(Barao puts one upside Faber’s head at UFC 149. Photo via Jeff McIntosh/The Canadian Press)

The interim bantamweight title fight between Renan Barao and challenger Michael McDonald will go down at UFC on FUEL 7, February 16th at London’s Wembley Arena. UFC UK confirmed the news earlier today, and revealed a crop of supporting fights. They are…

- Paul Sass vs. Danny Castillo (LW): The British two-trick pony took his first career loss against Matt Wiman in September, while Team Alpha Male member Castillo had a three-fight win streak snapped in October when he was KO’d by Michael Johnson.

- Terry Etim vs. Renee Forte (LW): Inactive since becoming a permanent part of Edson Barboza’s highlight reel in January, Etim returns from injuries to face TUF Brazil castmember Renee Forte, who just suffered his first official UFC loss when he was submitted by Sergio Moraes at UFC 153.

- Andy Ogle vs. Josh Grispi (FW): Grispi is on a three-fight losing streak, while TUF: Live castmember Ogle lost his official UFC debut in a decision against Akira Corassani in September. Oh, you bet your ass it’s “win or go home” time.

(We’ll give Anderson this, he has an ability to facially express himself that not even Ernest P. Worrell could hold a candle to.) 

Good afternoon, Potato Nation, Danga here. As many of you may or may not have realized/elated over, I have been out of the office since last Thursday, first taking a trip down to New York City, then heading out to Boston to move into the apartment at which I currently reside. Aside from being called a “fahkin retahd” by nearly every citizen who shared the road with me, it was a relatively painless move, but one that left me without Internet access for a good three or four days, which in Internet time is roughly 6 months.

At least that was what it felt like. When I fired up my computer this morning to peruse over CagePotato and see what the MMA world had been up to in my absence, I expected to find a couple sweet knockout videos and maybe a Labor Day-themed article or two. Suffice it to say, I was shocked to find that not only had CP managed to snag a “fight scientist” to impress us with his “graphs” and “numbers” and “empirical data,” but we were even granted access to a behind-the-scenes look at a local New Jersey-based event. And elsewhere, not only had Erik Koch been replaced by Frankie Edgar against Jose Aldo at UFC 153, but Aldo had been hit by a car (which I imagined looked something like this) and promptly told the injury curse of 2012 to go fuck itself. I was less surprised to learn, however, that Arlovski/Sylvia IV ended in controversy and bitter disappointment for those involved, but the fact that Tim Sylvia was even partly responsible for actual progress in the MMA world nearly made up for all the pain and suffering he has brought upon both himself and the sport in the past few years.

Of course, today is a new day, and with it comes a bit of mixed news. Regardless of who you feel deserves the next shot at Anderson Silva, the fact that “The Spider” is turning down fights in the weight class he resides over in favor of a possible superfight against GSP is a frustrating, if not equally intriguing prospect for MMA fans to digest. But as it turns out, Silva’s absence from the octagon in the near future may also be linked to something a little harder to swallow. Mainly, movie stardom. Because according to a report from metronews.ca, Silva may be heading to Canada down the line to promote and star in a major-budget MMA film called Tapped.

Details after the jump.

By George Shunick

Despite numerous public relations successes, mixed martial arts is still perceived by many people as an overtly brutal practice, and its participants as barbaric Neanderthals. In one particularly memorable instance, Gus Johnson made a most unfortunate observation during the Strikeforce: Nashville brawl when he claimed that “sometimes these things happen in MMA,” which certainly didn’t help the image of the sport. (Neither did the brawl itself, of course, but at least Johnson could have acknowledged it was an anomaly akin to a baseball brawl.)

But what ex-MMA fighter Usman Raja is doing in London right now not only subverts the stereotypes people hold towards the sport; it is literally changing people’s lives. Raja is currently being profiled by CNN in a series of videos and articles (all of which you should read) focusing on his work to reform former Islamic terrorists through training them in MMA. Suck on that, Bob “I think it’s going to be harmful to people. I think it’s going to be harmful to our society” Reilly.

See, in the UK they actually don’t detain their prisoners indefinitely. As a result, a number of Al Qaeda operatives have been released over the past few months and currently reside in London, the site of the 2012 Olympic Games. Whether you agree with that policy or not, this has created a legitimate safety concern for the host city. You have a bunch of paroled terrorists living in the same neighborhood without jobs or money, surrounded by people they’ve been brought up their entire lives to despise. And some of those people happen to despise their religion as well.

