Fightin' Words

By Joe Fernandez

There will be no lawn chairs or concrete patios this time.

The Ultimate Fighter: Season 5 contestants Marlon Sims and Noah Thomas will fight in the Octagon on the TUF 5 finale on SpikeTV, which begins at 9 p.m. ET Saturday, June 23rd at "The Pearl" in Las Vegas.

During Episode 8 of this season's show, Sims and Thomas engaged in a backyard brawl that got both fighters, including Allen Berube, booted off the show by UFC President Dana White.

Another fight that is already set for that card is the BJ Penn vs. Jens Pulver rematch. The TUF 5 coaches fought at UFC 35 in 2002 with Pulver earning the majority decision victory.

By Joe Fernandez

Light heavyweight Quinton "Rampage" Jackson defeats Chuck Liddell at 1:53 of the first round for the UFC light heavyweight championship.

Round 1: Jackson connected with a right hook that sent the champion to the canvas. Jackson pounced on Liddell, landed four punches to his downed opponent's head and earned the referee stoppage.

For the complete UFC 71 story from Las Vegas, visit Newsday.com

By Joe Fernandez

Welterweight Karo Parisyan defeats Josh Burkman by unanimous decision.

Round 1: Parisyan landed his first great judo throw of the fight and was outstriking Burkman. Burkman's wrestling skills kept him out of bad spots as the crowd seemed very pleased with the first-round action.

Round 2: With the fight standing most of this round, Parisyan landed a majority of the punches.

Round 3: With 3:43 left in the fight, Burkman had a phenomenal double-leg takedown, but Parisyan got back to his feet and took Burkman down with another judo throw. The striking edge once again went to Parisyan in this round.

By Joe Fernandez

Middleweight Terry Martin won by TKO against Ivan Salaverry at 2:04 of the first round.

Round 1: Salaverry landed some inside leg kicks to the left leg of Martin, who seemed to favor his leg. But Martin quickly pounced on Salaverry, had him against the Octagon and slammed him on his head and shoulder, which seemed to knock out Salaverry. Martin followed him down to the mat, landed some punches and the referee quickly stopped the match.

By Joe Fernandez

Light heavyweight Houston Alexander earned the TKO victory at 0:48 of the first round.

Round 1: Jardine started strong by rocking Alexander with a punch, but Alexander regrouped, rocked Jardine himself and sent him to the floor. Once there, Alexander sent a flurry of punches to the face and head of Jardine until Alexander landed a hammering right uppercut that put Jardine out on his feet.

By Joe Fernandez

Middleweight Kalib Starnes wins by unanimous decision against Chris Leben.

Round 1: What began as a very even round, with both fighters trading strikes, finished with Starnes in Leben's guard, landing punches.

Round 2: Fatigue started to set in as both fighters were giving the crowd a show. What began as Starnes' round, might've became Leben's as both fighters dropped their hands and landed quality strikes.

Round 3: A powerful left kick dropped Starnes early in the round as Leben ended up in Starnes' guard. But Starnes reversed to Leben's guard and landed some punches and elbows, earning the decision.

By Joe Fernandez

We're about to go live here at the MGM Grand. The lights are out, flash bulbs are going off -- This place is about to erupt.

Made my way around the Octagon to get the celebrity predictions:

Adam Sandler who was sitting next to "King of Queens" star Kevin James said this when asked who was going to win the main event:

"I'm picking whoever Kevin is picking."

When I turned to Mr. James and asked for his prediction, he said: "It's difficult to tell. Chuck [Liddell] is tough, but I wouldn't count out Rampage."

NEXT ENTRY HAS THE UFC 71 UNDERCARD RESULTS -- SPOILERS INCLUDED.

By Joe Fernandez

SPOILERS INCLUDED -- UFC 71 FIGHT RESULTS BELOW

LAS VEGAS -- With the Thiago Silva/James Irvin fight just ending, the preliminary undercard is over and we're about to go live at 7 p.m. PT/10 p.m. ET. The Garden Arena here at the MGM Grand is starting to reach it's capacity, so here's where the event stands so far.

