To put it mildly, I’ve been skeptical about Bellator’s non-title fights in the past. They’ve all been total squash fights, and light-heavyweight champion Christian M’Pumbu actually managed to lose his against Travis Wiuff back at Bellator 55. Last night didn’t exactly make me a believer in non-title fights, but I won’t act like I wasn’t impressed with lightweight champion Michael Chandler after his performance against Akihiro Gono.

Chandler followed up his brilliant fourth round rear-naked choke over Eddie Alvarez back at Bellator 58 with a quick TKO over Akihiro Gono. After catching Gono early with a straight right, Chandler pounced on a stunned Gono and rained down punches until he earned the stoppage. Michael Chandler improves to 10-0 overall, with six fights ending in the first round.

At the post-fight press conference, Akihiro Gono announced his retirement from MMA. Gono has lost three fights in a row, and his record now stands at 32-18-7. His most recent victory was a unanimous decision over Diego Gonzalez at Sengoku 12 in March 2010. While it’s never easy to watch an icon of the sport retire, it’s even harder to watch him continue to lose. Thanks for the memories, Magic Man.

(Conveniently, Bellator failed to mention whether or not this is a title fight.)

Bellator Fighting Championships announced today that a main event match-up between Bellator lightweight champ Michael Chandler and PRIDE and UFC vet Akihiro Gono will close out its planned Bellator 67  card  May 4  at Casino Rama in Rama, Ontario Canada.

A crafty veteran, Gono (32-17-7) should provide a challenge for the undefeated newly crowned 155-pound BFC champ.

“I’m just excited to get back into the cage,” Chandler said of the planned bout. “I fought four times in 2011 and I’m ready to get back to work. Gono has beaten some of the best fighters in the sport and this should be a good test for me.”

(Maximo Blanco vs. Chang Hyun Kim; brutal finish @ 1:33. Props to WatchKalibRun)

From yesterday’s Sengoku Raiden Championships show in Tokyo…

– Jorge Santiago def. Mamed Khalidov via unanimous decision
– Akihiro Gono def. Diego Gonzalez via unanimous decision
– Maximo Blanco def. Chang Hyun Kim via KO, 1:10 of round 1
– Marlon Sandro def. Tomonari Kanomata via KO, 0:09 of round 1
– Yoshihiro "Kiss" Nakao def. Henry "Sentoryu" Miller via TKO, 3:27 of round 2
– Yuji Hoshino def. Nick Denis via submission (guillotine choke), 0:47 of round 2
– Leonardo Santos def. Kiuma Kunioku via submission (rear-naked choke), 3:06 of round 1
– Shigeki Osawa def. Kyung Ho Kang via unanimous decision

Two more fight videos after the jump…

(Yoshihiro "Kiss" Nakao — still pretty creepy. Photos courtesy of src-official.com.)

A day after WEC 47 pops off in Columbus, Sengoku will be holding their latest event at the Sumo Hall in Tokyo, Japan. Unfortunately the card won’t be broadcast live on HDNet — they’ll be airing it next Friday at 8 p.m. — but we’ll be sure to put up videos of the best fights by Monday. Check out the complete eight-match lineup, via japan-mma.com:

8. Jorge Santiago (21-8-0, champion) vs. Mamed Khalidov (20-3-1, challenger), for SRC Middleweight Title
7. Akihiro Gono (31-15-7) vs. Diego Gonzalez (13-3-0), welterweight
6. Maximo Blanco (4-2-1) vs. Chang Hyun Kim (15-5-0), lightweight
5. Marlon Sandro (15-1-0) vs. Tomonari Kanomata (15-4-5), featherweight
4. Yoshihiro “Kiss” Nakao (8-2-0) vs. Henry "Sentoryu" Miller (6-9-0), heavyweight
3. Yuji Hoshino (16-7-7) vs. Nick Denis (9-1-0), featherweight
2. Kiuma Kunioku (34-22-9) vs. Leonardo Santos (6-3-0), lightweight
1. Shigeki Osawa (4-1-0) vs. Kyung Ho Kang (4-2-0), featherweight

Some important points…

(‘Wait, this Mousasi? The dude that’s been beating the hell out of everybody, that’s the guy ya’ll want me to fight? Gentlemen, I think there’s been a misunderstanding.’)

