This past Saturday, the UFC ventured back up north to Montreal, Quebec, Canada for its third event, all of which have been main evented with title fights.   After all was said and done with this card, we witnessed the crowning of a new Light heavyweight champion, the first loss of a legend, a new number one contender to GSP's Welterweight championship and the last fight in the UFC for Kimbo Slice.   Time for a look at what went down at the Bell left.

Recap of UFC 113: Machida vs Shogun 2

Mauricio "Shogun" Rua defeated Lyoto "The Dragon" Machida by knockout at 3:35 of the first round to become the NEW UFC Light heavyweight champion.  Shogun came out more aggressive then in their first contest and there was no doubt, he was looking to take this fight out of the hands of the judges.   Shogun landed some kicks and rushed in with punches to drop Lyoto and follow it up with a couple more shots from full mount until Shogun realized Lyoto was out and stopped punching him.  Post fight, Shogun thanked all the moms of the world as it was Mother's Day.   This fight left no doubt as to whom the king of the light heavyweight’s is at the moment, with Shogun taking the crown.   It's being rumored that the winner of Rashad Evans vs Rampage will be the next challenge to Shogun's title but an eventual rematch against Forrest Griffin or super fight with Middleweight champion Anderson "The Spider" Silva.   Regardless of the match ups the UFC wants to make, Shogun will prove to be an entertaining and perhaps dominant champion in the only division in the UFC without a consistent title holder.   Shogun was also awarded an additional $65 000 for knockout of the night and what hasn’t' been reported all that much, is that Shogun had an arthroscopic appendectomy weeks away from the fight and Randy Couture had been on standby in case Rua couldn't compete.

Josh Koscheck beat Paul Daley by unanimous decision in a fight filled with controversy.   Early in the first round, Koscheck appeared to be hit with a knee to the head while still on the ground so the fight was stopped while he was given time to recover.   Under replay from two different angles, it appeared that Daley never hit Koscheck with the knee and the fight resumed.   Koscheck stuck to his takedowns and avoided anything too serious that Daley could throw for all three rounds, at times landing elbows and punches while mixing it up with some trash talking.   In the last minute or so both guys began mouthing off to one another even more and when the bell finally did ring, Daley walked over to Koscheck and landed a left hook to his head.   Several seconds had elapsed since the final bell and this is one of those inexcusable things.   Daley was fired almost on the spot while Koscheck will now be challenging for GSP's welterweight championship as well as coaching against him on the next season of TUF.   Koschecks post fight interview really shows why he's one hell of a heel as KOS told the fans in Montreal that the Penguins would beat the Canadians in the playoffs and he would beat GSP too.   On a side note, the Canadien's defeated the Penguins in seven games to advance to the semi finals.

Jeremy Stephens won by unanimous decision over Sam Stout in a fight where either guy could have been awarded the winner.   Stout slowed down Stephens with leg kicks throughout the fight but Stephens simply landed the harder punches when the two were in close and was able to get Stout down several times which proved to be a factor in deciding the winner.   Stephens used his wrestling when needed but was able to hold his own and even win the standup battle with Stout.   Both men were given Fight of the Night honors and an additional $65 000 in a great little fight that went back and forth throughout the fight.

Matt Mittrione beat Kimbo Slice by tko at 4:24 of the second round in a fight where Kimbo looked bad although the first two minutes of this one were action packed.   Mittrione grazed the side of Kimbo's head early in the fight with a high kick but eventually Kimbo slammed him to the ground.   Mittrione looked for a triangle choke for most of the round but couldn't lock it on.   The first round ended with Mittrione landing a big knee to Kimbo's chest and followed it up by taking Kimbo off his feet with leg kicks and attempting a D'Arce choke.   The second round began and Mittrione again went back to the leg kicks which slowed Kimbo down quickly.   Mittrione eventually got Kimbo to the ground and reigned down knees to Kimbo's body and then punches from mount for the referee to step in when Kimbo couldn't defend himself.   Following this fight, Kimbo was released by the UFC and whether or not Kimbo lacks a well rounded game, we can't deny that the guy is a ratings draw and given the right opponent, can still make for an entertaining fight.   I would have loved to see James Toney, Chuck Liddell or Tim Hague take on Kimbo as all would make for great fights.   Mittrione continues to improve and will likely be taking on someone like Joey Beltran in his next fight.

