Brock Lesnar out indefinitely

Post UFC 105, Dana White talked about his heavyweight champion who has been scratched from two straight events and seemingly unable to shake whatever illness he has.

Speaking with the media during the post fight press conference at UFC 105, White indicated that Brock Lesnar will be out far longer than just UFC 108.

"He's in a hospital up in North Dakota somewhere right now," said White. "He went to Canada and some bad stuff happened to him, so we've got to figure it out.

"He doesn't want to talk about it publicly, but he's in bad shape. He's not well and he's not going to be getting well anytime soon."

Lesnar pulled out of the UFC 106 main event fight with Shane Carwin near the end of October when he realized the illness he had wasn't going away. The fight was then moved temporarily to UFC 108 and didn't stay there long when it was determined shortly thereafter that Lesnar still hadn't recovered.

Now the champ is hospitalized with an undisclosed illness and appears to be out indefinitely.

"I am worried about it," said White of his biggest star's medical situation. "You know, I can't really talk about it right now, but he's in rough shape. He's in really bad shape … and we're going to have to do some stuff to take care of this guy. He is not well and he's not getting any better.

"We're going to have to send him to the Mayo Clinic or to Scripps, or one of those really good hospitals to figure out what's wrong with this guy."

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

"Rampage" Jackson retirement talk won't last

There is a well known saying throughout the sporting landscape that deals with important decisions: Don't make them emotionally.

Or something like that.

I don't know but what I do know is that Quinton "Rampage" Jackson's decision to "retire" from the MMA via a post on his website at a time when a lot of heated discussion surrounding his participation in the "A-Team" remake movie seems pretty emotional to me.

Sure, my writing this column with the side that I have taken also has to do with emotion considering Jackson is my favorite fighter. The thing is at 31, Jackson just isn't ready to retire as a fighter.

He's a born fighter. Plain and simple, fighting is in his blood. Since growing up on the streets of Memphis, Tennessee as the youngest of 15 children, Jackson has had to fight for everything that he has earned in his life. He doesn't know anything different. He can't.

Earlier this week Jackson made a very important decision based completely on emotion. He has been called out by the likes of Dana White and nearly every MMA fan that frequents the blog sites and doesn't know anything. For a man who revolves around his ego, the way he is perceived, it was very emotional for him to be essentially disrespected.

So what did he do? He responded in an emotional way. He gave everyone something they didn't want to hear because nobody wants to see one of the best light heavyweight fighters to fight in the sport's short history. Not to mention at 31, the former UFC champion is still very much in his prime. Seeing him hang up the gloves would be an unwelcome sight to everyone.

My bet is by November, when his filming of the "A-Team" is over, "Rampage" will be clamoring to fight his nemesis Rashad Evans. Shortly followed by a great urge to get his title back.

Because Rampage is a fighter.

The dilemma that is Roger Huerta

UFC lightweight fighter Roger Huerta makes his return to the Octagon on Wednesday night as he takes on Gray Maynard at UFC Fight Night 19.

Huerta, 26, was last seen dropping a decision to Kenny Florian at UFC 87: Seek and Destroy last August. Since then Huerta (22-2-1) has reportedly been working on an acting career while healing a beat-up, worn down body. He also recently turned down a five fight contract extension in January from the UFC.

On Wednesday, September 16th, Huerta makes his return to fulfill the last fight on his UFC contract but the question that man analysts and fans alike have on their minds is where is his head at entering a such a big fight?

It would be easy to believe -- if not understand -- that Huerta wouldn't be devoting too much of his time and energy to a final fight, essentially a "lameduck" fight if you will. Without any guarantee that he will return to the UFC, let alone if he even wants to continue his fighting career, there's essentially no reason for him to want to do well except personal pride. A win doesn't position him better for a title shot nor will it put him in better standing to get an improved contract from Dana White and the UFC brass.

So unless Huerta has thoughts about continuing a fighting career that was once so promising, could we possibly be watching a fight on Wednesday that is, for all tense and purposes, already over?

