Fans can watch today’s “UFC 116: Lesnar vs. Carwin” weigh-ins live on Spike TV starting at 7:00 PM EST (4:00 PM PST). The event features a UFC heavyweight unification, as well as the number one world heavyweight ranking, between current champ Brock Lesnar and interim champ Shane Carwin. The co-main event sees Japanese mma star Yoshihiro Akiyama taking on Chris Leben, who steps in with just two weeks since his last bout.

Spike TV also announces it will telecast the light heavyweight clash between “The Ultimate Fighter 2” alum Seth Petruzelli (14-5) and Ricardo Romero (10-1) on Saturday, July 3 at 9:00 PM ET/6:00 PM PT from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. The Petruzelli fight will join the already-announced Brendan Schaub-Chris Tuchscherer fight as part of the Spike TV live Prelims.

“UFC 116: Lesnar vs. Carwin” event card:

Main card

Heavyweight Championship bout: Brock Lesnar vs Shane Carwin
Middleweight bout: Yoshihiro Akiyama vs. Chris Leben
Welterweight bout: Chris Lytle vs. Matt Brown
Light Heavyweight bout: Krzysztof Soszynski vs. Stephan Bonnar
Lightweight bout: George Sotiropoulos vs. Kurt Pellegrino

Preliminary card (Spike TV)

Heavyweight bout: Brendan Schaub vs. Chris Tuchscherer
Light Heavyweight bout: Seth Petruzelli vs. Ricardo Romero

Preliminary card

Middleweight bout: Kendall Grove vs. Goran Reljic
Middleweight bout: Gerald Harris vs. Dave Branch
Welterweight bout: Daniel Roberts vs. Forrest Petz
Heavyweight bout: Jon Madsen vs. Karlos Vemola

HT: UFC.com

Fans often hear about post-fight bonuses being dished out to in-Octagon performers but come Saturday night it may be the ring’s engineers who deserve a little extra lettuce in their monthly salad. Combining for more than 500 pounds, UFC heavyweight champ Brock Lesnar and first-round-phenom Shane Carwin will lock horns in Las Vegas and put the UFC’s trademark structure’s durability to the test at UFC 116 in the process (as well as each others’ chins). In addition to the title fight, Chris Leben rolls the dice by stepping in last-minute to face Yoshishiro Akiyama, Stephan Bonnar and Krzysztof Soszynski look for a headbutt-free result to make up for their previous bout’s ending, and Matt Brown/Chris Lytle look to battle it out with Kurt Pellegrino/George Sotiropoulos in hopes of possibly scoring the event’s “Fight of the Night“ honors.

Before I get into the actual “pick em” part of this article let me preclude the breakdown of bouts by saying one of the things about Mixed Martial Arts I’ve always loved is its unpredictable nature. I’ll do my best to steer you in the right direction with a little insight/opinion included in the deal, but readers would be wise to avoid laying down money on my attempts to glimpse into the future. Just ask Bret “The Angry Hick” Bergmark or for that matter Fabricio Werdum. Beyond that, please don’t hesitate to share your own thoughts on any or all of the scheduled fights in the “Comments” section below, and let’s get this show on the road…

PRELIMINARY CARD:

Jon Madsen vs. Karlos Vemola

Madsen should be entering this bout as the favorite due to his 2-0 record in the Octagon and the public’s familiarity with him from the Ultimate Fighter Season 10. However, Vemola shouldn’t be overlooked, as he’s 7-0 and finished all of his opponents in the first round using a near-even mix of strikes/submissions. Even more impressive is the fact five of those seven foes were felled in less than a minute! Madsen’s only hope appears to be using his wrestling as a means of holding Vemola down for three rounds and either out-pointing him or wearing him down to the point of exhaustion. Vemola’s power and striking look to be a massive threat to any individual he faces, and Madsen was knocked out by Brendan Schaub on TUF 10, so I think it would be a mistake for Madsen to try and stand with him. However, Vemola’s cardio is untested and could be the kink in his armor Madsen needs to expose for a win. I don’t see it happening though.

Winner – Karlos Vemola via TKO Round 1

Daniel Roberts vs. Forrest Petz

The loser of this fight will likely receive a pink-slip so both men have more on the line than normal. Roberts was 9-0 before suffering a brutal knockout to John Howard in his UFC debut, and, though he’s won four consecutive fights on smaller shows, Petz went 2-3 during an earlier run in the Octagon and lost two in a row before recently rallying off four straight. However, just because they’re at risk of seeking out a new deal in a different promotion, I think both will actually be cautious in their approach to the other rather than rushing in to exchange leather. Petz has either gone to decision or seen the finish come by way of submission in seventeen of his twenty-four career bouts, while seven of Roberts’ nine wins have been the result of a submission (the other two decisions). Don’t expect much more than minimal striking from either with the bulk of the action taking place on the mat. I like a ground war as much as the next person but only when it involves two high-level jiu-jitsu practitioners. This bout only has one. Petz’s experience could be enough to carry him through to a decision win, but I think Roberts’ youth/athleticism and superior BJJ should do the trick and earn him a tap-out before things are said and done.