Alan "The Talent" Belcher submitted Patrick "The Predator" Cote at 3:25 of the second round due to a rear naked choke to win himself an additional $65 000 for submission of the night.   Both guys came out looking to knock the other one out with Cote being a HUGE favorite considering he was fighting in his hometown after a year and a half off due to injuries.   Belcher threw some leg kicks that landed early on while Cote was landing some good punches until he took down Belcher mid way through the first round and attempted a kimura.   The second round began and midway through, Cote was looking for a takedown but Belcher turned into into I guess what could best be described as a "Pedigree", dropping Cote on his face, leaving him momentarily dazed and Belcher the opportunity to take Cote's back and tap him out to a rear naked choke.   Both men looked great in this and although Cote disputed the outcome, he was dropped on his face and forehead, not the top of the head where the move would have been considered illegal.   The crowd certainly didn't like seeing Belcher beat their boy and booed him even louder in his post fight interview when Belcher announced he wanted to challenge Anderson Silva.   Whatever the UFC decides to do with these guys and their next fight I’m sure would be good but I'd love to see Bisping and Wanderlei thrown in the mix with either of these two guys.   Any combination of those fights would be entertaining.  

"El Dirte" Joe Doerksen submitted "Filthy" Tom Lawlor at 2:10 of the second round with a rear naked choke in what some would consider a comeback.   Lawlor had Doerksen in serious trouble in the first round, overwhelming him with punches and dropping him with a left hook.   Despite this, Doerksen got back up and threw some shots of his own while again getting   being taken apart standing but over the course of a couple minutes, Lawlor gassed himself out and definitely needed the little breather that comes to each fighter in between rounds.   The second round began and within a few seconds of the fight going to the ground, Doerksen was able to get Lawlor's back and choked him out with a rear naked choke.   This is Doerksen's fourth run in the UFC and with a 2-5 record there, this is only his second win.   Had Tim Creduer not gotten injured a few weeks ago then this fight would have never taken place and Doerksen truly made the best of his opportunity.   Tom Lawlor was sporting a porno style mustache and his theme music was "Living in America" which he danced to in Apollo Creed attire.

Marcus Davis knocked out "Road Warrior" Jonathan Goulet at 1:23 of the second round to get back to his winning ways following two losses in a row.   Davis caught Goulet in a tight guillotine in the first round but Goulet managed to get himself out and finish the round on top of Davis landing some punches.   Soon after the second round began Davis dropped Goulet with a punch and followed it up with some shots from the top to a downed Goulet but the Road Warrior was able to get back to his feet where he was dropped yet again with a right hook as the referee stepped in to call an end to this one.

Johny Hendricks won a majority decision over TJ Grant in another close fight where Grant was deducted a point due to a couple of low blows.   This was another one of those fights that was really close and could have been given to either man.   Grant won the first round with his kickboxing but Hendricks took the second round with takedowns and controlling the pace.   The third round began and Grant landed a kick to Hendricks balls then was deducted the point. The last round was close but Hendricks landed more takedowns and I guess with the point being taken away this was a fair score.   When I saw this live I had it going to Grant but now that I’ve seen it again I agree with Hendricks being given the nod.   Another good scrap.

Joey Beltran won a unanimous decision against Tim Hague in a fight that many are comparing to Griffin/Bonnar and Zombie/Garcia from a couple of weeks ago.   As fun of a fight as this was, it was nowhere near as good as others are making it out to be.   Both men went at it toe to toe for much of the fight and like many heavyweights they ran out of gas early but the main story here was Hague hanging in there with Beltran on the feet but trying to get Joey to the ground where he would have a distinct advantage.   Unfortunately for Hague he became exhausted quicker then Beltran and by the time he was able to get him there, he had nothing behind his punches.   The judges gave the victory to Beltran in a close fight that could have gone either way.

