Paul Taylor

("Another mid-level opponent who doesn't put me any closer to a title shot? Sweet!")

— Well, at least the UFC hasn't completely forgotten about Yushin Okami. The perennial top middleweight contender, who has won his last three fights against Jason MacDonald, Evan Tanner, and most recently Dean Lister in December, will reportedly be back in action at UFC 98 (May 23rd, Las Vegas) against Dan Miller. In his last 10 fights, Miller has gone 9-0 with one no-contest, and has been undefeated in the Octagon, picking up wins against Rob Kimmons, Matt Horwich, and Jake Rosholt. An impressive win for Okami would further cement his case for a title shot, though we get the feeling that "Thunder" would have to rack up a few consecutive wins by stoppage before the UFC finally gives him a chance. With Serra/Hughes now official, the UFC 98 card is lookin' stacked.

— Exciting welterweight rising star Anthony Johnson and impressive prospect John Howard have agreed to meet at the TUF 9 finale in June. Johnson is riding a two-fight win streak after his first-round TKO over Luigi Fioravanti at last month's UFC Fight Night 17, and his highlight-reel head-kick KO of Kevin "Pokey" Burns at the TUF 8 finale in December. A veteran of the IFL and various regional MMA leagues in the East Coast, Howard made his Octagon debut at UFC 94, winning a split decision against Chris Wilson and taking home one of the event's Fight of the Night bonuses.

(Mo' money, mo' unfulfilled expectations.)

You can't say Dana White didn't warn Brandon Vera. His comments before UFC 89 suggested that it was time for "The Truth" to justify his high price tag. He didn't, and so White is turning up the heat on him with remarks like these:

“I’m not seeing what I expected from Brandon Vera. It’s like he’s lost something. He doesn’t have that killer instinct since he took that year off. He doesn’t go after people. He used to be so cocky. He wanted to fight everybody.

“We tried to get him on one of the seasons of The Ultimate Fighter and he turned that down and said he wanted to fight Chuck Liddell and that he would knock him out. I hear that seven days a week so I told him to go on TUF and we’d find out how good he was.

“He was good. He used to walk through heavyweights earlier in his career. But he took a year off and we had all the issues with his contract and he hasn’t been the same since. I don’t know what’s wrong with him.”

It's not exactly shocking to hear Dana White go after a guy who held him over the coals in contract negotiations and has since failed to live up to expectations. In a way, it seems justified. The UFC agreed to his six-figure demands based on his past performances and what they saw as his future potential. Lately he's looked like a bad investment.

But being badmouthed in public by your boss, both before and after the fight, that's got to sting. Especially when he goes on to compare you unfavorably to other guys who lost on the same night:

Props to TheSun, Sherdog, MMAWeekly, and UFC.com. If you missed Saturday's liveblog, click here.

(Lytle vs. Taylor)

The UFC released its customary end-of-night bonuses for yesterday's event in Birmingham. $40,000 bumps went to the following fighters:

Fight of the Night: Chris Lytle and Paul Taylor for their three-round throwdown, which was even brawlier than the main event.

Knockout of the Night: Luis Cane for his TKO-via-punches victory over Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou.

Submission of the Night: As Fowlkes predicted, Jim Miller gets it for tapping David Baron via Millerplata — which is just a fancy name for a rear-naked-choke.

More vids after the jump...

(Silva and Machida: Someone's "0" has gotta go.)

The UFC has just announced that light-heavyweight technician Lyoto Machida (13-0) will face another undefeated Brazilian — Thiago Silva (13-0) — in a bout at UFC 89 (October 18th; Birmingham, England). Well known as a patient counter-striker, Machida will have his hands full with one of the most aggressive fighters in the league. Silva, who's coming off a first-round TKO victory over Antonio Mendes at UFC 84 in May, owns nine wins by first-round stoppage and has only been to a decision once in his life — a marked contrast to Machida, who just picked up the eighth decision win of his career with his handling of Tito Ortiz, also at UFC 84.

Last month, we speculated that "the UFC will eventually have to throw one of the Silvas at Machida, because it seems that only a hyper-aggro fighter who’d be willing to literally chase Machida around the cage (and absorb some damage in the process) would stand a chance of beating him." The Machida/Silva matchup represents the pairing of two men whose styles are complete opposites, and it'll be interesting to see who can better execute their gameplan. No matter what the outcome, the winner will unquestionably prove that he's ready for a title shot. Any early predictions?

In other UFC 89-related news, the UFC has re-signed Chris Lytle (25-16-5, 4-8 UFC) to a four-fight contract extension, with his first match being in Birmingham against Brit Paul Taylor (9-3-1, 2-2 UFC). I'd think that a four-fight extension is a little generous for someone who already has twice as many losses in the Octagon than wins. But hey, the fans want blood, and Lytle gives it to 'em in pints...