Greetings from the City of the Rising Sun, Potato Nation.  Yours truly is spending New Year’s in Tokyo to attend the Fields Dynamite!! show (you’ll be able to read all about the experience in a future Fight Magazine issue), and already it’s been quite a learning experience.  For instance, I just got back from the press conference where I was surrounded by a horde of teenage girls who waited for over an hour just to fawn over Masato.  Alistair Overeem, Gegard Mousasi, and Shinya Aoki?  To these girls they barely seemed worth the effort to flip open their trinket-laden cell phones and snap a photo.

The event organizers expect to draw at least 35,000 fans to the Saitama Super Arena for the show, and representatives from both Dream and Sengoku did their best to pump up the lukewarm rivalry between the two organizations, though without much apparent interest from the fans.  A couple things worth noting:

(Just like armbarring a bike: Filho emerges from an eight-month hiatus to take out Melvin Manhoef at DREAM.10 last month.)

In all our hand-wringing about the lack of challenges for Gegard Mousasi, we may have overlooked one formerly fearsome recovering addict — and Paulo Filho wants you to know that he will not be ignored. From Tatame.com via WatchKalibRun:

(Hioki vs. Kanehara: The fight went as planned, but everything afterwards didn’t. Props to 19054771 via Bloody Elbow.)

I have to admit, I was pulling for Michihiro Omigawa to shock the world and win Sengoku’s Featherweight Grand Prix, after entering the tournament in March with a 4-7-1 record. But the way he reached the finals at today’s Sengoku Ninth Battle show in Saitama, Japan, was questionable to say the least, and he wound up losing to a guy who shouldn’t have even been there in the first place. Let’s start at the beginning…

Tournament favorite Hatsu Hioki dominated Masanori Kanehara in the tourney’s semifinals, putting Kanehara in constant danger with submission attempts and ground-and-pound. Though Kanehara was able to make a late rally, the fight went to Hioki by unanimous decision. Unfortunately, it was discovered that Hioki suffered a concussion during the match, and wouldn’t be able to continue to the finals.

Chan Sung Jung choked out Matt Jaggers later that night in the GP’s reserve bout, and should have rightfully taken Hioki’s place. But Jung, who had previously been robbed by the judges in his quarterfinal match against Masanori Kanehara in May — a decision that many fans chalked up to the fact that Jung is Korean — was insulted again today when it was quickly decided that Kanehara would fill in for Hioki. So basically, the alternate bout was absolutely meaningness, due to the fact that a Korean won it.

(Props: CRE)

The best UFC highlight-reel of the week comes from BH, who has compiled some of the greatest Octagon moments of 2008-2009 (and Nick Diaz‘s 2007 PRIDE fight against Takanori Gomi, for some reason) — into this uplifting clip. Using Coldplay to soundtrack an MMA video is a risky move, but it actually works here, in a "Where the Hell Is Matt?" sort of way. From Akihiro Gono‘s legendary entrance at UFC 94 to the various disappointments of Chuck Liddell — it’s definitely worth a look.

After the jump: A Lyoto Machida-specific highlight reel from firelotus09. Just like Lyoto’s fights, the action doesn’t start right away; if you’re impatient, skip to the 1:43 mark and prepare to be Dragon’d.

In this video from “Inside MMA,” Lyoto Machida does his best to explain how his training has evolved.  He has physical education training now!  I can only assume that involves a lot of kickball, some freeze tag, and the occasional mile run. 