-- Wilson Gouveia tapped Carmelo Marrero with a guillotine choke at 3:06 in the first round.
-- Din Thomas caught Jeremy Stevens with an armbar and won by submission at 2:44 in the second round.
-- Alan Belcher caught Sean Salmon with a guillotine choke and won by submission at 0:53 in the first round.
-- James Irvin, after a strong start, was picked up by Thiago Silva and landed awkwardly on his right foot, buckling his right knee. Irvin verbally and physically tapped out at 1:06 in the first round.

Most memorable quote so far came from Thomas after Joe Rogan said: "Congratulations Din, so are you ready for [Floyd] Mayweather?"

"Man, let me tell you," Thomas said. "I'll fight Mayweather, his dad, his uncle, his entire camp. I'll fight all of them."

Stay posted for more updates from Las Vegas.

By Joe Fernandez

More drama in and out of the Octagon for Episode 8.

With Dana White, BJ Penn and Jens Pulver sitting down and eventually setting up the next matches, the quarterfinals were underway.

Team Penn's Joe Lauzon faced Cole Miller. The match nearly ended as soon as it began as Miller got Lauzon's back and proceeded to sink in a rear naked choke. Lauzon turned, pulled guard and eventually escaped. With Miller on his back for most of the first round, Lauzon landed his shots, while dodging many Miller submission attempts. In the second round, Lauzon caught Miller with an illegal shot to the back of the head. Even though Lauzon seemed apologetic and the shot looked accidental, Miller never was able to turn the fight back in his favor. Lauzon lost a point for the elbow, but won the fight via a referee stoppage.

Before the fight in the Octagon, there was a fight back at the house as Noah Thomas and Marlon Sims started exchanging strikes and some submission attempts outside the house. The fight did not go over well with UFC President Dana White as both fighters, along with Allen Berube, who did his best Big John McCarthy imitation by starting off the action, were thrown out of the house.

Rest of the quarterfinal matchups:

Nate Diaz (Team Pulver) vs. Corey Hill (Team Pulver)
Matt Wiman (Team Penn) vs. Manny Gamburyan (Team Pulver)
Gray Maynard (Team Penn) vs. Brandon Melendez (Team Pulver)

Here's where the teams stand after Episode 8:

Episode 1: Cole Miller caught Allen Berube with a triangle choke in the first round. (Team Pulver, 1-0)
Episode 2: Manny Gamburyan caught Noah Thomas with a kimura armlock in the first round. (Team Pulver, 2-0).
Episode 3: Nate Diaz defeated Rob Emerson via rear naked choke in the second round. (Team Pulver, 3-0).
Episode 4: Brandon Melendez defeated Andy Wang via unanimous decision. (Team Pulver, 4-0).
Episode 5: Gabe Ruediger eliminated due to a failure to make weight. (Team Pulver, 4-0).
Episode 6: Joe Lauzon defeated Brian Geraghty via rear naked choke in the first round. (Team Pulver, 4-1). Corey Hill wins by decision against Rob Emerson (Team Pulver, 5-1).
Episode 7: Gray Maynard wins by referee stoppage against Wayne Weems in the first round. (Team Pulver, 5-2). Matt Wiman defeated Marlon Sims via rear naked choke in the first round. (Team Pulver, 5-3).
Quarterfinals
Episode 8: Joe Lauzon defeated Cole Miller by referee stoppage in the second round. (Lauzon advances to the semifinals).

Here are some photos from the May 19 IFL event in Chicago, plus other IFL photos from the April 7 card in Moline, Ill.

IFL photos

By Joe Fernandez

Episode VII: Return of Team Penn.

I guess that would look better if you can read this blog with the fading ascension of the Star Wars opening-credit text, but I don't know how to make that happen. Anyway, Team Penn has won three of the last four fights.

At the conclusion of last night's episode of SpikeTV's The Ultimate Fighter, BJ Penn's team swept the two-match card and brought the overall score to within, 5-3.

