belts on the line. Yes, I say one and a half because the welterweight strap is up for grabs along with the interim heavyweight belt.

In addition to the main PPV card, Spike TV will air a strong prelim card that includes Nate Diaz vs. Rory Markham and Ricardo Almeida vs. Matt Brown.

Yesterday, Thiago Alves was removed from the card due to brain irregularity seen during a pre-fight CAT scan. After learning of this unfortunate circumstance, Ben Saunders, who was scheduled to fight Jake Ellenberger, requested to face Jon Fitch. As a result, Ellenberger will not compete but was promised both his “show” and “win” money to make up for the last minute switch. A classy move by the UFC.

Co-Main Events after the jump …

George St-Pierre Vs. Dan Hardy…

Somewhat remarkably, this will be the first time a British fighter has ever fought for a UFC title.

The British papers are reporting that Dan Hardy is looking for a stand-up fight. The Canadian press says GSP is ready to take hardy down.

St. Pierre is the poster boy of the UFC. He even recently resigned with Gatorade:

That’s G-SP.

On the other side of the Octagon is Dan Hardy — the 5:1 underdog with the heavy hands. Hardy won’t have the international

sponsorships when he steps into the cage on Saturday. Still, Hardy has no lack of confidence.

Hardy has been getting some tips from Matt Serra, the last fighter to beat St. Pierre. I see this as a joke and a gimmick. However,

the way Serra beat GSP and the way Hardy will look to beat GSP should align.

Hardy is a counter puncher, and he certainly has a punchers chance the way he throws the leather.

Pick: GSP (via domination)

Frank Mir Vs. Shane Carwin…

Lets be clear right from the start Shane Carwin is undefeated. However, in my opinion his only great win was against Gabriel Gonzaga. Gonzaga has been know to get big wins but also post big losses as well. This is why I am not surprised that Carwin is nearly a 1.5:1 dog, and I haven’t even talked about his opponent yet.

If I was to bet on this event, and this fight specifically, I just couldn’t pull the trigger on Carwin. He just is yet to fully prove himself.

Now to Mir. Frank is motivated. He wants Lesnar to complete the trilogy. If anyone can beat Lesnar that is currently in the UFC, it is likely Mir. Of course, Mir needs to concentrate on tomorrow night first.

Mir has been in the best shape of his life the past several months — I would expect the same on Sunday.

Pick: Mir (via sub)

Finals Thoughts…

The Locks: Jim Miller, Jon Fitch, GSP
The Underdog: Rory Markham
The Bargain: Frank Mir, Rousimar Palhares

The big knock on Penn has been cardio. We all know that. It was warranted a few years back. Ever since the Sean Sherk fight, Penn has been able to dispel this common opinion. On Saturday between rounds Penn didn’t even sit down. He was barely breathing heavily up until the 5th round.

You know that you are winning in a dominate manner when you corner is literally telling you that your opponent doesn’t belong in the octagon with you. Penn’s corner was also imploring him to finish the fight and had little to no concern that Penn could be put in any type of danger.

After the fight Dana said that Penn would likely move up to 170 after one more fight at 155. White went on to say that GSP would not be an immediate fight. It’s a shame that Penn isn’t bigger — he could likely fight at 145 if he had to. Going up to 170 to fight guys who cut from near 200 pounds just isn’t the most ideal situation for Penn.

It’s unfortunate. The lack of success Penn has had against the 170 pound champ also makes the move to 170 less compelling. I just don’t see any way that Penn beats GSP. Thus the move seems to have no chance of a storybook ending. I care much less that Penn can beat up mediocre to good fighters at welterweight. At the same time, the move to welterweight is a necessary one since their is really no one left at lightweight that can compete with BJ.

This is pretty much the weekend right here; UFC 100.

There was so good jaw-jackin’ on the Countdown to UFC 100 show on Spike. That is especially the case for the main event with Mir and Lesnar not being shy to say how the feel. Lesnar has the best quote of the week building up to the event:

“I didn’t have any respect for Randy [Couture], I didn’t have any respect for Heath, I don’t have any respect for Frank. There’s going to be a winner, there’s going to be a loser. As soon as you step in and have any respect for your opponent, I think you become the loser a hell of a lot sooner.”

Priceless. But, as I was typing that I realized tha Mir had a great quote during the countdown show. It is short and to the point and makes you think:

“You only live one life. You only live once. What are you going to say was your mark on the world?”

Not going to lie, it makes Mir sound like he is questioning getting inside a cage with the monster that is Brock. In fact he prefaced that quote with something along the lines of “I didn’t want to be the one to have to get in there with Brock.”

