(Props: UFCAndersonTheSpider via IronForgesIron)

Following up our presentation of Anderson Silva vs. Chael Sonnen 1, here’s the other UFC fight where Anderson Silva looked less-than-invincible, at least momentarily. This was Silva’s third middleweight title defense, back at UFC 82 in March 2008, and Dan Henderson dominated the opening round, taking Silva down about two minutes into the fight and grinding down on him with punches for the rest of the frame. Henderson also puts a good deal of effort into covering Silva’s mouth and nose with his hand, a cheap breathing-obstruction trick that occasionally bleeds into gouging/fish-hooking territory. (Side note: Skip to the 14:07 mark, and you’ll see the rough draft of the front kick that Silva used to dummy up Vitor Belfort.)

Silva got even in the second round, brawling a bit with Hendo before letting his precision striking take over. At the 21:16 mark, Silva nails Henderson with a knee, kick, and punches that the challenger is never able to recover from. Silva gets on top of Henderson and works his jiu-jitsu until he sinks a particularly nasty rear-naked choke. After the fight, Silva takes a moment to explain that Henderson was good, but he’s no Rich Franklin. A real…class act? Anyway, the Ohio fans loved it.

After the jump: Silva’s UFC 134 title defense against Yushin Okami, which also ended violently in the second round.

This joy ride happened when Joe was in Columbus, Ohio for UFC 82. An Affliction t-shirt-wearing douche decided to heckle Rogan during his set. We’ve learned you don’t fuck with Joe in an MMA bout. And we also know you don’t fuck with Joe in a “To Catch A Predator”-style bust. This guy wasn’t aware.

(I like my ‘chino enemas with extra foam.)

For those of you unaware, the UFC had an event on Saturday – UFC 82. We’ve given you results & commentary, payouts, 7/11 encounters, Chuck-Heads, and more. And to cap off our thoroughly kick-ass coverage of it all, here are the traditional Monday-after suspensions.

The Ohio Athletic Commission has revealed that only four of the fighters from the event have been slapped with medical suspensions. Each of the fighters who got the on-hold ruling lost via KO or TKO, although no broken bones or lacerations were reported. Since, Yushin Okami has been said to have broken his hand while KOing Evan Tanner and Josh Koscheck possibly might have broken his as well while dealing Dustin Hazelett his TKO and subsequent medical suspension.

Evan Tanner pulled a 60-day suspension, while O’Brien, Hazelett and Sakara all got 30-day suspensions. Overall, pretty tame suspensions for a major MMA event.

However, the best suspension announcement was Luke Cummo’s caffeine overload suspension. Fightlinker “broke” the story early today that Luke Cummo had received a three-month suspension for having “extremely elevated caffeine levels beyond anything the commission had ever seen before.”

“Normally we don’t pay that much attention to the level of caffeine in a fighter’s blood,” said OAC commissioner Warren Petty. “But Luke Cummo’s readings were off the chart. At first we thought there must be a mistake with the test, but follow ups showed that our original findings were accurate. This guy must have been tripping balls in the Octagon.”

Oh, you had us until tripping balls, although I wouldn’t put it past the made-up OAC member, Warren Petty, to say something like that. The story went on to say 3-liter coffee enemas were to blame, but luckily MMA Weekly was johnny-on-the-spot and squashed this one – not that anyone was buying it after “tripping balls”. However, OAC executive director Bernie Profato wasn’t too happy about the hoax story and had this to say about the matter:

“I’ll be contacting the state’s Attorney General office (on Tuesday) to see what options we have in this type of matter because this is absolutely not true.”

I’m sure Zuffa will be filing suit soon as well.

(The Crippler was rewarded handsomely for his blood-loss.)

The UFC paid out a chunky $932,000 in official salaries and bonuses on Saturday night, with Anderson Silva unsurprisingly coming out the big winner. The amounts are below; these figures don’t include any undisclosed “locker room bonuses” that are often given out to headliners and other fighters who put on noteworthy performances.

