This past Wednesday saw the return of Ultimate Challenge UK to British television screens, with their most recent show, Mayhem, shown on a ten day delay on Sky Sports. The show received a great deal of mainstream publicity thanks to the appearance of Katie Price’s current boyfriend Alex Reid, defending his UK1 Middleweight Championship against Jack Mason. The show was presented by O.J. Borg and Dave O’Donnell, with Pierre Guillet, Rob Nutley and Malcolm Martin.

The broadcast began with Wesley Murch taking on Mark Smith in a lightweight fight. This proved to be a very enjoyable contest, with both fighters showing some good work on the ground, changing positions a number of times and going for a few submission holds. The final submission, in the first round, saw Murch synching in a kimura, with Smith making the inevitable tap. Both fighters did well here, with Smith the slightly more dominant until Murch came back strongly for the win.

Then it was up to the light heavyweight division, with Mike Edwards facing Jamie Hearn. If ever you wanted to see a dominant performance, then all you’ve got to do is look at this fight. Although Hearn scored with some good combinations early on, Edwards dominated as soon as he took the fight to the ground. His ground and pound was relentless, and it wasn’t long before Hearn was tapping. This was a good performance from Edwards, although I’m left to wonder just where Hearn’s ground game was.

The first title fight of the evening followed, with Francis Heagney challenging Tim Radcliffe for the UCUK Lightweight title. A lot of people thought that Radcliffe was going to get the win here, but things didn’t exactly go to plan for the champion. The first round saw Heagney take him down repeatedly, while Radcliffe earned a yellow card from the referee for up kicking Heagney in the head, and although the beginning of the second round saw a slightly improved performance from Radcliffe, it was Heagney who came out on top, finishing Radcliffe off with a guillotine choke to end a very good and very entertaining fight.

The fight that everyone wanted to see was up next, with tabloid favourite Alex Reid defending his UK1 Middleweight kickboxing title against Jack Mason. Fought over three three minute rounds, Reid went into this one with some critical over his apparent lack of training. Reid began strongly, and although Mason looked poor in the first round, he certainly upped his game as the fight went on, with Reid looking visibly tired, and looking like the better fighter in the third round. The commentators at ringside, and yours truly, thought that Mason had won the fight, but the judges were apparently watching something different, with Reid winning the unanimous decision. I was left scratching my head with this one.

The final fight of the show saw Ben Smith taking on Frenchman Kiane Sabet for the vacant Heavyweight Superfight title. This was another of those one-sided affairs. Sabet showed some good take down defence, but when Smith finally secured the take down, then that was it. Sabet looked like the proverbial rabbit in the headlights, and with his eyes wide open he looked like a man who just didn’t know what to do, so it came as no surprise when Smith got the submission win with an arm triangle. A good performance by Smith here, but Sabet looked very nervous and very inexperienced.

In conclusion - another good outing from Dave O’Donnell and his crew with five very enjoyable fights, but there was one thing I really didn’t like about this show, and that was the over-exposure of Alex Reid.

As readers here in Britain will now, Reid has got a hell of a lot exposure because of his relationship with former glamour model Katie “Jordan” Price, but the amount of times he was featured on this show bordered on the ridiculous. Not only did we get the usual pre-recorded pre-fight promo, we also had a pre-fight interview, as well as a post-fight interview, as well as numerous shots of his darling girlfriend during the show. Now, while it’s understandable that Ultimate Challenge would try to cash in on his newfound fame, fame he would never have got if it hadn’t been for his girlfriend, but did we really need to see so much of him here? I would like to say something else, but that would probably be considered libellous, and I really don’t want to spend a great deal of time replying to long-winded e-mails.

It’s time to step into Ring of Honor territory again, and following on from their excellent 7th Anniversary Show, we’re now going to go back to April 3rd, and to Houston, Texas, as we take a look at Supercard of Honor IV, with Jerry Lynn challenging Nigel Mc****ss for the ROH World title. Dave Prazak and Lenny Leonard are handling commentary duties for this one.

The show begins with the usual quick opener, this time featuring Rhett Titus against Erick Stevens. It’s a solid little opener, with some fast paced action and two good performances from those involved, with Stevens getting the win with a unique looking finisher, lifting his man up as if he were about to deliver an inverted atomic drop, then taking him down with a clothesline. Nice stuff.