First match pitted Gray Maynard against Jens Pulver team member Wayne Weems. The fight began with Maynard connecting with a hard right, dropping Weems and gaining side control with Weems attempting to cinch a guillotine choke.

"I think I could've showcased my skills a little bit better than what I did," Weems said. "He got me with a solid punch and that kind of set the tone. I threw it at the same time he threw, and his connected and mine didn't. So that set the stage."

From there, Maynard got to Weems' back, hooked his legs and unleashed a torrent of punches until he earned the stoppage win.

"He had both hooks in," Weems said. "You have someone on your back pushing both your legs out from underneath you, there's not a whole lot you can do."

Second match up was Team Pulver's Marlon Sims against Matt Wiman. With both fighters throwing simultaneous right hands, Wiman's seemed to find the better location because Sims hit the mat.

"I was standing in front of Wiman and I threw my punch," Sims said. "And then I woke up on one knee and one hand with him on my back. I went black for that second and a half that it took for me to go to one knee and have him on my back. He got me right on the knockout point; right on that cheek bone, ear area that you really don't have any control over."

Wiman then managed to take Sims' back and choke him unconscious.

"When he slid his arm across my face to put the choke in, all the vasoline that was on my face went to his arm," Sims said. "I was frantically trying to grab a hold of his arm because I knew if I could grab a hold of his arm I'm so much stronger than he is, I could've peeled that arm off...I wasn't going to stop till I was unconscious. I'm never going to stop, I'm never going to tap."

As we've seen so far, Sims has told stories about his streetfighting background to the other fighters.

"I'm not one of those guys that looks away or walks away from bad things happening," Sims said. "I've been taught as a traditional martial artist, being a black belt (Kempo, Sambo) that the people like myself, who have trained like I have have a moral obligation to help people...You see a street fight nowadays and people just stand around and watch and think it's entertainment. I see a streetfight and I see two humans hurting each other and I want to stop it. Just because I stop it, I end up putting myself in harm's way."

The show was not without its drama as BJ Penn kicked Andy Wang off his team for not following Penn's and the coaches' directions. Wang would land on a very accepting Team Pulver, but was publicly unhappy about the move.

"He was a good guy in the house and I never had a problem with him," Weems said. "BJ didn't want him, we were happy to have him. Since I've seen the show and I've seen his reaction, it was a little disrespectful toward Jens and our team. The other team basically didn't want him anymore and we were going to accept him with open arms and he kind of turned his back on us."

Also, shoutout goes out to the press department over at SpikeTV. They are extremely helpful and they make sure the interviews are set each week, making my job a lot easier. So thank you!

Here's where the teams stand after Episode 7:

Episode 1: Cole Miller caught Allen Berube with a triangle choke in the first round. (Team Pulver, 1-0)
Episode 2: Manny Gamburyan caught Noah Thomas with a kimura armlock in the first round. (Team Pulver, 2-0).
Episode 3: Nate Diaz defeated Rob Emerson via rear naked choke in the second round. (Team Pulver, 3-0).
Episode 4: Brandon Melendez defeated Andy Wang via unanimous decision. (Team Pulver, 4-0).
Episode 5: Gabe Ruediger eliminated due to a failure to make weight. (Team Pulver, 4-0).
Episode 6: Joe Lauzon defeated Brian Geraghty via rear naked choke in the first round. (Team Pulver, 4-1). Corey Hill wins by decision against Rob Emerson (Team Pulver, 5-1).
Episode 7: Gray Maynard wins by referee stoppage against Wayne Weems in the first round. (Team Pulver, 5-2). Matt Wiman defeated Marlon Sims via rear naked choke in the first round. (Team Pulver, 5-3).

Fightin' Words readers: Which would be the best quarterfinal matchups for The Ultimate Fighter: Season 5?

By Joe Fernandez

Light heavyweight championship: Chuck "The Iceman" Liddell (20-3, 15-2 UFC) vs. Quinton "Rampage" Jackson (26-6, 1-0 UFC)

It's well known in the world of mixed martial arts that Jackson defeated Liddell during a Pride match in 2003, but since that bout Liddell has won seven straight matches -- all by knockout.