If so, Huerta isn't acting like it. From Sherdog:

“I had an amazing camp. I isolated myself from the world from TV, Internet, you name it. I’m back up to Minnesota training with my mentor Dave Menne. He just brought in phenomenal athletes to help me prepare for a great opponent like Gray because Gray has phenomenal wrestling, but not only that, he has evolved so well in the sport. His striking looked great against Jim Miller. Obviously his wrestling is spectacular. Gray deserves that attention. He deserves all of my attention and that’s all I set my mind on, is Gray Maynard, putting myself in situations mentally where I know how to scramble out, how to get in top position, or if he throws a right cross or a jab and how to counter. How to move. How to cut angles. The guys have put me in all different situations where we pretty much prepared in every way for Gray. To be a person like myself who leaves everything out in the Octagon, the time off was good. I was able to heal some old injuries so I’m able to perform the way I’ve always performed, which is leaving everything in there. With that said, I don’t think I’ll have any cage rust or ring rust.”

So if we are to believe Huerta, that he has been training hard and focusing all of his energy on beating a very tough lightweight fighter in Maynard (7-0), then we should be in for a treat tomorrow night on Spike.

Here's what I think is the deal in this unique situation. I think Huerta is a true professional and sees this final fight as an opportunity to prove his worth not only to himself and all of his camp that devotes so much of their time to helping him, but as well as to his fans and the UFC.

I also think Huerta is a true competitor who wants to beat Maynard just because he whole-heartedly believes he can. I think he wants to give it 110% in that cage because every fighter this side of Kalib Starnes doesn't know how to give anything less. And finally, I also think that deep down Huerta knows he's a fighter and will in a few short years be right back to the profession that gave him the opportunity to branch out in his career.

Tomorrow night, turn on Spike to watch Roger Huerta in his farewell fight, that is until he returns from his hiatus.

"A-Team" filming to scratch "Rampage" Jackson from UFC 107 card

It appears scheduling conflicts will postpone the heated grudge match between light heavyweights Quinton "Rampage" Jackson (30-7) and Rashad Evans (18-1-1) at UFC 107 on December 12th.

Jackson, 31, recently landed the role as B.A. Baracus in the upcoming "A-Team" remake and will soon begin shooting according to the Vancouver Sun. The six-week film shooting schedule will apparently hamper Jackson's ability to put in a solid camp in time for the December 12th, UFC 107 date with Evans which was set to take place in his hometown of Memphis, Tennessee.

The former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion will oppose Evans , 29, as coaches on The Ultimate Fighter season 10 set to air on Spike beginning on September 16th. The two will be coaching two teams of eight prospective heavyweight fighters for the UFC which includes Kimbo Slice and three former NFL players.

It has been a rough year filled with scheduling conflicts for Jackson. Ever since exacting revenge upon his nemesis Wanderlei Silva at UFC 92 back in December, "Rampage" has seen his title shot get put off because Evans wasn't ready and then put off again because Evans couldn't beat Lyoto Machida.

It will also mark the second time this year, "Rampage" has now chosen to put off fighting for the big screen. Instead of taking on a guaranteed title fight with new Light Heavyweight Champion Machida, Jackson opted to coach alongside the former champion Rashad Evans on TUF season 10. Now despite begging for an opportunity to fight in his hometown, he will pass in favor of more training camp time.

With a six week film schedule, "Rampage" should be free to return to training at his Wolf's Lair camp in England by mid-October. This would give him roughly an eight week camp to train, seven at the worst, for the fight with Evans. I guess that's just not good enough for the Memphis native.

The postponement shouldn't go longer than a few weeks, with the fight taking place sometime in early January 2010 in Las Vegas on the UFC's annual Christmas/New Year's show.

Let's hope 2010 brings more of Jackson in the Octagon and less behind the camera.

UFC should ignore thoughts of middleweight No. 1 contender eliminator match

Every now and then in life things will break easy, making one's decision a whole lot simpler. Do I date the beautiful girl with no personality or the beautiful girl with the personality? Gee, let me think.. Or how about joining the gym that charges $30 a month with every amenity you need plus modern equipment or the gym that charges $40 a month that's really just a weight room with no pool, sauna, aerobics, etc. and run down? Another no brainer.

Every now and then.

But sadly, every now and then happens perhaps every 100 decisions you're faced with which is why you should never make decisions harder than they have to be.