Anderson Silva — $260,000 ($70,000 to show, $70,000 to win, plus $120,000 in bonuses)
Dan Henderson — $160,000 ($100,000 to show, $60,000 for Fight of the Night bonus)
Andrei Arlovski — $170,000 ($105,000 to show, $65,000 to win)
Heath Herring — $140,000 ($70,000 to show, $70,000 to win)
Chris Leben — $110,000 ($25,000 to show, $25,000 to win, $60,000 for Knockout of the Night bonus)
Jon Fitch — $60,000 ($30,000 to show, $30,000 to win)
Diego Sanchez — $60,000 ($30,000 to show, $30,000 to win)
Cheick Kongo — $30,000
Yushin Okami — $28,000 ($14,000 to show, $14,000 to win)
Evan Tanner — $25,000
Josh Koscheck — $20,000 ($10,000 to show, $10,000 to win)
Alessio Sakara — $17,000
Luigi Fioravanti — $16,000 ($8,000 to show, $8,000 to win)
Luke Cummo — $16,000
Jorge Gurgel — $14,000 ($7,000 to show, $7,000 to win)
Dustin Hazelett — $12,000
Chris Wilson — $12,000
Jake O’Brien — $11,000
David Bielkheden — $8,000
John Halverson — $3,000

Underpaid: Josh Koscheck, who is still finishing out the indentured servitude of his Ultimate Fighter contract.
Overpaid: Luke Cummo, who didn’t do much that resembled work during his 15 minute grabass with Luigi Fioravanti.

(Props: MMA Mania)

Josh Koscheck vs. Dustin Hazelett, the best fight of the undercard. Awesome exchanges in the beginning, explosive finish at the end.

Andrei Arlovski vs. Jake O’Brien. Feel free to skip past the entire first round.

More fights after the jump…

Anderson Silva left the Nationwide Arena on Saturday night with the bank account of a champion, pulling in $120,000 in bonuses on top of his usual salary and win bonus (which were $60,000 each for his previous title defense at UFC 77). As announced in a press conference following the event, the UFC distributed its customary end-of-night bonuses like this:

Fight of the Night: $60,000 each for Anderson Silva and Dan Henderson.

Submission of the Night: $60,000 for Anderson Silva. It was the night’s only submission, unless you count the tapout-by-strikes that Diego Sanchez scored at the expense of David Bielkheden.

Knockout of the Night: $60,000 for Chris Leben.

So, another 1-for-3 performance on our bonus predictions, though we did call Arlovski for a KO/TKO in the second round. And Diego did technically win by submission. You know, I think we’ll just start predicting the outcomes from now on; we’d sound a lot smarter that way.

Take a look before it’s pulled…

– Watch More Funny Videos

Oh this? It’s just me hangin’ out at a 7/11 on the OSU campus in Columbus with my buddy, UFC welterweight champion Matt Serra. Pretty average Saturday night, really.

Alright, let me explain. You want the long version? Good.

The hierarchy of hatred in Columbus, Ohio, seems to go like this:

1) The University of Michigan, particularly its football team and its mascot, the wolverine.
2) New Yorkers.
3) All other non-Ohio residents.

As a U of Michigan grad who’s lived in New York for the last 5+ years, I could feel their eyes as soon as I stopped into Tommy’s Pizza to take a piss. It wasn’t paranoia; they knew. I got a sense of what it must feel like for a Crip to walk through a Blood neighborhood. That’s both an apt metaphor and a totally lazy one, as most people on the Ohio State campus — where I booked my hotel, mainly out of curiosity — were flying Blood-like colors yesterday. Literally everyone under the age of 25 and over the age of 50 was decked out in Ohio State sweatshirts, jackets, hats, whatever. It turns out that the Ohio State Wrestling Championships were that weekend — fitting, since former OSU wrestling champ Mark Coleman was going to be inducted in the UFC’s Hall of Fame that night — and the sporting types of Columbus were showing their support. So here I come into Tommy’s with my black pea-coat and reptilian loafers (already I was thinking afterparty), and my big Jew nose, reeking of Ann Arbor pheromones. Forks hits plates, a record scratched.

