I wanted to chew on UFC 116 for a few days before I really made any statements about it. The event took place last Saturday and featured the heavyweight collision between Brock Lesnar and Shane Carwin.

Lesnar won the fight by second round submission after taking a pummeling from Carwin in round one. It was a compelling fight and very entertaining, but I think Lesnar is garnering a little too much praise for his performance. While you have to give credit where credit is due, as he won the fight, Lesnar looked far from polished. Here is a look at the good, the bad, and the ugly from his title defense.

The Good: Obviously the good came in the win. He survived a hail storm and still came out in the second round and was aggressive. Lesnar also showed improved skills on the ground, as he scored a takedown and transitioned into mount and then into a head-and-arm choke from side control. These were all things he probably couldn’t do two years ago. I was also impressed with the way Lesnar handled himself after the fight. He seems to have embraced a little humanity since his health scare in November.

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The Ultimate Fighting Championship puts on UFC 116: Lesnar vs. Carwin tonight from Las Vegas, which features arguably the biggest heavyweight title fight in the history of the organization. Here are my thoughts on tonight’s card.

UFC Heavyweight Championship – Brock Lesnar (4-1) vs. Shane Carwin (12-0) – These two have very similar builds and styles but the key in this fight will be Lesnar’s ability to get the fight to the ground. If the fight stays standing, Carwin has the edge. Carwin should be able to stay off his back and land a big punch to earn the KO win in the first or second round. While Lesnar is a stud, he is still green to MMA and never fought someone with the power that Carwin has. Look for Lesnar to learn a big lesson tonight.

UFC Middleweight Bout – Yoshihiro Akiyama (13-1) vs. Chris Leben (20-6) – Leben deserves some credit for taking this fight just a few weeks after competing, but it should be somewhat easy for Akiyama to get him to the ground and submit him after a couple of rounds of work. Look for Akiyama to win by choke in round two.

UFC Welterweight Bout – Chris Lytle (38-17-4) vs. Matt Brown (13-8) – Both of these guys are tough as nails, but Lytle has the edge in striking technique and probably in wrestling as well. Look for him to control Brown and land some big punches to earn a decision victory in what could be Fight of the Night.

UFC Light Heavyweight Bout – Krzysztof Soszynski (20-10-1) vs. Stephan Bonnar (14-7) – This is a rematch of a bout from UFC 110 where Soszynski won when Bonnar was cut by a head butt. After some dispute, Bonnar gets his rematch, but he was losing the first fight before the cut anyway. Look for Soszynski to continue what he started and win a decision win over Bonnar.

UFC Lightweight Bout – George Sotiropoulos (12-2) vs. Kurt Pellegrino (21-4) – Sotiropoulos has emerged as a solid lightweight due to his grappling and submission skills. Pellergrino is a tough guy, but he isn’t quite at the level as his opponent. Look for this fight to spend most of the time on the ground, where George will control the fight and finish with a submission in the third round.

The MMA world was turned upside down Saturday night when Fabricio Werdum submitted Fedor Emelianenko at Strikeforce’s Fedor vs. Werdum event.

Fedor had not lost since 2000, winning 27-striaght fights in that span. He was considered by many as the top pound-for-pound fighter in the world due to his dominance in Pride, Affliction, and now Strikeforce. Yet, there he was being submitted by Werdum, a man who had never really risen to any sort of iconic status in his career and was largely thought to be a lamb for slaughter to Fedor on Saturday.

The upset has an impact in many ways, but there isn’t anyone happier about it, including Werdum, than UFC President Dana White.

White has been the face of MMA from an organizational standpoint for years now and his company, Zuffa Entertainment, has completely held the top spot in the MMA world.

White has signed all the top fighters and put on all the top fights over the last five years, yet he could never ink the highly sought-after Fedor Emelianenko.

Despite numerous attempts and record-setting contract offers, Fedor would never sign with the UFC because the organization would not co-promote his fights with his management company at M-1 Global. Fedor had the ability to hold power in contract talks because of the status he had reached in MMA through his record winning streak.

The failed contract talks spewed a lot of negativity between White and Fedor, but it also made White look bad. Despite all of his criticisms of Fedor, you knew he wanted to sign him and bring him to the UFC to see just where he stood among the heavyweights in that division.

With Fedor down to two fights on his Strikeforce contract heading into Saturday’s bout, the UFC had one last attempt to sign him over the next year. Now, with the loss, that urgency on the UFC’s part is completely gone.

Not only did Fedor lose, not only did he lose in just over one minute, but he lost to a man that the UFC cut because they didn’t feel he was worth his contract.

Werdum has lost in the octagon to Andrei Arlovski and Junior dos Santos, but he just beat Fedor without landing a strike.

Now when contract talks come around, White can look at know that he doesn’t have to sign him to prove anything. If anything, now Fedor has to prove himself against UFC heavyweights like Brock Lesnar, Shane Carwin, dos Santos, and Cain Velasquez.

Now White can proclaim he has the top fighters in the world in the heavyweight division and in the pound-for-pound category. Trust me, as smug as it might be to make a big deal out of it in the media, White won’t hesitate to do so.

So while Werdum is enjoying his night of success, White is feeling like its Christmas day.

With the much-anticipated fight between Rampage Jackson and Rashad Evans taking place next Saturday, I decided to look back and think of other fights that had this much animosity between the two competitors. Here is my list of top five rivalries in the UFC since the Zuffa inception:

1. Tito Ortiz and Ken Shamrock – While the fights were pretty lopsided, you could always feel the heat and rage between these two. Tito was a showboat and Ken was mister intensity. They never really had a chance to be friends. The first fight really did a lot to help the UFC land a network television deal and bring more attention to the sport. Then, the two added to their rivalry with their coaching appearance on The Ultimate Fighter Season 3. Too bad for Ken he lost all three fights to Ortiz, but the rivalry was still classic.

2. Matt Hughes and Matt Serra – This rivalry is about two guys that want to be the Alpha Male. Serra is always playing the disrespect card and Hughes is an honest jerk. Hughes dominated the UFC Welterweight division for years and had no problems talking about how inferior his opponents were while Serra shocked the world a few years ago and Hughes called his title reign a “fluke”. These two also coached opposite one another in The Ultimate Fighter Season Six, which led to a fight at UFC 98 that Hughes narrowly pulled out. Still to this day, Serra has preached for a rematch and still proclaims his dislike for the future Hall of Famer.

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