Koscheck, Johnson agree to replace Lesnar/Carwin at 106

Just days removed from his thoroughly dominating performance over Yoshiyuki Yoshida at UFC 104, Anthony Johnson has agreed to fight another Yoshida victor in Josh Koscheck as a fill in for the Lesnar/Carwin main event at UFC 106.

The news comes according to Sherdog.com which has a source close to Koscheck's camp. Koscheck even twittered that he would be fighting in the 106 main event.

"I got some big fight news for me," Koscheck wrote. "I am fighting Nov. 21 in Vegas. Co main event!! Haha it's on baby!!!"

On Monday, Lesnar officially announced that he had to pull out of the November 21st match-up due to being unable to overcome an illness that has drastically affected his training. The announcement left the UFC with a Texas-sized hole in its pay-per-view event so it rushed to fill that void. Johnson and Koscheck answered the call.

It will be a critical fight for both welterweights as they look to improve their standing in the division. Both fighters are right on the edge of the top five in the division, needing perhaps two more top five wins to earn a shot at champion Georges St.-Pierre.

While Johnson is coming off the big win over Yoshida, Koscheck is coming off a likewise impressive performance from his fight with Frank Trigg at UFC 103. Koscheck is a veteran All-American collegiate wrestler who has faced all the top guys in the division while Johnson is the up-and-coming prospect with impressive wrestling credentials as well. Should be a great test for both fighters.

Illness forces Lesnar out of UFC 106 main event

Just as President Barack Obama proclaims the H1N1 virus aka Swine Flu a national crisis, the UFC has its own mini crisis as Heavyweight Champion Brock Lesnar announced Monday that he will have to withdraw from his main event showdown with Shane Carwin at UFC 106.

Apparently the Champion has been dealing with a sickness for approximately three weeks and has been left unable to train. With the November 21st event less than a month away and Lesnar still unable to shake the cold he felt he was forced to withdraw from such an important fight.

The UFC reportedly has moved the Tito Ortiz/Forrest Griffin fight to co-main event status and is looking to set up a new fight to fill the gaping hole created by the departure of the heavyweight title fight between Lesnar and Carwin.

Lesnar/Carwin has been rescheduled to the UFC 108 card on January 2nd which is scheduled to take place from the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.

Check back at Fighter's Corner for further updates on the 106 card.

UFC 104 -- Post event analysis

With UFC 104: Machida vs. Shogun now in the rearview, it's time to look at how the event helped or hurt each of the top fighters involved.

Anthony "Rumble" Johnson: It took him barely 50 seconds to overwhelm Yoshida but then again let's hope he's able to beat someone he was probably 30 lbs heavier by the time the fight started. Plain and simple Johnson is a beast at welterweight. For him to cut down to 170 from weighing about 215 every day is huge for that weight class. There aren't going to be a lot of guys that can deal with what he can bring to the table. His next fight should be a big step up in competition, perhaps somebody like Josh Koscheck.

Joe "Daddy" Stevenson: Listening to him in the post fight press conference was like watching a kid at an amusement park. He was just so excited about his new found game, it was really interesting to hear him speak about being re-energized and excited to put his repertoire into action. Stevenson remains one of the top lightweight fighters in the UFC, perhaps a fight with Gray Maynard or Frank Edgar.

Cain Velasquez: Absolutely dominated Ben Rothwell as I thought he would. Rothwell is an overrated fighter, after all he was fighting in the IFL for a reason. Velasquez on the other hand is a very talented prospect and that is why the UFC picked hip up at the starting point of his career. At 7-0 and with some top wins in his last two fights, Velasquez is really positioning himself for a run at a title fight. I think he needs one more top win before getting that shot and I think he should have to fight Frank Mir provided Mir beats Kongo at 107.