Six man tag team action followed, with Chris Hero, Eddie Edwards and Incognito taking on Jay Briscoe, Magno, and one half of the ROH World Tag Team Champions Kevin Steen. This one was nearly a disaster when the top rope broke early on, but credit must go to the wrestlers for making the best of a bad situation. Although high impact off the rope moves were out of the question, they put on a good solid match, with the two Mexicans in particular looking impressive. The heels came out on top here, getting the pin after Hero knocked out Magno with his controversial and potentially loaded green elbow pad.

Thankfully, the ring was fixed when Japanese star Katsuhiko Nakajima faced Roderick Strong. Sadly, this was another relatively short match. I say sadly because it was a hell of an encounter, a hard hitting back and forth display, with Strong pinning Nakajima after a butterfly power bomb. Impressive though this was, I couldn’t help but wonder what would have happened if they’d been given another five or ten minutes.

The Sweet & Sour Challenge never actually happened. This time it was the turn of Kamala to take on Bobby Dempsey, but the Ugandan giant refused to wrestle when he saw that Dempsey had the same body paint as him. This enraged Shane Hagadorn, who slapped Kim Chee, only for the big man to attack him and splash him in the corner, with Dempsey adding the coup de grace seconds later. A nice little segment this, although I was a little disappointed that Kamala didn’t actually wrestle.

Multi-man action followed this segment, a four corners survival match featuring NWA World Champion Blue Demon Jr, ROH World Tag Team Champion El Generico, Claudio Castagnoli and Brent Albright. This was another match filled with fast paced action, and I was really impressed with the Demon’s showing here. As well as some great action in the ring we also had a ton of brawling outside the ring, mainly between long-time rivals Castagnoli and Albright, and it was the Swiss who came out on top, claiming victory after low blowing Albright after the referee had been pushed out of the way.

The great action continued with Bryan Danielson facing Russian star Alex Koslov. These two were tailor-made for each other, the action was that good. Koslov put in a terrific show, and Danielson, well, was Danielson, as solid and dependable as always. Perhaps the best part of this one was Danielson’s frustration as Koslov used his signature moves. However, Danielson’s versions of the moves proved to be better, as he got the win with his version of the cattle mutilation.

D-Lo Brown’s heel turn continued next as he went up against another recently released former WWE star, Colt Cabana. This one was fought at a much slower pace than the previous matches, as Brown and Cabana proved to be good foils for one another. However, even though this wasn’t the best match I’ve seen from these two, it was still enjoyable nonetheless, with Brown getting the tainted win, clobbering Cabana with what looked to be a pair of brass knuckles as Cabana came off the top rope.

The fast paced action returned with Davey Richards challenging KENTA for the GHC Junior Heavyweight title. This was one of those matches that could literally take your breath away, a hard hitting encounter between two men who had tremendous chemistry in the ring, with the scary moment coming when Richards’ suicide dive from the ring saw him go flying into the second row. Thankfully he was soon up and running again. Plenty of false finishes in this one, before KENTA got the title retaining pin after taking Richards out with the go to sleep. Awesome match, and one I’d definitely watch again.

Sadly, I can’t say the same for the following match, a tag team affair pitting Jimmy Jacobs and Austin Aries against Tyler Black and Necro Butcher. These matches in which former Age of the Fall allies beat the hell out of each other are getting kind of predictable. As always, the Butcher was the worst man in the match with his weak looking offence, and we got the usual brief argument between Aries and Jacobs, before Aries pinned Black after his trademark brain buster. Parts of this were okay, I suppose.

The main event saw Jerry Lynn challenging Nigel Mc****ss for the ROH World title. Mc****ss was still hampered by his various injuries, and once again it seemed as if announcers Prazak and Leonard were trying to turn the champion face. Despite the injuries he was suffering from Mc****ss once again put in a great performance, the perfect foil for the always dependable Lynn. This was one of those matches you just couldn’t take your eyes off, mainly because it got better as it went on. A new champion was crowned at the end though, with Lynn taking Mc****ss down with his trusty cradle pile driver. Afterwards, as the crowd roared their approval, both men grabbed the microphone and paid tribute to each other. A nice touch of class there.

DVD extras come in the form of the usual ROH Newswire, and a bonus match between Grizzly Redwood and Ernie Osiris.

In conclusion - another solid outing for the Ring of Honor crew. The majority of the matches delivered what they set out to do, with the exception of, once again, the encounter featuring the Necro Butcher. How this guy ever gets work is beyond me, it really is. Thankfully the rest of the show made up for his continuing poor performances, and was topped off nicely by Jerry Lynn’s title win. So does this release get the Two Sheds recommendation? The answer is yes.

