UFC 89 Set To Invade England

On Saturday, October 18th The Ultimate Fighting Championship is set to invade The National Indoor Arena in Birmingham, England for "UFC 89." UFC 89 looks to come on strong with another star-studded managery of fighters and a Pay-Per-View worthy fight card. So what makes UFC 89 different?... It's FREE!!! That's right folks, UFC 89 is coming to you absolutely free on Spike TV at 9:00pm ET/PT.

Headlining the night will be a middleweight match-up between England's own Michael "The Count" Bisping, as he gets set to take on the dangerous striker, Chris "The Crippler" Leban. Both fighters are former TUF (The Ultimate Fighter) cast members, Leban was part of TUF Season 1 and Bisping was on TUF Season 3.

Born in 1979, Bisping took an early interest in martial arts, beginning his training in a traditional form of jujutsu under Paul Lloyd Davies at the age of 8. At the age of 15, he competed in England's first "no holds barred" competition, a precursor to modern MMA. At 18, Bisping decided to abandon his martial arts training in order to "pursue real life".

Less than one year later the need to train and compete drew Bisping back, this time training in kickboxing and karate at the urging of Alan Clarking, owner of Black Knights gym. Bisping enjoyed a short but successful kickboxing career, winning the North West Area title, and later the Pro British light heavyweight kickboxing title twice.

He again gave up combat sports from a "real job", working in factories, slaughterhouses, as an upholsterer, a postman, a tiler, a plasterer, a double-glazing door salesman, and also a fairly successful DJ around the north-west club scene.

Bisping began to miss fighting and training and in 2003, he tracked down his old coach Paul Lloyd Davies, who was coaching at Master Salahs MMA gym in Manchester. It was there that Bisping first learned about the sport of mixed martial arts. Bisping made his professional MMA debut at Pride & Glory 2: Battle of the Ages on April 4, 2004 against Steve Matthews, who he beat by way of an armbar submission in 0:38 of the first round. By only his third match, he had become the Cage Rage Light Heavyweight Champion by TKO'ing Mark Epstein at Cage Rage 7. He went on to defend his championship by defeating Epstein in a rematch at Cage Rage 9 in a knockout victory that solidified him as one of the top light heavyweights in England.

Since defeating Josh "Bring the Pain" Haynes to win the TUF 3 Finale, Bisping has gone on to earn victories over Eric Schafer, Elvis Sinosic, Matt Hamill, Charles McCarthy, and Jason Day. His only loss inside the octagon came at the hands of "Sugar" Rashad Evans during UFC 87 in November, 2007.

After his loss, he announced his decision to drop down from the 205lb. light heavyweight division and fight as a 185lb. middleweight. Bisping already has two straight wins in the middleweight division, McCarthy & Day, and looks for his third on October 18th against Chris Leban.

In the co-main event, Brandon "The Truth" Vera (who has also recently changed weight divisions from heavyweight to light heavyweight) looks to go to war with Rashad Evans teammate Keith "Dean of Mean" Jardine. Vera is coming off a unanimous decision win over the tough wrestler and former IFL standout, Reese Andy at UFC Fight Night 14. Jardine had a huge win over Chuck "The Iceman" Liddell at UFC 76 on September 22, 2007, but his most recent fight was a disappointing loss to Wanderlei "The Axe Murderer" Silva during UFC 84. Vera will certainly look to keep his winning ways going, while Jardine looks for redemption with a win over Vera.

Don't miss UFC 89, October 18th at 9:00pm ET/PT on Spike TV

- Complete UFC 89 Fight Card -

Michael Bisping vs. Chris Leban
Brandon Vera vs. Keith Jardine
Rameau Sokoudjou vs. Luiz Cane
Chris Lytle vs. Paul Taylor
Marcus Davis vs. Paul Kelly
Dan Hardy vs. Akihiro Gono
Shane Carwin vs. Neil Wain
Jess Liaudin vs. David Bielkheden
Sam Stout vs. Terry Etim
David Baron vs. Jim Miller
Per Eklund vs. Samy Schiavo

Kimbo Slice Mauled By A Silverback

Saturday night marked Elite XC's third installment of their "CBS Saturday Night Fights" series. Headlining the event was supposed to be a matchup between Elite XC's cash-cow, Kevin "Kimbo Slice" Ferguson and UFC Hall of Famer Ken Shamrock. Entitled "Heat," the Elite XC event filled Florida's BankAtlantic Center with 9,414 spectators and had a gate of $826,433.

A last minute accident threatened to derail the main event, when while warming up backstage, Ken Shamrock suffered a head-butt over the left eye that opened up an old cut. The cut would require six stitches, causing the athletic commission to deny Shamrock the opportunity to fight.

With the main event in danger of being cancelled, Ken's adoptive brother, former UFC middleweight champion Frank Shamrock stepped forward and offered to take the fight. However, with Frank usually fighting at middleweight it would of been doubtful to get approval from the commission to fight the 235lb. heavyweight.

In the end, Seth "The Silverback" Petruzelli, who was scheduled to face Aaron Rosa in a light heavyweight contest was offered the opportunity to replace the injured Shamrock. Petruzelli, a second season participant on the UFC's reality show, "The Ultimate Fighter" jumped at the chance.

The ten bout event also featured Jake Shields defending his welterweight championship against England's Paul "Semtex" Daley. The women's face of MMA, Gina "Conviction" Carano would fight Kelly Kobald. Also, in an Elite XC and Affliction partnership, Andrei Arlovski and Roy "Big Country" Nelson would do battle in the heavyweight division.

The main event offered more shock & awe than even President George Bush himself could ever hope to provide. At the sound of the opening bell Kimbo heads straight at Petruzelli, the 28 year old from Fort Myers, Florida and backed him against the cage. Petruzelli threw a push kick that was followed by a short right hand, a punch that landed right on the "lights out" button, the chin. Slice went down and Petruzelli attacked much like his nickname, "The Silverback." Unrelenting and throwing hard shot after shot, referee Troy Waugh had no choice but to call a halt to the bout at only 0:14 seconds of the first round.

- RESULTS -
Seth Petruzelli def. Kevin "Kimbo Slice" Ferguson by TKO (Strikes) at :14, RD1
Jake Shields def. Paul Daley by Submission (Armbar) at 3:47, RD2
Andrei Arlovski def. Roy Nelson by KO at 3:14, RD2
Gina Carano def. Kelly Kobold by Unanimous Decision (29-28, 30-27, 30-27)
Benji Radach def. Murilo "Ninja" Rua by TKO (Strikes) at 2:31, RD2
Cristiane "Cyborg" Santos def. Yoko Takahashi by Unanimous Decision (30-26, 30-27, 30-27)Connor Heun def. Edson Berto by TKO (Strikes) at 2:18, R2
Mikey Gomez def. Lorenzo Borgomeo by Submission (Armbar) at 4:06, R2
Bryan Hamade def. David Gomez by Submission (Guillotine) at 2:03, R1
Nicolae Cury def. Jorge Bouchat by Submission (Reverse Triangle) at 1:35, R1