Alistair Overeem proved he was more than just hype on Friday night by retiring Brock Lesnar from the UFC.

In his octagon debut, the former Strikeforce Heavyweight Champion made quick work of Lesnar, beating him by TKO at 2:26 of the first round following a body kick.

Overeem was able to stuff the few takedown attempts from Lesnar and land some powerful knees to the body that softened Lesnar up for the finish. Overeem will now face Junior dos Santos for the UFC heavyweight title in the near future.

Following the loss, his second in as many fights, Lesnar retired from competition. With a pair of bad knockout losses, his aura has faded. With a title shot not likely to come any time soon, it made sense for Lesnar to call it quits. It hurts the UFC as he was their top draw, but I am sure they can market Overeem.

In the co-main event, Nate Diaz had an impressive decision win over Donald Cerrone. Diaz used his boxing to pick apart Cerrone. The Cowboy took a number of unanswered punches throughout the 15 minutes.

In a big upset, Johny Hendricks knocked out Jon Fitch in just 12 seconds. Fitch, who had just one loss in the octagon to Georges St. Pierre, had been off for nearly a year due to shoulder surgery.

Fitch threw a couple of punches in the opening seconds but then walked in to a big left from Hendricks that put him out cold for a moment.

The loss for Fitch is devastating, as he was close to earning a title shot, and now will fall well back into the contender list. Due to a lack of exciting fights, Fitch can’t expect to headline an event any time too soon.

For complete results from UFC 141, check out the jump.

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UFC 125 takes place on Saturday from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nev. The event features five very intriguing and exciting fights, headlined by a battle for the UFC Lightweight Championship. Here are my thoughts on who will win on the main card bouts.

UFC Lightweight Championship – Frankie Edgar vs. Gray Maynard: I look for the champion to retain his belt and avenge a prior loss to Maynard in 2008. Since that time I feel like Edgar has improved greatly as a fighter while Maynard is simply a slightly better version of himself. Maynard will get some takedowns on the champ, but I expect Edgar to bounce back up and use his boxing to tire the challenger before scoring some takedowns in the later rounds to earn a decision victory.

UFC Middleweight Bout – Chris Leben vs. Brian Stann: While this fight doesn’t deserve co-main event status, it still should be exciting. Leben is riding a wave of momentum that will not be stopped on Saturday as his punching power should carry him to a third round TKO of Stann, who will put up a game effort.

UFC Light Heavyweight Bout – Brandon Vera vs. Thiago Silva: This may be Vera’s final UFC fight as I expect Silva to pressure him and not let him set up his kicks. Silva will do a good job of closing the distance and overwhelming Vera with his power and grappling ability. I like Silva to win by unanimous decision.

UFC Welterweight Bout – Nate Diaz vs. Dong Hyun Kim: Kim is a very under-rated fighter as he is kind of like the Yushin Okami of this weight class as is very strong and bigger than anyone else in the weight class. I like Kim to use that size to get Diaz to the ground and keep him from using his boxing. It probably won’t be the most exciting fight, but it will be another decision win for Kim.

UFC Lightweight Bout – Takanori Gomi vs. Clay Guida: I like Guida and the energy he brings to a fight, but his short arms tend to put him in bad spots against strikers. I think Guida will get careless early in the fight and get caught with a big punch by Guida while will lead to a TKO finish in the opening round.

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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Nate Lawson of HeavyMMA.com recently sat down with Marcus Davis, who says the fighters’ jobs are to entertain.

As a young, poor child from the East Coast, Marcus Davis set forth his goals early in life. The proud Irish-American wanted to become a professional fighter and compete in Ireland.

At the ripe age of 19, Davis made the leap to the professional level of boxing and, just a few years later, was drawn into the hype of mixed martial arts, making his professional MMA debut in 2003.

Throughout both his boxing career and mixed martial arts career, “The Irish Hand Grenade” has had a great deal of success, enjoying power in his hands that have led to several vicious knockouts, as well as an ever-improving MMA game that has allowed him to compete in the sport as a professional and even accomplish his goal of fighting in Ireland.

Yet with all the success that has come to Davis over his career, make no mistake about it, he is a fighter, first and foremost, for your entertainment.

Read the rest of the article here.

My hands were sweaty, my face was red but I wasn’t going to let the opportunity pass.

“Dana, could you tell me where you see Jose (Aldo) on your pound-for-pound list.”

The question was simple enough. I mean I ran it through my head a million times in a little over two minutes. The wording, the timing, the tone all needed to sound just right. After all, this question was directed at Dana White, President of the UFC and WEC.

Following Saturday’s WEC 48: Aldo vs. Faber pay-per-view event, which was sponsored by AMP Energy, White and select fighters addressed the media. And there I was, covering my first MMA live event thanks to the people at AMP Energy.

