The UFC has assembled the largest, deepest roster of MMA talent in the world. But when it comes to the heavyweights, seven of the Top 10 in the Sherdog rankings are plying their trade elsewhere. Fedor Emelianenko, Tim Sylvia, Andrei Arlovski and Josh Barnett were all part of last month’s Affliction: Banned event.

Part of the reason for this slowdown is the latest season of The Ultimate Fighter, in which interim Heavyweight champion Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira and No. 1 contender Frank Mir are acting as coaches. They won’t meet until December, after the series is done airing. But Emelianenko’s refusal to sign with UFC, and Couture’s subsequent defection, have kept what should be the biggest money fight in MMA out of the Octagon.

Into the breach steps Brock Lesnar. He’s a –230 favorite over Heath Herring (+180) at Saturday’s UFC 87 event in his home state of Minnesota. He’s big, and he’s popular, but is he ready to lead?

The inevitable happened two weeks ago in Montreal. Georges St. Pierre won back his UFC welterweight strap in his hometown, overwhelming Matt Serra by TKO in the second round. It wasn’t even close. St. Pierre avenged his upset loss to Serra in April 2007 and ran his MMA record to 16-2.

There’s more where that came from. St. Pierre will be 27 years old on May 19 and has many more years of learning ahead of him. The time he’s put in the gym at Greg Jackson’s Gaidojutsu facility in New Mexico has only made GSP more lethal. He stunned Serra with his versatility, going for takedowns instead of relying on his vaunted striking skills.

The champ’s next opponent is expected to be Jon Fitch; that’s not expected to be much of a contest. “St. Pierre will just maul him, easy,” Karo Parisyan told Brawl Sports last month. Perhaps a middleweight fight with Anderson Silva is in order.

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According to the Nevada Athletic Commission state records, Bernard Hopkins and Foe Calzaghe were each paid $3 million for their fight on April 19th, but the other fighters on that card were paid $5,000 or less.

Manny Pacquiao made $3 million and Marquez took home $1 million for their fight back on March 15th, but there were fighter on that show who made $3,500 or less.

At the UFC 81 show, the lowest pay for any of the 18 fighters on the card was the $4,000 (Kyle Bradley). The UFC also paid out $60,000 bonuses that night for knockout of the night, submission of the night and fight of the night…and there were plenty of bonuses handed out that night. The total disclosed purse for the event was $1,132,000, including disclosed performance bonuses.

Based on those figures you would think that boxing does pay better than mixed martial arts. And according to UFC heavyweight champion Randy Couture, that’s one of the main reasons why he left the UFC.

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The UFC hasn’t officially announced this matchup yet, but the folks at MMA Junkie appear to have broken the news about what promises to be a huge main event at UFC 85: Chuck Liddell versus Mauricio “Shogun” Rua. This card is pencilled in for June 14 at the O2 Arena in London, England.

Odds on this matchup will almost certainly be released within milliseconds of its official announcement. Both fighters are trying to shake off damaging losses; Liddell has already taken the first step by beating Wanderlei Silva at UFC 70, but Rua is still stinging from September’s UFC debut loss to Forrest Griffin.

Meanwhile, odds for both UFC 82 and 83 are up on the board. Anderson Silva is a –150 favorite to beat Dan Henderson (+120) on Mar. 1, while Georges St. Pierre is a huge –500 chalk to beat Matt Serra (+350) and reclaim the full Welterweight title on Apr. 19.

Canadian UFC “Interim” Welterweight Champion Georges St. Pierre is Set to Fight Matt Serra in Montreal

Canadian MMA fans have been waiting a long time for this and with a fight date now official, it looks like Georges St. Pierre and Matt Hughes will meet for the UFC welterweight championship title on April 19, 2008 at Montreal’s Bell Centre. UFC president Dana White has a strong feeling that this could be the biggest fight in the history of the UFC.

St. Pierre and Serra have met before in a title fight. At the time, St.Pierre was a heavy favourite, but lost by knockout when Serra sent him packing with a right hand punch to the jaw. Back then folks were saying it was a lucky hit, but Serra begs to differ.

“When people say I hit him with a lucky punch, I say, `Who did you think I was intending to hit?’” he said. “If you beat the man, you’re the man. And I didn’t just beat him. I beat him down. Looks like I’m going to have to do it again to get some respect.”

