Tonight in Oakland, California, mixed martial arts fans are in for another treat. The Ultimate Fighting Championship has put together another great card that should have no problem living up to the hype surrounding it.

UFC 117 has a main event where the title holder’s job could be on the line, two number one contenders matches, and a hall of famer in action. Add that all up and you have yourself one hell of a fight card.

Anderson Silva is the current middleweight champion but has looked well below average his last few fights. The last time he stepped into the octagon he made a fool of himself and disgraced the sport. UFC President Dana White was more than upset and said the thought of releasing Silva crossed his mind.

“The Spider” gets a chance to redeem himself against a fighter that has been running his mouth like nobody before him. Chael Sonnen is the number one contender and rightfully so. He just might be biting off a little more than he can chew.

I still believe Anderson Silva is the best striker I have ever seen in mixed martial arts. He has pin point accuracy with both his hands and feet. We just haven’t seen it that much in his last few disappointing performances, all wins by the way. Sonnen’s smack talk just might be what the doctor ordered to get Silva out of his funk and win back the fans.

Sonnen is coming off of a great win over a very solid fighter in Nate Marquardt. He used his top level wrestling skills and his ground and pound to become next in line for the 185 pound title. He has all the tools to get Silva all he can handle.

I like the upset here. Sonnen talks a huge game but normally backs it up. His grappling and takedowns will be the biggest tools in his belt tonight and he will use them with precision. If the Silva of old steps foot into the cage however, Sonnen might be in for a world of hurting. I expect this fight to be off the charts.

A rematch a few years in the making will finally go down as Jon Fitch and Thiago Alves meet again. Fitch won the first time around doing what he normally does, use his wrestling and beat up his opponents. Alves is the better striker and has had a tough time making weight recently to go with some medical problems. Thiago had a mysterious head/brain injury that delayed this fight on more than one occasion. I’m going with Alves here as Fitch to me is a pretty boring guy to watch normally. If this turns into a standup fight, it could be the highlight of the evening. The winner of this one is all but guaranteed a title shot in their next fight.

The other number one contender’s match is in the heavyweight division. Roy “Big County” Nelson will take his big belly into battle with Junior Dos Santos.

Don’t let Nelson physique fool you, this tubby can fight. He is extremely well rounded and is on a roll since winning the Ultimate Fighter show. Dos Santos is a huge step up in competition and is shocking people all over with both his ground game and striking ability. This fight is my sleeper for fight of the night.

Hall of Famer Matt Hughes is taking on Ricardo Almeida which many are predicting will be a snooze fest. I disagree and look forward to a very technical fast paced ground battle. Two of the smartest guys in the game going at it in what will be a chess match.

Keep an eye on Johny Hendricks also who I think is a future superstar, he takes on Charlie Brenneman on the undercard.

Full fight card:

Champ Anderson Silva vs. Chael Sonnen (for middleweight title)

Thiago Alves vs. Jon Fitch

Rafael dos Anjos vs. Clay Guida

Ricardo Almeida vs. Matt Hughes

Junior Dos Santos vs. Roy Nelson

Dustin Hazelett vs. Rick Story

Phil Davis vs. Rodney Wallace

Tim Boetsch vs. Todd Brown

Charlie Brenneman vs. Johny Hendricks

Christian Morecraft vs. Stefan Struve

Dennis Hallman vs. Ben Saunders

Damn. When I look at that I see a loaded card with a ton of candidates for fight of the night. UFC 116 was one of the best cards I can remember. Will 117 follow that up with a great night of fights or will it be a dud? I truly expect a wonderful night of exciting matches courtesy of the Ultimate Fighting Championship. Tune in.

Don't forget to follow me on Twitter. Twitter.com/ScottSwerbinsky

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UFC 116 has come and gone but it will be a card that is remembered for quite some time. I told anyone who would listen it was going to be a great card, and I was right on the money. It was an action packed card that lived up to the hype, highlighted by a main event that you had to see to believe.

What was being billed as the biggest fight in mixed martial arts history ended in a way I never thought could have happened. Brock Lesnar defended his heavyweight title against Shane Carwin. Lesnar came out on top by submission. You read that right, Lesnar made Carwin tap out from an arm triangle choke.

