Rashad Evans vs Chuck Liddel at UFC 85

"Sugar" Rashad Evans steps in for the injured Mauricio “Shogun” Rua to fight Chuck "The Iceman" Liddell in London at UFC 85.

Evans (16-0-1) first made his mark when he won the heavyweight finale of The Ultimate Fighter season 2. He then dropped to 205 pounds and has been on fire since with wins over notable fighters like Stephan Bonnar and Michael Bisping and his fight against Tito Ortiz in July of '07 ended in a draw.

Richie Hightower to fight in PFC welterweight title fight

The Ultimate Fighter season 6 contestant Richie Hightower will compete for the PFC welter weight title at Palace Fighting Championship 7 on March 20th. He is taking on Brian Travers.

This is Hightower's return to the PFC after being eliminated from TUF 6 when he lost a quarterfinal fight to George Sotiropoulous then losing by TKO in the first round to Troy Mandaloniz at the TUF 6 finale.

Here is the PFC 7 fight card:

Jeromy Freitag vs. Jorge Oliveira - 205 lbs
Richie Hightower vs. Bryan Travers - 170 lbs
Justin Levens vs. Phil Collins - 185 lbs
Jorge Evangelista vs. Enoch Wilson - 145 lbs
Glover Teixeira vs. Buckley Acosta - 205 lbs
Carlton Jones vs. Rafael Del Real - 265 lbs
Jeremiah Metcalf vs. Jimmy Dexter - 185 lbs
Ulysses Gomez vs. Greg McDowell - 135 lbs
Luis Gonzales vs. David Mitchell - 135 lbs
Danny Castillo vs. Andy Salazar - 155 lbs
Manuel Quezada vs. Sal Farnetti - 265 lbs
Robert Breslin vs. Brandon Jinnies - 145 lbs

Kim Couture's Smoker Muay Thai debut at Xtreme Couture

Randy Couture's wife Kim Couture had her first muay thai fight at Xtreme Couture. Here's the video from Raw Vegas.

UFC 84 : Ill Will

UFC officially announced UFC 84:Ill Will. The event will be on May 24th, 2008 from MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. The main event will be a lightweight championship bout between "The Prodigy" BJ Penn and Sean "The Muscle Shark"Sherk.

The fight card is as follows:

Main Event:

• BJ Penn (champion) vs Sean Sherk for the lightweight championship

Undercard:

• 205 lbs.: Tito Ortiz (15-5-1) vs. Lyoto Machida (12-0)
• 205 lbs.: Wanderlei Silva (31-8-1) vs. Keith Jardine (13-3-1)

Unconfirmed:

• 205 lbs.: Rashad Evans (11-0-1) vs. Thiago Silva (12-0)
• 205 lbs.: Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou (4-2) vs. Kazuhiro Nakamura (11-7)
• 185 lbs.: Rousimar Palhares (7-1) vs. Ivan Salaverry (12-5)
• 205 lbs.: Goran Reljic (7-0) vs. Wilson Gouveia (10-4)
• 170 lbs.: Jon Koppenhaver (5-1) vs. TBA
• 170 lbs.: Dong Hyun Kim (9-1-1) vs. Jason Tan (5-2)
• 155 lbs.: Terry Etim (10-1) vs. Jeremy Stephens (13-2)
• 265 lbs.: Shane Carwin (8-0) vs. Christian Wellisch (8-3)

UFC 85 - Chuck "The Iceman" Liddell in London

Chuck "The Iceman Liddell" will make his first UK appearance at UFC 85 on June 7th, 2008 at o2 Arena in London. His opponent hasn't been officially announced yet, but should be soon along with the rest of the fight card. Chick was originally supposed to fight Mauricio “Shogun” Rua, but Rua re-injured his knee and will have to undergo surgery and was forced to withdraw.

Chuck's fight will be the main event and he says he is ready to fight anyone. For UK fans tickets go on sale on march 7th, 2008.

Mark Coleman in UFC hall of fame - will fight Brock Lesnar

At UFC 82 on March 1st, 2008 in Columbus, Ohio the UFC's very first heavyweight champion, Mark Coleman was inducted into the UFC hall of fame. Later in the evening it was announced that he will fight UFC newcomer and college and professional wrestling legend Brock Lesnar.

Coleman made it very clear in a quick interview with Joe Rogan at the pay-per-view event Saturday night that he is not retired and that he has been wanting to get back into the octagon and fight.