Winner – Daniel Roberts via Submission Round 2

Gerald Harris vs. Dave Branch

Branch may be undefeated thus far in his young career, but he hasn’t faced an opponent like Harris yet so it will be interesting to see how he fares against what I would label as “superior” competition. Harris has won his last nine fights with eight involving a finishing performance. He’s got high-level wrestling, devastating slams, knockout power, and 3X Branch’s in-ring experience. Branch has shown above-average ability as both a striker and grappler but I’m not sure he’s ready to weather “Hurricane” Harris’ storm. However, because I do believe he’s talented, I think he’ll escape the fight without a tap or the need of smelling salts.

Winner – Gerald Harris via Decision

Kendall Grove vs. Goran Reljic

I’ve been a fan of Grove since the days of “Team Dagger” but these days it’s hard to know which Kendall will show up on a fight-to-fight basis. Will it be the “Da Spyda” who catches opponents like flies in his web of submissions or the one with a chin appearing as soft as silk? Fortunately for Grove, Reljic is known for his grappling as opposed to his striking so the match-up favors him in terms of avoiding a knockout. I think he’ll be able to defend or even catch a choke/limb from the bottom if Reljic takes him down while also using his lankiness to mix in a few jabs and keep the Croat at bay on their feet.

Then again, at 6’3, Reljic is a relatively tall middleweight himself so Grove won’t have the height/reach advantage he’s typically used to. He’s yet to be finished in his career as well. He’s also stronger than his Hawaiian adversary, and should be well-aware of Grove’s susceptibility to strikes, so he may throw his jiujitsu out the door and focus just on stand-up. If that’s the case then Kendall is in for a long, long night (and probably a wake-up call from the UFC with his release from the company).

Winner – Goran Reljic via Decision

Ricardo Romero vs. Seth Petruzelli

This will surely be an entertaining fight if for no other reason Petruzelli’s choice of entrance attire/music. “The Silverback”, a partner in shenanigans with fan-favorite Tom Lawlor, hasn’t stepped foot in the Octagon since going 0-2 in the eight-sided cage a few years ago and should be ready to make the most of his opportunity at redemption. Beyond the energy he’s put into his walk down to the ring, Petruzelli has also struggled to ink bouts that have actually come to fruition since knocking out Kimbo Slice in October 2008 so I think it’s likely he trained his ass off for another chance at earning a place on MMA’s biggest stage. Beyond those stakes, his in-ring competition is also a game opponent with solid jiujitsu and stand-up so Petruzelli will need to be in top form in that regard too. Romero is 10-1 with his only loss being by way of disqualification (an illegal soccer kick). If the two decide to stand I think Petruzelli will land a knockout blow, but if things hit the mat then I believe the outcome will be in Romero’s favor. Truly, this is one of the tougher UFC 116 bouts to pick a winner in.

Winner – Seth Petruzelli via entranceTKO Round 2

Brendan Schaub vs. Chris Tuchscherer

This match-up brings a smile to my face in that it’s essentially a preliminary card version of UFC 116’s main event with the level of experience being reversed. Schaub trains with Carwin and is known for knockout power while Tuchscherer trains with Lesnar and is known for his wrestling. Tuchscherer should enter the bout with a strength advantage while Schaub is a bit faster and more technical. As such, I think the fight’s action will be similar to that in Carwin’s attempt at taking Lesnar’s title later in the evening. I see Tuchscherer trying to close the distance at all times in hopes of limiting Schaub’s power, as well as in order to take him down and work from the top. Meanwhile, Schaub will try to maintain his range and fire away shots from a variety of angles while also being prepared to dirty-box or clinch. In the end, I think he’ll stay active to the point of tiring Tuchscherer out. Doing so should allow him to successfully defend takedown attempts and land enough strikes to either procure a TKO or decision win.

Winner – Brendan Schaub via TKO Round 3

MAIN CARD:

George Sotiropoulos vs. Kurt Pellegrino

I said earlier in this article that I have a great deal of love for ground wars when both men are BJJ bad-asses. Case in point – Pellegrino vs. Sotiropoulos. This bout has “Fight of the Night” written all over it. For reasoning, I’ll defer to my assessment in this week’s “Grappling with Issues” on why it’s the non-main event match-up I’m most excited about…

“Both go 100% at all times and have shown the kind of heart which makes me believe neither would ever mentally tap out in a bout; that they only quit when physically forced by their body to do so.

Beyond that, their skills match-up well as far as promise for entertainment goes. Sotiropoulos has yet to be finished in fourteen fights and Pellegrino is 8-2 in his last ten in-Octagon appearances with losses to the typically-tough Nate Diaz and Joe Stevenson along the way. I can see them trading shots for the first round, then putting on a ground-clinic until the third round ends or one of them is submitted/TKO’d. Their pairing should definitely be a ton of fun to watch and an excellent way to open up the PPV portion of the show.”