Shane Carwin was seconds from winning the title but punched himself out and simply ran out of gas. He landed a few huge shots that had Lesnar falling and covering up. Carwin pounced in for the kill, cut Lesnar up, but couldn’t finish the show in the first round. With a minute left in round 1, you could see the tank was on empty for Carwin.

At the start of round two, Lesnar looked to have regained his wits and immediately took Carwin down. It was the beginning of the end as Carwin couldn’t move from both exhaustion and having a 265 pound mountain of a man laying on top of him. Lesnar landed some hammer fists and then sunk in a nice arm triangle choke to seal the deal.

Of all the ways for this fight to end, I never would have picked by submission for either fighter. Lesnar showed a ton of heart and Carwin showed a huge hole in his game. Another thing I have been telling people for awhile is that Cain Velasquez is the best heavyweight fighter in the world. He is going to get a chance to prove me right as he is next in line for Lesnar’s title. That’s another fight that I can’t wait for.

This fight card was so good that the UFC handed out extra bonus checks for fight of the night. Normally two fighters are awarded bonuses for that honor, but four guys got a little extra cash for that this time around.

The two fights that stole the show were Stephan Bonnar versus Krzysztof Soszynski along with Chris Leben versus Yoshihiro Akiyama . Both fights were high energy back and forth battles that had the crowd on their feet chanting and screaming.

Chris Leben , who just fought two weeks ago, stepped up and won the biggest fight in his UFC career. He beat a very game Akiyama with a beautiful triangle choke in the third round with just 20 seconds remaining.

Stephan Bonnar gained some revenge over Soszynski with a brutal beating and ended it in the second round by TKO. The first round of this one was a toss up but Bonnar looked great in the second and pounded out the win.

Knockout of the night went to Gerald Harris. The fight ended in the third round when Harris brutually slammed David Branch to the canvas and put his lights out. It was a huge power display by the former Cleveland State wrestling star. It was one of the better knockouts I have seen in awhile. The fight was very uneventful until Harris rammed his head and back down with all of his mite.

Full results:

• Champ Brock Lesnar def. interim champ Shane Carwin via submission (arm-triangle choke) - Round 2, 2:19 (becomes unified champ)
• Chris Leben def. Yoshihiro Akiyama via (triangle choke) - Round 3, 4:40
• Chris Lytle def. Matt Brown via submission (armbar) - Round 2, 2:02
• Stephan Bonnar def. Krzysztof Soszynski via TKO (strikes) - Round 2, 3:08
• George Sotiropoulos def. Kurt Pellegrino via decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)

PRELIMINARY CARD

• Brendan Schuab def. Chris Tuchscherer via TKO (punches) - Round 1, 1:07
• Ricardo Romero def. Seth Petruzelli via submission (armbar) - Round 2, 3:05
• Kendall Grove def. Goran Reljic via split decision (28-29, 30-27, 29-28)
• Gerald Harris def. David Branch via knockout (slam) - Round 3, 2:35
• Daniel Roberts def. Forrest Petz via split decision (28-29, 29-28, 29-28)
• Jon Madsen def. Karlos Vemola via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)

UFC 116 was easily the best card we have seen so far in 2010. The heavyweight king impressed a lot of people and so did all of the other fights on the card. I hope everyone out there took my advice and tuned in. It was well worth it and hopefully the rest of the events this year will be as entertaining.

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The MGM Grand in Las Vegas is home to the fight that is being billed as the biggest in UFC history. I’m not sure if I agree with that statement but it has the fight world buzzing and people paying attention.

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UFC 115 has come and gone and hopefully so has the career of a legend.

Chuck Liddell is the most famous mixed martial arts fighter of all time. He has had a great career but the time has come for him to hang up the gloves. Four out of his last six fights have ended with him being brutally knocked out. Rich Franklin defeated him last night by first round knockout with what appeared to be a glancing blow.

We have seen a lot of fighters hang on too long way too many times in both boxing and now in mixed martial arts. It’s a sad thing really, but the mentality of a fighter is something very different. UFC President Dana White is a close personal friend of Liddell’s so he can almost have the final say when it comes to Chuck fighting again. At least you would hope White could convince Liddell to hang them up, even if it meant UFC not booking another fight for Liddell.

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