All of which is to say that this is an exceptionally inconvenient scenario in attempting to “cure” them of their terrorism. Of course, terrorism isn’t a disease. You don’t become a terrorist because some dude with disheveled clothes, an untrimmed beard, anger issues, and a massive superiority complex sneezes on you — it happens because of a number of complicated social, political, and economic circumstances, which serve to dissociate individuals from greater society and foster a degree of desperation that leads them to turn to destructive organizations that extinguish their capability for empathy.

 
(Confidence is believing in yourself, cockiness is believing everyone else sucks)

Fair disclosure: if you’ve forgotten that the replay for UFC 120 is on tonight starting at 8:00 pm ET and you make a few wagers at the bar tonight and lose, don’t say we didn’t try to help you out.

For everyone else who is on the up-and-up and managed to avoid all of the spoilers today, we’re going to be liveblogging the replay after the jump.

Get your beverages and snacks ready and let’s get down to business.

(Props: Smoogy on the UG)

Josh Koscheck’s TKO loss has been the subject of a lot of debate on the old internets for the past couple of days.  Some people think the stoppage was too fast, not giving Koscheck the chance to recover and defend himself.  One of those people, obviously, is Koscheck himself (side note: man, give that camera man credit for going into a tense locker room, hearing that rant, and then having the balls to ask, very simply, “Do you think he should have stopped it?”), but the fact is he’s wrong, and so is everyone arguing his side in this case.

Here’s how you know your fight was stopped early: you can immediately look into the ref’s face as he moves in to stop the bout and say, ‘What the fuck is your problem?’  If you can do that, preferably without slurring or attempting to rise and then falling back down, then you have a legitimate gripe.  I like to call this the ‘What the fuck is your problem?’ rule.  

If you can’t say ‘What the fuck is your problem?’ (other acceptable variations include: ‘What the fuck are you doing?’, ‘That’s fucking bullshit!’, and ‘Mazzagatti, you asshole!’) immediately after the stoppage, then the ref had reason enough to stop the fight.  

(Steve Cofield chats with Dan Hardy after UFC 95.)

By know you may have heard that Dan Hardy is following up on his big knockout victory over Rory Markham at UFC 95 by immediately angling for a fight with Marcus Davis.  He’s already taken some shots at Davis’ attempts to brand himself as a U.K. fan favorite, telling Sherdog.com that “The Irish Hand Grenade” is “not English; he’s not Irish. I was born here, and I’ve been bred here. I don’t mind taking on that challenge and showing him this is my home and not his.”

Boom.  Immediately this fight has a hook.  Not only does Hardy have a point – for all Davis’ attempts to sell us on his Irish heritage, the thick New England accent limits our suspension of disbelief, kilt or no – but he’s also taking a proactive role in his own matchmaking, which is a very smart move for a guy in his situation.

(Photo courtesy of SI.com)

Another UFC event is in the books, which means it’s time again to see who’s up and who’s down according to the Potato Index’s arbitrary numerical rankings system.  It’s kind of like Bob Reilly’s poll, only we admit it’s total bullshit.  And at least this particular brand of bullshit is more fun.

Diego Sanchez +123

“The Nightmare” proved he can cut almost forty pounds and still go three rounds at a steady pace.  That could be bad news for some other lightweight contenders, though it would still be interesting to see how he stacks up against one of the better wrestlers in the division.  Sean Sherk’s not too busy, is he?

Joe Stevenson -88

Another disappointing performance for Stevenson leaves us wondering where he can possibly go from here.  He just doesn’t seem to have enough in his toolbox to hang with the top fighters, and secluding himself in Victorville, which is not known for its elite training facilities, certainly isn’t helping.

Demian Maia +204

If you’re going to do only one thing, you’d better do it extremely well, and Maia does.  He forces another quality opponent to fight on his terms and puts him away with impressive ease.  Is there any middleweight not named Anderson Silva who can pose a significant threat to him at this point?

(Props: MMA Scraps)

Diego Sanchez engages in a kickboxing bout, while Joe Stevenson fights a boxing match.  When that happens, you can usually guess who’s going to win.  A strong debut at lightweight for Sanchez.  As for Stevenson, instead of considering your own drop in weight, as you may be tempted to, how about getting with a good camp and learning some new tricks?