(Arlovski climbs the cage after vanquishing the evil forces of Lay ‘n Pray. Photo courtesy of my Canon Powershot.)

Andre Arlovski def. Jake O’Brien via ground-and-pound TKO at 4:17 of round 2
It’s hard to describe how cathartic it was to see Andrei Arlovski triumph over the excrutiatingly dull, cheap-suit-like wrestling-tactics of Jake O’Brien. In the first round, O’Brien shot in for takedown attempt after takedown attempt, and Andrei sprawled on all of them. It didn’t matter that O’Brien’s success rate was nearly zero; he was going to stick with his one attack, come hell or high water, booing fans be damned, because if the match went three rounds, he’d probably pick up the decision. But in the second round, Arlovski was able to take O’Brien to the mat and started droppin’ fists. O’Brien had no answer, the fight was stopped, and O’Brien took his first much-needed loss. Arlovski’s back, baby — just in time to leave the UFC over contract squabbles.

Luigi Fiorvanti def. Luke Cummo via unanimous decision
Luigi threw the “Silent Assassin” all over the cage for three agonizing rounds. There really isn’t much to say about this one except that Cummo looked like shit. I don’t even mean his performance, I’m talking about his physical appearance. Living off a diet of bark and urine doesn’t seem to contribute to an impressive physique or healthy skin tone.

Josh Koscheck def. Dustin Hazelett via TKO (head kick, punches on ground) at 1:24 of round 2
This one was the best fight of the undercard, easy. Hazelett rocked Koscheck with a punch early, which freaked Kos out enough for him to start throwing wild haymakers. After the opening brawl, Kos shot in for a takedown, and Hazelett sunk in a guillatine choke that nearly ended the match. Kos shook out of it and found himself in a traingle choke instead. Luckily, the bell rang. Koscheck turned it on the second, catching Hazelett with a thunderous head kick that sent him (both of them, actually) to the mat. Kos went in for the kill with punches from the top and it was all over.

Diego Sanchez submits David Bielkheden via strikes at 4:43 of round 1
Sanchez shot in for a takedown right after the opening bell, and never gave Bielkheden a chance to breathe. He worked some strikes from the top position until he scored full mount and started jackhammer-punching him in the face. Bielkheden didn’t wait around for the ref to stop the action and tapped out from the abuse. For that, he earned CagePotato’s Bitch of the Night bonus ($5).

Jorge Gurgel def. John Halverson via unanimous decision
Gurgel had Halvorson on his back eating leather more than once, but couldn’t find a way to finish him. Still, the Ohio crowd cheered hard for their homeboy through the match and showed mad love after his hand was raised. “Ohio is my family,” he said. Awww!

Guest Liveblogger Ben Fowlkes of The Fighting Life here, all set and ready to go for UFC 82. I’m looking forward to a good night of fights, which I’m warming up for by watching Dana White swear through the countdown show. I wouldn’t want it any other way.

Click the “MORE” link and refresh the page every few minutes for round-by-round updates.

(Rampage, Randy, Hendo, and Trigg at the day job.)

— On the BetUS Radio show, Damon and I debated which news story was bigger: Kimbo Slice on CBS or Spuds McKenzie on the center of the Octagon.

— Bob Sapp defended his crown as the worst pound-for-pound fighter in MMA history.

— Joe Riggs busted his back and played a piss-prank on a paraplegic.

— A simple, innocent video list on illegal knockouts turned into a total fucking fiasco. In retrospect, we should have replaced Huerta/Halvorsen with Herring/Nakao/”I’m not gay.” Commenter Matt Tatt sincerely hoped we die for publishing such an inaccurate feature. Sounds like my last editor!