Shogun: Looked like the Rua we've all been waiting to see in beating up Machida. "The Dragon" was thoroughly confused in how to deal with Rua's Muay-Thai. Shogun won that fight but was handed probably the worst decision in MMA history when he was robbed of the title. Now he's left having to repeat what he just did a few months down the line after Machida has had a chance to recover and work a new gameplan to try to compensate for what Shogun wants to do.

UFC 104; Machida vs. Shogun aftermath

In the wake of yet another solid, if not spectacular, night of fights provided by the UFC, every fan who watched the action is left talking about one thing -- the decision in the main event.

The decision that literally stole a win -- and thus the Light Heavyweight Championship -- from the challenger Mauricio "Shogun" Rua. There is no doubt that on a night when Rua returned to the form he showed on his way to winning the Pride Open Weight Grand Prix and being labeled as the best 205 lb fighter in the World, he should've walked away in glory rather than having to explain away a loss that he didn't rightfully deserve.

Make no mistake about it, this was highway robbery in a city that has seen more than its fair share. You can watch the fight yourself or just go to any MMA website like Sherdog, ESPN, Bloody Elbow, Yahoo, MMA Junkie, etc. that scores the fights and get the same opinion: Rua defeated Lyoto Machida by unanimous decision 49-46.

An outcome like this already has the MMA blogging community in an uproar. Many fans want something to be done. People are clamoring for a rematch as they rightly should. In the post fight press conference, Dana White did everything but schedule a date for one, so it will happen and soon. A rematch seems a little too little, too late as far as a reward to "Shogun" is concerned. In this writer's opinion, Rua won this fight fair and square so to have to go out and beat Machida again to get what is already rightfully his seems like a waste of time and energy. Nothing short of White coming out and renouncing the decision and stripping Machida of his belt and handing it over to Rua would make most fans today happy.

More discussion will be had about the scoring in MMA after perhaps the most controversial decision in MMA history was handed out last night. The fact that all three judges gave Machida the fight 48-47 when it was so clearly the other way around will have people talking about reforming a system that is somewhat vague.

I don't think that is what needs to be done here. All sports have the element of human error and MMA is no different. All that can be done is the best that the officials have to offer.

It's just a real shame that a fighter was robbed of a championship belt. What would have been his first title victory in his career.

More to come on this event later. I will breakdown all the major winners of UFC 104 and their performances, where they go from here, etc.

UFC 104 bonuses; Knockout of the Night: Pat Barry Submission of the Night: Stefan Struve Fight of the Night: Pat Barry vs. Antoni Hardonk

Each fighter takes home an additional $60,000 for their award.

Previewing UFC 104: Machida vs. Shogun

With its 104th pay-per-view event, the UFC returns to Los Angeles featuring a main event in the Light Heavyweight division as champion Lyoto Machida takes on fellow Brazilian and challenger Mauricio "Shogun" Rua.

Machida, 31, will be making his first title defense and first appearance since dethroning then champion and fellow undefeated star Rashad Evans back in May at UFC 98. Machida will be looking to further establish the discipline of Machida Karate not to mention the "Machida Era" in the UFC Light Heavyweight division.

But he's going to have to do it by beating a very capable challenger in Rua, 27, whom presents a very formidable fighting style with his duo black belts in Muay-Thai and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. Rua is capable of dominating the stand-up portion of a fight ala Anderson Silva or take you down and submit you ala BJ Penn. Prior to arriving in the UFC, Rua was widely considered the top 205 lb prospect after his dominance in Pride.

Certainly Rua's first year and a half in the UFC was a brutal disappointment to everyone: himself, his camp, the fans and the UFC brass. But since the Griffin fight and overcoming not one, but two ACL tears in his right knee, "Shogun" appears now to be the "Shogun" of 2006 -- a very dominating and imposing force. He controlled a game Mark Coleman, the veteran wrestler, back in January and then stopped Hall-of-Famer Chuck Liddell in the first round in April via TKO.

In the two fights alone we saw progression Rua's game from poor conditioning to solid conditioning, improved technical striking and aggression in the stand-up game as well as on the ground. He's tenacious and you better believe that he's going to give Machida a test that he has yet to encounter.