"The Joker" Mike Guymon won a unanimous decision over Yoshiyuki Yoshida in a fight where Guymon was considered a heavy underdog.   Yoshida had Guymon in trouble a couple times during the fight with some guillotines but Guymon found a way out and beat Yoshida to the takedowns.   While on top of Yoshida, Guymon reigned down elbows to his head and attempted a rear naked choke.   In the third round, Guymon turned it up a notch landing some hard kicks to Yoshida's body, rocking him with punches to the face and avoiding Yoshida's takedowns.   The fight eventually got to the ground in the last two minutes where Guymon landed some vicious elbows and hammer fists to Yoshida's head.   When the bell to end the fight sounded, Guymon broke down in tears as the crowd cheered.   Guymon was announced the winner and Joe Rogan came out for an post fight interview to which Guymon said he needed to talk to Joe after a fight to know that he truly had made in and now he had.   Guymon thanked everyone who helped him get to where he is now and said it had taken him ten years but it's all been worth it.   Guymon continued to cry as the crowd seemed to love him more each time.  

John Salter won by tko at 2:42 of the first round over Jason "The Athlete" MacDonald when Salter took down MacDonald, who landed awkwardly on his leg.   McDonald had just landed a big head kick to Salter but as soon as he hit the ground, you could see his leg get twisted and MacDonald expression change to pain.   The referee stepped in, noticing the leg looking mangled and called a stop to the fight.   Sucks when injuries such as this occur in the cage.   It was later revealed that MacDonald had his leg broken in two places and should be out most of the year.

Strikeforce: Heavy Artillery

Strikeforce Heavyweight Championship- "The Demolition Man" Alistair Overeem vs Brett "Grimm" Rogers -   Alistair won Strike force’s Heavyweight championship in 2007 from Paul Buentello but has yet to even defend the title which gives us this fight for the title.   Alistair has won seven of his last eight fights and his only blemish in that time was a no contest in a fight where he kicked Cro Cop in the balls and the Croatian was unable to continue.   The Demolition Man has a record of 32-11 with 19 submission victories and 12 tko's to his credit and only ten of his fights have gone to the second round.   On paper he seems like a good match with Brett "Grimm" Rogers who has only been to the second round twice in his last 11 contests with nine of ten victories being by tko or knockout.   Both of these men like to stand and trade and both hit extremely hard.   Alistair has a better all around game and as much as im sure he would like to trade punches with Rogers, I can see him submitting Rogers with a guillotine or an arm bar in the early rounds when Rogers goes for a takedown.   Rogers is coming off his first loss, to Fedor Emelianenko in January and many wonder why he was given a title shot considering this but it seems like Strikeforce match makers would like the winner of this to take on the winner of next months Fedor vs Fabricio Werdum fight.   That’s all good in theory but what if Alistair wins and decides he wants to continue fighting exclusively in Japan which has been the case for the last three years?   What if Fedor actually does lose to Werdum and it’s not even a title fight?   I guess after Saturday, things will make a little more sense in this title picture but as of right now I’m not sure that Strikeforce is making the best choices in terms of putting together big fights.

Prediction: Overeem by submission

"The Pitbull" Andrei Arlovski vs Antonio "Bigfoot" Silva-   Just like in the main event, both of these men like to stand and bang.   Antonio Silva is a big guy and has a rather large head that can take repeated shots, while Arlovski is coming off back to back losses both by brutal knockouts and many have questioned his chin.   Silva is still developing as a fighter but has done really well for himself against the likes of Ricco Rodriguez and Fabricio Werdum who are two men that are no pushovers.   I don’t think Arlovski is smart enough to avoid a slugfest with Silva who with nine knockouts or tko's in 12 wins, should be able to land a good jab and follow it up with an overhand right to finish off Arlovski in the early stages of the fight.