— Taking a last-minute fight against Jon Fitch at a reduced pay rate? Chris Wilson is crazy like a fox.

— During our UFC 82 preview coverage, we explained why Anderson Silva is still going to be the champion on Sunday morning, wondered if Josh Koscheck’s Octagon days are numbered, and took wild guesses at who’ll be walking around with a little more spending money.

— We saluted MMA’s style pioneers.

— Bill Goldberg currently leads Mike Goldberg 62% to 38% in our current poll on which Goldberg should never be allowed near a microphone again.

Don’t forget to watch the IFL’s season opener tonight, and come back here tomorrow night at 10 p.m. for our rip-roarin’ UFC 82 liveblog. Our prediction? PAIN.

(Andrei Arlovski could be one paid motherfucker tomorrow.)

Our monthly roundup in which we express fight predictions via the UFC’s customary “Of the Night” payouts. Last time didn’t go so hot, but we have a good feeling about UFC 82. Again, here’s the lineup:

MAIN CARD
Anderson Silva vs. Dan Henderson
Heath Herring vs. Cheick Kongo
Chris Leben vs. Alessio Sakara
Yushin Okami vs. Evan Tanner
Jon Fitch vs. Chris Wilson

PRELIMINARY CARD
Andrei Arlovski vs. Jake O’Brien
Luke Cummo vs. Luigi Fioravanti
Josh Koscheck vs. Dustin Hazelett
Diego Sanchez vs. David Bielkheden
Jorge Gurgel vs. John Halverson

Fight of the Night: How could it not be Silva vs. Henderson? It’s rare that the Octagon hosts this much combined talent. We see this one going into the championship rounds, with both men pounding the hell out of each other along the way. As you know, we’re leaning toward Silva.

Knockout of the Night: Andrei Arlovski. Other MMA pundits have said that the undefeated O’Brien will grind his way to a lay-and-pray victory, but Arlovski is coming into this fight with the combined rage of 10,000 insulted Soviets, and he’ll be looking to prove that undercards are beneath him. There’s a chance this could be his last fight for the UFC, so putting an exclamation point at the end of his Octagon career would be a priority; we’ll say KO/TKO, round 2. Dark horse: Jon Fitch. His fight against Chris Wilson may look like a mismatch, but Wilson’s ground skills are underrated. Still, we see Fitch putting Wilson out on his feet early.

Submission of the Night: Josh Koscheck. Speaking of mismatches…Koscheck’s recent performances haven’t been awe-inspiring, and he knows he needs a dramatic win against the gift-wrapped Dustin Hazelett, who’s never faced an opponent as skilled as Kos; it’s looking like a first-round armbar. Dark horse: Sanchez over Bielkheden. Same deal as with Koscheck — Bielkheden is being brought in for his UFC debut to build Sanchez’s confidence, and on paper, Sanchez’s ground game scores much higher. But if Ali Sonoma is still fucking with his concentration, we’ll stop short of saying this is a guaranteed win for Nightmare…

See it differently? Let us know in the comments…

MMA Betting Blog has the odds for Saturday’s UFC 82, and breaks down a few of the match-ups here. Their current numbers for the main card (favorites followed by underdogs) are:

Anderson Silva (-150) vs. Dan Henderson (+120)
Cheick Kongo (-175) vs. Heath Herring (+145)
Chris Leben (-165) vs. Alessio Sakara (+135)
Yushin Okami (-220) vs. Evan Tanner (+170)
Jon Fitch (-550) vs. Chris Wilson (+350)

I’ve flip-flopped on my prediction for the main event, which is one of the most evenly matched and toughest-to-call in UFC history. At first, I bought into the oft-repeated line of “Silva’s never faced as good of a wrestler as Henderson.” Which is absolutely true, but now I don’t think that will be the deciding factor in the fight. For me, it comes down to this: Which will each man’s strategy be, and how likely is the success of that strategy?