Liddell, in my opinion, has become the best counter striker in the UFC, but even though he's the champ, it's tough to bet against Jackson after watching how he overwhelmed Liddell four years ago. After working with boxing coach and now manager Juanito Ibarra, expect Jackson's improved standup to set up his takedowns. Liddell has to keep Jackson away, be more tactical and land those nasty counterstrikes like he did against Renato "Babalu" Sobral and Tito Ortiz.

Welterweight match: Karo Parisyan vs. Josh Burkman

You know what Sinatra said about New York: If you can make it there, you can make it anywhere. That applies to Parisyan (6-2 UFC) as well.

Because if you can beat him, you deserve to be among the elite. Look at his two losses in the UFC: A decision loss against Georges St. Pierre and a decision loss against Diego Sanchez. Nothing to be ashamed about. Besides being a phenomenal showman, he's a tough dude. He's good for at least three highlight-reel judo throws a fight. But he might have a tough time throwing Josh Burkman. Burkman, a tremendous athlete, is 4-1 in the UFC and has gone the distance and won his last two fights against Josh Neer and Chad Reiner, respectively. I think the pace of this match will be ridiculous, we could be looking at the best match of the night.

Light heavyweight match: Keith Jardine vs. Houston Alexander

After Jardine's TKO victory against Forrest Griffin, if he puts together another win he should be considered a serious title contender; setting up maybe a Jardine/Jason Lambert matchup after Lambert's impressive win over Sobral (Fight not set, just my opinion). Jardine can break down even the toughest light heavyweight with his vicious leg kicks. Alexander, 35, makes his UFC debut. I don't really know much about him except for this quote on UFC.com when he was asked what his favorite technique was: "I like to lift people off their feet and slam them into the ground and strike away." So there you have it.

Middleweight match: Terry Martin vs. Ivan Salaverry

Terry Martin does have a 17-2 mixed martial arts record, but he's 1-2 in the UFC. He dropped down to middleweight and won his last match against Jorge Rivera. Salaverry lost his last match in the UFC to Nate Marquardt. The 36-year-old Canadian is 3-2.

Middleweight match: Kalib Starnes vs. Chris Leben

Out of the gate, Leben looked indestructable. Winning his first five matches, including two knockouts and a submission. But then he ran into Anderson Silva. After that loss he is 1-1, most recently with a loss to Jason MacDonald. Leben needs a win, but Starnes will be in his way. Starnes is 1-1 in the UFC, but lost his last match to Yushin Okami (4-0), who is tearing through the middleweight division and faces Rich Franklin at UFC 72 in Ireland.

Also on the undercard:

Thiago Silva vs. James Irvin (Light heavyweight)
Sean Salmon vs. Alan Belcher (Light heavyweight)
Jeremy Stevens vs. Din Thomas (Lightweight)
Carmelo Marrero vs. Wilson Gouveia (Light heavyweight)

Fightin' Words readers: Which UFC 71 matchup will be the most entertaining and who will win?

By Joe Fernandez

Two fights an episode? Not a bad idea at all.

Because of Gabe Ruediger's failure to make weight last episode, SpikeTV provided fight fans with another preliminary bout on this episode of The Ultimate Fighter.

In place of Ruediger, Rob Emerson was brought back into the competition for Team Penn. The penalty for Ruediger failing to make weight though was that Team Pulver had the next two picks.

Their picks? Team Pulver's Brian Geraghty and Corey Hill vs. Team Penn's Joe Lauzon and Rob Emerson, respectively.

First up was the Geraghty vs. Lauzon match. Lauzon came out truly looking for a fight, much in the same way that he did against Jens Pulver when he knocked out the former UFC lightweight champ at UFC 63. Lauzon took Geraghty to the ground early in the first round and delivered some elbows to the Kenosha, Wisconsin native. Eventually, Lauzon got in a good position and won by rear naked choke in the first round.