Prediction: Silva by tko

Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza vs Joey Villasenor-   Villasenor hits hard while Jacare is a master on the ground and this has all the making of striker vs submission expert.   Jacare would be wise to feel this one out a little on his feet and hope for Villasenor to over commit to a combo and pull guard where he'll have his way with Villasenor on the ground.   Jacare has to be quick though as if he stands too long he will more then likely get clipped and if he does pull guard he's going to need to stay active to keep Joey from reigning down punches to Jacare's face, that will no doubt end his night early.   This should be a pretty entertaining fight as Villasenor is always a treat to watch and if you like the ground game, Jacare often times impresses.   This is a big fight for both as the winner will likely find themselves fighting either Jake Shields next which is extremely doubtful or be fighting for the Interim championship if Shields leaves for the UFC.

Prediction: Jacare by submission

Roger Gracie vs Kevin Randleman-   Randleman began his career with five wins but that was thirteen years ago and Randleman is nowhere near the fighter he was then sporting a 17-14 record.   Having won only three of his last nine fights, Randleman being on the main card surprises me and I actually believe that he may be offered as a sacrifice to Gracie since Randleman often times falls victim to submissions and despite the times changing, Gracie's are still some of the best submission artists in MMA.   Gracie has only fought twice in his career, once in 2006 and again in 2008 but is considered to be one of the best submission artists in the world.   Although he's been inactive for so long, I believe Gracie should be able to submit Randleman who gases rather quickly .

Prediction: Gracie by submission

Antwain "The Juggernaut" Britt vs Rafael "Feijao" Cavalcante-   Cavalcante trains with the Noguiera's and holds a record of 8-2 in MMA.   Despite having a fantastic Jui Jitsu game, Cavalcante has seven victories by tko or knockout and his only real loss, (as he was disqualified in a fight earlier in his career) was to Mike Kyle by tko.   Antwain Britt is a good fighter who is 11-3 with nine tko's or knockouts but often times has problems with guys who have a submission game as he's been submitted by men with nowhere near the game Cavalcante has.   I see a stoppage for Feijao in the early rounds.   This should be a good little opener.

Prediction: Cavalcante by submission

Other Fights

Justin DeMoney vs Jesse Finney

David Heath vs Murilo "Ninja" Rua

Lyle "Fancy Pants" Beerbohm vs Vitor "Shaolin" Ribeiro

Lee Brousseau vs Francisco France

Mike Chandler vs Sal Woods

Tom Aaron vs Erik Steenberg

Matt Ricehouse vs Greg Wilson

Darryl Cobb vs Booker DeRousse

Upcoming Fights

DREAM 14 from Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan- May 29th, 2010

Nick Diaz vs Hayoto "Mach" Sakurai

Joachim" Hellboy" Hansen vs Hiroyuki "Streetfight Banco" Takaya

Hideo Tokoro vs Akiyo "Wicky Akiyo" Nishiura

Kazuyuki Miyata vs Takafumi Otsuka

Ralek Gracie vs Kazushi Sakuraba

Kenji Oshawa vs Yoshiro Maeda

UFC 114 from Mandalay Bay left in Las Vegas- May 29th, 2010

Quinton "Rampage" Jackson vs "Sugar" Rashad Evans

Michael "The Count" Lisping vs Dan Miller

Antonio Rogerio "Lil Nog" Nogueira vs Jason Brillz

Diego "Nightmare" Sanchez vs John Hathaway

Dong Hyun Kim vs Amir Sadollah

Efrain Escudero vs Dan "The Upgrade" Lauzon

Cyrille "Snake" Diabate vs Luiz Arthur "Banha"

Mike Russow vs Todd Duffee

Aaron Riley vs Joe Brammer

Waylon Lowe vs Melvin Guillard

Jesse "Kid Hercules" Forbes vs Ryan Jensen

UFC 115 from General Motors Place in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada- June 12th, 2010

