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Ultimate Fighter 8 Finale

Here is the fight card for The Ultimate Fighter 8 Finale on December 13. The big losers are definitely Krzysztof and Eliot Marshall. They get to fight in dark matches while Junie Browning and Dave Kaplan are on the main card. I'd be pretty pissed off about that.

Main Card
Phillipe Nover vs Efrain Escudero
Ryan Bader vs Vinicius Magalhaes
Jason MacDonald vs Wilson Gouveia
Kevin Burns vs Anthony Johnson
Junie Browning vs Dave Kaplan

Non-Televised
Krzysztof Soszynski vs Shane Primm
Jules Bruchez vs Eliot Marshall
Kyle Kingsbury vs Tom Lawlor
Shane Nelson vs George Roop
Rolando Delgado vs John Polakowski (read more)

Torres Wins Easily

Miguel Torres continued his dominance with an easy 2nd Round TKO of Manny Tapia. Torres never appeared to be in trouble, as he controlled the action in the 1st Round then stepped up the pace to finish it in the 2nd.

WEC 37 Results
Manny Tapia vs Miguel Torres
-Torres Wins by 2nd Rd TKO
Wagnney Fabiano vs Akitoshi Tamura
-Fabiano Wins by 3rd Rd Submission
Will Ribeiro vs Brian Bowles
-Bowles Wins by 3rd Round Submission
Danny Martinez vs Joseph Benavidez
-Benavidez Wins by Unanimous Decision
Justin Haskins vs Johny Hendricks
-Hendricks Wins by 2nd Rd TKO
Mark Munoz vs Ricardo Barros
-Munoz Wins by 1st Rd TKO
Diego Nunes vs Cole Province
-Nunes Wins by Unanimous Decision
Alex Karalexis vs Bart Palaszewski
-Palaszewski Wins by 2nd Rd TKO
Cub Swanson vs Hirouki Takaya
-Swanson Wins by Unanimous Decision
Shane Roller vs Mike Budnik
-Roller Wins by 1st Rd Submission (read more)

Blog Layoffs

I have received quite a few emails asking me about the layoffs at MMARated. Other than "Post more!" emails, this has been the number one topic in my Inbox. I can't say I have much firsthand knowledge of the situation other than what has been reported. Wasserman Media Group pays the bills for MMARated and they are feeling the financial pinch. They fired a bunch of people from their Sportnet division, which includes MMARated.

Running a blog is not as easy as most think. The problems come when it becomes a business. When blogs start worrying about their page views more than their content, they get into trouble. This happens again and again. You can tell a blog from a business simply by how the front page is designed. If you see abstracts of stories that require you to needlessly click for content, you are on a business site. They need those clicks to survive and will not hesitate to force their readers to click endlessly for content. And don't even get me started on giant ads taking up more space than the actual content.

When blogs started getting big a lot of people saw it as an opportunity to make easy money (specifically "media groups" who pool blogs together to sell ad space at higher rates). The problem was no one knew what a successful business plan looked like for a blog. Most places hired way too many employees and now we are seeing the cuts. Even a wildly successful blog like Gizmodo is getting butchered. The only thing I can really say is if you like reading a blog, support them. Tell your friends about it. Post their content on places like Digg and message boards you frequent. And of course, click on the ads. (read more)

Big Chance for Miller

Way back in July, a reader asked me what underrated fighters I thought would be a champion in the next three years. My answers were Michael Bisping and Jim Miller. Bisping is well on his way to a shot at the Middleweight Title and at Fight for the Troops on December 10th, Jim Miller will get a chance to take a major step forward. He will sub for the injured Frankie Edgar and face Matt Wiman. I was greatly looking forward to the Edgar/Wiman bout and am a little disappointed. However, the addition of Miller perked me right up. This is his chance to showcase his talents to a large audience and against a very solid opponent.

Wiman is coming off a spectacular knockout victory over Thiago Tavares. He's only 25 and has shown significant improvement since his stint on The Ultimate Fighter 5. Early in his career it seemed like he was missing a mean streak, but lately that has not been the case.