As far as a winner, it’s a literal coin-flip for me. I think Pellegrino may edge Sotiropoulos out when it comes to boxing and wrestling but not when it comes to the Australian’s jiujitsu. I don’t believe either will be finished and a split decision is probably the most likely result.

Winner – Kurt Pellegrino via Decision

Stephan Bonnar vs. Krzysztof Soszynski

I know UFC President Dana White has a lot of love for Bonnar based on his original promotion-making fight against Forrest Griffin but the reality is “The American Psycho” is 2-4 in his last six bouts and hasn’t beaten a relevant opponent in three years. He’s also tested positive for steroid use before and been relatively injury prone throughout his career. If he can’t beat Soszynski then he needs a fresh start in a smaller promotion. That’s not to say “The Polish Experiment” is an easy draw, because he is far from it, but Bonnar needs to prove he can win against upper/mid-tier competition to earn his keep. It’s been five years since TUF 1, folks.

As long as Stephan keeps his strikes coming from a variety of angles and uses movement to avoid Soszynski’s power (and forehead) I think he’ll be fine this time around. Bonnar has never been submitted in his eighteen-fight career and the only time he’s been finished with strikes was to Lyoto Machida seven years ago. I don’t think he’ll put Soszynski away but I do think he can win a decision against him.

Winner – Stephan Bonnar via Decision

Chris Lytle vs. Matt Brown

As was the case in my earlier breakdown of Pellegrino vs. Sotiropoulos, neither Lytle nor Brown have any “quit” in them and the combination of their styles should result in an extremely exciting affair. I can see Brown and Lytle standing and trading punches for a good deal of the first round as a means of appeasing the crowd and testing themselves, nit in the end I think “Lights Out” will likely opt for his reliable combination of wrestling/jiujitsu in hopes of procuring a win. His boxing is better than Brown’s but there’s no reason for Lytle to risk catching a solid shot on the chin when Brown has lost six of eight by way of submission and hasn’t been TKO’d in nineteen career fights. Beyond that, I don’t see “The Immortal” doing enough to win a decision nor knocking out an opponent who has traded shots with the likes of Robbie Lawler and come away conscious.

Winner – Chris Lytle via Submission Round 2

Yoshishiro Akiyama vs. Chris Leben

First off, props to Leben for stepping in to fight Akiyama at the last minute regardless of the financial gain he’ll receive for competing two weeks ago on the Ultimate Fighter 11 Finale. His ability to leave foes snoozing, his chin’s durability, and his “bushido” make “The Crippler” a threat to beat most middleweights not named Anderson Silva. However, to enter the Octagon against a competitor of Akiyama’s caliber on short notice, let alone after the physical grind of back-to-back training camps, is a lot to ask of any individual. I believe Akiyama’s speed will allow him to avoid a lot of Leben’s power-punches, landing counter-strikes of his own or using judo to take him down, and ultimately take advantage of what I suspect will be questionable cardio from his pink-haired opponent. In the end I believe the circumstances surrounding the match-up will result in either a submission or decision win for the samurai of sexiness.

Winner – Yoshishiro Akiyama via Submission Round 3

Brock Lesnar vs. Shane Carwin

This clash of monsters might just have King Kong and Godzilla a little jealous given the amount of anticipation surrounding the scrap. Lesnar and Carwin’s physical dimensions are well-documented. For the first time in recent history two UFC big-boys will be dropping pre-fight pounds in order to step on the scales at 265 pounds, giving fans a TRUE “heavyweight” fight to salivate over. To paraphrase something MMA Live’s Jon Anik said on a recent episode, for the first time in his career Lesnar is facing someone who could legitimately leave him looking like he’d just missed a Shooting-Star Press and landed on his face. Comparably, Carwin is also in a situation where he’s taking on an opponent who matches him in size/strength/athleticism for the first time in his career. Though some may feel conditioning could be an issue because Carwin has never seen the second round in his career I don’t believe that will be the case even if the title-fight remarkably goes the distance. He trains at high-altitude in Colorado with a group of high-level partners so I’m positive he’ll be ready to go full speed for at least fifteen minutes if not longer. Also, keep in mind Lesnar is coming off an extended layoff and a serious ailment so his fitness may not be where it normally is come game-time.

Since I see cardio as a push, and jiujitsu is a wash, it’s clear wrestling and striking will determine the winner. As long as Brock can avoid clinching with Carwin and doesn’t make the mistake of standing toe-to-toe with him I think he’ll retain his belt. Carwin is a solid wrestler but Lesnar is on another level from everything I’ve seen/heard; that his combination of speed/power is something you can’t simulate in a gym. As such, I think he’ll eventually get Carwin on his back and pound out a win.