"He got on me real quick," Geraghty said. "I just never got my game going. He rang me with a couple of good elbows and before I knew it he was choking me."

With all the fighters remaining in the house after losses this season, there is plenty of time for a fighter to think.

"At first I was devasted," Geraghty said. " I was like 'I lost and I lost bad'. You start questioning are they going to have you back. Do you have another shot at it. I'm just back into training right now and waiting for the phone call. Hopefully they'll give me a call to go fight in the under card in the finale."

The second fight pitted Hill vs. Emerson, who appeared to have some problems against the reach of the 6-foot-4 Hill. After a first round that went to Hill, Emerson landed some devastating leg kicks in the second and just missed securing a heel-hook submission victory late in the round. As the fight headed to the third, Hill looked as if he was having difficulty putting weight on his left leg, which was battered by kicks and the submission attempt. With neither fighter really looking to finish the fight in the third, Hill earned the decision as Team Pulver took a 5-1 lead.

Here's where the teams stand after Episode 6:
Episode 1: Cole Miller caught Allen Berube with a triangle choke in the first round. (Team Pulver, 1-0)
Episode 2: Manny Gamburyan caught Noah Thomas with a kimura armlock in the first round. (Team Pulver, 2-0).
Episode 3: Nate Diaz defeated Rob Emerson via rear naked choke in the second round. (Team Pulver, 3-0).
Episode 4: Brandon Melendez defeated Andy Wang via unanimous decision. (Team Pulver, 4-0).
Episode 5: Gabe Ruediger eliminated due to a failure to make weight. (Team Pulver, 4-0).
Episode 6: Joe Lauzon defeated Brian Geraghty via rear naked choke in the first round. (Team Pulver, 4-1). Corey Hill wins by decision against Rob Emerson (Team Pulver, 5-1).

By Joe Fernandez

The first champion of the UFC is back.
(Royce Gracie works out in Long Beach, Calif. on May 10) (AP Photo)
He's not returning to the Octagon, but he is returning to a cage.

Royce Gracie will once again fight Kazushi Sakuraba, this time it will take place at 10 p.m. ET June 2 in the Los Angeles Coliseum on Showtime pay-per view for “Softbank presents Dynamite!! USA in association with ProElite”. Sakuraba and Gracie met before in 2000, with Sakuraba earning the victory during their incredible 90-minute match.

"That's a nice one," Royce's cousin and IFL coach Renzo Gracie said. "I can't wait to see him fight again."

The fight card also includes former NFL wide receiver Johnnie Morton, former WWE wrestler/champion Brock Lesnar and rising women's star Gina Carano.

The rest of the fight card is as follows:

Brock Lesnar vs. Hong Man Choi
Mighty Mo vs. Mu Bae Choi
Melvin Manhoef vs. Dong Sik Yoon
Jake Shields vs. Ido Pariente
Gina Carano vs. Jan Finney
Javier Vasquez vs. Katsuhiko Nagata
Brad Pickett vs. Hideo Tokoro

By Joe Fernandez

The UFC heavyweight champion will be on Long Island May 12.

No, he's not fighting. Mixed Martial Arts isn't sanctioned in New York, but I'm pretty sure signing t-shirts is OK.

Randy Couture will be at Nordstrom's in Garden City's Roosevelt Field next Saturday at noon to help launch a line of t-shirts. Couture, along with UFC fighters Forrest Griffin, Gray Maynard, Jason Lambert, Freeport native and IFL fighter Jay Hieron and referee John McCarthy will be in attendance in Nassau County.

"Myself and a couple of other fighters struck up deals with 'Affliction' recently," Couture said. "I came out in an 'Affliction' shirt in my last fight, which was a signature shirt for me; and the shirt did really really well. We struck up a deal, using the name and coming out with a fighter-driven line of clothes."

According to Couture, each fighter will have their own "signature shirts throughout the line."

Even before being in business with the clothing line, Couture was a huge 'Affliction' fan.