Miller is best known for his submissions. He is relentless on the ground and will often attempt a number of submissions before sinking in a finisher. The only part of his game that is lacking is his striking and that is largely due to his prowess on the ground. Over time his stand-up should develop into something for other fighters to fear. (read more)

Affliction Gets Serious

Since Affliction got into the promoting business, they have not been the best at releasing information. I was seriously questioning whether "Day of Reckoning" was going to happen up until the recent surge of fight announcements. It still makes me wonder why they have not straightened out their PR machine yet. The end of the Todd Beard era should at least clear up the confusion from hearing messages from two different company spokesmen. Although, Tom Atencio probably counts as two people because every time he opens his mouth a flurry of contradictions comes spewing out.

Anyway, the news today is that Josh Barnett will face Gilbert Yvel. Rumors had been circulating that Barnett would face Fedor Emelianenko's younger brother Aleksander. No idea why that one did not pan out. Maybe Affliction is being more budget conscious and decided they did not want to add Aleksander's salary to the event. The strangest part of the Barnett/Yvel fight is what it does for the future of the Heavyweight division. You would think they would want Barnett facing a top notch recognizable opponent, so they could position him for a title shot with a victory. It will be pretty weak if he ends up fighting for the title after defeating Pedro Rizzo and Gilbert Yvel. I mean, maybe if he took a time machine back to 2004 and beat them it would work a little better. (read more)

GSP/Penn 24/7

Details about the UFC's much talked about preview shows for GSP/Penn 2 have started to leak out. The idea was to model them after HBO's successful 24/7 Boxing programs, which have generated a huge amount of interest from fans. The shows take a look behind the scenes at the lives of the boxers as they train for their fights. The UFC plans on copying the formula, in the hopes it can carry St-Pierre and Penn to record numbers on PPV.

The series of three shows will premiere on January 14 and air each Wednesday at 10:30 ET on Spike TV in the three weeks prior to the fight on January 31. With the UFC producing the series and Penn training half a world away in Hawaii, plus St-Pierre's jet-setting training schedule, a lot of money will be on the line. The UFC is hoping to not only generate additional PPV buys, but also draw solid ratings on Spike TV. The advertising market is stagnant right now and sales are way down. This is a chance for the UFC, who has largely avoided any economic downturn, to prove to advertisers once again that they can bring in viewers no matter how poor the economy.

24/7 is a great show, even if you do not like boxing all that much. As a fight fan, it is tough not to be interested in seeing the inner workings of world-class fighters preparing for enormous matches. I think this will be a big success for the UFC and open the door for other series in the future. Penn and St-Pierre are the perfect fighters to launch the series. They are arguably two of the top five pound for pound MMA fighters in the world, have engaging personalities, and genuinely seem to have animosity between them. Those elements add up to make it a memorable show. It at least has to be better than the recent seasons of The Ultimate Fighter. (read more)

Thanksgiving News

• Bellator Fighting Championships has signed highly prized lightweight Eddie Alvarez. This is a solid addition to their proposed lightweight tournament. Before joining Bellator, Alvarez will fight on January 23 for his manager's regional promotion, Extreme Challenge.

• ProElite has blocked Jake Shields from leaving for now. This is such a terrible situation for the fighters still under contract. Through no fault of their own, ProElite has gone out of business. I had tons of problems with the way EliteXC booked matches, produced events, and generally did just about any thing that involved putting on a MMA show. One thing I never had a problem with was the effort of their fighters. Stop making your fighters sit around and not earn a paycheck simply because you dopes could not run a company. Imagine if General Motors went out of business and they blocked all their former employees from getting new jobs. Sounds ridiculous, right? Welcome to Mixed Martial Arts.

• Aren't you thankful I didn't have any lame posts today telling you about all the stupid stuff I'm thankful for? Yeah, me too.
  

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UFC 91 PPV Buys

It appears UFC 91 will fall well short of Dana White's prediction of 1.2 million PPV buys. According to some initial reports, it will be in the 750,000-900,000 range. This happens to be almost exactly where I predicted. Despite being lower than White's ridiculous number, it looks like a big success. At a time when few businesses are doing well, the UFC is thriving. If it ends up over 775K buys, it will be the #2 all time UFC PPV behind UFC 66 (Liddell/Ortiz II, 1,050,000 buys).

The other thing this proves is Brock Lesnar is the biggest draw in MMA by far. Randy Couture had a little to do with the numbers, but it is Lesnar who did the most work. His transformation from a pro wrestler into a cage fighter continues to intrigue a large portion of the public. He is Kimbo Slice with much better talent. (read more)

Aloha

Arianny Celeste went along for the ride to Hawaii to promote GSP/Penn 2. I'm sure she was very helpful standing around in a bikini and getting men yelled at by their frumpy wives. Click on them for enormous pictures, perverts.