Winner – Brock Lesnar via TKO Round 2

Shane Carwin vs. Brock Lesnar is the sort of heavyweight title fight that the UFC has always dreamed of. Lesnar is well on his way towards establishing himself as the most dominant heavyweight in the sport and Carwin is an up and coming fighter with an immaculate record.

Carwin has faced twelve opponents in his career to date and all twelve have been finished via stoppage in the very first round. Lesnar has lost only once, by submission to Frank Mir in his UFC debut, and he subsequently avenged that loss, unifying the heavyweight division in the process.

The barren days in which fighters the caliber of Tim Sylvia and Jeff Monson competing for the UFC heavyweight title are long gone. The division has long since taken its rightful place as the most marketable weight class the organization has and UFC 116 will be the culmination of years of effort on the behalf of the UFC matchmakers in acquiring the best heavyweight talent in the world.

Three outstanding fighters have emerged from the much improved UFC heavyweight division, Shane Carwin, Brock Lesnar and Cain Velasquez. The UFC is now in the enviable position of being able to put on at least two massive heavyweight fights, the first will come at UFC 116, the second when the winner emerges to face Velasquez.

Heavyweight fights traditionally carry more prestige than those in any other weight class, a fact which will definitely not be lost on the UFC. The fight between Carwin and Lesnar has been described by UFC President Dana White as ‘the biggest in UFC history’ and is likely to do more than a million pay per view buys.

For all the hype, there will only be two men in the Octagon at the UFC 116 main event. One of them, Lesnar, is absolutely enormous, and his sheer bulk has half of the heavyweight division starting to thinking serious thoughts about cutting down to 205 lbs

Carwin is not much smaller and possesses more power in his right hand then arguably any other fighter in UFC history. Lesnar has excellent wrestling credentials and will be looking to follow the blueprint for success which has seen him stop Randy Couture and Frank Mir in his last two Octagon appearances. Lesnar’s game plan will undoubtedly be to get Carwin on the floor with his 265 lbs + frame on top of him and ground and pound his way towards unifying the UFC heavyweight title.

Carwin, who holds an interim version of the UFC heavyweight title, will be looking to land a big right hand and finish the fight early. Lesnar is still a relative newcomer to the sport of MMA and his striking is still not exactly crisp. Randy Couture was able to pick Tim Sylvia apart with punches in their title fight he was nothing like as effective with his hands against Lesnar and this will give the Lesnar camp confidence that their man can stay out of harm’s way against the hard hitting Carwin.

It is easy to forget that there are four other fights on the main card, which is not a bad thing as they are all fairly forgettable match ups. An injury to Wanderlei Silva denied fans the chance to see the always interesting Brazilian in action against Japanese fighter Yoshihiro Akiyama.

Akiyama was less than convincing in his UFC debut against Alan Belcher and will be expecting an emphatic victory against Silva’s replacement, Chris Leben. He has been quite vocal about the fact that he feels Leben is an inferior opponent but would be well advised not to underestimate Leben who is a veteran of 15 previous UFC appearances.

Akiyama was extremely fortunate to get the benefit of the judge’s doubt against Belcher and will need to put his money where his mouth is with an impressive performance in his fight with TUF veteran Leben.

Chris Lytle and Matt Brown first met in 2007 outside of the UFC with Lytle winning with a rear naked choke. Lytle’s last four fights have either won fight of the night or submission of the night honors with Lytle emerging victorious from all of them except for a debatable split decision loss to Marcus Davis.

Brown is coming off a submission loss to Ricardo Almeida and will likely feel like he is fighting for his UFC future while the UFC must be hoping that Lytle can continue his recent habit of getting involved in exciting, fan friendly fights.

Stephan Bonnar is another man who has played his part in some of the most entertaining match ups in the recent history of the UFC. He will be facing Krzysztof Soszynski for the second time this year after the unsatisfactory ending to their first meeting.

The first fight was awarded to Soszynski as Bonnar was unable to continue due to a cut which replays showed was caused by an accidental head butt. A fourth consecutive loss for Bonnar would cast serious doubt over his UFC future and he will be looking to get his career back on track with a win against the ‘Polish Experiment’.

George Sotiropoulos has gone from strength to strength since competing on TUF 6 and is undefeated in the UFC with five wins out of five. After a slow start to his UFC career Kurt Pellegrino is now riding a four fight win streak and the winner of this contest will propel themselves to somewhere approaching the top of the lightweight division.

All eyes will be on Lesnar and Carwin though and most fight fans will view any entertainment to be found away from the main event a something of a bonus. The UFC would have you believe that Lesnar is already the greatest heavyweight MMA fighter there is but for me he is still two wins away from proving them right.

The first of those wins will need to come against Carwin at UFC 116 but Lesnar will need to keep his wits about him if he is to avoid being on the wrong end of an eighth consecutive knock out for Carwin.

Who should be the next to taste Cung Le’s feet? Will Shane Carwin see his first career “second round” against Brock Lesnar this Saturday night? Is Keith Jardine destined for Strikeforce? Is Fedor Emelianenko’s loss to Fabricio Werdum the biggest upset in the history of MMA?