In the end the war will be won between the trenches. Ya know? Using your WEC announcing quick wit will not win you are round on Saturday. Cutting a great WWF promo will not get you a knock down on Saturday.

Thoughts on the night of fights from Laffin:

Like my fellow OWS bloggers, I cannot WAIT for UFC 100.  With the card the way it is, there is no way this can disappoint, there are just too many good matches for all of them to be busts.

Mir Vs. Lesnar
I think that Lesnar beating Mir will be great for UFC.  Lesnar has been built up too much to have his career fizzle out this soon.  I also think Lesnar has more to fight for in this match.  He still has to prove himself, while everyone knows Mir is the real deal, and last time they fought, Mir opened up his guard and like the rookie he was, Lesnar took the bait and ended up getting submitted.  So my rooting interest and pick are with Lesnar – KO or TKO

GSP Vs. Alves
I am going to pick GSP, just because of how good he has looked, and how dominant he has been as of late.  I know Alves demolished Hughes, who was one of the most dominant fighters in the welter weight class, but I just don’t see him upsetting GSP.  My rooting interest is going to be with Alves, because I think it high time someone took GSP down, but my pick is going to be GSP- submission.

Bisping Vs. Henderson
I am gonna have to go with my boy The Count (Bisping).  I have been a huge fan of Bisping since he was on The Ultimate Fighter: Season 3.  I love his fight style, I love his confidence, and I love the fact that he is fighting one of fellow blogger RDM’s favorite fighters.  There is also a little bad-blood because of a bet I made involving Bisping against RDM, where he had every out imaginable, and I only had one.  Lets just say I didn’t lose.  This one my rooting interest is again going with my pick, Bisping – decision.

And from RDM:

I should have known the Laffin would bring up the “Bisping bet”. If you are a fan of the UFC you probably could guess that the fight in question was the Bisping-Hammill fight from a couple years back. The fight, which took place in England (Bisping’s home territory), was a controversial one. Actually, it wasn’t. Not one person that isn’t “in Bisping’s corner” so to speak thinks that Bisping won that fight. However, the judges in England saw things differently.

Bisping Vs. Henderson
This Saturday the fight is in Las Vegas, there will be no home-cage advantage for Bisping. I’ll get right to the point with this one; Hendo. Dan Henderson is the favorite and he is my pick. I am, however, surprised at how large of a favorite Hendo is. You are looking at more than a 1:2 bet if placed on Henderson.

Bisping is a capable fighter. Hearing Bisping speak this week has been somewhat telling. He says he is reading what the blogonauts are saying; he doesn’t have a chance. He claims that he isn’t buying into it but I have heard his voice and I don’t hear a confident man.

Alves Vs. GSP
George. Saint. Pierre. Good night Canada.

Mir Vs. Lesnar
The last fight between these two was less than 2 minutes but it speaks volumes. It shows that Lesnar can dominate Mir physically. It shows that Mir is a far superior technician. The question is has Lesnar found a way to nullify Mir’s technical skills or has Mir found a way to avoid Lesnar’s lunchbox like (as Dana White would say) fists?

This is going to be a battle. And I have been battling with my opinion on this one for more than a week. The main reason being that the Mir line is so friendly. You can get nearly 2:1 odds on a world champion like Frank. That is a hard proposition to pass up. And I have not been able to.

Maybe it is the enticing odds that I am getting (which is always a DUMB way to bet) but I really think Mir can figure out a way to avoid Lesnar’s hands and stay off his back enough to win the fight.

I have a note for people potentially betting on fights. CagePotato posted some interesting images of GSP’s right elbow. It looks to be the size of a baseball. I made my statement that GSP was going to win earlier and that it needed no explanation but this would worry me if I had a wager on the man.

It will be interesting to see GSP at the weigh-in. He has been wearing a suit half the week in public. He won’t be wearing a long sleeve shirt then that’s for sure.

Gracie went on to win 11 matches by submission and was the tournament winner of UFC 1, UFC 2, and UFC 4. The only reason Gracie did not win the UFC 3 tourney was because he could not make it out for his semi-final fight due to an injury sustained during his victorious first round bout.

To this day there has been no one who can claim this type of dominance in the Ultimate Fighting Championship. However, that is because the sport has grown infinitely from where it was in the early and mid-90s. The new level of competition may never again allow for a single fighter to dominance the sport the way Gracie did.

That is fine. It is fine because the most important revelation over the past 99 UFC events is the the fact that mixed martial arts is considered a sport and MMA fighters are considered athletes.