At 27, I have been a dedicated MMA fan for seven years. Having seen the early days of Royce Gracie and Ken Shamrock, I was re-introduced to the UFC with Chuck Liddell and Randy Couture at UFC 43 and have been hooked since.

But I am not just a fan, I am a sports writer, and have been for about 10 years now.

I knew that the opportunity of covering MMA for Bullz-Eye.com and The Scores Report was one I wanted to be a part of because I knew that I could do it objectively and with the respect and knowledge that MMA fans want from their writers. I’m not just a fan. Still, even having interviewed some of the top athletes in the world, my eyes were locked in with White’s as he awaited my question.

As any MMA fan knows, if White thinks you asked him a stupid question, he will let you know and he will probably sprinkle in a few expletives to describe his feelings.

So I asked my question.

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

- Quinton “Rampage” Jackson’s dry-humping of a female reporter became the year’s most uncomfortable MMA viral video.

- Saturday’s monumental UFC 100 show will feature “Girl Next Door” Holly Madison as a celebrity Octagon Girl, and two very worthy additions to the UFC Hall of Fame.

- With the bookings of Alistair Overeem vs. Fabricio Werdum and Nick Diaz vs. Joe Riggs, Strikeforce’s “Carano vs. Cyborg” mega-card will now feature four title fights.

- In other Diaz Brother news, Nate Diaz is headlining the next UFC Fight Night event, despite having lost his last two matches, and plans on getting knocked dead this time.

- The UFC’s new stance on sponsorships is taking money out of the pockets of their fighters.

- After screwing the UFC by defecting to DREAM, MMA legend Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic has decided to screw DREAM and return to the UFC.

- The full cast of “The Ultimate Fighter: Heavyweights” was revealed. Does Kimbo Slice have a chance?

- Swing by CagePotato tonight (Saturday) beginning at 7 p.m. PT/10 p.m. ET for our liveblog of UFC 100, in which Brock Lesnar clashes with Frank Mir for the second time, Georges St. Pierre defends his belt against Thiago Alves, and Michael Bisping and Dan Henderson battle for a middleweight title shot. Get hyped for the historic event by watching this unofficial tribute, and this official one.

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

- Rich Franklin edged out Wanderlei Silva and Cain Velasquez dominated Cheick Kongo at UFC 99 last Saturday. Also, Mirko Cro Cop defeated Mostapha Al Turk via illegal eye-pokes, then told the UFC to kiss his ass.

- We saw some crazy knockouts this week, including Tim Sylvia getting wrecked by a 50-year old boxer, a brilliant flying knee KO at a Bellator show [http://www.cagepotato.com/knockout-day-nick-pace-wrecks-collin-tebo-bellator-xi], and a 9-second head-kick finish followed by a flying referee tackle.

- Brock Lesnar is built like a black man, still not a fan of the gays.

- Team U.K.’s James Wilks cruised to the welterweight finals on Wednesday’s episode of The Ultimate Fighter, ending a season that didn’t really live up to the hype.

- MMA model Penny Mathis’s breasts may not be real, but they’re still fabulous.

- Shaquille O’Neal is seriously considering a switch to MMA after finishing his basketball career, and wants to start off by beating up the giant Korean who smashed Jose Canseco.

- When Cris Cyborg chokes out a reporter, that’s just her polite way of saying she’s finished with the interview.

- Come back tonight [Saturday] at 9 p.m. ET/PT for our liveblog of the Ultimate Fighter 9 Finale show, which will feature Diego Sanchez vs. Clay Guida, Nate Diaz vs. Joe Stevenson, and the lightweight and welterweight TUF finals. And check out our exclusive interviews with Sanchez, Stevenson, and Chris Lytle.

The Ultimate Fighter Nine Finals take place tonight with the live Ultimate Fighter Finale on Spike TV at 9 p.m. ET. The main card will feature five fights including the two championship bouts for the Ultimate Fighter reality show. Overall, it is a nice card featuring the lighter weights in the UFC, which tend to provide stronger fights and better pacing. Here is a breakdown of the card and my predictions (I was 5-for-6 last weekend!!) for tonight’s show.

Lightweight bout (155 lbs) – Diego Sanchez (23-2) vs. Clay Guida (25-9): This fight should be a war as both fighters have great motors and even better stamina. Sanchez has lost just two times in his career, both by decision, but is in just his second fight at lightweight in the UFC. His previous fight was a lackluster decision win over Joe Stevenson where Sanchez picked Stevenson apart on their feet. Guida won’t be quite that easy. The rocker has a fighting style and energy that makes it hard for you to not cheer for him and I think he will be the first fighter to really push Sanchez around in terms of pacing and octagon control. The key in this fight will be if Guida has the size to control the bigger Sanchez on the ground and if he can fight off his back. I would like to say I see Guida winning this fight, but I think Sanchez’ size and speed will ultimately earn him another decision win.

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