Keyboard warrrrriors….come out to plaaaay-yay!

The weekend is upon us and sure to be filled with explosive action, both in the night sky on July 4th and come Saturday night in Las Vegas when Brock Lesnar and Shane Carwin test the Octagon’s durability during a championship clash! If you’re reading these lines you are back in the friendly digital confines of “Grappling with Issues”, our site’s resident Friday feature highlighting insight and opinion from Adam Tool and myself on six subjects plucked from the Mixed Martial Arts landscape. However, just because we staffers get the fancy set-up, please don’t feel precluded from dishing out your own thoughts on each matter in the comments section at the bottom of the column…

Also, make sure to have a happy, fun, and safe Fourth of July weekend! Enjoy the BBQ, beers, and brawls!

TRUE/FALSE – Fabricio Werdum tapping out Fedor Emelianenko is the biggest upset in the history of MMA.

Conlan: False, and this is coming from someone who gave Werdum a 1% chance of beating Emelianenko in last week’s GWI. However, as I also explained in that response, the percentage wasn’t based on a lack of talent on the Chute Boxe fighter’s part so much as Fedor’s “aura”, as well as his history of escaping every dangerous position he’d ever found himself in. The reality is that Werdum is an extremely skilled competitor and in a sport like Mixed Martial Arts, as evident in the upset loss last weekend, anything is possible.

I don’t think Werdum’s win is the “biggest upset” in MMA’s history because of the Brazilian’s credentials regardless of how invincible Fedor appeared to be entering the bout. In fact, I’d say Matt Serra‘s TKO of Georges St. Pierre in 2007 has the Brazilian’s submission beat. Serra hadn’t beaten any welterweights of real note prior to the fight, gave up a good deal of size to GSP, and was known for his jiujitsu rather than his hands. In the case of Werdum, not only had he competed against and beaten a number of respected heavyweights, but he finished Emelianenko with a technique associated with his primary discipline (BJJ) and is also taller/heavier than “The Last Emperor”.

Tool: I’m going with “true,” and here’s why: Fedor went nearly 10 years and 29 fights without suffering a loss. His string of victories is a feat that will be all-but-impossible to surpass anytime soon. While St. Pierre was a heavy favorite against Serra, it wasn’t as though he had never suffered a legitimate defeat before then. We can’t say the same for Fedor though, as the lone loss on his record before Saturday was a TKO with a huge asterisk attached to it. Yes, Werdum had a clear path to victory before the bout had even begun, but in the days leading up to the fight it was impossible to find a single fan or journalist who had definitively stated that Werdum would get the win.

In a way I think Fedor’s decade of dominance has helped to soften the impact of Werdum’s win. We all knew that sooner or later somebody would find a way to beat Fedor so even though nobody figured it would be Werdum that would do it, we still knew that it was bound to happen sometime. Couple that with Fedor’s respectful demeanor afterwards and it’s easy to see why some people might not make such a big deal about it. Make no mistake though, it is a big deal. This fight has permanently changed the landscape of the heavyweight division, and destroyed the aura of invincibility surrounding one of the greatest fighters the sport has ever known.

Do you think that Brock Lesnar and Shane Carwin will make it past the first round?

Conlan: I believe it will. Don’t get me wrong. Both behemoths have the power to knock each other out with a single shot. Hell, each could likely turn a cow into a leather sofa with one well-placed fist. However, Lesnar hasn’t shown himself to be a first-frame finisher thus far in his career and should be looking to utilize his wrestling ability rather than exchanging strikes with someone who has made his living thus far by avoiding the opening round’s fourth minute, let alone bout’s second stanza.

I feel Lesnar will rely on his grappling in an attempt to neutralize his adversary’s gift of immediately rendering opponents defenseless, as well as in order to test Carwin’s post-five minute cardio. I also don’t think Carwin is afraid of going a full five-rounds if necessary because he’s intelligent and understands the opportunity at hand, and in that regard I don’t think he’ll risk a year of preparation by rushing in right away only to catch a quick strike that ends his night.

Tool: I’ll say no, but this is an extremely tough question to answer with all the variables in play. We don’t know what kind of punishment Lesnar’s chin can endure, but Carwin is the perfect opponent to test it. We also don’t know if Carwin can be taken down at will, although we do know that if anyone can do it it’s got to be Lesnar. I don’t want to underrate the UFC Heavyweight Champion but he’s got some pretty severe ring rust to overcome against what is arguably his toughest opponent to date. I won’t be surprised to see Lesnar take this fight to the mat in order to employ his vicious brand of ground and pound, but I also can’t say I’ll be surprised to see Carwin add another notch to his string of first round stoppages. All these question marks are what makes this particular title fight so intriguing, and I for one am thrilled that the UFC’s heavyweight division has become wildly exciting for the first time in years.