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Golden Boy vs Affliction

It looks like I spoke too soon. Golden Boy has officially slapped Affliction in the face. On January 24 the "partners" will go head to head, as Golden Boy will sponsor the Margarito/Mosley fight the same night Affliction's second PPV "Day of Reckoning" takes place. It is shocking to say the least.

While I do not think this will hurt Affliction's PPV buy-rate fatally, I do think it will have some effects. The Margarito/Mosley fight is on HBO. For the segment of people who are fans of MMA and Boxing, this makes their decision pretty easy. I do not see many choosing the PPV when banks are dying daily and GM is a couple months from bankruptcy. Affliction's first PPV only drew 90K or so. If they lose 1,000 viewers because of this, it is substantial.

When these two first joined forces, there was talk of them changing the sport together. The big announcement Affliction's top brass promised never materialized and now two months later they are going head to head. Hopefully it comes out that Todd Beard called De La Hoya a flamer or something. That would make my month. (read more)

UFC's Rush to 2009

It is time to get ready for the UFC's final month of 2008. By the end of it, we will have seen nearly 30 fights and two of the four belts on the line. There has never been a month like this in UFC history and there may never be one again. Consider this the kickoff to our coverage.

(RearNakedNews.com will have Live Results for UFC 92. Don't miss any of the action with our live play-by-play and analysis)

Fight for the Troops
12/10/08
Yoshiyuki Yoshida vs Josh Koscheck
Frankie Edgar vs Matt Wiman
Mike Swick vs Jonathan Goulet
Steve Cantwell vs Razak Al-Hassan
Nate Loughran vs Tim Credeur

-The Edgar/Wiman fight is the main event in my eyes.

-Koscheck could go from title contender to gatekeeper in less than two months. That almost beats out his training partner Jon Fitch who went from title contender to unemployed with one phone call.

Ultimate Fighter 8 Finale
12/13/08
Wilson Gouveia vs Jason MacDonald
Kevin Burns vs Anthony Johnson
Lightweight Final
Light Heavyweight Final

-This show badly needs a main event. The Okami/Lister fight at UFC 92 would be my choice.

-I'm hoping the finals are Vinny/Bader and Phillipe/Efrain. It's been a weird season. The quality of the top guys (Phillipe, Vinny, Krzysztof, Bader, Eliot) is better than most casts. The bottom fighters are worse, though. The first round of the Light Heavyweight tournament was an embarrassment. All those guys got destroyed. The Lightweights are mediocre once you get passed Phillipe. You'd think with only 8 fighters from each weight class they could have found a better group top to bottom.

UFC 92
12/27/08
Rashad Evans vs Forrest Griffin (LH Champ)
Frank Mir vs Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira (HW Champ)
Quinton Jackson vs Wanderlei Silva
Mike Massenzio vs CB Dolloway
Mustafa Al-Turk vs Cheick Kongo
Dean Lister vs Yushin Okami

-Okami went from possibly fighting Anderson Silva in the main event of UFC 90 to facing Dean Lister in a dark match. The lesson here for young MMA fighters is to be careful with your fists. They are your life and breaking one of them can ruin your future.

-Thank God! I have been praying daily that somehow Matt Hamill vs Reese Andy would not be televised and it must have worked. When the card was first posted, the fight was listed in the #4 spot. Now it is way down at #8, which means I will not rip my eyes during the UFC 92 Live Blog. I think all of the readers of RearNakedNews.com should send a letter of thanks to Dana White. (read more)

11/25/08 News

• Some facts working against Couture/Liddell IV happening in Germany.
  

• Wilson Reis will sign with Bellator Fighting Championships. Reis is one of the best young fighters in the sport. If he can develop some solid stand-up, he could be a star. Apparently the WEC offered him a contract, but it was not as lucrative as Bellator's. Too bad. Would have been fun watching Reis potentially fight Faber or Torres.