More videos, including Maia-Sonnen, Koscheck-Thiago, and more are after the jump.

(Uh-oh…. Photo courtesy of UFC.com)

With all the quick knockouts and ‘holy shit!’-style finishes at UFC 95 in London, selecting one for Knockout of the Night couldn’t have been easy.  

Evan Dunham and Dan Hardy both put their opponents away with a certain emphasis on unconsciousness, but it was Brazilian newcomer Paulo Thiago who earned the $40,000 bonus for his knockout of Josh Koscheck.  It might have helped that the uppercut which floored Koscheck came immediately after Joe Rogan criticized Thiago’s woefully inept striking skills.  It’s all in the timing.

Submission of the Night, also known as the Demian Maia Award, predictably went once again to Demian Maia, who made short work of Chael Sonnen using a a triangle choke he set up from the mount.  

And you guessed it, Fight of the Night went to the main event pairing of Diego Sanchez and Joe Stevenson.  It may not have been the most thrilling war we’ve ever seen, but it was longer than most of the matches at UFC 95, even if we learned everything we needed to know about how it was going to turn out in the first round.  Hopefully Nate Marquardt and Wilson Gouveia got a little something extra for their efforts too.

("Look, I’m not saying you have to touch your foreheads together like some of the other guys, but you have to understand how retarded this looks right now." Photo courtesy of Combat Lifestyle.)

Like the light from a distant star that died out millions of years before it can be seen from Earth, here we are about to watch the transmission of a UFC event that already happened, hours away and across an ocean. If you were able to avoid spoilers up until this point, pat yourself on the back. And I’d just like to take this opportunity to warn you that if you want to keep this experience totally pure, maybe stay away from the comments section for a while, because there’s always gonna be some sad loser who takes perverted joy in ruining things for the rest of us, when they’re not masturbating in their own feces. (No offense to "COOL!" or the guy currently pretending to be "Kadumel." You seem like a couple of interesting dudes and I’d love to get a beer and a burger with you sometime. Please get in touch with me here.)

Live Tape-delayed results and commentary for UFC 95 are after the jump. Refresh the page every few minutes to see all the latest…

(Courtesy of youtube.com/UFC)

If you felt a little down in the dumps last week, it’s probably because Dana White hasn’t been brightening your life with his UFC video blogs. As he explains, you only get those for pay-per-view shows. But because you’ve been so good, he’ll make an exception. In this installment, Dan Henderson sexually harasses the boss ("you got man boobs"), we get a look at one of Zuffa’s tape vaults, Dana spends a little time with his kids — LOL @ Frac‘s Spanish skills — crazy Diego Sanchez drops some rays of positivity, DW presses flesh in the pre-weigh-in receiving line, and tells his fighters to shake off the Internet haters. I gotta get me some of that instant snow.

(Diego will try anything to get to 155.  Anything.)

With UFC 95 (which we’ll be liveblogging) just a day away, we took some time to berate one another regarding some of the more pressing issues surrounding the UFC’s trip to London.  Okay, so there’s essentially no main event here, but that doesn’t mean we can’t still have some fun with a night of free fights on Spike.  Plus, there are Chael Sonnen’s ridiculous claims to discuss, and so much more…

What are Diego Sanchez‘s chances as a lightweight contender? Who has the skills to beat him?

BG: His chances are freakin’ excellent. Sanchez was already the fifth best welterweight in the UFC by my count (after GSP, Alves, Fitch, and Koscheck), and he’s looked incredibly dangerous in his last two wins over David Bielkheden and Luigi Fioravanti. I was particularly surprised to hear that he was dropping to lightweight because it seemed like he was gathering steam for a title shot at welterweight. Think about it: Fitch and Kos have already been dominated by St. Pierre, and if Alves can’t beat the champ this summer, who else is ready?

(You call that a mean face?  Shiiieeeet.)

Betting odds are out for this Saturday’s UFC event on Spike TV, which we’ll be liveblogging as usual.  If you’ve still got the disposable cash and the devil-may-care attitude necessary for online gambling in this bleak economic climate, allow us to steer you in the right direction for this one.  