Also featured on the UFC 104 card is a heavyweight matchup between rising undefeated star Cain Velasquez (6-0) and veteran Ben Rothwell (30-6) of IFL fame who has finally broken through to the big show and wants to make his presence known.

Velasquez enters this fight after an impressive performance against Cheick Kongo in which he withstood some very hard shots from the imposing French-man and still managed to take the fight to the ground and dominate a much bigger fighter.

Against Rothwell, Velasquez will have to be more precise in his stand-up to minimize his errors while controlling Rothwell with his superior wrestling game. When he enters the Octagon on the 24th, he's going to be facing a fighter in Rothwell who has overcome a number of hardships in his life to get to this very point and he's going to be fighting with a great amount of emotion because of it.

The undercard bouts feature some talented fighters such as welterweight stud Anthony Johnson (7-2) who takes on Yoshiyuki Yoshida (11-3), lightweights Joe Stevenson (35-10) and Spencer Fisher (24-4) as they prepare to do battle and top middleweight contender Yushin Okami (24-4) as he takes on Chael Sonnen (24-10).

The General's Predictions:

Shogun by submission, 4th round Cain Velasquez by unanimous decision Gleison Tibau by TKO, 2nd round Joe Stevenson by submission, 3rd round Anthony Johnson by TKO, 2nd round Antoni Hardonk by TKO, 1st round Eric Schafer by unanimous decision Yushin Okami by submission, 2nd round

"Shogun" Rua training for UFC 104 title shot

As the days wind down before Mauricio "Shogun" Rua steps into the Octagon this Saturday night for the biggest fight of his life against UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Lyoto Machida, the Brazilian takes us inside his camp for a short but in depth look at his preparation for the penultimate battle.

And if you haven't already, be sure to check out the UFC 104 'Countdown' show on Spike. It's gonna be a great fight.

UFC coming to Australia in early 2010

In continuation with its plans for taking the sport of Mixed-Martial Arts (MMA) global according to UFC president Dana White, recent reports indicate that the Ultimate Fighting Championship will indeed be going to the land down under in early 2010.

According to The Sydney Herald, a future event will be held at the Acer Arena in Sydney, Australia as soon as perhaps February 2010.

From the paper:

"Legal representatives of the company have approached the Combat Sports Authority to seek permission to stage a bout in February, with organisers understood to be looking at the Acer Arena in Sydney Olympic Park."

The arena -- built in preparation for the 2000 summer Olympic games -- can seat up to 21,000 fans.

Bringing the sport to Australia will be instrumental to its expansion. The land down under is home to some of the most physical sports in the world, including Australian Rules football and Rugby which are immensely popular to the nation's citizens.

If MMA would be appealing to any one country, it would seem that Australia would be that one. With the sport's talented athletes, awesome displays of technique and strength, not to mention the charisma of the fighters there would seem to be no reason why the people of Australia would not fall in love with it as so many people around the world already have.

The first step, however, is to bring it to them and it appears the UFC is now ready to do so.

UFC 108 card starting to take shape

As per usual, the UFC will be holding another year end card in Las Vegas featuring some of the promotion's most talented fighters.

Only this time there are a few differences. Most notably, the fact that the year end card -- UFC 108 -- will actually be held in the new year, January 2nd to be exact.

The usually star-studded event is trending that way again with three of its first four rumored bouts. The main attraction looks to be a middleweight title defense as Anderson Silva (25-4), the No. 1 pound-for-pound fighter in the world, defends his title against recent middleweight acquisition Vitor Belfort (18-8).

Silva, 34, is coming off a dominating performance in the light heavyweight division against former champion Forrest Griffin. Belfort, 32, meanwhile, is coming off a big win over another former champion in Rich Franklin in his return to the Octagon. It will certainly be an intriguing showdown between two of the best and most explosive middleweight fighters in the sport.

