, he will still be able to nurse his ego with thousand dollar bills.

According to the California State Athletic Commission, Liddell earned a cool $500,000 (despite his lose) while Jardine received a mere $14,000 for his win. (I wonder what the pay check for monopolizer Dana White was?)

Here are the official payouts for UFC 76: Knockout

Keith Jardine ($14,000) def. Chuck Liddell ($500,000)
Forrest Griffin ($44,000) def. Mauricio “Shogun” Rua ($150,000)
Jon Fitch ($44,000) def. Diego Sanchez ($22,000)
“Lyoto” Ryoto Machida ($50,000) def. Kazuhiro Nakamura ($20,000)
Tyson Griffin ($24,000) def. Thiago Tavares ($9,000)
Rich Clementi ($24,000) def. Anthony Johnson ($5,000)
Jeremy Stephens ($6,000) def. Diego Saraiva ($3,000)
Christian Wellisch ($14,000) def. Scott Junk ($4,000)
Matt Wiman ($16,000) def. Michihiro Omigawa ($5,000)

So, where does Chuck Liddell go from here? He lost his second career match to Quinton “Rampage” Jackson in May, and then came out on the short end of Saturday’s split decision to unheralded Keith Jardine. Liddell was anything but sharp in both fights.

Liddell is reportedly thinking of retirement as he nears his 38th birthday. But there are still big-money fights available to him, and with fellow light-heavyweight Mauricio “Shogun” Rua also suffering defeat at UFC 76, the division is wide open. Someone has to face Jackson; Liddell will eventually get his shot if he wants it.

That desire is the key to victory. Liddell was sorely lacking his usual killer instinct against Jackson – no kicks, no grappling, just a passive attempt to catch his opponent coming in. The game plan will surely change in a rematch to take advantage of Liddell’s underrated (and underused) jiu-jitsu skills. That is, if Liddell wants it.

Crazy K-1 MMA Fighting Knockouts (Video)

Here is a fairly long video of none stop crazy K1 knockouts. It’s an oldie but a goodie.

Forrest Griffin vs. Mauricio “Shogun” Rua: UFC 76 Full Fight (Video)

Here is the complete full length fight video of Forrest Griffin vs. Mauricio “Shogun” Rua at UFC 76 Knockout. Great fight!

Keith Jardine Vs Chuck Liddell

Chuck Liddell vs. Keith Jardine: UFC 76 Knockout Full Fight (Video)

You don’t have to hunt high and low for UFC 76 footage on the Web. Want to see how Keith Jardine scored his big upset victory over Chuck Liddell? Just press play!

Move ahead to 3:36 into the clip and you’ll see Jardine land a solid left hand to Liddell’s jaw. Up until that point, Jardine looked ungainly in the octagon. Then he started taking the fight to the former champion, keeping Liddell dancing around the perimeter and effectively fleeing when required.

The telling blow lands at about 7:45 of the clip: a perfectly timed right to the button as Liddell was attempting to follow up a left jab. Liddell got back up almost immediately, but Jardine continued to lay in with right kicks to Liddell’s lead left leg. Jardine obviously had a sound strategy for this matchup, and he stuck with it throughout the final two rounds.

Bonus: Zip ahead to the 20:47 mark and watch Wanderlei Silva react to the judges’ decision. He just saw what would have been a big payday against Liddell go down the drain.

To say the MMA world has been turned on its ear would be an understatement. The two biggest names at UFC 76 went down to defeat Saturday, locking in a chokehold on the chalkeaters.

The main event saw “The Iceman” Chuck Liddell (-450) lose a split decision to lightly regarded Keith Jardine. It could have easily been a unanimous decision; Jardine (+300) took control of the fight early in the second round with a devastating right hand.

The other shocker of the night saw Mauricio “Shogun” Rua (-295) put up a surprisingly poor effort in his submission loss to Forrest Griffin. Rua tired quickly as Griffin (+235) won the first two rounds, then the underdog secured a rear-naked choke with just 15 seconds left in the fight.

These two upsets drive home two important lessons that we’ve been learning this year: PRIDE fighters were overvalued, and The Ultimate Fighter graduates were undervalued.

One of the undercard fights on UFC 76 is Michihiro Omigawa (4-4-0) vs. Matt Wiman (7-3-0). These two guys are both hungry to improve their MMA careers and take advantage of their UFC opportunities. The fight promises to be an aggressive battle with both fighters winning most of their fights via TKO.

Omigawa has won his last three fights in the Deep Impact promotion and is looking to stay up in the big show with a win Saturday night. Matt Wiman is coming off of an impressive win against Brian Geraghty on the finale of The Ultimate Fighter 5. He has lost three of his last five fights and the outcome will depend on which Wiman shows up to fight against Omigawa on Saturday night.

If it’s the aggressive ground-and-pound Wiman, he should control the fight.

There’s no title on the line Saturday in the main event of UFC 76 in Anaheim. But it’s still the main event. That’s how important Chuck Liddell is.

Despite suffering his second career loss to Quinton “Rampage” Jackson and dropping the Light Heavyweight strap, Liddell remains the face of UFC and of MMA in general. “The Iceman” is a crossover star, appearing in movies and television and gracing the cover of ESPN The Magazine. People will pay good money to watch him fight Keith Jardine in what should be a lopsided main event – Liddell is the biggest chalk on the nine-bout card at –450.

According to the folks at Sherdog, all Liddell needs to do to get another title shot is beat his next two opponents, starting with Jardine. It may look like UFC is protecting its top asset, but not so fast: His next fight could be against Wanderlei Silva, who was originally expected to meet Liddell this Saturday.