The juiciest lines on the internets come to us courtesy of BestFightOdds.com:

Joe Stevenson (+281) vs. Diego Sanchez (-295)
Dan Hardy (even) vs. Rory Markham (-108)
Nate Marquardt (-258) vs. Wilson Gouveia (+250)
Demian Maia (-256) vs. Chael Sonnen (+236)
Josh Koscheck (-450) vs. Paulo Thiago (+450)
Terry Etim (-220) vs. Brian Cobb (+205)
Junior Dos Santos (-260) vs. Stefan Struve (+240)
Mike Ciesnolevicz (-115) vs. Neil Grove (-105)
Per Eklund (-160) vs. Evan Dunham (+140)
Paul Kelly (-290) vs. Troy Mandaloniz (+290)

Thoughts…

("He was better than me that night," says Kos about his loss to GSP.)

Josh Koscheck knows he’s not your favorite UFC fighter.  But you know something?  He doesn’t really care.  The way he sees it, his job is to fight, and win, as often as possible.  After a highlight reel knockout of Yoshiyuki Yoshida at the UFC’s “Fight for the Troops,” he looks to continue he winning streak at UFC 95 next Saturday against Octagon newcomer and undefeated Brazilian fighter Paulo Thiago.

In our exclusive interview, Koscheck discusses his next fight, his career, and what he makes of the Georges St. Pierre greasing allegations.

CagePotato.com: Thanks for talking with me Josh.  What do you know about your opponent on the 21st, Paulo Thiago?

I really don’t know anything about him.  To be honest with you, I don’t even know what he looks like.  I’ve never seen video on him, nothing.  For me, it’s a fight.  I expect to go in there and fight and just do what I do, which is win.

Is the reason you haven’t seen any video on him because you can’t find any, or because you don’t care to look?

I just don’t even care to look.  I don’t care to watch it.  I don’t watch video on any of my opponents.  For me it’s just another fight.  I fight tough guys every single day at the gym.  I got a couple guys in the top ten in the weight class, like Jon Fitch and Mike Swick, plus the other guys from other weight classes at our gym.  I’m just looking for another good fight.  I’m sure he’s a tough opponent, but he hasn’t fought in the UFC yet.  This will be his first opportunity to fight somebody really tough.

(Joe Stevenson: Ready as he’ll ever be.)

The UFC has confirmed the televised lineup for UFC 95 (February 21st, London), which will be broadcast for free via tape-delay on Spike TV. Here’s what the card looks like at this point:

Main Card
Joe Stevenson vs. Diego Sanchez (LW)
Dan Hardy vs. Rory Markham (WW)
Nate Marquardt vs. Wilson Gouveia (MW)
Demian Maia vs. Chael Sonnen (MW)
Josh Koscheck vs. Paulo Thiago (WW)

Undercard
Terry Etim vs. Justin Buchholz (LW)
Junior dos Santos vs. Stefan Struve (HW)
Per Eklund vs. David Baron (LW)
Paul Kelly vs. Troy “Rude Boy” Mandaloniz (WW)

Though it’s not yet listed on the UFC’s website, heavyweight Cage Rage standout Neil Grove will reportedly make his UFC debut on the undercard, against Justin McCully, and John Hathaway may be included on the card as well.

Not an awesome lineup, but free is free. Still, I’d rather see heavyweight prospect Junior dos Santos on the main card welcoming 6’8" submission specialist Stefan Struve into the Octagon, rather than the Dan Hardy/Rory Markham bout — which somehow has the #2 spot. But as long as Josh Koscheck scores another brutal knockout, Demian Maia produces another Submission of the Night, and the Sanchez/Stevenson fight delivers, it’ll be worth everyone’s time.

(Photo courtesy of Tatame.)

Yesterday we relayed news that undefeated Brazilian fighter Paulo Thiago is getting his shot in the UFC against Josh Koscheck at UFC 95 in London.  It’s a tough first fight in the Octagon, but hey, the UFC isn’t the place for you if you’re only interested in easy fights.  

Turns out, however, that this isn’t the first fight in a three-fight deal for Thiago; it’s the only fight in a one-fight deal.  The UFC has signed him to the rare one-off contract, presumably so they won’t have to cut him when he loses to Koscheck.  Thiago says he’s hopeful that a good performance will lead to a longer contract, and that’s looking on the bright side, all right.  If he wins, he can ask for more money when he does actually sign a contract.  

But at the same time this is not a vote of confidence from the UFC.  Sounds like a longshot to stick around.  But you know who else was a longshot?  Rocky.  Although on second thought, Rocky lost, so he might have been cut after the first fight with Apollo.  Then we’d never have seen this.