We’re starting to feel the UFC 82 adrenaline building and it’ll certainly be hitting on all cylinders by this Saturday. Check out these vids from ESPN of the two headliners dishing about their battle.

Anderson Silva doesn’t believe Dan Henderson is his toughest challenge.

Dan Henderson talking the style match-up and why he believes he will beat Anderson Silva.

With “Pride of a Champion” only five days away, it’s time to get in that Octagon mood again. To that end…

Dangerous Dan Henderson talks about his upcoming matchup with Anderson Silva and what he learned from his loss to Quentin Jackson:

(Parts 2-4 to this interview can be found here.)

Our platonic girl-buddy Joanne from the MMA Girls gives her rundown of 82′s fights. She’s calling it for Dan Henderson in a decision over Anderson Silva (partially on the basis of his clothing company’s name), Alessio Sakara over Chris Leben (based on women’s intuition), and Evan Tanner over Yushin Okami, but advises you not to bet money on her predictions.

— A new MMA rankings site called MMA Hitlist breaks down Pride of a Champion based on something called “Fighter Value.” According to their calculations, Anderson Silva will destroy Dan Henderson, while Koscheck and Arlovski will just barely come away with victories.

— “UFC 82 Countdown: Silva vs. Henderson” debuts tonight at 11 p.m. on SpikeTV, with replays next Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday. Or, you could just spring for DVR service like a civilized person.

— I’ll be flying out to Columbus on Saturday to attend the show. If you’ll be there too and you know of any afterparties with free booze, be a doll and let us know.

Someone just mentioned it’s President’s Day – which is cool, I guess. So in honor of the day, here’s some news.

— The Dayton Daily News is confirming what we all suspected: That a light heavy fight between Keith Jardine and Wanderlei Silva at UFC 82 will not be happening. The show is set for March 1st in Columbus, Ohio. The rumors for this match were given more fuel when ads for UFC 82 shown on Versus during WEC 32 straight-up promised that Jardine was going to be there. An editing snafu is being blamed, but the fight could happen this year. The DDN is saying a source close to Jardine has confirmed the fight is in the works and could go down this summer – MMA Junkie is saying UFC 84 could be the card for this fight.

— Chuck Liddell believes he’ll smoke Mauricio “Shogun” Rua during their fight on June 7th. And “The Iceman” also believes he should be fighting Rampage for the title…like NOW. Chuck had this to say to Brawl Sports:

According to The Fight Network, Patrick Cote is out at UFC 83. It was just days ago that Cote’s involvement in the event was being reported in a match-up against Alan Belcher. Now Cote is being forced not to take the fight due to injury. MMA Mania is quoting Cote’s manager, Stephane Patry, on the matter:

“We were still talking [to the UFC] about an opponent when Patrick fell on the ice. He went for the MRI, and the doctor told him it’s sprained and he can’t train for four to six weeks – so he won’t be available to fight [in April]… We were not going to take that fight [with Belcher] anyway. It wouldn’t make sense.”

Snap! Patry say no-makey-sense. Whatever, we move on. On to Jason “Dooms” Day that is. Day has signed a multi-fight deal with the UFC and his virgin fight with them will now be against Belcher at UFC 83 on April 19th. Middleweight Day is 15-5 and 14-2 in his last 16. His split decision win at HCF: Destiny on February 1st over former UFC 185-pounder David Loiseau probably boosted him to his own UFC signing.

Belcher is 12-4 and will be going for his third win in a row. Not many of his fights go to decision, so he’ll look to wrap the win up early.

And in other news:

-Remember THQ? No, it’s not the miracle tablet that makes you go all smiles for the better part of a cab ride, but the video game maker that’s been working on the UFC’s new video game. The game will be revealed in a ‘to date’ format at UFC 84, which is slated for Saturday, May 24th. MMA Junkie is saying the company made the teasing comments during a financial/stockholder conference call.