(Props: Fightlinker)

At last, a decent video of Akihiro Gono’s full entrance at UFC 94, as shown on a Japanese UFC broadcast.  You still don’t quite feel the magic in this video the way those of us who saw it live did, but Gono managed to prove what “Kids in the Hall” long suspected: men dressed as women never fail to entertain.  You can see there were a couple hiccups in the routine, so maybe more rehearsal time is in order for his next fight.  For me the highlight is when Gono and his boys finish the entrance and begin giving the double high-five to anyone within reach.  Good show, everybody.

After the jump, something weird.

(Props: Facey)

Our boy Matt S./"Facey" just sent us the second installment of his brilliant MMA highlight reel project, where he complies the best moments from each month into a single, convenient video. January ’09 had more than its share of killer moments, from Jose Aldo‘s knee-knockout and people’s-champ celebration at WEC 38, to the string of near-lethal KOs at "Day of Reckoning," to Jon Jones’s utter tooling of Stephan Bonnar, to Muhammed "King Mo" Lawal’s call-and-response bit at Sengoku 7. You can check out more of Matt’s work at FightFace.blogspot.com.

Below: A fan-shot video of Akihiro "Oh No" Gono‘s legendary ring-entrance at UFC 94. After the jump: The latest video trailer for UFC 95: Sanchez vs. Stevenson. Man, they’re really playing up the "London is rainy" angle…

(Props: BloodyElbow)

The most interesting part of this UFC 94 video blog comes at around the 9:50 mark, when Dana White becomes clearly upset over the Georges St. Pierre greasing incident and remarks, “Georges is in trouble.”  Well, maybe not Georges so much as the cornerman who rubbed him down, though I’m inclined to believe Greg Jackson’s explanation, and also inclined to agree with Dana’s assertion that a little Vaseline did not change the outcome of this fight, one way or another.  Still doesn’t make it a good idea, though.

Other moments worth seeing here: Dana consoles a distraught Stephan Bonnar, Joe Rogan and Eddie Bravo gush over Jon Jones, and Dana watches Akihiro Gono and his camp rehearse their elaborate Octagon entrance, which was truly a thing to behold.  When Gono and his boys walked out in those matching evening gowns, pausing every few steps to get their dance on, you could feel the crowd going through a range of emotions.  First came shock, then slight amusement, then genuine appreciation.  Honestly, it was the best entrance in the history of MMA.

In the post-fight press conference a reporter asked Dana what he thought of a guy who came out in drag and got his ass kicked.  Dana pointed out that a) a lot of people are going to get their ass kicked against Jon Fitch, and b) he loves Gono and what he brings to a UFC event.  Then he conceded: “But if you’re going to wear a dress you probably better win.”

I know some people will make the argument that Gono would have been better served focusing more time and energy on his preparation for the fight than on his entrance, but let’s be real.  Gono was going to get beat up with or without the awesome, cross-dressing entrance.  Might as well have some fun before the pain begins.

(Photo courtesy of MMAWeekly.)

The UFC paid out a hearty $1,252,000 in disclosed salaries and bonuses for yesterday’s UFC 94 event. The figures are below, courtesy of MMA Weekly. Keep in mind that these numbers don’t include any undisclosed "locker room bonuses" often given out to fighters for exciting performances, or cuts of the pay-per-view revenue, which Georges St. Pierre reportedly has in his new contract.

– Georges St. Pierre: $400,000 (includes $200,000 win bonus)
– Lyoto Machida $185,000 (includes $60,000 win bonus, $65,000 Knockout of the Night bonus)
– B.J. Penn: $125,000
– Clay Guida $105,000 (includes $20,000 win bonus, $65,000 Fight of the Night bonus)
– Nate Diaz $85,000 (includes $65,000 Fight of the Night bonus)
– Karo Parisyan $80,000 (includes $40,000 win bonus)
– Chris Wilson $80,000 (includes $65,000 Fight of the Night bonus)
– John Howard $71,000 (includes $3,000 win bonus, $65,000 Fight of the Night bonus)
– Jon Fitch $68,000 (includes $34,000 win bonus)
– Thiago Silva: $29,000

    
(GSP’s brilliant Superman-jab, and Jon Jones’ spinning elbow to the back of Stephan Bonnar’s head, which caused Joe Silva to freak the fuck out. Props to NbleSavage and Smoogy on the UG.) 