Chuck "The Iceman" Liddell vs Rich "Ace" Franklin

Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic vs Pat Barry

Tyson Griffin vs Evan Dunham

Paulo Thiago vs Martin "Hitman" Kampmann

Carlos Condit vs Rory MacDonald

Ben Rothwell vs Gilbert "The Hurricane" Yvel

Mac Danzig vs Matt Wiman

James Wilks vs Peter Sobotta

Jesse Lennox vs Mike "Quicksand" Pyle

Mario Miranda vs David "The Crow" Loiseau

Claude Patrick vs Ricardo Funch

TUF 11 Finale from Las Vegas, Nevada- June 19th, 2010

"The Dean of Mean" Keith Jardine vs Matt "The Hammer" Hammill

Aaron Simpson vs "Crippler" Chris Leben

James McSweeney vs Travis Browne

Spencer "The King" Fisher vs Dennis Siver

John Gunderson vs Mark "Boots" Holst

Darren Elkins vs Charles Oliveira

WEC 49 from Rexall Place in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada- June 20th, 2010

Jamie "The Worm" Varner vs Kamal Shalorus

Josh Grispi vs LC Davis

Chris Horodecki vs Ed Ratcliff

Mark "The Machine" Hominick vs Yves Jabouin

Charlie Valencia vs Eddie Wineland

Wagnney Fabiano vs Frank Gomez

Karen Darabedyan vs Will Kerr

Diego Nunes vs Rafael Assuncao

UFC 116 from MGM Grand Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada- July 3rd, 2010

UFC Heavyweight Title Fight- Brock Lesnar vs Shane Carwin

Wanderlei Silva vs Yoshiro Akiyama

Cheick Kongo vs Roy Nelson

Stephan Bonnar vs Krzysztof Soszynski

Kurt Pellegrino vs George Sotiropoulous

Chris "Lights Out" Lytle vs Matt Brown

Goran Reljic vs Kendall "Da Spyda" Grove

Brendan Schaub vs Chris Tuchscherer

Karlos "The Terminator" Vemola vs Jon Madsen

Jacob "Christmas" Volkman vs Paul Kelly

Daniel Roberts vs Julio Paulino

UFC on Versus 2 from Energy Solutions Arena in Salt Lake City, Utah- August 1st, 2010

Jon Jones vs Vladimir "The Janitor" Matyushenko

Joe "Daddy" Stevenson vs Takanori Gomi

Jim Miller vs Gleison Tibau

Jake Ellenberger vs John "Doosday" Howard

Yushin Okami vs Mark Munoz

Matt Riddle vs Damarques Johnson

James Irvin vs Igor Pokrajac

Brian Stann vs Mike Massenzio

Rob Kimmons vs Steve "The Hooligan" Steinbeiss

UFC 117 from Oracle Arena in Oakland, California- August 7th, 2010

UFC Middleweight Title Fight- Anderson "The Spider" Silva vs Chael Sonnen

"Big Country" Roy Nelson vs Junior Dos Santos

Jon Fitch vs Thiago "Pitbull" Alves

Ricardo Almeida vs Matt Hughes

Thiago Silva vs Tim Boetsch

Clay "The Carpenter" Guida vs Raphael Dos Anjos

"Killa B" Ben Saunders vs Dennis "Superman" Hallman

UFC 118 from Boston, Mass.- August 28th, 2010

UFC Lightweight Title Fight- Frank "The Answer" Edgar vs BJ Penn

Kenny "Ken Flo"Florian vs Gray Maynard

Joe "J-Lau" Lauzon vs Terry Etim

Marcus Davis vs Nate Diaz

Alessio Sakara vs Jorge "El Conquistador" Rivera

Andre Winner vs Nick "The Carnie" Lentz

Greg Soto vs Nick Osipczak

Random News and Notes

Forrest Griffin has been forced to pull out of his scheduled fight with Rogerio Nogueira that was scheduled for UFC 114 due to an injury.   As a replacement, Jason Brilz will now be inserted into this fight.   I don't mind Brilz but he's nowhere near Forest in terms of charisma or drawing power and this was a fight being promoted as one of the main events and I would believe they will be changing that as no one's buying this event for that fight.