UFC 100 brings us three fights that could headline a PPV let alone a UFC Fight Night. There are two belts on the line and history to be made.

Dan Henderson Vs. Michael Bisping

The first of the three headed monster of fights on Saturday is a battle of the coaches from the latest season of The Ultimate Fighter. It nearly always seems like one of the coaches becomes the heel and one becomes the good guy. This time was no different as Bisping is a trash taking Brit while Henderson brings the laid back Cali attitude.

This seasons TUF might have been somewhat lack luster and one sided. However, the fight between the coaches should be anything but. Bisping says he is going to be the first one to ever knock Hendo out. That’s right Henderson, who has been fighting since UFC 17, has never been KO’d. That’s an impressive stat for a man who has fought the best in the world including Rampage and Wanderlai.

Georges St-Pierre Vs. Thiago Alves

Next up for the GSP wrecking ball; Thiago Alves. Alves is, physically, the most improessive welterweight in the history of the UFC. This guy is massive. The first hurdle for Thiago will be prior to ever getting into the cage. That massive hurdle is to cut down that massive physeek from well over 190 pounds to 170 pounds.

After a December 2006 victory over Tony DeSouze, Alves tested positive for a banned substance That drug was a diuretic called Spironolactone. It is used mainly to lose weight. The drug causes a person’s kidneys to remove excess sodium and water from their body, ie to make weight for a fight. It should be noted that Spironolactone can also mask the presense of steroids in a persons body.

Remember there is no more of that 1 pound gimme in a title fight–Alves must weigh in at 170 not 171.

Here are Thiago’s last 4 fight weights:

UFC 78: Chris Lytle (170.5) vs. Thiago Alves (171)
UFC Fight Night 13: Karo Parisyan (171) vs. Thiago Alves (171)
UFC 85: Matt Hughes (170) vs. Thiago Alves (174)
UFC90: Thiago Alves (171) vs. Josh Koscheck (170)

In none of his last 4 fights did he cut down to 170. Sure, that is because he never had to. Still, if you recall, at UFC 85 Matt Hughes agreed to fight Alves after he could not even make it near 171 pounds. Alves weighed in at 174 on that night.

That is what I am watching for on Friday when the weigh-ins take place. I wish you could bet on that.

Brock Lesnar Vs. Frank Mir

The Main Event and it’s a big one; literally. Size is talked about a lot when Lesnar is in the fight. Mir’s weight nears the 265 pound limit of the heavyweight division. Lesnar actually has to cut down to make that same limit. That is incredible that you have to cut to 265. That being said, Mir is a lot bigger than a guy like Randy Couture. Take a look:

Mir has nearly 40 pounds on Couture. And Couture looked like a 12 year old in the Octagon with Lesnar, Mir at least looks like a 16 year old. Size is not AS big a hurdle when we are talking about Mir but Lesnar’s power is an ever growing threat.

The UFC has grown infinitely since it’s inception. Dana White and the Fertitta brothers bought the UFC for $2 million. They then poured nearly $50 million into operating the UFC before it finally took off. Nowadays Dana While is estimated to be worth in excess of $200 million himself and he only owns less than a quarter of the UFC.

Fight picks and analysis coming later!

Fassel to coach in UFL

Edgerrin James done in ‘Zona
People close to the team seem certain that James is gone. James would cost the Cardinals $5 million in 2009 if he stayed. James should thank Coach Wiz for at least letting him salvage a bit of his free agent marketability in the playoffs. Before that, in the last 10 weeks of the season James carried the ball a whopping 32 times. At least he has fresh legs…

Pat reaches the Summit
If we are going to talk about women’s college basketball, we are going have the dumbest headline possible. Pat Summit, head coach of the Lady Vols, reached 1,000 wins for her career last night. I don’t care if you have a thousand wins in DIII field hockey or 1,000 wins against your buddy in NHL 2009; 1,000 wins at anything is damn impressive. It is certainly worth the 4 sentences and 30 seconds I spent writting about it here. Congrats, Pat.

George St-Pierre’s slippery slope
BJ Penn’s camp have filed an official grievance against GSP’s corner. This story is taking away from what should be the biggest win in GSP’s career. It is detrimental because there is so much pointing towards some foul play; the fact that the athetic committing had to speak with GSP’s corner during the fight and also including the picture of GSP’s cornerman with Vaseline in his hand. Let’s hope the win was legit. This is a dangerous, dangerous thing to do it it’s true because someone could get very badly hurt.