Aside from the main event, which bout at UFC 116 are you most excited for?

Conlan: I’m definitely looking forward to seeing George Sotiropolous mix it up with Kurt Pellegrino and won’t be surprised if they end up with the event’s “Fight of the Night” honors when everything is said and done in Vegas. Sotiropolous and Pellegrino, who with fellow UFC 116 participant Krzysztof Soszynski account for the greatest gathering of Scrabble-friendly last names on a PPV card in recent history, are similar in their slickness on the mat and fearlessness in the cage. Both go 100% at all times and have shown the kind of heart which makes me believe neither would ever mentally tap out in a bout; that they only quit when physically forced by their body to do so.

Beyond that, their skills match-up well as far as promise for entertainment goes. Sotiropolous has yet to be finished in fourteen fights and Pellegrino is 8-2 in his last ten in-Octagon appearances with losses to the typically-tough Nate Diaz and Joe Stevenson along the way. I can see them trading shots for the first round, then putting on a ground-clinic until the third round ends or one of them is submitted/TKO’d. Their pairing should definitely be a ton of fun to watch and an excellent way to open up the PPV portion of the show.

Tool: I’m extremely excited about the Sotiropolous/Pellegrino match-up as well, but they’ll have some stiff competition for “Fight of the Night” in the form of Matt Brown vs. Chris Lytle. The end of the night bonus for best fight usually goes to the most entertaining slugfest of the evening, and there can be little doubt that that’s exactly what these two will deliver. Both fighters possess an underrated ground game, but it’s only underrated because they’ve each had plenty of success punching guys in the face. These are also two of the toughest fighters in the UFC, as each man has proven to be all but impossible to put away. Add all these element together and you’ve got the perfect recipe for the kind of fight that should have fans on their feet for 15 minutes.

Is it a given freshly released free-agent Keith Jardine will sign with Strikeforce?

Tool: I would think so. Jardine brings two things to the table that any MMA promotion would want: name recognition and an exciting fighting style. Even if Strikeforce didn’t want to say the name of their biggest competitor, I’m sure they’d have no problem promoting Jardine as a man with wins over Chuck Liddell and Forrest Griffin. His fights are almost always guaranteed to end in a knockout, and I have yet to see anyone label him as “boring.” The light heavyweight division in Strikeforce is one of their weakest weight classes so any added star power would obviously benefit them. There might be some trepidation on signing a guy who’s on a four-fight losing streak, but in this case I think the positives outweigh the negatives.

Conlan: Though I’d say it’s definitely “likely” Jardine will ink a deal with Strikeforce, I wouldn’t say it’s as certain as tomorrow’s sunrise or even Arianny Celeste flirtatiously flicking her tongue out at the camera in-between rounds at UFC 116. Coker’s company could use Jardine’s relative star-power but inserting him into the deep end of their 205-pound pool has little benefit to it other than name-recognition. He’s 34 and lost five of his last six fights, yet also is a game opponent who is a threat to beat anyone who doesn’t land a clean shot to his chin. Stepping in and potentially beating one or two of Strikeforce’s top light heavyweights doesn’t necessarily look good because of his age/recent struggles or give the company an individual with a large enough following or bright enough future to promote their division around (like “King Mo” Lawal, Dan Henderson, or Gegard Mousasi). It also wouldn’t do Jardine a lot of good to bring his losing streak up to five in a row by thrusting him into the ring with highly touted competition. Rather, I could see “The Dean of Mean” seeking out a couple of bouts on smaller shows or in Japan to possibly string a couple of victories together and hopefully end his career in the UFC.

Who would you like to see Cung Le face in his next match-up?

Tool: I’m going to assume that Jake Shields is on his way to the UFC, and as such Strikeforce will be going ahead with their proposed middleweight tournament to crown a new champion. If that is the case then it’s entirely possible we’ll get to see Le face up to three quality opponents, although the lineup and start date for the tournament hasn’t been anywhere close to finalized.

If I had to pick an opponent for Le though I’d go with the best middleweight in Strikeforce not currently wearing gold: Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza. It’s your classic striker vs. grappler match-up, only with two guys who are extremely good at what they do. “Jacare” is certainly one of the most aggressive grapplers in the business as he’s more than capable of executing a strong double-leg takedown instead of simply flopping on his butt. Le would be in for a bit of a challenge as well since he may not be quite as eager to throw his signature kicks against the threat of winding up on his back. “Jacare” has been knocked out before so it would be interesting to see how his chin stands up against the Sanshou attack of Le.

Conlan: When I originally prepared this question for Tool it included a limited number of options at the end. However, it quickly dawned on me the one individual I want to see Le face most wasn’t among them (so I changed it to invite a wider range of responses). Though I understand the appeal of matching up contrasting styles I think Le is best served by opponents who engage in stand-up wars. When he’s on his feet, throwing the kind of combinations typically reserved for pre-plotted action-movie sequences, he’s as exciting as any other Mixed Martial Artist in the business. When he’s on his back he becomes any other fighter, i.e. he loses most of his appeal as a competitor. He’s also a 38-year old fighter who strikes 99% of the time so the window of opportunity in terms of putting together legacy-making fights is a limited one.