Times have changed for both fighters, however. Serra skipped out on his last fight (scheduled for Dec. 29) against Matt Hughes on account of two herniated discs in his spine. St.Pierre was later pulled in to replace Serra and won the match by submission. With a sports psychologist on his training staff, St. Pierre is confident he can take Serra to the mat and win.

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If the UFC wants to continue to stay ahead of its competitors it needs to expand. That or continue to buy the competition out. One’s cheaper than the other.

In a recent conference call to promote an upcoming fight between B.J. Penn and Joe Stevenson, Dana White confirmed that the UFC would like to continue expanding in the U.K.- Scotland to be exact.

“Scotland is definitely in our plans for the future. This last year when we went into the U.K., we went to a different place every time. Scotland is next. We’ll be there soon. I guarantee it”, said White.

Other areas of UFC interest continue to be New York and Hawaii. Both state’s have rabid MMA fan bases making them the logical territories for further expansion.

People love to see men bash each other so it won’t be long before UFC comes to your town. Stay tuned.

The UFC can breathe again. Their No. 1 star, Chuck Liddell, is back in the good graces of MMA fans after defeating rival Wanderlei Silva by unanimous decision at UFC 79.

The Silva win was crucial to Liddell’s career for two reasons. One, the fight came after poor performances against Quinton Jackson and Keith Jardine. Two, the Liddell-Silva fight was a classic. It wasn’t the main event at UFC 79 (that spot went to Georges St. Pierre and Matt Hughes), but it was the Fight of the Night.

Getting Liddell back into the Light Heavyweight title picture may take some time. Jackson is going to be a coach for The Ultimate Fighter 7 and will fight Forrest Griffin at the conclusion of the series. But a big-money bout between Liddell and Shogun Rua would merit main-event consideration. Liddell’s shelf life may be short at age 38, but count on the UFC to keep selling this product.

Chuck Liddell is a member of more than the Chuck Liddell Fight Team. He and five other celebrities have joined forces to promote Dell products. If you visit http://www.yoursishere.com/ you will find Liddell, Burt Reynolds, Brooke Burke, Ice T and others, all promoting a different Dell product.

Dell is calling the campaign Star Power and all the stars do is say one line on a particular Dell product. All Liddell says is “XPS Power”, and shakes his fist in the air as he says it. It’s a bit silly really, and it certainly doesn’t make me want to run out and buy a Dell product.

Hopefully he got paid a pile of dough for the endorsement. It’s no secret that the UFC isn’t making guys like Liddell rich from their fight purses. This may be the beginning of MMA fighters making big endorsement deals that will supplement their UFC incomes.

Dana White and the Ferretti brothers had a busy 2007. They essentially constructed a monopoly for themselves by buying out Pride Fighting Promotions. This was a very good move for them financially, but instead of sharing the wealth, the UFC has gained a reputation of being cheap to its fighters. The pay-per-view ratings for UFC events are better than that of boxing promotions, but the fighters get paid a fraction of what professional boxers do.

Dana White has worked towards creating an MMA scene that gives fighters no choice but to fight for the UFC if they want to be considered the best. Some Pride fighters have come over to the UFC. But many of the best, like Fedor Emelianenko, have decided to fight for fledgling promotions. This is the same reason UFC Heavyweight Champ Randy Couture left the organization. Hopefully this will help create a fighter’s union.

We’re just a week away from what they’re calling the biggest MMA card of the year: UFC 79 at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas. It certainly doesn’t lack in star power, but if the odds are accurate, the main event won’t be very competitive. Georges St. Pierre is a –200 chalk to beat Matt Hughes (+160) for the Interim welterweight championship.

This is the rubber match between the two fighters. St. Pierre submitted to a Hughes armbar in 2004 for his first MMA defeat. The rematch at last year’s UFC 65 was all GSP; he pummelled Hughes convincingly and took his welterweight title in the process.

Fight fans are expecting more of the same on Dec. 29. In addition to Hughes, St. Pierre has defeated Frank Trigg, Sean Sherk, B.J. Penn and Josh Koscheck over the past two years. GSP’s price may be inflated by partisan Canadian money, but his body of work merits the chalk.