(read more)

Couture vs Liddell IV

There have been various reports claiming a Heavyweight fight between Randy Couture and Chuck Liddell is possible for a proposed show in Cologne, Germany on June 13. This one smells funny to me. Thus far the UFC has been reluctant to stage any huge fights out of the United States. By a huge fight, I mean a definite PPV seller like this would be. There have been some good fights, but none were the type that could sell a PPV on its own. Couture/Liddell IV in Vegas is a 600K+ PPV without even knowing who else is on the card.

I'm finding it hard to believe the UFC would essentially waste one of Couture's final fights on a card outside of the USA. Cologne, Germany is 6 hours ahead of Eastern Time. There is virtually no way *(see note below)* you could hold a live event that matches up well with viewers in the States and have the fighters/fans in the arena at a reasonable hour. This is a PPV killer. You are talking tens of millions in lost revenue. There would still be people who buy it, but the numbers would take a significant hit. It does not seem logical to me for the UFC to throw away all that money.

The explanation being thrown around for having the fight in Germany is absolutely ridiculous. Apparently it is because Randy Couture speaks German and would do well promoting it. Gimme a break. It's not like the UFC would need to promote much to sell out a show in Germany. I'm sure Randy has a helluva German accent, but it is not worth losing millions of dollars over.

My theory behind this story is the UFC planted it with the Euro press. The first time it was seen was in The Sun, which does not have the best track record for predicting future MMA bouts. A source within the UFC probably told The Sun they were considering the bout for the Cologne event and then the reporter ran with it. It's a good way to get Euro fans excited about the UFC coming to their town. In fact, I bet the same tactic was used about a week ago when all those false Anderson Silva vs Chuck Liddell rumors began to fly...Guess where they originated from? Yup, The Sun.

**The best scenario I could come up with for a possible Live Cologne event would be a 12am start in Germany for the main card. This would mean the PPV kicks off at 6pm ET. The problem is you'd have two aging fighters heading to the cage at 3am. There are also curfew laws to consider and it still would not be an ideal start time in the States. Seems like a lot of things to worry about when you could very simply have the fight in Las Vegas and make a ton more money.** (read more)

Shaping Up

On February 7, the UFC will hold Fight Night 17 at The Palms in Las Vegas. Two featured bouts are are already close to being finalized. Amir Sadollah and Nick Catone were originally scheduled to fight at UFC 91 until Sadollah came down with a leg infection. Their fight has been rescheduled for February 7. Another former Ultimate Fighter winner will also be on the card. Mac Danzig will face Josh Neer. Both fighters are coming off decisions losses and need a win to stay relevant. (read more)

Affliction Still A Mess

Affliction's "partnership" with Golden Boy has been a disaster. They began with the misguided premise that MMA fans were craving boxing matches at their events. Thankfully the idiotic plan was dropped before it went into action. There was also the thought that maybe Golden Boy could use their relationship with HBO to get Affliction onto the channel. That has not panned out, either. Now comes the news that Golden Boy was planning on having Antonio Margarito face Shane Mosley on January 24, which happens to be the date of Affliction's second PPV "Day of Reckoning". The only thing that stopped it was Margarito's failure to sign the agreement in time.

How does something like this happen? It makes me wonder how much of a partnership really exists between the two. You would think that if they were actually working together, Golden Boy would have known January 24 was a bad date to hold a rival event, especially since they were so convinced about MMA fans also being boxing fanatics. My guess is Golden Boy and Affliction have about as much contact as me and Angelina Jolie do.

With their growing list of fighters and events, Golden Boy is stretched thin. Holding Affliction's hand while they get their act together is not a top priority. If I was Golden Boy, I'd do the same thing. Affliction is a mess. They can't even put out a statement without contradicting themselves multiple times. It's like they ran out of money and never thought to hire a PR guy. Instead we're stuck with Tom Atencio, who is about as reliable as a girlfriend with a coke habit. (read more)

Strikeforce "Destruction" Results

With EliteXC gone, I've started watching a lot more Strikeforce. They have carved out a nice little niche for themselves and could be ready to take a step up in 2009. I know all the talk has been about Gina Carano signing with the WEC, but I'd rather see her fight for Strikeforce. She would make a great addition and help take Strikeforce to the next level. Something about Carano fighting in the WEC bothers me. It seems like a slap in the face and I hope she does not consider it.

