Tyson Griffin

(Props: The Sun)

The UFC is reportedly making its first visit to Virginia for UFC Fight Night 20 (January 11th; Fairfax), and the lineup is starting to come together. Here's what we're hearing:

— Josh Koscheck (13-4), fresh off his first-round TKO over Frank Trigg at UFC 103, will be taking on Mike Pierce (9-1), who most recently scored a big upset over Brock Larson in his Octagon debut at UFC Fight Night 19. Koscheck is under the impression that he'll be getting Georges St. Pierre soon, though he's probably still in line after his teammate Mike Swick.

— TUF 8 winner Efrain Escudero (12-0) and Nik Lentz (17-3-1) have agreed to meet each other in a lightweight bout. Escudero's last win was a first-round TKO over Cole Miller at UFC 103, while Lentz defeated Rafaello Oliveira by decision at the same event. Not exactly a step up the ladder for Escudero, but the UFC has a way of building up their TUF winners slowly.

('Yes, now finish him you fool.  Finish him!  Mwahahahaha!' Photo courtesy of UFC.com)

The Canadian no-accounts over at Fightlinker went looking through the UFC's Fight Night photo gallery and found some pretty interesting shots, like this one of matchmaker Joe Silva getting all riled up about Rafael Dos Anjos' weirdo thigh compression move on Tyson Griffin.  We've previously taken note of Silva's tendency to lose his freaking mind when somebody does something cool, and we love to see a man with this kind of fire in the belly, but what do you think is going on with him here?  Is that the look of a man who is pumped up about the chance for a crazy upset, or a man who just realized that he forgot to close the garage door when he left home.  Oh God, the cats will get out!!!!

(Carlos Condit vs. Martin Kampmann)

Last night's "Condit vs. Kampmann" card brought in a live gate of $626,077, thanks to its 10,267 spectators — which made it the most well-attended Fight Night show in UFC history. $120,000 was re-distributed to the fighters in the form of $30,000 end-of-night bonuses. Taking home the extra cash were...

Fight of the Night: Tyson Griffin and Rafael Dos Anjos, as mentioned earlier. Don't ask us why their sloppy slugfest got the nod over the technical back-and-forth battle of the main event.

Knockout of the Night: Aaron Simpson's first-round stoppage of Tim McKenzie in the night's opening bout turned out to be the only TKO on the card, so he scored the bonus by default.

Submission of the Night: Rob Kimmons earned the bump with his first-round guillotine choke victory over Joe Vedepo, which put Vedepo to sleep for the second time in his short UFC career. It was nice knowing you, buddy.

More videos from the main card after the jump...

(Being around all these skinny guys just made Dana want to gorge on buffalo wings even more. Photo courtesy of this set on CombatLifestyle.)

One of the many advantages of living on the East Coast is that these UFC Fight Night thingies are actually broadcast live for us. That may not be the case for some of you in the "flyover states," so check your local listings and maybe come back later if you want to avoid all spoilers. When you're ready, hit that "Read More" link and refresh the page every few minutes for live updates from the Sommet Center in Nashville. Are you ready to see some local refs ruin some fights? Then let's DO this!

(The Sandman lands a superman-punch en route to his record-tying eight-second KO of Houston Alexander at UFC Fight Night 13 in April. Photo courtesy of NBCSports.)

MMA Mania reports that James Irvin — who was handed a nine-month suspension for testing positive for Methadone and Oxymorphone following his TKO loss to Anderson Silva last July — will be making his Octagon return at UFC 98 (May 23rd, Las Vegas). It will be his first fight at middleweight, as Irvin will be shedding 20 pounds from his jacked frame to face Miletich fighter Drew McFedries, who's coming off consecutive losses to Mike Massenzio and Thales Leites. 

Since neither fighter has a winning record in the UFC — Irvin is 4-4 and McFedries is 3-4 —the loser could find himself without a contract after this one. What's more, Irvin's health could be a question; besides the sizable weight cut, Irvin was recovering from a broken foot during the Anderson Silva fight (which is why he was taking those potent painkillers in the first place), and was the victim of a bizarre knee injury during his fight against Thiago Silva in May 2007. UFC 98 will be headlined by the long-awaited grudge match between Matt Hughes and Matt Serra. 

In other UFC fight-booking news...

— Tyson Griffin will be looking to rebound from his October loss to Sean Sherk when he takes on Rafael Dos Anjos at UFC Fight Night 18 (April 1st, Nashville). Griffin has been successful five times in seven UFC appearances, though his last six bouts have gone to decision. Dos Anjos is the Brazilian Fury FC/Pancrase vet who was on the receiving end of the fifth greatest knockout of 2008 during his unfortunate UFC debut in November. 

— Marcus Davis believes that Thiago Alves's next opponent will be Mike Swick, though there's been no official confirmation yet from the UFC. Davis has lost unanimous decisions to both fighters during his career, and wants revenge.

UPDATE: Also, TUF 8 losers Dave Kaplan and George Roop are throwing down at UFC 98.