THQ’s five-year contract gives them the rights to UFC games until the end of 2011 for all console and portable platforms, and wireless formats. A street date should also be revealed at UFC 84, and maybe even the official name of the game. It’s been referenced as “UFC 2009″ and “Ultimate Fighting Championship 2009″ so far. So get your thumbs loosened up and tell your mom to slide your TV dinners under the basement door. There’s games to be had.

-The Dayton Daily News is reporting that tickets for UFC 82 are going fast and about 10,000 have already been snatched up. The UFC expects a sell-out, of course. Last year, the Nationwide Arena in Colombus, Ohio hosted UFC 68 where it set a UFC attendance record with 19,049. It’s own venue record could go down on March 1st.

(Chris Leben, not on his best day.)

Andrei Arlovski? Undercard!

Josh Koscheck? Undercard!

Diego Sanchez? Undercard!

Chris Leben and Alessio Sakara? MAIN CARD!

That’s right! The UFC has officially added a middleweight bout between Chris Leben and Alessio Sakara to next month’s “Pride of a Champion” event — which is all good, but due to a lapse in judgement, it has been slated for the main card, and the scheduled fight between Diego Sanchez and David Bielkheden has been dropped to the prelims. (The full UFC 82 card, as it stands now, can be seen here).

We already know why Arlovski is being given a potentially untelevised undercard match, and we’d love to know what Diego Sanchez and Josh Koscheck did to deserve their dark-card status. We can’t help but see the main-card placement of Leben/Sakara — both of whom are 2-2 in their last four UFC fights and not particularly popular among fans — as a clear message that Sanchez and Koscheck are no longer in favor. Have they been bitching about money lately too? Does Dana White blame Sanchez for driving away Ali Sonoma? Did the UFC realize that Josh Koscheck’s hair gives people nightmares? Maybe if Leben and Sakara were hometown boys it would make more sense, but Hawaii and Italy are a long way off from Columbus.

To be honest, we get why any fighter who drops two in a row (a la Sanchez) might need to do a little penance, but Koscheck is coming off his first loss in six fights — against GSP, no less — and that doesn’t make him less of a draw than Chris freakin’ Leben. So yeah, mighty suspicious. We’ll do some digging and let you know what we come up with.

(GSP, comin’ atcha.)

According to MMA Mania, the UFC’s April 19th card in Montreal — which we’ve been referring to as UFC 84 up to this point — has been re-numbered as UFC 83 in light of the March 8th/Manchester event being scrapped. The Montreal event will still feature the welterweight championship fight between Matt Serra and Georges St. Pierre, and is rumored to feature Mauricio “Shogun” Rua, Rich Franklin, and Mac Danzig as well. Although UFC 83 isn’t yet listed on the UFC’s Ticketmaster page, the word is that tickets will be made available to UFC Fight Club members this Sunday (2/3), to newsletter subscribers on 2/6, and to the general public on 2/8. If you’re planning on going, please be a doll and bring us back some cheap prescription meds.

Additional note: According to the blog on George St. Pierre’s official site, the UFC will be holding a press conference on Monday to make a formal announcement about UFC 83, and St. Pierre will participate. Rush’s blog also tells us that he had a great time at the Affliction commercial shoot with “Rampage Jackson and Dave Mustang from Megadeth.”

(Yushin Okami after wrecking Rory Singer.)

Although we reported earlier that a matchup between middleweight contender Yushin Okami and UFC prodigal son Evan Tanner would go down at UFC 84, various reports have confirmed that the fight has been booked for the main card of UFC 82: “Pride of a Champion” instead. Scheduled for March 1st in Columbus, Ohio, “PoaC” is already so stacked that big names like Diego Sanchez, Josh Koscheck, and Andrei Arlovski may wind up on the untelevised undercard. (Sticking Arlovski on the undercard would be more out of punishment than necessity, but that’s another story.)

