Frankie Edgar was determined to prove he could beat Gray Maynard.

On Saturday night, despite all the signs pointing that he would be unable to do so, Edgar did just that, knocking out the challenger in the fourth round to retain his UFC Lightweight Championship in the main event of UFC 136.

After fighting to a 5-round draw back at UFC 125 last January, Saturday’s bout had almost an identical start. Maynard caught Edgar with a big uppercut in the middle of the first round and pummeled the champion to a near stoppage.

However, Edgar managed to stay conscious and mobile, and survived the round despite losing it 10-8 on most cards.

After a break between rounds, Edgar seemed to get his stamina back and began working his game. He used his quickness to out-box Maynard and avoid another big punch, while Maynard looked flat on his feet and simply looking for the one-punch victory.

Come the fourth round, Edgar landed a big cross that dropped Maynard. The challenger got to his feet but ate a series of punches that eventually left him face flat in the canvas.

The win solidifies Edgar as a true star in the sport and he can finally cross Maynard off his list of opponents.

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HeavyMMA.com notes that the UFC officially announced “UFC 131: Lesnar vs. Dos Santos” for June 11 at Rogers Arena in Vancouver.

“UFC 131: Lesnar vs. Dos Santos” is currently scheduled to take place on June 11 at Rogers Arena in Vancouver, but UFC officials have not made the location official yet.

The event is headlined by a heavyweight No. 1 contender’s bout between “The Ultimate Fighter 13” coaches Brock Lesnar and Junior Dos Santos.

The venue , formerly known as GM Place, has hosted a UFC before. “UFC 115: Liddell vs. Franklin” was held there on June 12, 2010. British Columbia passed a bill to sanction mixed martial arts on December 17, 2009.
Official bouts confirmed for UFC 131 include:

MAIN CARD
Junior Dos Santos vs. Brock Lesnar
Demian Maia vs. Mark Munoz
Shane Carwin vs. Jon Olav Einemo
Kenny Florian vs. Diego Nunes
Dustin Poirier vs. Rani Yahya

Read the rest of the card.

Jeremy Botter of HeavyMMA.com fills everyone in on the news of Kenny Florian’s big bout with Evan Dunham at UFC 127.

Florian revealed the news during last night’s episode of ESPN’s “MMA Live.” Heavy.com confirmed that bout agreements are expected to be signed shortly.

“We’ve verbally agreed to fight Evan Dunham, which is great news,” Florian said. “Phenomenal opponent, which I’m very excited about, and it looks like it may happen on Super Bowl weekend.”

UFC 127 is expected to take place Feb. 5 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. The event will be headlined by a middleweight title bout between Anderson Silva and Vitor Belfort.

Florian and Dunham are both seeking to rebound from tough losses.

Dunham battered Sean Sherk in a meeting at UFC 119, but the judges inexplicably awarded the bout to Sherk via split decision. It was the first defeat of Dunham’s career, but he impressed the UFC brass and fans with his performance that night.

Florian lost a one-sided battle to Gray Maynard at UFC 118.

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Dennis Melnik of HeavyMMA.com recently sat down with UFC fighter and top contender Kenny Florida, who says he isn’t afraid to adapt.

Kenny Florian’s philosophy is simple: “If you don’t adapt in this sport, you’re going to die. You’re going to lose.” There was a time Florian thought he had all the answers. He was on a six-fight wining streak that earned him a shot at UFC lightweight champion BJ Penn.

The last time Florian lost was his first chance at glory, when Sean Sherk defeated him in a unanimous decision at UFC 64. He learned a lot from that loss. The problem was Florian thought he had learned it all. He entered the Penn fight determined to “kill the master” and that’s when complacency came to collect. ‘The Prodigy’ dismantled ‘Ken-Flo’ in four rounds of fighting, putting him at a crossroads and forcing him to completely reevaluate his entire regimen. When Florian responded with two straight dominant victories in later UFC matches, Dana White noticed. While condemning Diego Sanchez for leaving the lightweight division for a return to welterweight, the UFC president cited Florian as an example of learning from failure.

Read the full article here.

UFC 118: Edgar vs. Penn 2 takes place tonight from the TD Garden in Boston and the card is stacked with intriguing fights from the main event UFC Lightweight title bout to the MMA vs. Boxing match featuring James “Lights Out” Toney and UFC Hall of Famer Randy “The Natural” Couture. Here are my picks for tonight’s event.

UFC Lightweight Championship Bout: Frankie Edgar (12-1) vs. B.J. Penn (15-6-1) – Edgar won a close decision in the first match where Penn was heavily favored. This time around, we should expect to see the Penn we thought we would see the first time around. While Edgar has a good skill set to beat Penn, as he is quick with sharp strikes and good wrestling, he doesn’t have the natural talent that Penn has. Look for Penn to work his jab and put together combinations on Edgar, slowly breaking him apart before choking him out in round four.

UFC Heavyweight Bout: Randy Couture (18-10) vs. James Toney (0-0) – This fight has gotten more hype than any other on the card as it marks the first time a legitimate boxing champion is stepping into the octagon. While Toney has one-punch knockout power, Couture is too smart to be beaten that easily. Couture will push Toney up against the cage early and work his dirty boxing before eventually scoring a takedown and finishing with a submission. Toney is too big and slow to be able to keep Couture from getting him to the ground.

