Lightweight contenders Gray “The Bully” Maynard and Roger “ El Matador “ Huerta face off on 9/16/09 at the UFC’s Ultimate Fight Night. Huerta has been out of action since his Aug 08 loss to Kenny Florian, he reportedly wanted to explore a career in acting, much to the dismay of the UFC and especially Dana White.

Huerta is one of the divisions more exciting fighters, he has power punches, good wrestling and Jujitsu as well, he is aggressive and has a good chin. He was the aggressor in the Florian fight, which Florian used to his advantage, countering and moving out of the way of the charging Huerta, who looked a touch “one dimensional” and a bit slow. He will need a more diverse attack if he hopes to get a title shot in the near future.

Gray Maynard is a former all American wrestler who has shown nice standup in his short career. He outboxed and outwrestled Frankie Edgar in perhaps his most impressive win, in his last bout he was all over a tough Jim Miller en route to a unanimous decision win

Slugger Chris Lytle takes on Kevin Burns on the televised portion of The Ultimate Fighter US vs UK. Lylte has been ultra aggressive in his past 2 bouts, it may have cost him in his last bout, a split decision loss to Marcus Davis, a bout in which he tired late and got caught with quite a few counterpunches from Davis.

Kevin Burns is also coming off of a loss, a head kick KO from Anthony Johnson at the last TUF finale. He was holding his own against the talented Johnson when he got caught with the kick and was done.

Both fighters have good ground games as well as standup skills, Lytle will look to trade punches early looking for the KO. Burns should pick his spots and take the fight to the ground, looking for the submission or ground and pound.

Top Heavyweight contenders Gabriel Gonzaga and Shane Carwin will meet March 7th on the UFC 96 fight card. Gonzaga is a well rounded fighter with great Jujitsu and power in both his hands and feet, he has never gone to a decision in his 13 MMA bouts. Shane Carwin is a former Division 2 wrestling champ with big punching power he also has not gone the distance in his 10-0 MMA career. This should be an exciting “in your face bout” Gonzaga looks more comfortable in each bout and has only lost to top Heavyweights Randy Couture and Fabricio Werdum, he likes to throw the high kick and does so with great power and quickness, he will have to contend with the great wrestling, size, and punching power of Carwin. Freestyle MMA will have the UFC96 results live from 3/7/09.

here is the lineup for UFC’s fight night live from 2/7/09.

Joe Lauzon vs Jeremy Stephens: Two Lightweights with bright futures collide in this one, Lauzon may be more well rounded and should have an edge on the ground Stephens has good hands and is competent on the ground

Mac Danzig vs Josh Neer: Danzig prefers the striking game but has excellent submissions, Neer is a decent striker who likes to ground and pound his subs are also good.

Cain Velaquez vs Denis Stojnic: Velasquez is a good wrestler who likes to ground and pound he is always improving in the standup game. Stojnic is a striker who could be dangerous as he is mostly unknown.

Anthony Johnson vs Luigi Fioravanti: Johnson is a power puncher who can land the high kick he is also an excellent wresler. Fioravanti has power in his hands and his takedown defense is excellent
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Wrestler Ryan Bader never had grapple with Jujitsu world champion “vinny” Magalhaes, knocking him to the ground with a right hook behind the ear and finishing him off with punches on the ground. He becomes the Light Heavyweight Ultimate fighter Champion joining Forrest Griffin and Michael Bisping as Ultimate Fighter Champions in that weight division. Efrain Escudero used his wrestling to dominate favorite Phillipe Nover over three rounds to win the Lightweight Ultimate Fighter title. He took Nover down at will, and used nice ground and pound to win a unanimous decision 29-28 on all three score cards. Both fighter were coached by Antonio Minitauro Noguiera, losing coach Frank Mir hopes for different results at UFC 92 when he and Noguiera face each other. In other action, Wison Gouveia scored a TKO over Jason MacDonald in the first round. Anthony Johnson used a high kick to get his revenge over Kevin Burns with a KO in the third round. Junie Browning defeated Dave Kaplan by submission, and Eliot Marshall scored a submission win over Jules Bruchez. Krzystof Soszynski caught Shane Primm in a nasty kimura to win by submission, Rolando Delgado submitted John Polakowsi, and Tom Lawlor scored a decision win over Kyle Kingsbury Shane Nelson outlasted George Roop to win a unanimous decision