Following his loss by decision to Josh Koscheck last weekend and cheap shot when the fight was over, Paul Daley has been released from the UFC.   Daley was 2-1 in the UFC and let his emotion control him after repeatedly being taken down for the entire fight.   Dana White has also stated that there is no way Paul Daley will ever be back in the UFC, EVER.   Take this for what you will as I have heard Dana say this about Tito Ortiz also and sure enough he was re-signed.   In ways, Daley's punch was a little similar to the whole skirmish at Strikeforce following the Jake Shields/Dan Henderson fight as they both made MMA look bad and Dana has been talking smack about what happened at Strikeforce since it happened.   I believe Dana also used this as an opportunity to show that he's willing to punish his fighters if they mess up while Strikeforce owner Scott Coker did little in the way of any punishments.   Daley is a very marketable fighter and should have no problems finding himself fights.

Another fighter released following UFC 113 was Kimbo Slice who went 1-1 in the UFC after suffering a tko against Matt Mittrione.   It was obvious that Kimbo would never be a world champion but my belief is that he probably should have been given one more fight against a big name such as James Toney or Chuck Liddell to justify his contract.   Kimbo is simply to old to learn the ground game or really anything besides punching, and with his celebrity type status, Im sure he has several other money making opportunities outside of MMA.   It would not surprise me though to see him signing with Strikeforce or Dream in Japan for some more big money fights.

It wouldn't surprise me to see the UFC cut Yoshida and Goulet following their losses on Saturday.   Both are coming off losses and disappointing performances in their past couple.   Yoshida has gone 2-3 in the UFC having lost all three of his last four outings but with losses to Josh Koscheck, Anthony Johnson and now Mike Guymon it's doubtful he'll be given another fights.   Jonathan Goulet has also gone 2-3 in his current stint with the UFC and has lost his last two in a row.   Goulet always makes for an entertaining fight but his jaw is shot.   I wont even say he has a questionable jaw as it seems anytime he's hit he goes down immediately and there are lots of hard hitter in the Welterweight division such as Davis, Saunders, Lytle, Matt Brown and countless other and I see things getting worse for the Road Warrior then better if he stays there.   In the time it took me to put this column together, Goulet and Yoshida were indeed released.

"The Joker" Mike Guymon's win last Saturday over Yoshida has to mean more then just a victory in the biggest promotion in MMA considering less then a year ago Guymon had attempted suicide and battled depression.   Good to see things like this happen to people like Guymon who got the necessary help needed to get through tough times.

Tiago Tavares was forced to pull out of his upcoming fight with Melvin Guillard when he separated his shoulder.   With less then three weeks from the fight, Waylon Lowe will step in to face Melvin.   Lowe has fought in HOOKnSHOOT, XFO, Extreme Challenge, Bellator and King of the Cage going 8-2 and winning his last six fights.   Im not familiar

with Lowe but I don’t think a fight with Guillard is a good way to make your debut as Lowe might find himself napping in the middle of the cage before the fights over.

The Prelims on Spike before UFC 115 will be Tyson Griffin vs Evan Dunham and Mac Danzig vs Matt Wiman.   Griffin and Dunham used to train together but when Shawn Tompkins and Randy Couture went their separate ways, Griffin went with Couture and Dunham with Tompkins, so this should add a little extra something to this fight.   The Danzig vs Wiman fight has to be a loser leaves and if Danzig had not been a winner of a season of TUF, Im sure this one would stay on the undercard.

Patrick Cote needed surgery on his hand following his fight with Alan Belcher on Saturday.   Not sure where exactly in the fight that Cote broke it but Im sure more time off, healing for an injury is not what Cote would like right now.

The UFC will be airing competition for Saturday's Strikeforce card in the way of a Best of 2010 on Spike TV.   Some of the matches that will be airing are Korean Zombie vs Leonard Garcia, Frank Mir vs Shane Carwin, Rory Markham vs Nate Diaz and Raphael Dos Anjos vs Terry Etim.

That's all for this week everyone, I'll be back in a couple weeks with a breakdown of DREAM 14 and UFC 114: Rampage vs Evans as well as a recap of Strikeforce: Heavy Artillery.   Enjoy the fights!