Both Rashad Evans and Frank Mir recorded upset victories to claim UFC championships, and Quinton Jackson avenged two knockout losses to Wanderlei Silva with a devastating first-round knockout of his own.
But that was not the only big news to come out of UFC 92. Following the show, a lot of the participants had some very interesting things to say about what's going to happen in the UFC.
Mir vs. Lesnar -- the sequel
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| Frank Mir's win against Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira sets the stage for a rematch with Brock Lesnar. (AP) |
When they first fought in February 2008, Mir defeated Lesnar by submission in just ninety seconds. The matchup was Lesnar's second mixed martial arts fight and his debut in the UFC.
After Lesnar defeated Couture in November, he made it very clear who he wanted to fight next.
"I'm going to have to say that I need a rematch with Frank Mir," said Lesnar.
With Mir defeated Nogueira, Lesnar could hardly control his excitement about the opportunity to avenge his only defeat in four professional fights.
"I got my wish -- my rematch against Frank," said Lesnar. "This time I'm going to beat his (expletive)."
The unification matchup will take place sometime in the spring of 2009.
Chuck Liddell's return
Former UFC light heavyweight champion Chuck Liddell is on the comeback trail. In his last fight, Liddell suffered a knockout loss to new UFC light heavyweight champion Evans.
Now, Liddell is preparing for his return to the Octagon. He had openly spoke about wanting to face Keith Jardine in a rematch. Jardine defeated Liddell by decision in September of 2007.
UFC President Dana White quickly shot down that possibility.
"It will not be Jardine," said White.
As far as potential opponents for Liddell, White tabbed two fighters as options.
"If (Mauricio Rua) Shogun defeats Mark Coleman in Ireland, it could be Shogun -- or it could be Wanderlei (Silva)," said White.
Liddell's return will take place on March 7 in Columbus, Ohio.
Rashad Evans first defense
Evans needed little time to find out who his first light heavyweight title defense would likely come against. Shortly after UFC 92 ended, White proclaimed a former champion No. 1 contender.
"Right here, right now -- Rampage Jackson makes the most sense for the next title shot," said White. "He's ready."
While Jackson is also eyeing possible fights with Griffin and Rua to avenge earlier losses, he readily admits to wanting another chance at the title.
"I want to get my title back," said Jackson, "that's why we do it."
Open door for Arlovski
The UFC has dominated the MMA world for the past decade. During that time period, only one person has gone to another organization that they really wanted to keep."In nine years, there's only one fighter that I've lost that I didn't want to lose," said White. "That was (Andrei) Arlovski, and it still bothers me."
White tried very hard to keep Arlovski in the UFC.
"I jumped on a plane and flew to Chicago with Lorenzo (Fertitta) and kissed his butt to try to make him not leave," said White.
Money was not the main issue with the former heavyweight champion. Arlovski wanted to expand into other entertainment areas.
"He wanted to box on HBO. He had a lot of different things that he wanted to do that I couldn't let him do."
After becoming a free agent, Arlovski signed with Affliction Entertainment. He defeated both Ben Rothwell and Roy Nelson since signing on. Now, Arlovski is set to face one of the top heavyweights in the world in Fedor Emelianenko in the coming weeks.
"That will be a very interesting fight," said White.
While White admits to having tried to sign Emelianenko to a very large monetary deal in the past, White does not want to proclaim Arlovski's opponent the top heavyweight in the world.
"I'll never say that Fedor is the best until he jumps in there and fights the best on a consistent basis."
Ultimate Fighter coaches
Taping for season nine of The Ultimate Fighter starts in the early part of 2009. The theme for the next season's show is U.S.A. vs. United Kingdom. At this point, the UFC has only named one coach -- British middleweight contender Michael Bisping.
White said that the opposing coach would likely be the winner of the UFC 93 main event in which Dan Henderson takes on Rich Franklin.
Previously, Franklin said that he did not want to coach The Ultimate Fighter for a second time. Franklin was a coach (along with Matt Hughes) in season two.
White was not too concerned about Franklin not wanting to coach again.
"There's a lot of things guys don't want to do," White said. "I didn't really ask Rich."
America welcomes Ishii
After winning the gold medal in judo at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing as a heavyweight, Satoshi Ishii was immediately recruited by various Japanese MMA companies. However, Ishii said that the organization he wants to fight for the most is the U.S. based UFC.
Ishii was at UFC 92 in Las Vegas to see Mir defeat Nogueira to win the interim heavyweight championship.
"His dream is to fight in the UFC someday," said White. "He wants to be a mixed martial artist, and he wants to do it here."
Ishii's visit to the States was not just to watch the matches. He will be talking with the UFC about his future.
"I'm sitting down with him and his management to try and figure out how to make it happen without bringing him directly into the UFC because that's not the right road to go," White said. "But we are going to help him with his career."
White said that he wants Ishii to be in the UFC but not right away.
"He's a big kid, and he's determined," said White. "He wants to fight in the UFC and I have to figure out how to do it without him getting murdered - literally and figuratively. Murdered in Japan (for fighting in the U.S.) or killed over here in the UFC."
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