Clearly destined for UFC 82′s undercard is a fight between Chris Leben and Alessio Sakara, which was confirmed today by Sam Caplan. Chris Leben is best known for urinating on Jason Thacker’s bed during the first season of The Ultimate Fighter, losing to Josh Koscheck and Kenny Florian on the show, and getting destroyed by Anderson Silva in the Spider’s UFC debut. His last match was a knockout win over Terry Martin at UFC Fight Night 11 last September. Sakara’s last fight was nine days ago at UFC 80, where he beat down James Lee in the first round, and this will be his first fight as a middleweight. (Ed. note: Dropping a weight class with only a month and a half between fights? Hmm.) We’re not sold on either of these guys, but putting two relatively unskilled fighters against each other often results in a “Knockout of the Night,” so we’ll reserve our bitterness for now.

On a related note, MMA Fightline is floating a rumor that UFC 83 — which was originally scheduled to go down March 8th in Manchester, England, before other reports began to claim that it would be held elsewhere — has been canceled altogether. Though it always seemed strange that the UFC would hold two major events only a week apart, no official reason for the cancellation has been announced yet. If this report turns out to be true, scheduled fights between Michael Bisping and Charles McCarthy, and Houston Alexander vs. James Irvin would be moved to other UFC events. You’ll know more when we do.

(Diego Sanchez, auto-erotic-asphyxiating.)

Though he announced earlier that he’d be taking on Roan Carneiro at UFC 82: “Pride of a Champion,” TUF 1 winner Diego Sanchez sent out a new MySpace bulletin this morning saying that he’ll actually be facing David “The Scandinavian Lion” Bielkheden, a 12-5 Swede who will be making his UFC debut. No reason for the switch was given. We don’t know much about Bielkheden, but judging from this highlight video, the dude’s a strong wrestler who knows his way around a ground-and-pound:

In other UFC 82 news, Sherdog reports that Team Quest welterweight and IFL vet Chris Wilson has agreed to face Jon Fitch, replacing Akihiro Gono who’s out with a broken hand. It would be the first UFC fight for Wilson, who has beaten his last four opponents, including IFL standouts Jay Hieron and Rory Markham. Unfortunately, facing Wilson is one of those “nothing to gain, everything to lose” situations for Fitch. We’re confident that Fitch will keep his perfect UFC record intact, but a win wouldn’t move him any higher in the welterweight rankings and a loss could significantly delay his much-deserved title shot.

Also — and my God this card is getting stacked — Josh Koscheck and Dustin Hazelett have agreed to face each other at “Pride of a Champion.” Koscheck is coming off a disappointing decision loss to Georges St. Pierre in August of last year, but he will likely dominate Hazelett, whose last fight was a submission victory over Jonathan Goulet at UFC Fight Night 11 in September.

According to a report on Knockout Radio, Mark "The Hammer" Coleman may be inducted into the UFC’s Hall of Fame at "Pride of a Champion" on March 1st in Columbus, OH. He would be just the fifth Hall of Fame inductee, after Royce Gracie, Dan Severn, Ken Shamrock, and Randy Couture.

Generally credited with inventing "ground-and pound," former Olympic wrestler Mark Coleman began his MMA career in fearsome fashion, winning UFC 10‘s eight-man tournament via first-round stoppages of Moti Horenstein, Gary Goodridge, and Don Frye; winning UFC 11‘s tournament with quick submissions of Julian Sanchez and Brian Johnston; and becoming the UFC’s first-ever heavyweight champion by submitting Dan Severn at UFC 12. Though he lost his next four matches, he later became PRIDE’s first Grand Prix champion when he beat Akira Shoji by decision, won a default victory over Kazuyuki Fujita, and pounded out Igor Vovchanchyn in the same night (5/1/00).