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E. Spencer Kyte previews Saturday’s UFC 118, inlculding the big bout between Frankie Edgar vs. BJ Penn.

Frankie Edgar (12-1-0) vs. BJ Penn (15-6-1)

This might be the fight I’ve been most excited about seeing all summer. No disrespect to the UFC 116 or 117 mains, but this one was so unexpected the first time around that I really want to see if (a) Frankie can do it again and (b) BJ comes with a different level of ferocity than we saw in Abu Dhabi.

Edgar rightfully earned the title in my books the first time around; his executed perfectly, darting in and out, scoring points, and avoiding damage, and he most certainly could do it again. He also scored a takedown, and could turn to his wrestling a little more this time.

That night in Abu Dhabi, Penn looked lethargic to me. I don’t know if anything was wrong – illness, injury, bad cut, whatever – but he didn’t look like the guy who had dismantled Diego Sanchez just four months earlier. If that same guy shows up, he’s losing two-in-a-row for the first time in four years.

I expect a better BJ to show up in Boston, but Edgar will be better too; now that he has the belt around his waist, there is no way he wants to give it up. These are two of the best lightweights in the world and it should be another exciting contest.

Read the full preview here.

Here’s a weekly rundown of MMA content from Ben Goldstein of CagePotato.com:

- At last weekend’s UFC 101 show, Anderson Silva got his balls back with a stunning knockout of Forrest Griffin and BJ Penn taught Kenny Florian a very painful lesson.

- Brian Bowles scored the upset of the year with his shocking first-round KO of WEC bantamweight ruler Miguel Torres. Unfortunately, Bowles got paid peanuts for the win, and broke his hand in the process.

- Inspired by Nick Diaz’s marijuana-related screwjob of Strikeforce, we counted down the 10 most cursed MMA events of all time.

- The UFC has recently been stockpiling crusty old-timers, including Vladimir Matyushenko and Phil Baroni. Can a “Veterans” season of The Ultimate Fighter be far behind?

- We took a look at some classic MMA moments, crudely recreated in MS Paint.

- Notorious MMA steroid abuser Josh Barnett sold his last shred of dignity in a freaky pro-wrestling bout in Japan.

- Hit up CagePotato.com starting tonight at 10:30 p.m. ET for our liveblog of “Strikeforce: Carano vs. Cyborg.” Get familiar with the card by reading our interview with Cris Cyborg, some last-minute betting advice, as well as our always provocative “Ben vs. Ben” debate.

Here’s a weekly rundown of MMA content from Ben Goldstein of CagePotato.com:

- In a press conference held Friday, UFC boss Dana White announced the returns of Tito Ortiz and Vitor Belfort, and promised to be close on another deal that will “change the UFC forever.”

- Unfortunately, getting Russian legend Fedor Emelianenko into the UFC remains a pipe-dream — and it will remain that way as long as Fedor has morons like Jerry Millen in his camp.

- Josh Barnett insists that he’s innocent of his latest steroid charge. His urine, however, is telling a different story.

- Speaking of ‘roids, we ran down every single steroid bust in MMA history, from Tim Sylvia’s ill-fated attempt to lose his gut to Kevin Randleman’s infamous “dead human or live animal” incident.

- Strikeforce’s August 15th show continues to undergo major changes, with Renato Sobral vs. Gegard Mousasi brought over from Affliction’s canceled “Trilogy” card, Jay Hieron coming in to replace Joe Riggs, and Mitsuhiro Ishida replacing injured lightweight champ Josh Thomson. Luckily, Gina Carano is still looking quite healthy.

- Also in the wake of Affliction’s collapse, the UFC swooped in to rescue Ben Rothwell, Paul Daley, and Joe Lauzon’s little brother.

- Kenny Florian talked to us about his gameplan for BJ Penn, and set the record straight on that text message he may or may not have sent Penn that may or may not have accused Georges St. Pierre of greasing.

Here’s a weekly rundown of MMA content from Ben Goldstein of CagePotato.com:

- Carlos Condit didn’t live up to the hype and Junie Browning didn’t live up to his mouth at Wednesday’s UFC Fight Night show. You can check out some videos from the event here.

- Word on the street is that jiu-jitsu phenon Demian Maia will get the next crack at Anderson Silva’s UFC middleweight belt…assuming Silva crushes Thales Leites later this month at UFC 97.

- BJ Penn will finally return to the lightweight division at UFC 101 (August 8th, Philadelphia), where he’ll take on #1 contender Kenny Florian. It will be the first time in 15 months that the UFC’s 155-pound strap will be on the line.

- The ninth season of The Ultimate Fighter debuted Wednesday night, as 16 British hopefuls were cut down to eight official members of Team U.K. We do not have high hopes for this lot.

- After a rage-filled video-blog entry that saw UFC prez Dana White use the word “faggot” and call a female reporter a “fuckin’ dumb bitch,” White has issued a public apology. To the gays, at least.

- Is DADA the next Kimbo Slice?

- We counted down some quick ‘n’ ugly MMA knockouts.

- Check out CagePotato.com on Monday morning for full results of WEC 40 (Torres vs. Mizugaki), DREAM 8 (Aoki vs. Sakurai), and Bellator Fighting Championships’ debut event.