I think Robbie Lawler is a perfect fit to fill the current vacancy where Le’s next in-ring adversary is concerned. He’s respected by most if not all and has no interest in taking action to the mat unless it involves posturing over a fallen fighter to rain down punches. Putting Le and “Ruthless” Robbie together would surely result in fast-paced fireworks and a TKO victory for someone. Lawler could also use a big fight at 185-pounds after his catch-weight loss to Renato Sobral and the winner of a Le bout could easily be promoted as Strikeforce’s top middleweight contender.

Comparably, risking a situation where someone wet blankets their way to victory (as a high-level grappler like Souza could) would be akin to having ring girls circle the cage dressed in burlap sacks. The sexier the situation, the more eyes watch, and I’ll be damned if the thought of Le vs. Lawler might not result in a 90 second wet dream for most MMA fans.

How concerned should fans/promoters/merchandisers be regarding the recent report the UFC threatened TapOut into dropping their sponsorship of Fedor Emelianenko?

Tool: It’s hard to say. On one hand the UFC is a business, and as such they’re perfectly capable of running that business however they see fit. On the other hand it’s obviously a bad situation for any and all MMA clothing manufacturers as they have no real way of knowing when Zuffa could decide to pull the plug on their sponsorship capabilities. After all, TapOut is arguably the biggest sponsor in UFC history (one of the company’s founders is in the UFC Hall Of Fame), so if the company is willing to severe ties with them then is anyone really safe?

Clearly the ones who stand to lose the most out of this is the fighters themselves. Somebody like Fedor will obviously have no trouble finding another company to make his shirts, but for a lot of lesser-known fighters their sponsorship is crucial to their livelihood. Why should Johnny Noname have to suffer by having his sponsor pulled because that particular company decided to partner up with somebody that the UFC doesn’t care for?

Dana White talks all the time about how much of a fan he is of the sport, and how he’s doing everything he can to make MMA the biggest sport in the world, but the action of banning sponsors from the UFC only serves his petty vendettas at the cost of fighters’ careers.

Conlan: Fans should only be mildly concerned but promoters/merchandisers are in an entirely different boat. Tool is correct in saying the UFC has the right to conduct their business in a way they feel is appropriate as long as it doesn’t violate any established laws/regulations. Hell, he’s correct in all of what he says.

In my eyes, threatening to ban a sponsor as a means of affecting a fighter in a rival promotion is the not-so-distant cousin of racketeering. It takes money out of Mixed Martial Artists’ pockets, as well as the companies who are forking out cash to back them and support their careers. Furthermore, it’s a problem that only exists because the UFC created it. No forward-thinking or informed fan would ever assume M-1 or Strikeforce was superior, nor related, to Zuffa’s product simply because the apparel fighters wear crosses over between the companies. Rather, the UFC apparently felt it was a way to get at Emelianenko’s camp and less directly at Strikeforce, so they exerted their power and did so.

MMAjunkie.com Radio goes "PRIMETIME" tonight at a special start time of 9 p.m. ET (6 p.m. PT).

Our star-studded show includes UFC 116 co-headliner Chris Leben and
main-card fighter Matt Brown, who both join us in studio with UFC
veteran Nate Quarry, to discuss this weekend's big event.

MMAjunkie.com Radio airs live from the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino's Race & Sports Book. Listen to and watch a video stream of the two-hour show at www.mmajunkie.com/radio.

UFC light heavyweight fighter Stephan Bonnar’s quest to defeat southpaw fighter Krzysztof Soszynski continues this Saturday at UFC 116: Lesnar vs. Carwin and Bonnar thinks the fight will be similar to the first time. Well not exactly similar, in that a accidental headbutt opened a cut that ended the bout for Bonnar at UFC 110, which then saw the judges awarding the bout to Soszynski. Bonner seems ready for the rematch as he spoke of how he thought things would go down, via UFC.com:

“I’ve watched the first fight a bunch of times, and I definitely see the rematch being something similar. I did pretty well the first couple of minutes, and felt I got off to a solid enough start. I think my hands and defence could have been a little better as the fight went on, though. I got a little sloppy in places, and allowed Krzysztof to get off with some shots. I need to move my head a bit more in the rematch and not be static so much and in range of punches. I’m aiming to not get hit quite so much by his power-punches this time around. Preparing to face an opponent I’ve already fought is definitely a positive, as I’m already familiar with Krzysztof’s style and know what he’s all about. I’ve already spent nearly three rounds in his company, so I have a good idea of what he can and can’t do by this stage. I’m not going in there blind.”

UFC 116 will feature a heavyweight title matchup between Brock Lesnar and Shane Carwin and will also feature Chris Leben taking over for injured Wanderlei Silva as he faces Sexyama.