My latest review sees me going back to an arena I know quite well, the Waveney Sports & Leisure Centre in the Suffolk coastal town of Lowestoft. I’ve reviewed quite a few professional wrestling shows there, but I’m not reviewing a wrestling show now. We’re going to take a look at the DVD release of MMA promotion Fight Factory’s debut show Relentless, held just over a year ago.

The show features nine fights, and begins with a grappling contest featuring Fabio Ferrari and Loia Bamgbaia. I suppose you could really call this an exhibition more than anything else, as it was fought over a solitary five minute round. There was lots of feeling out early on before Bamgbaia got the first take down, before Ferrari showed some good transitions. There were a couple of submission attempts, but neither man could get the decisive win, leaving the decision for the judges, who awarded the fight to Ferrari. This wasn’t too bad I suppose, but I think that this sort of contest will take some getting used to.

Then it was on to the first MMA fight of the show, beginning with a semi-pro lightweight fight pitting Tom Tailford, the guy who asked me to review this DVD, and Will West. This proved to be a very interesting contest, with both men putting in a good account for themselves, with the pace slowing down somewhat in the second, although Tom put in a bit more work. This was enough to earn him the win. I think the best way I could describe this fight is that although it was enjoyable, both fighters looked a little rough around the edges at times.

Ricky Bryans against Mill Millican at welterweight was next. This was a highly impressive performance from Millican as he went forward early on and scored with a quick take down. From there he showed some good transitions, before Bryans verbally submitted as Millican rained down with a torrent of blows. A good performance from Millican here, while Bryans didn’t really seem to have any answer to the onslaught that defeated him.

There was then a break from the MMA action as Jed Molyneaux faced Dan Weiss in a kickboxing match. This was a messy, bad tempered affair, and wasn’t that good to watch if I’m being totally honest. There were low blows, punches to the back of the head, long rest periods because of the rules infringements and lots of complaining, which is probably why the performances of both fighters were scrappy to say the least. Weiss won the judges decision, but neither fighter did themselves any credit here.

The next two fights were the proverbial blink and you’ll miss it affairs, beginning with Ashley Winn facing Paul Barnett at middleweight. Winn got the quick take down, went for the ground and pound, then took Barnett’s back before tapping out after more of Winn’s ground and pound. Nice work from Mr. Winn here.

Alex Morris against John Mezzetti at lightweight followed. I’m going to be totally biased with regards to this particular encounter. John Mezzetti and I went to the same school. I was in the same class as his sister Maria, and his Gran and Uncle used to live over the road from me. John also runs the Fighting Fit Martial Arts Academy in my hometown of Cromer. So, with all that out of the way, this one was even quicker than the previous fight. John connected with a hard kick to Morris’ ribs. Morris fell to the canvas, and the referee stopped the fight, giving Mezzetti the ten second knock out win. The kick was so loud everyone in the arena probably heard it, and it came as no surprise that Morris was sporting a nasty bruise as the announcement was made. Nice one John.

Light heavyweight action was next, with John Calderwood taking on Francesco Zand. This was another semi-pro fight that went the two round distance. There were quite a few periods of inactivity in the first round, although Zand did pull off a few good transitions. The action slowed down quite a bit in the second, with both men showing some good ground and pound. The judges couldn’t separate them though, and declared the fight a draw, although I thought Zand just edged it.

The penultimate fight saw Lee Elliott face Matt West at lightweight. For me this was the perfect example of what a referee shouldn’t do. Elliott was absolutely relentless with his punches here, and when the fight went to the ground his ground and pound was even more so, and when West was offering no defence I kept wondering why the referee didn’t step in to save him. He soon had to though, as Elliott soon synched in a guillotine choke for the submission win, and while this was a good performance by Elliott, the referee should have ended it much sooner.

The final fight saw Shaun Gruncell facing Dan Cubitt in middleweight action. British MMA fans may remember Cubitt from his appearances for Cage Rage and Ultimate Challenge UK. Cubitt also trains at John Mezzetti’s gym, so I can’t be completely unbiased here, although I don’t really need to, because Cubitt put in a great performance here, almost dominating in every aspect of the fight, from the stand up game to the ground and pound. But he was somewhat unlucky though, in the sense that he couldn’t finish Gruncell off, even though he went for a few arm submissions. It wasn’t surprising when Cubitt got the judges decision after three rounds of hard fought action. It was a well deserved win.