— Last night around 9 p.m. PT, the MGM Grand Garden Arena slipped through a cosmic wormhole and landed in Bizarro World. How else would you explain Lyoto Machida picking up UFC 94‘s "Knockout of the Night" bonus in one of the two fights that didn’t go to a decision? The Dragon earned an extra $65,000 for putting Thiago Silva‘s lights out at the very end of round 1. There were no submissions last night (unless you count BJ Penn quitting in his corner), so the UFC decided to hand out two sets of "Fight of the Night" bonuses instead. John Howard and Chris Wilson both earned $65k for their exciting undercard match, which UFC newcomer Howard won by split decision. Nate Diaz and Clay Guida also picked up bonuses for their classic striker vs. hugger battle that ended with Guida getting his hand raised in a Split D.

— The UFC announced that last night’s show drew 14,885 attendees for a live gate of approximately $4.3 million. If that gate figure is accurate, it would make UFC 94 the sixth-highest-grossing UFC event of all-time in terms of ticket revenue. 

— Though the show was short on thrilling stoppages, the fans certainly got their money’s worth when it came to total fight time. UFC 94′s eight decisions broke the previous record of six, held by UFC 33, Fight Night 4, Fight Night 7, UFC 76, UFC 87, UFC 89, and UFC 90. No previous UFC event has ever featured more than two split decisions — UFC 94 had five, a record that hopefully will never be broken.

(Gono‘s Afro wig gives Fitch much happiness.  Photo courtesy of MMA Weekly.)

The MGM Grand Garden Arena is sold out for tonight’s event, leaving lonely men to wander the casino floor and mutter hopeless pleas for spare tickets.  But you, you lucky bastards, have this liveblog.  It’s as elusive as Lyoto Machida, as much of a chick magnet as Georges St. Pierre, and as steeped in straight-up, gangsta realness as Nate Diaz.

We’re going to get started with the prelims at about 5 pm PST, so if you don’t want to ruin the undercard results for yourself, tread carefully.  Otherwise, hop on and enjoy the ride.  Remember to hit refresh often.  But before we get started, how about helping us out with a Digg.  Thanks.  You’re the best.

Watch Jon Fitch On His UFC 94 Bout on RawVegas.tv

This video from MMA Fix relates some of Jon Fitch’s experience on "Mythbusters" and his work on a documentary about his preparation for Georges St. Pierre, but what’s interesting is when the talk turns to Fitch’s spot on the dark portion of UFC 94 for his bout with Akihiro Gono.  

Naturally, he plays it down, says he’s only thinking about the fight and doesn’t harbor any ill feelings towards Dana White for the video game licensing debacle and this ensuing punishment.  You know, all the things he really has to say in this situation.  But we aren’t buying it.

No matter what he says, Fitch has to realize how absurd it is for him to be on the undercard here.  He was a title contender a few months back, and now he’s pushed to the untelevised portion of the event while Jon Jones-Stephan Bonnar makes the broadcast.  It’s insanity.  What’s more, it’s childish.  Didn’t the UFC get the point across when they fired him for a day?  

We’re hoping that this is just holdover anger from Dana White that has dissipated by now, and that after Lyoto Machida surprises everyone with a twenty-second knockout victory they’ll use some of that extra time to show Fitch-Gono.

Programming Reminder: The final episode of “UFC Primetime” airs tonight, so set your DVRs, tell your girlfriend you won’t make it over to watch “Top Chef," do whatever you gotta do.

