If you’re looking for highlight videos of UFC 78, the best moments to look for were in the preliminary fights and the Silva vs. Alexander matchup. Everyone expected the Alexander / Silva fight to end with a KO, and the boys didn’t disappoint when Silva got Alexander in full mount and KO’d him with strikes to the head in the first round.

But the stoppage of the night goes to Ed Herman for his win over veteran Canadian Joe Doerksen. Herman got the KO after the bell saved him in the previous round when Doerksen had Herman locked into an arm bar.

The most impressive video features Joe Lauzon’s win over Jason Reinhardt. Lauzon looked very sharp finishing Reinhardt with a rear naked choke in just over one minute of the first round. Lauzon has come a long way since the Ultimate Fighter series and will be one to watch for.

I’ll leave you with a video clip of the boring Silva/Alexander fight at UFC 78. Enjoy.

UFC 78 was not as anticipated as most UFC events, but it turned out to be a pretty good card of fights.

The main event will not be up for fight of the year. Bisping and Evans had an even fight with Evans gaining a small edge with some great takedowns. Bisping got the best of the stand-up fight but lost a split decision to the Ultimate Fighter 1 winner.

The Houston Alexander / Thiago Silva fight was a bit of a surprise. Alexander was exposed as the one-dimensional fighter that he is when Thiago quickly took him to the ground and gained full mount. Then Silva ground and pounded him to a first-round KO.

In the other fights Frank Edgar won a unanimous decision over Spencer Fisher. Ed Herman KO’d Joe Doerksen in Round 3, and Karo Parisyan won a unanimous decision over Ryo Chonan.

Because Dana White and the UFC are so cheap, UFC 78 will be filled with fighters who will get paid next to nothing so the UFC can widen their profit margin even further this time. I guess paying peanuts to their champions wasn’t enough. Now we’re supposed to pay our hard-earned money for an event full of up-and-comers. It’s not like the UFC MMA monopoly isn’t controlling enough talent, yet they prefer to promote the Ultimate Fighter combatants who are under the cheap contracts.

This is an opportunity for MMA fans to say, “we’re getting fed up with the lack of respect that the UFC is showing its fighters and fans”. Dana White is giving us the fights he wants to show us, not the ones we want to see. Maybe after the ratings tank on this pay per view, the UFC will wake up and shake their heads.

Karo Parisyan will be looking to put himself in contention for the welterweight title when he fights Ryo Chonan at UFC 78. Parisyan is a judo fighter who keeps the pressure on his opponents from bell to bell. His loss last year against Diego Sanchez was considered the best fight of 2006.

Chonan brings a lot of international fighting experience to his first fight in the UFC. Best known for the flying scissor-lock on Anderson Silva, he has battled the best in the world. He has the ability to be an important fighter in the welterweight division and will be looking to establish himself in the division.

This fight has the potential to be one of the best of the year, as both fighters have something to prove. I expect it to go the distance, with Parisyan winning a decision after dominating the pace and Chonan for three rounds.

The Rashad Evans (10-0-1) / Michael Bisping (15-0-0) fight should be a good one. As much as everyone thinks that it should not be a main event, the fight promises to entertain.

Bisping is a talented striker who is also proficient at ground submissions. He is coming off a questionable win against Matt Hamill and will be looking to take out Evans and make a statement.

Evans is coming off a draw with Tito Ortiz last July. It’s the only blemish on his record, and he too will be looking to make a statement on the 17th. The two match up pretty well, with Bisping holding an edge on the ground.

Both can end the fight with either hand or foot, and we can expect the fight to be a stand-up battle until someone starts to get dominated and attempts a takedown. I’ll take the athleticism of Rashad Evans.

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.

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

This fight is being promoted as the main event to UFC 78, a card which has received widespread initial disappointment from MMA fans. The rest of the card is a collection of up-and-comers or nobodies, which it would have to be to have a main event featuring Rashad Evans (10-0-1) and Michael Bisping (15-0). It’s not that these two guys can’t fight, but they should not be the main event of a UFC pay-per-view card.

This is Dana White pushing the Ultimate Fighter Series beyond its promotional limits. Just because these guys won first place on the show doesn’t mean that they should get billing like this. Neither one of these guys is top 5 in the UFC Light Heavyweight division, but T.V. time is more important I guess. I’m willing to go out on a limb and say that UFC 78 is not going to break any records for pay-per-view purchases.