In conclusion, apart from the messy kickboxing bout, this was a very good show. Granted, a couple of the fighters looked a little rough and ready, but overall this was a very enjoyable show, and although some people may be put off by the lack of commentary, I would definitely recommend to MMA fans who want to sample MMA outside of a UFC octagon.

With thanks to Tom Tailford for supplying a copy of this release. For more details of this release, visit www.fight-factory.co.uk.

It’s multi man madness time again as Total Non-Stop Action present their latest pay-per-view, No Surrender, headlined by Kurt Angle defending the TNA World title against A.J. Styles, Matt Morgan and Sting, and shown on a three day delay on Bravo 2 here in Britain, with Mike Tenay and Taz handling commentary duties.

The first match of the show saw new champions crowned, with the new incarnation of The Beautiful People, Velvet Skye and Madison Rayne, facing the team of Taylor Wilde and Sarita, with the new Knockouts Tag-Team titles on the line. Brief mention is made of Angelina Love’s departure from the company before Earl Hebner comes down to the ring and throws Slick Johnson out of the match because of his past relationship with young Ms. Skye. As for the actual match, it’s not bad, but it’s a tad short. Wilde and Sarita pulled off some tremendous double team moves, the likes of which would make Ricky & Robert proud. However, Madison Rayne is good, but she just isn’t as good as the departed Ms. Love. As the ending, our baby faces came out on top, with Sarita taking out Madison with a springboard drop kick off the ropes, with Taylor getting the pin with a bridge suplex.

Now if the opener was short, the next one was even shorter, with Eric Young taking on Super-Mex himself, Hernandez. Young, still trying to get the big man to join the World Elite, said he wasn’t going to fight back, and came to the ring still dressed in his business suit. Young was true to his word, and it wasn’t long before Hernandez pinned EY after the border toss. Well, I’m not exactly sure what to make of this one.

The second title match of the evening followed, with Christopher Daniels challenging Samoa Joe for the X Division title. You can never really tire of seeing these two go up against each other. These two have tremendous chemistry, and it showed in this match, with Daniels high flying moves matching up against Joe’s hard hitting style. The story here was Joe working over Daniels’ injured left knee, but the former Fallen Angel managed to fight back, and after a great series of counters Joe finally managed to synch in the rear naked choke for the submission victory. A very good match this, probably the best on the show.

Then it was on to falls count anywhere action, with the mystery man Suicide tackling D’Angelo Dinero. This match actually started when Suicide attacked the Pope during a backstage interview, and while there were some interesting spots during the fight backstage, it didn’t really get interesting until they reached the arena. However, as the match went on, it did seem to drag a little, and when the end came, with Dinero pinning Suicide after the masked man missed a jump off the entrance way and went through a table when Dinero moved out of the way, I was slightly relieved.

The second vacant title was contested next, with ODB and Cody Deaner fighting it out over the Knockouts title. Why? Just why? Having built up a great reputation for their women’s division, they have to go and screw it up with this poor excuse for a match. So, the action may have been okay at times, but the entire concept just sucked, and whoever came up with this idea should be fired, or at least given a good slap. Oh, and in case you’re wondering, ODB got the pin after Deaner missed a top rope splash, so at least we had a woman winning a women’s championship.

Normal service was resumed with the battle of the big boys, with Abyss challenging Kevin Nash for the Legends title, with Nash hoping to claim Dr. Stevie’s bounty. Mick Foley came down to do a spot of guest commentary, with a barbed wire baseball bat in hand, and shared some classic moments with his fellow WWE alumni Taz. As for the match, it was strangely compelling. It was slow paced and hard hitting, but extremely well executed, and the story was played out really well, with Stevie turning up and taking a seat on the stage, with Daffney appearing from out of the crowd with a taser in her hand. Abyss stopped this heinous attempt by taking her out with a black hole slam, but the offending weapon soon made it’s way into Nash’s hands, and while the referee was trying to stop Foley from handing Abyss his baseball bat, Nash used the taser on a very sensitive part of Abyss’ body, enabling him to get the pin. It was then that Stevie refused to give Nash the bounty. Big Sexy ended up power bombing Stevie, and leaving with the cash. Although this wasn’t a patch on the Joe/Daniels match, it was still quite good, and Nash’s best pay-per-view match this year.