"I love their stuff," he said. "I have a friend building a custom motorcycle for me, and I wanted to use some of their graphics for my tank art. So I got in touch with Todd, the owner of the company...and out of that conversation came 'Let's do a signature shirt for your fight. You're coming out of retirement and it's going to be a huge deal, we'd love to do a signature shirt for you' -- and we agreed."

By Joe Fernandez

Ok, at least we're getting two fights next episode.

That was the only disappointing part of the fifth episode for me, the fact that there was no fight -- no punchline, no paycheck, and being a Brazilian jiu-jitsu practitioner and fan, no ridiculous submission victory.

It's not breaking news, but Gabe Ruediger didn't make weight.

He began his journey at 176 pounds and with the support of Team Penn, made it down to 162 before collapsing from dehydration and having to be taken away by an ambulance -- He would be fine by the end of the episode.

The failure to make the weight led Ruediger to be kicked out of the house by UFC President Dana White.

No fight this week, but here are the fights set for next week's episode:

Joe Lauzon (Team Penn) vs. Brian Geraghty (Team Pulver)
Rob Emerson (Team Penn) vs. Corey Hill (Team Pulver)

Emerson, who was eliminated in Episode 3, was placed back into competition by Dana White because of his impressive showing against Nate Diaz.

Team Pulver still leads, 4-0.

Episode 1: Cole Miller caught Allen Berube with a triangle choke in the first round. (Team Pulver, 1-0)
Episode 2: Manny Gamburyan caught Noah Thomas with a kimura armlock in the first round. (Team Pulver, 2-0).
Episode 3: Nate Diaz defeated Rob Emerson via rear naked choke in the second round. (Team Pulver, 3-0).
Episode 4: Brandon Melendez defeated Andy Wang via unanimous decision. (Team Pulver, 4-0).
Episode 5: Gabe Ruediger eliminated due to a failure to make weight. (Team Pulver, 4-0).

By Joe Fernandez

The IFL travels to the Sears Centre in Chicago on May 19.

The bouts are set between the San Jose Razorclaws/Southern California Condors and the Quad Cities Silverbacks/Chicago Red Bears. Here's the event card.

Razorclaws (0-2, 2-8) vs. Condors (1-1, 5-5)

Lightweight (155 pounds): Josh Odom (Tallahassee, Fla., 1-2, 4-3) vs. Adam Lynn (Huntington Beach, Calif., 0-2, 10-7)
Welterweight (170): Donnie Liles (0-1, 7-3) vs. Rodrigo Ruas (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 0-1, 3-4-1)
Middleweight (185): Brian Foster (Moreno Valley, Calif., 1-2, 8-11) vs. Justin Levens (Laguna Niguel, Calif., 0-2, 9-5)
Light heavyweight (205): Jeff Quinlan (San Jose, Calif., 0-1, 0-1) vs. Emanuel Newton (0-0, 7-4)
Heavyweight (265): Dan Christison (Las Vegas, 0-1, 8-5) vs. Antoine Jaoude (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 2-0, 6-2)

Silverbacks (0-1, 2-3) vs.Red Bears (0-2, 2-8)
Lighweight (155): Bart Palaszewski (Wonder Lake, Ill., 6-1, 26-8) vs. John Strong (0-0, 0-0)
Welterweight (170): Rory Markham (Chicago, 5-1, 11-2) vs. Mark Miller (Chicago, 1-1, 6-2)
Middleweight (185): Ryan McGivern (Bettendorf, Iowa, 4-3, 10-4) vs. Tim Kennedy (San Luis Obispo, Calif., 1-0, 7-1)
Light heavyweight (205): Mike Ciesnolevicz (Williamstown, Pa., 3-2, 11-2) vs. Adam Maciejewski (Chicago, 0-1, 5-3)
Heavyweight (265): Ben Rothwell (Kenosha, Wis., 6-0, 21-5) vs. Travis Fulton (Cedar Falls, Iowa, 0-0, 176-41-9)

Superfight

Marco Ruas (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 0-0, 8-3-2) vs. Maurice Smith (Seattle, 0-0, 9-9)