Minneapolis

You may have noticed Matt Hughes sitting Octagon-side at UFC 87. At least, that's where he was for most of the night. Turns out he didn't make it all the way through the evening, and you can probably guess why. From Matt Hughes' blog:

I went there really to watch one fight, probably not the one you’re expecting. I went there to watch Brock Lesnar. He is so interesting because he is so athletic as well as being so powerful. So that fight went just like I thought it would, Brock took him down whenever he wanted and on the ground he did whatever he wanted. I was also there watching my buddy, Roger, but he didn’t quite look the same. I don’t think him or Kenny fought their best fight on Saturday. Roger looked to have done a few things different and I would say that he needs to go back to what he was doing before.

The last fight of the night was Georges and Fitch. Georges didn’t look as big as he has before and he seemed like he had gotten tired from the first round. Fitch had the game plan of countering Georges and you just can’t do that. You can’t counter a quicker fighter. To be honest, halfway in the third round I got up and walked out of the arena and went to my hotel. The fight wasn’t the most exciting and I wanted to get out of there before everyone else was getting up to leave.

I'm sure Hughes' decision to walk out of GSP's first successful title defense halfway through had everything to do with the quality of the fight and not his personal feelings about St. Pierre. Yes, the GSP-Fitch fight did win "Fight of the Night", but hey, if you stay all the way until the end you're going to have a hell of a time getting back to your hotel. You're also going to have to hear the words, "...and still UFC welterweight champion" and know they aren't talking about you. You can decide for yourself which of those two things played a greater role in Hughes' decision to walk out.

In the interest of finishing what we've started in regards to this whole Dana White UFC 87 video blog business, here's the closing entry. We get to see some of White's fight night routine, which includes a fair amount of smokin' and jokin' (no actual smoking occurs) backstage with Rampage Jackson. We also hear once more about White's enthusiasm for the city of Minneapolis, also known as "no bullshit, America's best-kept secret." And here I thought our best-kept secret was The Trail of Tears.

In case you're sitting there all weepy-eyed over this little experiment in "vlogging" having come to an end, have no fear. Dana White vows that they're going to start doing this before every event. Looks like someone has been won over by the power of the internets.

(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.

(Lesnar socks Frank Mir with one of his XXXXL gloves at UFC 81.)

The UFC released an official statement late last night on UFC.com announcing that the heavyweight fight between ex-WWE star Brock Lesnar and UFC Hall-of-Famer Mark Coleman will be the official headlining match for UFC 87, which has been dubbed "Seek and Destroy." UFC 87 will take place August 9th at the Target Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota; tickets go on sale next Sunday at noon CT. Considering that Lesnar and Roger Huerta (who will face Kenny Florian in a #1 lightweight contender eliminator match on the same card) are both based in the Minneapolis area, you should expect those tickets to sell out fast. But hey, there's always the UFC's official bloodsucking scalpers "fan to fan ticket marketplace" StubHub.

Coleman expressed excitement at his matchup with Brock Lesnar and his return to the Octagon, but it doesn't sound like the Hammer's game plan is to outwrestle the 265-pound dick-tatooed beast. "I'll be up against a bigger, stronger wrestler for the first time, and they know this fight will be extremely intense from the start," Coleman said. "But I didn't take this fight to lose, I expect to win and win by knockout." Said Lesnar: "It's an honor to get a chance to fight Coleman, he's a legend and he's made history fighting all over the world. I know he is going to come into this fight in great condition, looking to re-establish himself as a top contender in the UFC. It's going to be a challenge, and I'm looking forward to it."