The Lethal Lockdown match was next, with Beer Money, Inc. and Team 3D taking on The British Invasion, Scott Steiner and Booker T. Sadly, I am unable to review this match for you. If you recall, Nick Aldis, the man behind the Brutus Magnus gimmick, has threatened me with legal action if I say anything negative about him on the internet, and while I’m not going to contact him and ask him to withdraw his threat, I’m not going to stop anyone else from doing so. So if anyone wants to ask him, then why not visit his website at www.gladiator-oblivion.com.

So, back to normal service, with Bobby Lashley finally making his TNA debut against Rhino. Firstly, I’d like to say that it was great seeing Rhino back on pay-per-view. It seems like ages since he’s been on a big show. As for the match, it was another of those hard hitting affairs, with two good performances, although it was obvious that Lashley wasn’t going to go all out because of his MMA career. As the ending, after Lashley accidentally speared the referee, Rhino attempted his second gore, which Lashley countered with a knockout punch for the winning pin. A nice little match here.

Main event time, with Kurt Angle defending the TNA World title against three challengers, A.J. Styles, Matt Morgan, and Sting. Or at least he thought he was going to be three. Before the match began Hernandez came down the ramp with his feast or fired briefcase to cash in his TNA World title shot, turning this into a five way match. The big man then attacked Angle, beating the hell out of him while the other three just stood and watched, and when the bell finally rang Hernandez continued his attack on Angle up the ramp and onto the stage. He was about to throw Angle off the stage with the border toss with Eric Young suddenly appeared and attacked him, taking him down with a pile driver on the stage, and taking him out of the match, turning it back into a four way. It wasn’t long before Angle and Morgan formed a temporary alliance against Sting and Styles. Again, the action was okay, but this was another of those matches that just seemed to drag on and on with no ending in sight. When it did get near the end there were plenty of near falls, and with Angle lying prone in the middle of the ring, Sting and Styles looked at each other. Sting then left the ring to attack Morgan on the outside, leaving Styles to take Angle out with a 450 splash to get the title winning pin.

In conclusion - while there was some good action on this show, this won’t go down as one of my favourite TNA pay-per-views. Some matches seemed way too short, while others just seemed way too long, and I’m not sure if I agree with having a Lethal Lockdown match on any other pay-per-view apart from Lockdown. It just doesn’t seem right.

As for the main event, I really can’t understand why Hernandez was put into the main event in the first place. It would have made more sense, and created more drama, if he’d cashed in his feast or fired World title shot for a pay-per-view main event. It would have given us a new face in the main event scene, and a new match-up. Then they could have had the World Elite cost him his big chance. That would have made a lot more sense. But then again, I’m just a lowly internet writer, so what the hell do I know?

So overall, as many a high school teacher would say - could do better.

It’s dream match-up time in the Ultimate Fighting Championship. Following Couture v Nogueira, Rich Franklin takes on the returning Vitor Belfort, headlining a strong show at UFC 103: Franklin versus Belfort, shown live in the early hours of this past Saturday morning on ESPN in Britain, with Mike Goldberg and Joe Rogan handling commentary duties.

The broadcast actually began with a first, with four preliminary fights that were being shown for free on Spike across the pond (although we Brits still had to pay for them!). They began with a middleweight fight between Drew McFedries and Tomasz Drwal. This certainly proved to be an interesting fight. While Drwal looked great, at the opposite end of the scale, McFedries looked very disappointing, almost straining to unleash any blow, so it really came as no surprise when Drwal got the win in the second round, rocking McFedries early on before taking him down, quickly taking his back and synching in a rear naked choke, with McFedries tapping soon afterwards. A good performance by Drwal here.

Then it was down to welterweight for Rick Story against Brian Foster. This proved to be a great contest, with some good action from both men in the first round which continued into the second. When the fight went to the ground, Story went for an arm triangle choke from within the guard, something which hasn’t really been seen before. The referee checked if Foster was okay, but it wasn’t long before he tapped out. This was a very good fight, with Story winning the submission of the night award for his efforts.

Efrain Escudero against Cole Miller at lightweight was up next. This one started slowly, with Escudero scoring with a take down and letting Miller back up, before knocking him back down to the ground with a hard right, following up with the ground and pound before the referee stepped in, giving Escudero the TKO win. Nice stuff.

The final fight of the prelim show saw more lightweight action, this time between Jim Miller and Steve Lopez. Miller was clearly on top in the first round, with a couple of blows that sent Lopez down. Lopez looked a bit lethargic, although he was able to escape from Miller’s guillotine attempt. He looked a bit better in the second round, but unfortunately he injured his shoulder while throwing a left, and immediately pulled out of the fight, giving Miller the TKO win. With the way that he was starting to come back you couldn’t help but feel a little disappointed for Miller here. Maybe these two will hook up once again when Lopez is fit and ready to go.