In addition to that fight, there is a rumored battle between light heavyweights Rashad Evans (18-1-1) and Thiago Silva (14-1) and a heavyweight fight between top contenders Gabriel Gonzaga (11-4) and Junior Dos Santos (8-1).

Each of those two rumored contests has numerous intriguing storylines. Evans is coming off a brutal knockout loss to Lyoto Machida in which he lost his belt while his opponent, Silva, will be looking to continue his winning ways by completing the Jackson camp sweep by knocking out best friends Keith Jardine (who he KO'd at 102) and Evans. Which fighter will put himself back into title contention at 205?

Meanwhile at heavyweight, two Brazilian natives will do battle. Will youth prevail? Or will the veteran savvy Gonzaga have too much power and speed -- not to mention experience -- to derail the up-and-comer?

We shall see if the card develops as expected. So far so good however, for the promotions' highlight event of the year.

Spike to air UFC 104 prelim bouts

Following in the tradition -- albeit short -- of UFC 103, the UFC and Spike will once again join forces to air UFC 104: Machida vs. Shogun preliminary bouts.

The fights will air at 6 pm PST or one hour prior to the pay-per-view (PPV) broadcast featuring a main event with Lyoto Machida defending his Light Heavyweight belt for the first time against Mauricio "Shogun" Rua.

In similar fashion to its debut at UFC 103 last month, Spike will show two guaranteed fights while potentially showing a third depending on how the prelim fights go. The two guaranteed fights will feature a light heavyweight contest between Ryan Bader and Eric Schafer as well as a heavyweight matchup between Antoni Hardonk and Pat Barry.

Simply, it is another step in the right direction for the UFC. While once can be called a fluke, twice becomes a trend and there really is no reason to believe that the trend will not continue. Ultimately, the more the UFC is on cable television the better it is for the sport, the fighters and the fans.

UFC 104 main event an important fight for UFC as well as both fighters

As the UFC has grown over the past few years, it has been widely recognized that their glamor division, strongest division was its 205 lb league of Light Heavyweight fighters. Over the years it's had some of the sports most widely recognized champions: Randy Couture, Tito Ortiz, Chuck Liddell, Quinton Jackson, Forrest Griffin and Rashad Evans.

Now not only does the division have the star power it has easily the most depth. Which can be a bane as much as it is a positive.

Current champion Lyoto Machida, 31, will face fellow Brazilian native Mauricio "Shogun" Rua, 27, at UFC 104 from Las Vegas on October 24th in his first title defense. Machida is the organization's first champion whose primary language is anything other than English since Vitor Belfort held the belt shortly more than a decade ago.

The onus, thus, will be on the undefeated karate specialist to re-establish the fading brightness of a once brilliant division. That isn't to say that the division has suddenly fallen on hard times, more that it is in need of a powerful champion to reign supreme like that of Anderson Silva for middleweights or Georges St.-Pierre does in the welterweight division.

At 15-0 Machida certainly has shown the ability to be dominant especially in his most recent victory -- a two round demolition of Rashad Evans which he finished with a brutal TKO. The question isn't whether he has the talent to remain champion, he has shown this at least in the opinion of this writer, but whether he can move the audiences around the world enough with this next performance to be a constant main event draw.

Rua (18-3), the latest contender of the deep 205 lb division, has the chance to do the same. If he can upend the undefeated champion in spectacular fashion, the crowd could easily fall behind a fighter who only a few short years ago was considered by most as the elite light heavyweight talent in the world.

Regardless of whether Machida or Rua emerge victorious on Saturday night less than three weeks from now, the key will be whether one of them takes up the torch left by the former stars of the elite division.

Chuck Liddell has most likely fought his last battle inside the octagon. TUF alums Rashad Evans and Forrest Griffin have been exposed. "Rampage" Jackson has taken an indefinite hiatus. Tito Ortiz is, well, past his prime to be nice. The division appears to be there for the taking, in desperate need of a future star to emerge.

The UFC hopes it will happen at 104 with either Machida or Rua.