Luke Stewart vs Joe Riggs
-Riggs Wins by 2nd Round TKO
Kim Couture vs Lina Kvokov
-Couture Wins by 1st Round TKO
Yves Edwards vs Duane Ludwig
-Ludwig Wins by Unanimous Decision
Renato Sobral vs Bobby Southworth (LH Champ)
-Sobral Wins by TKO Due to Cut
Terry Martin vs Scott Smith
-Smith Wins by 1st Round TKO (read more)

11/21/08 News

• Josh Hendricks has been cut by the UFC. I guess getting knocked out by a jiu-jitsu expert is a bad career move for a fighter.

• The WEC will make its first trip to San Diego on January 25. Urijah Faber, Carlos Condit, and Jamie Varner will all be on the card for WEC 38.
  

• I missed this, but apparently no one told Fabricio Werdum he was cut.
  

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Good Cop, Bad Cop

Well, the Jon Fitch fiasco ended with a whimper. For a little while it seemed like a revolution was on the brim of the glass. Instead it is business as usual for the UFC. The way Fitch ended up signing the lifetime agreement shows the world once again that no one negotiates better than the UFC. Dana White and Lorenzo Fertitta played the perfect game of Good Cop, Bad Cop. They are MMA's version of Riggs and Murtaugh from "Lethal Weapon". White, the crazy man who can't keep his mouth shut and is likely to do just about any thing. And Lorenzo, the logical partner who swoops in at the last possible moment to remedy the situation.

Many fans disagree with the UFC's tactics. Some make comparisons to other sports and how much better the athletes are treated. I do not think the comparisons hold any water. The UFC is simply a team operating within the sport of Mixed Martial Arts. Some teams give athletes higher salaries and cater to their every need (Washington Redskins and Affliction). Others take a hard line and refuse to budge (New England Patriots and UFC). If the tactics were so bad, more fighters would leave the UFC to seek employment elsewhere. The reason it does not happen is because the UFC remains the best place for a fighter to make a living. Until that changes, expect more fighters to keep their mouths shut and walk the company line. (read more)

Yikes

The UFC 90 PPV numbers are in and Dana White is not gonna be pleased.. It only did 300,000 PPV buys. For any one who does not follow this sort of thing, that number is much lower than expected. Since last summer, the UFC has been marketing the hell out of Anderson Silva in an effort to position him as a true headliner. Up until that point Silva had brought in decent PPV numbers (300K-350K average), but nothing spectacular (600K-1M). The bump in buys for UFC 90 never materialized.

The UFC will most likely blame the low number on the crap economy. It is a lie, if they do. The fact remains that Silva still is not seen by the overall public as a must-see fighter. His performance against Patrick Cote will not change their opinions. Lets see if the UFC decides to sacrifice Chuck Liddell in order to put Silva over with the casual viewers. Pairing him with Liddell would assure a large PPV audience and a dominating performance by Silva could transform him into the next big thing. (read more)

Koscheck, Velasquez Too?

It does not look like this one will end well. Kevin Iole of Yahoo! Sports has a long article with lots of comments from Dana White and Jon Fitch. White does not pull any punches. Apparently this has been brewing for a long time between the UFC and the AKA fighters (Fitch, Koscheck, Cain Velasquez plus assorted others who are represented by DeWayne Zinkin and Bob Cook). White did not get into specifics. All he said was he is tired of dealing with fighters who do not want to partner with the UFC. Fitch's comments are much more reserved. He seems a little shocked to me and may not have thought the UFC would really release him.

The fact White is willing to release Fitch, Koscheck, and Velasquez is unreal. As a fan I hate to see stuff like this happen. From a business perspective, I also see the UFC's side to it. Being affiliated with the UFC instantly raises a fighter's stock. It opens doors to opportunities they would never have received fighting for other promotions. In exchange for these opportunities, the UFC expects fighters to sign away certain rights. Fitch claims to have no problem doing that, as long as it is not a lifetime agreement. He wants to be able to make money after his fighting days are over off of his image. White would probably tell him he has ample opportunity to do so through other business ventures thanks in large part to his affiliation with the UFC (opening gyms is the venture I hear most often from him).

This is going to get very ugly. Expect to hear lots of choice words from White in the coming days. (read more)

UFC Cuts Fitch

MMA Mania has the exclusive news that the UFC has cut Jon Fitch because he refused to sign an agreement which would have given the UFC lifetime rights to use his name and likeness in video games. Apparently when Fitch handed in his agreement for the Akihiro Gono fight, the UFC told him about the lifetime rights contract and refused to negotiate. It was either sign it or be cut. Fitch and his representatives chose the latter.