Coleman, now 43 years old, began a dominant run in the UFC back in 1996 winning the tournaments at UFC 10 and 11 then defeating Dan Severn for the heavyweight title at UFC 12. Coleman is 15-8 in his professional career and was an NCAA National Champion Wrestler at Ohio State.

Still, Coleman recognizes that he is the underdog against Lesnar but says, "Don't bet the house against me."

He took the fight with 5 months notice and the fight is scheduled to take place in August.

UFC 82 fight results

Here are the results from UFC 82 Pride of a Champion in Columbus Ohio on March 1st 2008.

Main Event:

• Anderson Silva submitted Dan Henderson at 4:52 of round 2 with a rear naked choke

Main Card:

• Heath Herring defeated Cheick Kongo by split decision
• Chris Leben defeated Alessio Sakara by TKO at 3:16 in round one
• Yushin Okami defeated Evan Tanner by knockout at 3:00 in round two
• Jon Fitch beat Chris Wilson by unanimous decision

Under Card:

• Andre Arlovski defeated Jake O’Brien by TKO (strikes) at 4:17 in round two
• Luigi Fiorvanti beat Luke Cummo by unanimous decision
• Josh Koscheck defeated Dustin Hazelett by TKO (strikes) at 1:24 in round two
• Diego Sanchez submitted David Bielkheden with strikes at 4:43 in round two
• Jorge Gurgel defeated John Halverson by unanimous decision

It was a great fight night overall as was expected. Dan Henderson took control of Anderson Silva in round one on the ground, not doing a lot of damage but frustrating him and grinding on him. Then in round two Henderson learned that standing in front of Silva wasn't the best strategy as it resulted in Henderson on the ground in defense mode as Anderson Silva worked his way to his back and finished him with a rear naked choke late in the second round.

Heath Herring surprised many and silenced some critics by defeating Cheik Kongo by split decision in a very close fight. The two big heavyweights spent quite a bit of time on the ground despite predictions that this would be a stand up war. Herring was without question in much better shape than he has been in the past. There's no doubt we'll be seeing more of both of these fighters in the UFC.

Chris Leben defeated Alessio Sakara in typical Chris Leben fashion. The two traded strikes early in the first round and Leben admitted that some of Sakara's strikes had him hurt. However Leben punched his way to another impressive TKO at 3:16 in the first round.

Evan Tanner's return to the octagon after a two year hiatus was not successful as rising star Yushin Okami was able to knock him out with a knee in round two, after repeatedly feeding him left hands.

To see the full rundown as always check out UFC.com.

UFC 82 Pride of a Champion Fight Card

Main Event:

• UFC Middleweight Champion Anderson Silva (20-4) vs. Dan Henderson (22-6)

Main card (televised):

• 265 lbs.: Cheick Kongo (11-3-1) vs. Heath Herring (27-13)
• 185 lbs.: Alessio Sakara (12-6) vs. Chris Leben (17-4)
• 185 lbs.: Evan Tanner (32-6) vs. Yushin Okami (21-4)
• 170 lbs.: Jon Fitch (15-2) vs. Chris Wilson (13-3)

Under card (may not be broadcast):

• 265 lbs.: Andrei Arlovski (11-5) vs. Jake O’Brien (10-0)
• 170 lbs.: Luke Cummo (6-4) vs. Luigi Fioravanti (11-3)
• 170 lbs.: Josh Koscheck (9-2) vs. Dustin Hazelett (10-3)
• 170 lbs.: Diego Sanchez (17-2) vs. David Bielkheden (12-5)
• 155 lbs.: Jorge Gurgel (11-3) vs. John Halverson (16-5)

Lots of good fights here, even on the under card. What's everybody's take on these? Leave some comments and let us know...

Kimbo Slice Beats Tank Abbott

The EliteXC bout between Kimbo Slice and Tank Abbott ended the way many though it would and not without controversy. Action was stopped early in th first round and Kimbo was warned about strikes to the back of the head and then stopped again for something being thrown into the cage from the crowd. This seemed to energize Kimbo even more, and it wasn't long after the fight was under way again that Kimbo got the knockout.

Also, Antonio "Big Foot" Silva defeated Ricco "Suave (Seriously)" Rodriguez in a split decision, Scott Smith defeated Kyle Noke and Brett Rogers Defeated James Thompson.

So what's next for Kimbo? Is he going to be taken seriously as a professional MMA fighter? It's difficult to say because this fight was anything but traditional MMA and while Tank Abbott may have been his most formidable professional opponent thus far there are certainly more difficult challenges ahead for Slice.