Which brings me to the current middleweight No. 1 contender dilemma facing Joe Silva, Dana White and the UFC. They have a very positive situation: two very good fighters in line for a shot at perhaps the best fighter to walk the face of this planet.

They can do one of two things: 1) have Anderson Silva face Dan Henderson in October or November and then have the winner fight Nate Marquardt or 2) have Henderson and Marquardt fight each other in November or December with the winner facing Silva sometime in early 2010 while Silva waits idly.

Let's take a closer look at these scenarios.

If the UFC does scenario uno, Silva will fight as soon as possible, perhaps even in October at UFC 104 which needs a solid No. 2 fight now that the Shane Carwin and Cain Velasquez fight has been disbanded and the two title fights would certainly give it that. Also, the UFC allows each contender -- both Henderson and Marquardt -- the opportunity to fight for the belt within the next six months.

So the No. 1 pound-for-pound fighter keeps busy, both No. 1 middleweight contenders get to fight for the belt and the UFC sells two legit middleweight title fights in the span of six months if not less.

I think it's clear that this scenario pretty good for all parties involved -- the fighters, the fans and the promotion as a whole.

Now let's analyze scenario dos. Here the UFC puts on a No. 1 contender fight for Silva's belt sometime at the end of the year. With Marquardt just removed from a quick dismantling of Damien Maia on Saturday at UFC 102, his most likely return date would be sometime in December, hypothetically.

The UFC would probably be able to market the Henderson/Marquardt showdown alongside a main event like Quinton "Rampage" Jackson vs. Rashad Evans at UFC 107 and call it "The No. 1 contender special" or something similarly catchy.

In the meantime, Silva gets to work on his tan down in Brazil. As nice as that vacation would be, I don't think Silva really needs it nor would want it over a chance to get to do what he does best -- fight.

If all things went according to plan in this scenario, a winner would emerge triumphantly and unscathed by injuries ready for a title shot against the pound-for-pound king sometime around March of 2010. If, however, there is any sort of hiccup as there is known to be on occasion in MMA, this neat and tidy option could see a title fight pushed even farther back or both contenders fall depressingly on their faces due to poor performances.

This scenario could still be good for one fighter (the one who wins the eliminator match), some fans (the ones who believe their favorite fighter -- either Marquardt or Henderson -- will still get a title shot) and ok for the promotion since they are selling a nice No. 1 contender match as a co-main event.

Clearly, not the same win-win as scenario one is though.

Sometimes it's nice to make things neat and clean. But it's also nice to walk away when you're ahead instead of losing your bankroll by continuing to play.

Memo to Dana White and Joe Silva: Don't mess with something good. Two title fights are better than one.

UFC eyes Vancouver, B.C., Canada for June, 2010 event

The big news coming out of the UFC camp in the build-up to UFC 102: Couture vs. Noguiera was that the UFC is eyeing a third trip to Canada in June of 2010 with the likely destination being Vancouver, B.C.

A trip to Vancouver, B.C. would be huge for both the city and the UFC. Being from there and having traveled to the city numerous times, I can personally attest to the passion for MMA that the people have up there. Plus, with the olympics set to hit the city in February of 2010, there probably is no city that is going to be more ready for a big time event, not to mention how much publicity it will give the UFC for doing a show just four months after the world's best winter sport athletes perform in the same building.

It will also be the UFC's second trip to the Pacific Northwest after this weekend's venture into Portland, Oregon. From all looks of it, the venture into Portland was a very successful one. The event was attended by 16,000 plus, drew a $1.92 million gate and had some very exciting fights.

The biggest obstacle right now for the UFC is the fact that the province of British Columbia doesn't currently sanction MMA. The UFC hopes that that will change within four months, giving the promotion plenty of time to plan a summer 2010 event for the second biggest city in Canada.

What makes the sport hard to ignore for the city and the province as a whole is the revenue that it will bring to a city that desperately needs some after all the expenditures dished out in preparation of it hosting the olympics. This event accompanied by a possible UFC fan expo will do just that for the city.

The target venue according to UFC president Dana White is GM place, home to the Vancouver Canucks and a 19,000 plus seat arena.