Just please nobody tell Fedor and his management team that somebody is getting a one-off deal in the UFC.  They will freak right the hell out.

(Picture day at the UFC office. Kos would like four 3×5′s and some wallet-sized ones to give to girls in bars, please.)

It looks like Josh Koscheck will get his third fight in four months as the welterweight has been offered a bout with undefeated Brazilian newcomer Paulo Thiago at UFC 95 on February 21 in London.  Thiago makes his UFC debut after running up an unbeaten record in organizations you don’t care about (Jungle Fight, Conquista Fight, etc.) against opponents you’ve never heard of (Carelli Carelli, to name just one).  

Thiago has proved himself in the Brazilian ranks, but stepping up to the UFC to face a guy like Koscheck in his first fight is a tough draw.  Kos is coming off his devastating knockout of Yoshiyuki Yoshida at F2T2, though fortunately for Thiago he gets to meet him on neutral ground in England rather than in the U.S. military’s backyard (also known as one of the few places Koscheck can be a fan favorite, and even then only when he’s fighting a foreigner).  

With this fight added, the UFC 95 card is looking a little better.  Remember, this is the event that’s headlined by the distinctly not headline-worthy Joe Stevenson vs. Diego Sanchez bout.  Lest you think the UFC is treating you like second-class fans, people of the U.K., take a look at how they’ve filled out the rest of the card.

(‘It’s not a skirt, you assholes.  The Romans wore these. Read a book.’)

The surprises just keep coming for the New Year’s Eve K-1 Dynamite show.  Jerome Le Banner is sick with the flu and has been forced to pull out of his fight with Mark Hunt, and Melvin Manhoef has agreed to take his place.  Despite the incredible weight difference between the heavyweight Hunt and the sort of middleweight Manhoef, the two will fight an MMA bout under “Dream rules” for three five-minute rounds.  

Is it a good idea for Manhoef, a vicious striker with an almost non-existent ground game to face a much heavier and damn near impossible to knock out fighter like Hunt, who also packs a serious wallop of his own?  Short answer: no.  No, it is probably not a good idea.  Especially on short notice.  But unlike many of the other bad ideas on the Dynamite NYE show, this one I’d actually love to see. 

Dammit, Japan.  Just when I want to curse your lack of rules and regulations, you go and do something like this to leave me more conflicted than ever.  I just can’t quit you.

In other news…

(Photo courtesy of NBC Sports)

Britain’s The Sun confirmed that the UFC is headed back to London for UFC 95 in February, and they’re adding weight to the rumor that it might have Anderson Silva vs. Chuck Liddell as its main event.

SunSport understands Middleweight champion Anderson Silva, 33, has been asked to appear on the card, with a potential bout with light heavyweight star Chuck Liddell already being mooted.

Dana White said Silva was “flipping out” about the negative response from fans and media types to his performance against Patrick Cote at UFC 90. Going up a weight class to pummel a former champ might be enough to silence those critics for good. The bout also has enough star power and intersecting story lines to make it a huge draw.

If it does happen, it’s a tough fight for Liddell. Even if he beats Silva, his detractors will just say it was due to the size advantage. If he loses — a real possibility against the world’s best pound-for-pound fighter — it becomes harder to ignore the call of retirement. Then again, after the loss to Rashad Evans you have to wonder how many interesting fights are left for him at 205. This could easily be his last moment in the spotlight. At least it’s a big one.

As we see in the latest installment of his video blog, Dana White was still in England yesterday, presiding over the London tryouts of The Ultimate Fighter: U.S. vs. U.K. 175 limey scrappers showed up (or “over 200,” depending on when you ask Dana), up from about 30 the last time they held open auditions there. This is actually the first TUF tryout footage I’ve ever seen, and it was an interesting behind-the-scenes look — particularly for Dana’s speech before the grappling portion, in which he told the guys that there’s no shame in tapping, but “no heel-hooks, no slams, no crazy shit.” It’s a safe, nurturing environment, in other words. Also, Michael Bisping stops by to show Dana his grody ear.

Related: MMA Weekly reports that the weight-classes featured on TUF 9 will actually be lightweights (again) and welterweights, not middleweights and welterweights as previously announced; no reason for the change has been given yet.

(Carneiro and Chonan during a DEEP match in 2005, which ended in a controversial TKO loss for Carneiro due to a cut.)