(Props: MMA Mania)

The UFC has confirmed the full lineup for UFC 94: St Pierre vs. Penn 2 (January 31st, Las Vegas), and you’ll be pleased to learn that it’s nearly as stacked as this Saturday’s "Ultimate 2008." So stacked, in fact, that Jon Fitch’s fight against Akihiro Gono is slated for the undercard, and may not be televised. Could this be the UFC’s passive-aggressive punishment for the video game licensing agreement drama that led to Fitch being fired for a day? Fitch/Gono does seem more main-card-worthy than Bonnar/Jones, after all. Anyway, check out the lineup below and draw your own conclusions…

Main Card
Georges St. Pierre vs. BJ Penn (for welterweight championship)
Lyoto Machida vs. Thiago Silva (LHW)
Stephan Bonnar vs. Jon Jones (LHW)
Karo Parisyan vs. Dong Hyun Kim (WW)
Nate Diaz vs. Clay Guida (LW)

Undercard
Jon Fitch vs. Akihiro Gono (WW)
Manny Gamburyan vs. Thiago Tavares (LW)
Chris Wilson vs. John Howard (WW)
Jake O’Brien vs. Christian Wellisch (HW)
Matt Arroyo vs. Daniel Cramer (WW)

Related: Georges St. Pierre has been named Sportsnet.ca’s 2008 Canadian Athlete of the Year, after taking in 89% of fans’ votes. GSP beat out wheelchair racer Chantal Petitclerc, Calgary Flames captain Jarome Iginla, Minnesota Twins first-baseman Justin Morneau, and tennis player Daniel Nestor. Said St. Pierre: “It’s an honor for me to have this award and being the first MMA guy to receive something like this…I want to be a good Canadian ambassador for the sport and represent MMA well."

(When Jon Fitch says he’s going to wear your ass like a hat, it’s not a threat — it’s a guarantee.)

According to a report on MMA Mania, Jon Fitch will begin his road back to title contention with a fight against Akihiro Gono at UFC 94 (January 31st, Las Vegas). Fitch, who most recently dropped a unanimous decision to welterweight champ Georges St. Pierre at UFC 87 in August, was previously scheduled to face Gono in March, but a hand injury forced “The Japanese Sensation” to drop out of the match; Gono went on to lose a decision to Dan Hardy at last month’s UFC 89. The UFC’s Super Bowl weekend card will be headlined by Fitch’s old nemesis GSP facing BJ Penn, as well as Lyoto Machida vs. Thiago Silva.

In other UFC news…

— Apparently back-to-back losses were enough to get Marcus Aurelio‘s contract shredded. Five Ounces of Pain reports that the American Top Team fighter has been let go following unanimous decision defeats at the hands of Tyson Griffin (at UFC 86) and Hermes Franca (at UFC 90). Though Aurelio has had an impressive career and holds victories over Takanori Gomi, Masakazu Imanari, and Rich Clementi, he leaves the Octagon with a 2-3 UFC record.

With one day to go before UFC 89 (which we’ll be liveblogging, naturally), it’s time for everyone’s favorite self-indulgent exercise: Ben versus Ben. This time around we argue bonuses, the UK-centric undercard, and the mysterious/as-of-yet fictional Millerplata, among other stuff.

How exactly will Bisping/Leben end?

Fowlkes: As much as we’ve heard about Leben’s transformation from immature brawler to well-rounded tactician, a part of me (the part located in the brain region) isn’t totally buying it. Leben may be a more seasoned fighter, but he still knows one way to win a fight when things get hectic and it’s throwing big, looping bombs and hoping one catches his opponent on the chin.

This has worked at times. He hits hard and he can take enough punishment to make that strategy effective. But as strategies go, it’s relatively easy to prepare for, especially for a more cerebral fighter like Bisping. “The Count” is smart enough to avoid a street fight with Leben. He’ll accumulate points and damage but won’t dive in for the illusion of a quick finish, and this will frustrate Leben.