Coleman fights less often now, but he hasn’t retired yet; his last match was a submission loss to Fedor Emelianenko at PRIDE 32 in October 2006, and he currently enjoys popularity as a professional wrestler in Japan. Hopefully this will get the wheels on the UFC’s Hall of Fame train rolling a little faster. If Coleman and Couture can be members, surely Don Frye and Matt Hughes can get a little love. Unfortunately, Chuck Liddell’s birthday will be a national holiday before Tito Ortiz gets the honor…

(Props: MMA Mania)

(“Thess! Ezz! SPARTA!!!”)

With UFC events popping up at an alarming rate, matchmaker Joe Silva has been working overtime to fill the cards with talent. We can barely keep up with the announcements and rumors that have surfaced in the last few days, but here’s the important stuff:

— Poppin’ off in Columbus on March 1st, UFC 82: “Pride of a Champion” will reportedly feature the return of Andre Arlovski, who has been in a contract dispute with the UFC since his decision win over Fabricio Werdum in April 2007. His opponent is likely to be Jake O’Brien, a 10-0 heavyweight known for his dull decision victories. Also scheduled to be on “PoaC” card is Diego Sanchez — who won 17 straight fights before dropping his last two to Josh Koscheck and Jon Fitch — taking on 12-6 Brazilian Roan Carneiro, in a fight tailor-made to get him moving up the welterweight ladder again. No more Sonoma, no more excuses.

— Speaking of Fabricio Werdum, the Chute Boxe brawler has parlayed his one-fight win streak into a title shot. Dana White has confirmed that Werdum will face the winner of UFC 81′s Tim Sylvia/Minotauro Nogueira match for the interim heavyweight title, assuming that Randy Couture turns the fight down. The sad part about this situation is how logical it is. Even though Werdum has looked very underwhelming in his two UFC fights, the only other UFC heavyweights who are equally qualified to challenge the belt are Cheick Kongo (and that’s if he beats Heath Herring in March) and Andrei Arlovski (and God help me if I have to sit through a fourth fight between the Pitbull and the Maine-iac). The Octagon’s remaining heavyweights are all either too inexperienced or are coming off losses. To that end, the UFC is wisely looking toward signing new 206+ talent, and have just picked up 8-0 prospect Shane Carwin, who has dominated competition in regional promotions like Art of War and Ring of Fire. Carwin has previously fought as a super-heavyweight but will drop to 265 for the UFC.

(Gono won’t be doing the ‘airplane’ at UFC 82.)

As UFC 80 was the focus of the MMA world this weekend, UFC 81 & 82 saw some adjustments to their cards. On Friday, Akihiro Gono announced on his personal blog that a hand injury is forcing him out of UFC 82 against Jon Fitch. Here’s the message (unedited):

I have a pain in my righthand from November(UFC debut fight)
So I could not train enough
I wondered it,Doctor checked my hand again,and This condition was so bad,
Doctor ordered me to stop fight and all training.
And operation is done. maybe in Junuary
I am verry sorry,my fans and John Fitch……..
I will annnounce operation schedule and come back time

Gono, an eccentric welterweight, debuted for the UFC back in November when he beat Tamdam McCrory via a second round submission. It is not clear who will replace him against Fitch since many of the top welterweights in the division have fights already booked or have fought too recently to accept another so soon.

In an announcement that almost makes up for how weak “Validation” was, former PRIDE champ / current UFC contender Dan Henderson has decided to drop down a weight division and face Anderson Silva for the UFC’s middleweight title; the long-rumored fight will be the main event of UFC 82, which goes down March 1st at Columbus, Ohio’s Nationwide Arena.

Henderson’s last fight (and first UFC fight in nine years) was a unanimous decision loss to light-heavyweight champ Quinton Jackson. According to Henderson, “Dana wanted me to drop down to 185 pounds, so I’ll have a few fights in that division but I think I’ll eventually get back up to 205.”