Joe Silva’s hands have been full this week piling on fighters for UFC 87, and scrambling to replace them for UFC 85. First, the word on “Bedlam” (London, England; June 7th):

— Ryo Chonan has pulled out of his rematch with Roan Carneiro for unknown reasons. Replacing him will be Kevin “The Fire” Burns, a 4-1 UFC newcomer with possibly the cheesiest nickname we’ve ever heard. The UFC is doing Fire no favors by putting him against “Jucao,” who already boasts wins over Rich Clementi and Matt Horwich.

— Speaking of undercard bouts few people will care about, British fighter Neil Wain has broken his nose and won’t be able to face Antoni Hardonk. Filling in for him will be Eddie Sanchez, who has won his last two UFC matches against Soa Palelei and Colin Robinson, and will do his best to deal with fighting across the Atlantic Ocean on two weeks notice.

As for “Seek and Destroy” (August 9th; Minneapolis, MN):

— Frankie Edgar, who took his first career loss against Gray Maynard at UFC Fight Night 13, will be returning at UFC 87 against an opponent to be named later. With Sean Sherk indicating that he wants to be part of the first UFC card in his home state of Minnesota, an Edgar/Sherk bout isn’t out of the realm of possibility.

Headlined by a heavyweight match between Ken Shamrock and Robert “Buzz” Berry — which may very well decide who gets the next shot at Kimbo Slice — Cage Rage 25 goes down tomorrow night at London’s Wembley Arena. Showtime will run a tape-delayed broadcast of the four top-billed fights at 10:30 p.m. ET. Those other three main card fights are:

Jean Silva vs. Masakazu Imanari (for the Cage Rage Featherweight World Title)
Neil Grove vs. Rob Broughton (heavyweights)
Pierre Guillet vs. Tom “Kong” Watson (middleweights)

Other matches on the 11-fight card include Ken’s son Ryan facing off against Georgio Andrews in a bantamweight match, a heavyweight throwdown between Mustapha al Turk and Gary Turner, and Cage Rage’s first female fight between Aisling Daly and the rather-fetching Aysen Berik. Some other things to be aware of:

— If you clicked that last link, you’d know that Aysen Berik is the sister of Cage Rage vet Sami Berik, who, despite his terrible 12-24 record, knocked Mark Smith out in 9 seconds in a Cage Rage Contenders fight in February.

— Betting odds have Ken Shamrock as a -240 favorite (encouraging for someone who’s won only one fight since 2001). Grove and Broughton are dead even at -115.

— Robert Berry is the lightest he’s ever been for a fight, but will still be coming in 20 pounds heavier than Shamrock.

— Neil Grove and Rob Broughton both hold wins over Robert Berry. Illness forced Berry to throw in the towel after the first round of his fight with Grove in December. Berry’s September 2006 match against Broughton fight ended in a first-round KO.

— If you’re interested in hearing Ryan Shamrock talk, click away.

(Yep, that’s Rashad Evans.)

Despite some of you suggesting that madman striker Houston Alexander should take on Chuck Liddell as a replacement for the injured Mauricio Rua — not a bad idea, and one we overlooked earlier — the UFC has gone with one of the safer options that we were expecting, booking Rashad Evans to face the Iceman. Sherdog confirmed last night that the undefeated Ultimate Fighter 2 winner will be meeting Chuck Liddell at UFC 85 on June 7th in London.

It seems like Evans was picked to fill-in because he’d be the least likely to make Liddell eat another loss. Chuck’s a banger, and if he stayed in the pocket with unpredictable brawlers like Alexander or Sokoudjou, he could easily catch a knockout punch. Thiago Silva would have been just as dangerous, as he’s a threat both standing and on the ground, and he’s won all but one of his fights by stoppage. But aside from the occasional head-kick, Rashad Evans sticks to takedowns and lay-and-pray, and it’s nothing that Chuck won’t be able to deal with. In fact, we see this one turning out a lot like UFC 82′s Arlovski/O’Brien farce.

I can’t imagine many people being psyched about this matchup. Evans has a reputation for dullness, and UFC fans aren’t going to want to see Liddell spend entire rounds on his back. And from a marketing perspective, it’ll be tough to sell — Rashad’s a much smaller name than Chuck, and there’s no personal rivalry between them. But it will give the Brits a chance to throw bottles at the man who edged out their beloved Michael Bisping in November. Let’s all hope for a quick and brutal knockout…