Jason MacDonald

(You know it's a meaningless fight when the promoter starts nodding off. Photo courtesy of Sherdog.)

If you like to keep tabs on the careers of UFC washouts, tonight's "Maximum Fighting Championship 22: Payoff" show in Edmonton is a great opportunity to see a bunch of them in action. Headlining the event will be a middleweight clash between submission specialists Jason MacDonald (21-12, fired from the UFC earlier this year after back-to-back losses to Wilson Gouveia and Nate Quarry) and Travis Lutter (9-5, fired from the UFC last year after back-to-back losses to Anderson Silva and Rich Franklin). It will be Lutter's first fight since the Fraklin match, which took place nearly 18 months ago.

Also on the card, welterweight veteran John Alessio (25-13, 0-3 in the UFC) takes on Luigi Fioravanti (15-5, fired from the UFC after his loss to Anthony Johnson in February), while light-heavyweight David Heath (13-5, axed by the UFC after three straight losses in 2007-2008) rumbles with TUF 3 also-ran Mike Nickels. Plus: Marvin Eastman, Pete Spratt, and a lightweight meeting between Antonio McKee and Carlo Prater that was supposed to be a title fight until Prater missed weight. Folks, it doesn't get any more average than this — you may or may not want to miss it.

MFC 22 will be broadcast live on HDNet beginning at 10 p.m. ET. The complete lineup and weigh-in results are after the jump...

(Photo courtesy of Spike.com.)

With Houston Alexander out of UFC 98 due to a hand injury, it has been announced that "The Polish Experiment" will be stepping in to replace him against Andre Gusmao. Krzysztof Soszynski is 2-0 in the UFC since his stint on TUF 8, with both of his wins by kimura submission; he most recently took out Brian Stann at UFC 97 last month, meaning he's only getting a five-week turnaround between fights. Gusmao, on the other hand, hasn't fought since he dropped a unanimous decision to Jon Jones in his UFC debut last August. Will the longer break be a benefit for Gusmao, or will the Brazilian get armlocked out of his UFC contract?

In other Octagon news...

(Nate Quarry [left] shows off the move that made him famous. Photo courtesy of CombatLifestyle.com.)
 
The UFC returns to Montreal on April 18th for UFC 97, headlined by the shrug-worthy title fight between Anderson Silva and Thales Leites, and the somewhat more compelling light-heavyweight battle between fading legends Chuck Liddell and Mauricio "Shogun" Rua. Here's some of the supporting bouts that we'll be seeing on the card...

— Jason MacDonald vs. Nate Quarry (MW): MacDonald is coming off a first-round submission-via-strikes loss to Wilson Gouveia at last month's TUF 8 finale, and hasn't been able to put together two wins in a row since 2006. Quarry became Demian Maia's latest strangulation victim when he succumbed to a rear-naked choke at UFC 91 in November. The win-or-get-fired threat level on this one has been raised to Orange.

— Luis Cane vs. Steve Cantwell (LHW): Though Cane was originally rumored to face Keith Jardine in his next fight, the Dean of Mean was booked to headline UFC 96 (March 7th, Columbus) instead. Cane will instead be taking on reigning WEC light-heavyweight champ Steve Cantwell, who famously snapped Razak Al-Hassan's arm at last month's "UFC Fight for the Troops," then gloated about it afterwards. Cane is coming off of impressive TKO victories over Jason Lambert and Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou, while Cantwell is on a four-fight win streak, dating back to his time in the WEC.

(Chuck Liddell vs. Rashad Evans)

(Nate Marquardt vs. Martin Kampmann)

(Dan Henderson vs. Rousimar Palhares)

(Tavares and Pellegrino now have enough money to open the hair salon they've always dreamed of. Photo courtesy of UFC.com.)

The UFC doled out $60,000 bumps to the following fighters for their valiant performances at last night's "Breakthrough":

Knockout of the Night: Rashad Evans, obviously, for knocking Chuck Liddell into the 8th dimension.

Submission of the Night: Jason MacDonald for his rear-naked choke of Jason Lambert -- and for scoring the only submission on the card.

Fight of the Night: Kurt Pellegrino and Thiago Tavares for their wild (and unfortunately untelevised) three-rounder that Pellegrino took in a unanimous decision.

UFC 88 quick results:

Rashad Evans def. Chuck Liddell via KO, 1:51 of round 2
Rich Franklin def. Matt Hamill via TKO, 0:39 of round 3
Dan Henderson def. Rousimar Palhares via unanimous decision
Nate Marquardt def. Martin Kampmann via TKO, 1:22 of round 1
Dong Hyun Kim def. Matt Brown via split decision
Kurt Pellegrino def. Thiago Tavares via unanimous decision
Tim Boetsch def. Michael Patt via TKO, 2:03 of round 1
Jason MacDonald def. Jason Lambert via submission (rear-naked choke), 1:20 of round 2
Ryo Chonan def. Roan Carneiro via split decision