Leben knows he doesn’t want to go to a decision against a Brit in Britain, so the closer to the final horn he gets the more desperate he will become. This is where Bisping will find an opening, drop him with a straight shot, then pour on some ground-and-pound that looks worse than it is, causing the referee to stop it at 4:02 of round three. And Leben is going to be pissed.

Goldstein: I concur. Bisping is a more talented, complete fighter than Leben, and this business about the Crippler maturing is more manufactured narrative than reality. But I don’t think it’ll take Bisping until the third frame to get the stoppage win. As a middleweight, his kickboxing has looked razor-sharp — his last two opponents didn’t make it to the second bell — and his ground capabilities are underrated in general.

The headliners will give the crowd what they paid for in round one, slugging it out like a couple of drunken soccer hooligans, and Bisping will go about finishing the fight in round two, engaging the killer instinct that we’ve seen from him lately. If Leben starts to land more shots in that second round, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Bisping clinch with Leben, bully him to the ground and finish him from the top. Either way, it’ll be a stoppage due to strikes at exactly the 4:15 mark of round two.

Who will win the Vera/Jardine and Sokoudjou/Cane fights?

Akihiro Gono will be facing Dan Hardy on the undercard of UFC 89 this Saturday, and he just put up a new post on his blog, which Suki MMA has passed along with the title “Gono is preparing for his trip”:

I have a really bad feeling about this, guys.

Previously:
Creepiest Fight Blog Entry Ever?
Akihiro Gono Needs a Wife, Bad

From a Suki MMA post titled “Gono is getting ready”:

** Aug 19 **
Gono posted a picture of himself in his blog.

** Aug 18 **
Sex and the City was on when I turned on TV before going bed. It was the first time for me to watch that show. I liked a lot because this show contained lots of sex talk and stuff. I’m going to rent the complete series at Tsutaya(rental video).

Ewwwwww. On the plus side, Akihiro had the common courtesy to black out his junk at the bottom of the photo. Domo, homey.

For a more coherent update on Gono, click here.

Akihiro Gono has seen better days. The lovely Suki has the story straight from his blog:

I had a high fever last night when I came home from training. I couldn’t sleep and walk straight. I didn’t have anybody who I could ask to take care of me. I got nervous about my condition and didn’t know what to do. So, I called an ambulance. I’m actually ashamed of what I did now. In the ambulance, my temperature was over 40.00 degrees (40C is about 104F.)

My tonsils are swollen very bad still. I took a picture of the tonsils. I think this pic is very gross, but I have been requested to post……….

Don’t feel ashamed Gono. At least, not of calling an ambulance. Posting that picture, just because people “requested” it, yeah we probably could have done without that. Feel better, champ.

(Props: JarryPark)

I was worried that UFC 89 (October 18th; Birmingham, England) was going to be one of those off-brand cards that are hastily thrown together for the British market — but it may have potential after all. Besides the requisite matchups of Bisping vs. Leben and (possibly) Davis vs. Kelly, and a reported welterweight feature of Thiago Alves vs. Diego Sanchez, the UFC has just added three more compelling bouts to the lineup.

First up is a light-heavyweight bout between Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou — who’s coming off a first-round TKO of Kazuhiro Nakamura at UFC 84 — and Luiz Cane, who recently knocked out Jason “Flapjacks” Lambert at UFC 85. Sokoudjou was already regarded as one of the top ten 205′ers in the world when he entered the UFC, and is probably still trying to shake off the humiliation of being the only guy that Lyoto Machida has finished in the last two years. Both him and Cane have a lot of hype behind them, and both like to throw bombs; could be a wild one.

