UFC Validation is another example of the UFC trying to display Ultimate Fighter participants instead of giving the fans the best fights possible. Michael Bisping (15-0-0) vs. Rashad Evans (15-0-1) is a fight I’d like to see, but not one I’m going to pay a bunch of money to watch. Being the Main Event on a card should matter somehow; it should certainly mean more than “breaking into the top five in the division”, as Dana White says the winner will do.

There are some exciting fights on the card including Thiago Silva (11-0-0) vs. Houston Alexander (8-1-0). Karo Parisyan (25-4-0) will have his second UFC fight against Japanese Muay Thai fighter Ryo Chonan (14-7-0). Chonan will be making his UFC debut after a long history with Pride Promotions. Undefeated Lightweight Frank Edgar (7-0-0) will fight veteran Spencer Fisher (21-3-0), in what should be one of the better fights on the card.

The Strikeforce MMA promotion is bringing back something all mixed martial arts fans want to see. They are having a tournament (Grand Prix Style) in the Middleweight Division this Friday night. Four fighters will compete, with the winners of the first bouts fighting a second time that night for the tournament championship.

There will also be five other bouts on the card, including one that will feature Ultimate Fighter 2 participant Sam Morgan (18-8-0). He’s coming of a loss in his first UFC event to Forrest Petz at UFC – Fight Night 6. He’s fighting undefeated sanshou fighter Cung Le (4-0-0) who has knocked every opponent out thus far.

Regular Fights

Cung Le vs. Sam Morgan
Paul Buentello vs. Alistair Overeem
Bobby Southworth vs. Anthony Ruiz
Luke Stewart vs. Bryson Kamaka
Brian Schwartz vs. Lemont Davis

4-Man Middleweight Tournament

Falaniko Vitale
Trevor Prangley
Jorge Santiago
Yuki Sasaki

Alternate Fight - Dennis Hallman vs. Sean Salmon

Initial response to UFC 78 was disappointment at best. The Main Event is questionable, but the rest of the card has some good matchups. Besides the Ultimate Fighter winner main event, the matchups include the explosive Light Heavyweight up-and-comer Houston Alexander looking for another first-round KO victory.

Here’s a preview of Alexander in the form of a video from UFC 75 in London. Enjoy.

The fight card takes place on Nov. 17, 2007 in Newark, New Jersey at the Prudential Arena. Here’s how the card is shaping up:

Main Card

Light heavyweight bout: Michael Bisping vs. Rashad Evens
Welterweight bout: Karo Parisyan vs. Ryo Chonan
Light heavyweight bout: Houston Alexander vs. Thiago Silva
Middleweight bout: Joe Doerksen vs. Ed Herman
Lightweight bout: Spencer Fisher vs. Frank Edgar

Preliminary Card

Welterweight bout: Akihiro vs. Tamdan McCrory
Welterweight bout: Chris Lytle vs. Thiago Alves
Lightweight bout: Joe Lauzon vs. Jason Reinhardt
Lightweight bout: Marcu Aurelio vs. Luke Caudillo

Elite Xtreme Combat (or “EliteXC” for short) has a show coming up this Saturday in Corpus Christi, Tex. Nick Diaz and K.J. Noons will battle it out for the new EliteXC 160-pound “lightweight” championship, one of three new divisions the company has added.

“I am very concerned in the mixed martial arts world of this drastic cutting of weight,” president Gary Shaw announced last week. “Fighters can fit better in these weight classes and fight for world titles without endangering their health.”

It makes sense on one level. By taking out the 155-pound division and adding 160, fighters will have less weight to cut. However, putting in 140 and 150 also gives fighters two more weight targets to shoot for. A natural 160-pounder will be more inclined to cut weight and fight smaller 140-pounders – consider Sean Sherk’s drop from UFC welterweight to lightweight.

Really want your fighters to be safe? Give them reasonable salaries and strictly monitor their health.

Now we leave you with a video of Nick Diaz training and fighting. Enjoy.

The rise of Mixed Martial Arts into mainstream American culture probably wouldn’t have happened if the UFC hadn’t modified its rules to make the sport less visceral. But the middleweight bout at UFC 77 between Kalib Starnes and Alan Belcher was old-school ugly; in Round One, Belcher opened up a gash on Starnes’ forehead that was so deep, his skull was visible.

Which leads us to the above question: Is MMA becoming a blood sport? The easy answer is that it always was. To borrow a phrase from the pro-wrestling world, red means green. MMA is a combat sport, and with combat comes blood. It remains a selling point for some of MMA’s more brutal outposts; Iowa’s BloodSport Promotions, for example.

But I think the spirit of the question is more along the lines of this: Is MMA getting bloodier? I don’t get that impression just from one single fight, however messy it was.

The kafuffle over Randy Couture’s contract status has generated interest among MMA fans regarding the UFC’s financial situation. Payouts to the fighters have been made public, and aside from the big numbers being pulled in by the top names (Couture made $1.186 million for beating Tim Sylvia in March at UFC 68, mostly in the form of bonuses), most of the payouts are tinier than Sky Lo Lo.

Eighteen fighters were on the card at last month’s UFC 77. Eight of them received four-figure payouts, although Matt Grice ($6,000) and Jason Black ($8,000) received $40,000 bonuses for being named the Fight of the Night. Rich Franklin, the former middleweight champion, received just $45,000 for his main-event title loss to Anderson Silva ($120,000).

These are, for the most part, the top MMA fighters in the world’s leading organization. Most fighters are working for peanuts in smaller promotions, but you’d expect bigger payouts in the UFC.

Randy Couture beating down Tito Ortiz (Images)

When Randy Couture resigned from the UFC, Dana White did what he always does when one of his fighters tries to stand up for himself: He went on the offensive and attacked Couture’s motives, just the same as he did with Tito Ortiz.

Below is a video from Randy Couture’s retirement press conference. Judge for yourself.

For some reason, the UFC is more interested in money than providing the best product in the world. Now that their Heavyweight Champion has left, Dana White continues to make excuses and blame others for the problems it’s having with its stable of talent. Dana White has failed to sign Fedor Emelianenko, so Couture must leave to create that fight; a fight that will easily be the most anticipated fight in MMA history.

The UFC will only maintain the top fighters if they pay top dollar, and they are obviously not willing to do that at this juncture. Perhaps if Couture was younger, Dana White might pay him what he’s worth.