Then it was on to the main show, beginning with Tyson Griffin against Hermes Franca. Franca came into this one with a crazy blue rinse hairstyle, but his main problem here was that he didn’t actually make the lightweight limit. Whether this played on his mind, I don’t know, because he certainly put in a disappointing performance, looking very sluggish throughout the first round. The second saw Griffin knock Franca down with a big right, before knocking him out with the ground and pound. A top performance from Griffin here, but I’m left to wonder what was wrong with Franca her.

Then we saw the first big return of the night, with Frank Trigg taking on Josh Koscheck in the welterweight division. This one took a while to get going, but when it did it was explosive, with Koscheck connecting with a big right that sent Trigg down to the ground. Koscheck went for the ground and pound, and the referee quickly stepped in and called a halt to proceedings. Trigg complained about an early stoppage, but replays showed that he’d made the right call. A very good performance from Koscheck here over the former champions.

More welterweight action followed, with Martin Kampmann facing my fellow Brit Paul Daley, so I think you can guess who I was rooting for here. A tremendous performance from Daley in his UFC debut saw him rock the Dane with a relentless torrent of blows, with the referee stepping in when he saw that Kampmann was out on his feet. Daley looked great here, and hopefully he’ll go on to big things in the UFC.

Filler material was next, with Robert Emerson facing Rafael Dos Anjos at lightweight. This was a very enjoyable three round encounter, with Dos Anjos putting in a very good performance. The way he was centring his attack on Emerson’s right leg was brutal at times. I hadn’t seen that much bruising since a wrestler punched me in the right arm and I had bruising from my shoulder to my elbow! In all though it was great stuff from Dos Anjos, who controlled Emerson in almost every aspect here, earning himself the unanimous decision.

The co-main event was up next, with Mirko Cro Cop taking on Junior Dos Santos in the heavyweight division. I was expecting big things from the Croatian here. Needless to say that I was a little disappointed. Although Cro Cop looked good in the first round, Dos Santos took over from the second, showing much better striking as the fight went on. All Cro Cop seemed able to do at times was push the Brazilian off him. The end came in the third round. After Dos Santos had scored with a series of knees to the head and body, he connected with a big right to Cro Cop’s left eye. Cro Cop immediately complained that he couldn’t see, and verbally submitted, giving Dos Santos the biggest win of his short career, and leaving many to wonder if there’s anything left for Cro Cop to give.

The main event saw Rich Franklin going up against the returning Vitor Belfort in a catch weight contest, made at 195 pounds. This one started very slowly, with a long feeling out process, before Belfort suddenly sprang into action, knocking Franklin off his feet with a left, and then knocking him out with a series of lefts on the ground, getting the KO win. Well, this was slow to start, but at least we all got to see the Belfort who had impressed everyone all those years ago.

With plenty of time to spare, two more preliminary fights were shown. The show ended with a second showing of the Rick Story/Brian Foster fight, but before that we got a three round battle between Nik Lentz and Rafaello Oliveira at lightweight. This was a very enjoyable contest. Oliveira looked good in the first round, as did Lentz, whose favourite submission hold seemed to be the guillotine choke. I actually lost count of the number of times he went for that hold in the first round. As the fight went on Oliveira began to visibly tire, while Lentz just got better, taking more control over the fight, and getting the judge’s unanimous decision.

In conclusion - once again the UFC impressed. Once again there were no bad fights here, and the addition of the preliminary fights before the main show was a nice touch, reminding this old wrestling fan of the Free For All shows that WWE used to put on before their pay-per-views. Let’s hope they continue with this.

As for the performances, I agree with Rick Story getting submission of the night, and Belfort getting knockout of the night. Our esteemed commentators began to wonder if Belfort could now challenge Anderson Silva for the middleweight crown. That would certainly be a mouth watering prospect.

As for Cro Cop, I’ve been a big fan of the guy ever since I saw him KO Bob Sapp in a K-1 fight years ago, and I’m sure I’m not the only one who has been disappointed by his tenure in the UFC. Has he lost it? Should he retire? If he doesn’t call it a day, then maybe Dana White and his band of merry men should give us the fight that Gabriel Gonzaga took away from us a couple of years ago - Mirko Cro Cop versus Randy Couture.