With Zuffa’s latest ill-titled PPV offering fast approaching, it’s time for a thorough analysis of the bouts on offer this weekend.  The card is one I expect to have, at best, limited appeal to the casual viewer.  Neither Penn nor Sherk, the putative headliners, is renown as a draw.  The only man on the card who has any drawing history, Tito Ortiz, is third from the top and fighting someone who appeals only to hardcore fans.  Make that “a few hardcore fans”.  There are a pile of guys even most hardcore fans haven’t heard of.  That said, there are some intriguing matchups in store. 

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By Marc Staehling

Before getting knee deep into the lightweight rankings, I’d like to take a moment to acknowldge Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira’s historic feat this past weekend. He was already a legend, and a first-ballot hall of famer, but with his victory over Tim Sylvia on Saturday, “Minotauro” is most certainly, one of the greatest fighters of all time.

Ranking fighters is difficult business, especially the lightweight division. As I illustrated in Part One and Part Two, because of the vast array of fighters in various organizations fighting between 150 and 160 lbs, coming up with a definitive ranking is essentially impossible. What I can, and will do, is look at some online MMA rankings and offer my critique.

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By Lee Casebolt  

2007 was The Year of the Upset in MMA, as evidenced by such unlikely happenings as Matt Serra, World Welterweight Champion, and Randy Couture, three time World Heavyweight Champion.  No one gave Serra a realistic chance of defeating the younger, larger, stronger, and generally better skilled Georges St. Pierre.  Similarly, the enormous Tim Sylvia was popularly thought to be too much for an aging Randy Couture who had moved to light heavyweight, after all, specifically to avoid 270+lb monsters cutting down to the 265 limit.

 This year’s upcoming title fights are, on paper, much more balanced encounters than those two contests, so if you think anyone really knows how they’re going to go down, you’re insane.  Which is not to say I (and thousands of others) will not make our predictions, based on either sound logic and keen observation or raw emotion and pure guesswork; it’s the internet, and that’s what it’s for.  For you, the fan, though, the important question at this juncture is not “Who’s going to win?” but “Why should I care?”  A belt is just a shiny piece of metal riveted to a leather strap.  In and of itself, it means nothing with regard to the quality or importance of a fight.  Today we’ll take a look at the upcoming title bouts which have been announced, and go over why they should be both good fights and significant fights. 

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by Tommy Hackett

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This week, BJ Penn has been getting friendly with the English press in preparation for his fight next week for the UFC Lightweight title. He’s showing an unusual candor, even by BJ’s standards.

Among the revelations:

Matt Hughes “fought like a pu**y” against Georges St. Pierre. (Ouch!)

Matt Hughes “is an a**hole.” (Like our own Lee Casebolt, BJ seems disappointed in Matt’s recent literary stylings)

The UFC All Access program featuring Sean Sherk was a joke. Penn elaborates: “(Sherk) was showing off saying ‘I eat all this good food, I work out this hard… he was walking into the bathroom and sticking a needle in his a**.” (This begs the question: do we really want all access?)

Well then…

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