Next is a heavyweight bout between Denver-based destroyer Shane Carwin (9-0) and British brawler Neil Wain (4-0). Like Carwin, Wain has won all of his fights by first-round stoppage — though I don’t think that little fun fact will matter much once the bell rings and Carwin starts charging across the cage. Like his 44-second mouthpiece-ejecting knockout of Christian Wellisch at UFC 84, this match might turn into another stunning KO win for the up-and-coming Carwin.

Finally, British welterweight star Dan Hardy (19-6) is set to make his Octagon debut against Akihiro Gono. Hardy is the reigning Cage Warriors welterweight champion, and has only suffered one loss (via disqualification) in his last nine fights. Gono (28-12-7) is a veteran of Shooto, Pancrase, and PRIDE who won his UFC debut last November by tapping Tamdan McCrory with an armbar at UFC 78; injury has prevented him from competing since.

PRIDE-vet turned UFC-welterweight Akihiro Gono recently had surgery to repair the hand injury that forced him to pull out of a bout with Jon Fitch at UFC 82. He wrote about the experience on his blog yesterday, and Suki MMA was kind enough to translate:

My operation went well and I left the hospital yesterday. I hope I recover soon. It was a 5 hours operation, cutting a part of bone in radius and transplanting it in my right hand. I have never been so tired and feeling destroyed like this time. It was extremely tough operation and I am having the worst pain ever after the operation. I almost gave up and ran away from everything. Although, I have nothing to do but fighting , so I continue to being MMA fighter.

I couldn’t sleep well because my right hand is in pain even if I take pain killer pills. I realized how hard to do everything by my left hand. I want to get married so bad now. I’m 33 years old and this is my first time to dream about getting a wife. I want someone who is attractive and respectful. I should be competitive to be chosen by my dream girl though.

Anyway, thank you for supporting me and my operation went well. After dinner, I will study English which is a part of my project to be an attractive guy.

Oh man. This is going to get him so much tail. “My project to be an attractive guy” — can we cast McConaughey and Hudson in this shit already?!

P.S.: I love how losing the use of his right hand is what compelled Gono to start thinking about getting a wife. Trust me dude, as long as old lefty is functional, single life isn’t that bad.

P.P.S.: “Pain Killer Pills” is an awesome band name.

P.P.P.S.: If anyone can translate Suki’s translation of “I should be competitive to be chosen by my dream girl though,” it would be a huge help. Broken English on blogs seems to be the theme of the day…

(Jeremy Horn, giving Chael Sonnen the business.)

— Middleweight veteran Jeremy Horn will be returning to the UFC at February 2nd’s “Breaking Point” event, replacing Thales Leites, who broke his hand during training and had to pull out of a scheduled match with Nate Marquardt. Horn has compiled an astounding professional record of 77-16-5 since turning pro in 1996, and holds notable wins over Chuck Liddell and Forrest Griffin. His last UFC fight was at UFC 60 in May 2006, where he defeated Chael Sonnen by armbar.

— Welterweight contender Jon Fitch, who has gone 7-0 since joining the UFC in 2005 and hasn’t been defeated since 2002, will face Akihiro Gono at UFC 82: “Pride of a Champion.” Gono is the former PRIDE vet who tied Tamdan McCrory into a pretzel during his Octagon debut at UFC 78, picking up a Submission of the Night bonus in the process. Fitch has also reportedly re-signed with the UFC for three more matches.

— The lineup for UFC 80 is official. (Yes, it will be airing live and on tape delay.) The lineup for the following week’s Ultimate Fight Night card is nearly set as well.

— The UFC’s PPV buys in 2007 decreased 5% compared to 2006. During those two years, UFC 66 (Liddell vs. Ortiz, 12/30/06) was by far the most popular event, with 1,050,000 buys; the three least popular cards — UFC 58, 64, and 72, with 300k, 300k and 200k buys, respectively — were all headlined by Rich Franklin.

Pictured: Akihiro Gono’s pretzel-like armbar of Tamdan McCrory at UFC 78. The foot up the shorts is just there for added humilation.