This could get worked out, but as of right now it appears one of the best Welterweight fighters in the world is a free agent. Talk about playing hardball.

Fitch is in a difficult place right now in regards to leverage. He is without a doubt one of the top five Welterweights in Mixed Martial Arts. Fans respect the hell out of him and with some fine tuning he could become a big star down the line. As of right now, though, he is not a headliner. I can definitely see why he would not want to sign over his rights at this point. Two years from now he could be in a position where the UFC would never even ask him for the rights (not all UFC fighters have signed over their image and likeness). The problem is at this point he does not have that kind of leverage. He's stuck in limbo between being a top fighter, but not a PPV draw. (read more)

Is This A Porno?

My favorite part is when they introduce the fighters...Georges St-Pierre!!!...Anderson Silva!!!...Heath Herring. (read more)

This Won't Work

Bellator Fighting Championships announced their launch today. In the April they will begin airing episodes on ESPN Deportes. The episodes will be two hours long and feature fights and fighter bio pieces. They plan on using tournament structures to crown champions. For any one wondering how an upstart MMA promotion managed to get on ESPN, you should know that most of their executives have strong ties to Disney/ESPN/ABC. This is basically ESPN's attempt at running an MMA promotion. That's all fine and good if they wanna jump into the water. To me it is a good thing to have competition in Mixed Martial Arts. I wish Bellator all the luck in the world, but I think their concept is flawed and won't work.

First, it's gonna be on ESPN Deportes. Most people do not even get this channel. I do not see too many MMA fans adding it just to see a show in Spanish (presumably). The language thing is not the major thing here, either. Even if they did air it in English, I still do not see enough fans getting the channel for it to matter. It also airs on Saturday nights, which means 1-2 nights a month they will face competition with UFC PPVs and other events. It sounds like a recipe for disaster.

Another problem is their tournament concept. I love MMA tournaments when they are done in a single night. Bellator plans on holding them over a period of three months. What happens if a couple upsets happen right off the bat? You're stuck promoting fights between guys most fans do not know. EliteXC and CBS found out this summer what happens when you broadcast a fight card without any name recognition.

The last problem I foresee is the amount of money they plan to give to the fighters - 1st round winners receive $25,000, 2nd round winners get $50,000, and the finals winner receives $275,000. Multiple that out over the four weight class tournaments and they'll be paying out $1.9 million to the winners. Way too much money to be paying out, especially with the economy in the crapper.

Good luck, Bellator. You're gonna need it. (read more)

BJ Looks Focused

There are two interesting things about this video:

1. At the 5:45 mark, Dana White is talking about how both fighters have changed for the better since their last meeting. Take a good look at Penn's face when Dana makes the crack about him taking his career seriously and all the people laugh. It's stuff like this that I keep in my mind when I'm sizing up fights. I should have paid more attention to the pre-fight Couture/Lesnar build-up because I would have seen that Couture was busy with a million different things and Lesnar was completely focused on the task at hand. Penn looks like he's ready to rip GSP's head off. Hopefully he can maintain this level of intensity and does not peak too early in his training.

2. At the 6:17 mark, Dana claims GSP will fight Anderson Silva, if he wins. The UFC is no longer messing around. They are embracing their "weight jumping strategy" to its fullest. In this case they have some solid logic behind the decision. GSP has cleared out the Welterweight division. If they can take him away for a bit, maybe some new challengers will emerge. (read more)

Fitch vs Gono

MMA Mania claims Jon Fitch will make his return to the Octagon at UFC 94 against Akihiro Gono. It looks like the UFC is giving Fitch a very winnable fight in the hopes he can get back to being a viable title contender. Fitch wins this fight, maybe fights a better opponent in the summer (a rematch with Alves would be nice), then gets a shot at the champion around this time next year. That's the best case scenario for Fitch because as of right now, the Welterweight division is very crowded. You've got GSP/Penn. Then Thiago Alves should have first crack at the Welterweight Title. Kenny Florian has all but assured himself of fighting BJ Penn in the summer. This leaves Fitch in no man's land for the time being, which is why I feel the UFC has given him a less than stellar fight to keep him busy and viable. (read more)