Wilson Gouveia did not make weight and was not allowed to reweigh, the fight will be held at a catch weight of 189lbs, he will forfeit 20% of his purse to MacDona;d

Lightweight Final
Efrain Escudero (156) VS Phillipe Nover (155)

Light Heavyweight Final
Vinicius Magalhaes (205) VS Ryan Bader (205)

Wilson Gouveia (189) VS Jason MacDonald (184)
Anthony Johnson (171) VS Kevin Burns (171)
David Kaplan (156) VS Junie Browning (156)
Undercard
Shane Primm (202) VS Krzysztof Soszynski (205)
Jules Bruchez (205) VS Eliot Marshall (203)
George Roop (153) VS Shane Nelson (156)
Tom Lawlor (204) VS Kyle Kingsbury (205)
John Polakowski (152) VS Rolando Delgado (155)

Main Card

Josh Koscheck vs Yoshiyuki Yoshida:Too much too soon for Yoshida, he said in the pre fight interview he was looking for the looping right that Kos likes to throw, but he forgot to look for the straight right which landed flush on the face of Yoshida, he was basically KO’d fron the first punch but still standing and the second one floored him face first and it was all over

Mike Swick vs Jonathan Goulet:
Swick came out firing, and caught Goulet on his glass chin, TKO’ing him in less than a minute
Steve Cantwell vs Razak Al Hassan:Al Hassan came out stalking Cantwell, landing decent punches and keeping the pressure on. Cantwell countered nicely, and worked the the fight to the ground where he sunck in a deep armbar, Al Hassan wouldn’t tab and his arm clearly broke, promting the referee to step in and stop the fight.
Tim Credur vs Nate Loughran:Credur showed his superiority in the standup game, battering Loughran with punches until he was forced to quit after the second round because of a rib injury
Matt Wiman vs Jim Miller: Wiman ran into a buzz saw in Miller, who dominated from start to finish. Wiman showed a good chin and a good guard, but little else as Miller scored a unanimous decision 30-27,30-26,30-27

Undercard fights
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Josh Koscheck vs Yoshiyuki Yoshida: A good test for Koscheck following his loss to Thiago Alves, Yoshida has never been stopped, and looked impressive in his UFC debut, submitting “War Machine” John Koppenhaver with an arm triangle choke.

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Middleweight contenders Nate Quarry and Demian Maia will meet on 11/15/08 at UFC91. Maia is a world champion Jujitsu player who has made the transition to MMA, Read on …

Nate Diaz looked better than ever in his 3 round decision win over tough Josh Neer, Read on …

Main events

Josh Neer 155 VS Nate Diaz 155:Both fighters are strong grapplers, neer prefers the ground and pound while Diaz has great submissions

Clay Guida 155 VS Mac Danzig 155: Two well rounded fighters Guida is a good wrestler and boxed, Danzig has good standup and good submissions

Alan Belcher 185 VS Ed Herman 185:Both fighters like to brawl, Herman may have the better ground skills

Eric Schafer 205 VS Houston Alexander 205: Schafer will have to get this one to the ground quickly, if he wants to have a chance Read on …

Another exciting Lightweight fight is on the card at UFC’s Ultimate Fight Night on Sept 17th on spiketv. Danzig a former winner of The Ultimate Fighter reality series Read on …

Pete “Drago” Sell will move to the 170lb division in search of his first UFC win since Feb 2005, when he takes on durable veteran Josh Burkman at UFC 90 on 10/25/08. Sell burst onto the scene with an upset victory over fellow New Yorker Phil Baroni at UFC 51, but has since dropped 4 straight bouts 3 by KO/TKO he hopes a move down in weight will help him score some wins. Burkman is 5-4 in his UFC career, but has lost two straight, Burkman has good standup, but should look to take down Sell where he can use his wrestling ability to pound out a win

All fighters made weight for the event James Irvin needed another hour to lose 1.5 lbs.
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The UFC has announced additional bouts to its July 19th edition of UFC Fight Night. Grapplers Cain Velasquez and “Irish” Jake O’Brien will meet in a Heavyweight bout. Read on …