UFC weigh in results

All 18 fighters taking part in "UFC 88: Breakthrough" have made weight at the event's official weigh-ins.
MAIN CARD
Rashad Evans (205) vs. Chuck Liddell (204)
Rich Franklin (204.5) vs. Matt Hamill (205)
Dan Henderson (185) vs. Rousimar Palhares (184.5)
Martin Kampmann (184.5) vs. Nate Marquardt (185)
Matt Brown (170) vs. Dong Hyun Kim (170)
PRELIMINARY CARD
Kurt Pellegrino (156) vs. Thiago Tavares (155)
Tim Boetsch (205.25) vs. Mike Patt (205.25)
Roan Carneiro (170) vs. Ryo Chonan (170)
Jason Lambert (185) vs. Jason MacDonald (185)

Randy Couture V.S Brock Lesnar

Rumors have flown for over a year. Forums were writing about dream match ups. Reality was Couture was not coming back to the UFC, Brock had lost his UFC debut. Wait a minute...how did we get to this. The long legal battles had put a strain on Couture. With no end in sight Randy reached out to Dana White. A meeting was set and Randy was back in the UFC with a new contract(money talks).

Brock just came off a decisive win over Heath Herring, a well known fighter. Well with Randy back and Brock needing a big name opponent the fight was set. A five round championship fight no less.

Does Brock Lesnar deserve a title shot? No, but he has been the biggest pay per view draw for the UFC this year. Lesnar's match with Frank Mir drew 650,000 PPV buys and a match with Couture may get 1 million buys.

Matt Hughes old news?

Is "the most dominant welterweight of all time" Matt Hughes still valuable to the UFC? The once unstoppable Hughes(42-7) has only one win in his past four fights. Losing twice to Georges St. Pierre and knocked out by Thiago Alves, tearing ligaments in his knee in defeat. A long time grudge match with Matt Serra has been delayed due to both fighters suffering from injuries. The fight almost two years in the making has lost a significant amount of interest. Neither fighter is currently champion and both are coming off of losses.

The UFC will run out of fights for Hughes after the Serra match. Matching him up with names like Sanchez, Fitch or koscheck may spoil future title contenders opportunities. Few if any fans would watch Hughes versus St. Pierre for a fourth time.

Sore from Couture

What has Randy started? Randy Couture, estranged UFC heavyweight champion opened the flood gates. Couture walked out on his contract as a UFC fighter, commentator and ambassador. Citing a lack of respect, failure to sign Fedor Emelianenko and money.

The irony in this is Randy's supposed lack of respect stemmed from the UFC offering other notable fighters more money. Including Fedor, Mirko Cro Cop and Brock Lesnar. Opponents Randy wanted to fight.

Specifically, the inability to sign Fedor was listed as a reason randy walked. The only fight Randy wants to fight before he retires. Well when the UFC offered Fedor more Randy's ego got hurt. Who knew fighters were so sensitive?

Now other fighters think they no longer need to honer their contracts. Case in point Drew Ficket and KJ Noons.

Ficket's unprofessional behavior has been well documented. He has been banned from three major MMA organizations. UFC, EliteXC AND MFC. Ficket must have nine lives in this sport because Affliction is giving him a shot in November.

KJ Noons is a victim of poor management. Mark Dion, the ass-clown that kept Brandon Vera on the sidelines for over a year until Vera wised up and canned him. Noons who is under contract with EliteXC and is their current lightweight champion. EliteXC has been trying to book a fight between Noons and their number 1 contender Nick Diaz, who Noons beat to win the title. Dion has publicly stated that they believe Diaz is not a worthy opponent and Noons isn't paid what he deserves. Diaz has won three straight since losing to Noons.

Dion and Noons felt the contract was worthy when they signed it. Noons was embarrassed by Charles Bennet in his first fight with EliteXC, however EliteXC stayed with him and gave him a title shot.

This is a trend that Randy has started. Attempting to leverage a championship belt against a current contract. A scenario that can cripple a weight division in any organization.

Boxings bad ass!

I haven't watched much boxing lately. Not many guys out there are fighting to win, but rather fighting not to lose. Mike Tyson, love him or hate him was arguably the most gifted heavyweight fighter ever. He didn't have Ali's brain or Foreman's size but he had unmatched tenacity. I won't go into what ruined him. why beat a dead horse? I will however share this video i found highlighting some of his better years. Please disregard the first ten seconds. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FiGc9zCPvKE

What will Tito Ortiz do?

Arguably the most known entity in mixed martial arts. Tito Ortiz has not been shy about his celebrity status, or his high price tag. Negotiations with UFC president Dana white went so bad the two refused to work with each other. Lorenzo Fertitta UFC owner had to take over. Now the question remains where will Tito end up? The new major players have all made offers, Affliction-AFL-EliteXC But as an entrepreneur it's important Tito get exposure for his clothing company "Punishment Athletics". AFL has yet to hold a pay per view. Affliction, despite it's huge star studded event had less than 100,000 PPV buys. That only leaves us with 2 real options for Tito, EliteXC which has an average of 3 million viewers for it 2 CBS shows or the UFC which is capable millions of viewers on or off pay per view. Can EliteXC afford Tito? Is Tito worth what he wants? Having lost 3 straight fights and without a win over a top ten opponent in four years Tito may be a liability to any other companies out side of the UFC.

The Ultimate Fighter

The new season kicks off soon in the U.F.C's quest to find a diamond in the rough. Known affectionately as TUF(The Ultimate Fighter), has managed to make stars out of unknowns from each season. I personally only recognize 6 names from this list, but as we learned last season beware of the unknown. Amir Sodallah bested 32 other men to be crowned champion. The insane thing about his win was that he didn't even have 1 professional fight. May the best fighter win.
LIGHTWEIGHT
Jose Aguilar
Fernando Bernstein
Junie Allen Browning
Rolando Delgado
Joseph Duarte
Charles Diaz
Efrain Escudero
Brandon Garner
David Kaplan
Brian McLaughlin
Wesley Murch
Shane Nelson
Phillipe Nover
Ido Pariente
John Polakowski
George Roop
LIGHT-HEAVYWEIGHT
Ryan Bader
Antwain Britt
Jules Bruchez
Lance Evans
Karen Grigoryan
Jason Guida
Ryan Jimmo
Kyle Kingsbury
Tom Lawlor
Ryan Lopez
Vinicius Magalhaes
Eric Magee
Eliot Marshall
Sean O'Connell
Shane Primm
Krzysztof Soszynski