Heavyweight Championship bout: Brock Lesnar vs Shane Carwin
Middleweight bout: Yoshihiro Akiyama vs. Chris Leben
Welterweight bout: Chris Lytle vs. Matt Brown
Light Heavyweight bout: Krzysztof Soszynski vs. Stephan Bonnar
Lightweight bout: George Sotiropoulos vs. Kurt Pellegrino

Middleweight bout: Kendall Grove vs. Goran Reljic
Middleweight bout: Gerald Harris vs. Dave Branch
Welterweight bout: Daniel Roberts vs. Forrest Petz
Heavyweight bout: Jon Madsen vs. Karlos Vemola

At one point in UFC welterweight Chris Lytle's career, all he wanted was a slugfest inside the octagon. Then he realized he was tipping his hand to opponents.

When he takes on Matt Brown in a televised bout at next week's UFC 116 event, he'd like to stand and bang. But he'll take whatever he's given inside the cage and end it sooner rather than later.

"I have to fight this way to keep [my opponents] honest," Lytle recently told MMAjunkie.com.

Matt Brown is set to take on Chris “Lights Out” Lytle at UFC 116 on July 3 and the fight has MMA fans salivating for what should be an exciting bout. The first fight between the two took place outside the UFC with Lytle getting the submission victory via guillotine choke but Brown had only two weeks to prepare for the bout. This time both fighters have had a full camp and Brown will be hungry for a win after lossing to Ricardo Almeida at UFC 111. Lytle has rattled off two victories in a row, his latest coming at UFC 110 against Brian Foster. Brown isn’t looking for Fight of the Night honors though, he’s looking for the KO of the Night(quote via UFC.com):

“This time I have a full training camp, so I’ll be prepared for whatever comes,” he says. “And I can see where people are coming from with the fight of the night stuff. There’s no question that if I was looking at it from the outside that I would say it’s got Fight of the Night written all over it. But I plan on it being Knockout of the Night—I don’t see it being Fight of the Night at all. I’m going to knock him out. I don’t think either of us is going to be happy with this fight going to a decision. We’re coming, we’re out for blood. We’re coming to hurt each other.”

Chuck Mindenhall, UFC - While most people were rooting for Court McGee at the Ultimate Fighter Finale on June 19 because of his compelling back-story, there was at least one fighter who could fully empathize with McGee's rise from the ashes reinvention. That was "The Immortal" Matt Brown from TUF 7, who, like McGee, battled substance problems and an eventual heroin overdose before making a name for himself in the realm of mixed martial arts.

In one of the most tragic miscarriages of justice in recent MMA officiating memory, longtime referee Yves Lavigne took the fate out of Matt Wiman and Mac Danzig’s hands this evening during the UFC 115 preliminary card in one of the worst stoppages of the year.

No stranger to controversy with extremely questionable calls in previous UFC bouts such as Kyle Bradley vs. Phillipe Nover and Matt Brown vs. Pete Sell, Lavigne made the decision to stop this evening’s lightweight contest between Wiman and Danzig after coming to the conclusion that Danzig had been rendered unconscious from a mounted guillotine choke early in the opening round.

Danzig had not.

Even before Lavigne had a chance to separate Wiman’s forearm from the former TUF champion’s throat, Danzig threw both hands into the air protesting the stoppage. Upon rising to his feet it was apparent that Danzig was in no danger of being finished as the replay clearly dislayed that Danzig had plenty of room for oxygen to trravel to his brain through a large opening in the submission attempt.

Although Danzig appeared anxious to continue on with the fight following the stoppage, the damage was done and Wiman declared the winner via first round submission. Unfortunately, there was no submission.

Former close training partners at Xtreme Couture in Las Vegas, Evan Dunham and Tyson Griffin went at it for a full three rounds this evening in a  closely contested, technical affair. Surprisingly, Dunham showed that he had a clear advantage in the takedown department over the stocky and experienced Griffin. Dunham took Griffin’s back on multiple occasions during the scrap and controlled the action for the bulk of the contest on his way to a split decision victory.

Also putting up impressive performances this evening during the UFC 115 prelims were Mario Miranda, who rebounded from the first defeat of his career to stop David Loiseau via TKO in the second round; and UFC newcomer Claude Patrick who finished the normally durable Ricardo Funch with a slick first round guillotine choke.

A full list of the results from the undercard action is listed below:

Mike Pyle def. Jesse Lennox via technical submission (triangle choke) – Round 3, 4:44

Claude Patrick def. Ricardo Funch via submission (guillotine choke)- Round 2, 1:48

James Wilks def. Peter Sobotta via unanimous decision (29-28, 30-27, 30-27)

Mario Miranda def. David Loiseau via TKO – Round 2, 4:07

Matt Wiman def. Mac Danzig via submission (guillotine choke) – Round 1, 1:45

Evan Dunham def. Tyson Griffin via split decision (30-27, 28-29, 29-28)