It seems so at this point. Alexander was at his worst against Eric Schafer and was submitted with only 7 seconds remaining in round one. Alexander had a great start and threw some good punches, but with his career on the line he was taken down easily by Schafer and submitted subsequently. I like Houston. I think he is a great guy. But with no ground game, he simply has no real future in the MMA world. He can knock people out. That’s for sure. But a true elite 205 fighter should have no business losing to Eric Schafer in such a dominating fashion. Good luck to Houston in the future.

It didn’t take too long for Frank Mir to talk about his disapproval of Lesnar getting a title shot against Randy Couture. When asked about what he thought about Brock Lesnar getting a title shot, he was blunt about it:

I think that Lesnar’s name is the only reason he’s getting a title match

I personally like Frank. I think he is a great MMA fighter. But sometimes he gives this impression that he think he is bigger than he really is to the UFC. Now I understand guys like Werdum or the Nog talking badly about Lesnar, but Mir used Lesnar as a stepping stone to get a title shot he doesn’t serve in my opinion. Not only that, he got his Ultimate Fighter gig because of his fight with Lesnar, so for a guy who has benefited the most from Lesnar, he is certainly disrespectful. And he should’ve been stopped if the referee didn’t have that bogus call against Lesnar, but that’s another story. You be the judge.

I didn’t want to believe this, but now it all makes sense as Affliction announced their partnership with the Golden Boy promotions. It just goes on to show that Affliction is so desperate that they are willing to sleep with the devil and make a sideshow out of MMA by partnering up with a boxing promotion company. I know the Golden Boy Promotion partnership may give affliction some muscle but promoting MMA fights and boxing fights together? That’s just disturbing. The truth is the boxing community looks at mixed martial art as a street fight and not a real sport. Now you put the two together and it’s evident which one will be the sideshow.

There is a lot of buzz around Tito Ortiz and his future on the net. He has simply not been able to get anything done with the UFC and Affliction so far, and I doubt these guys will go out of their ways to sign this guy. Tito may still be a draw but he is no top fighter anymore. He really hasn’t beaten anyone who matters in his past fights, and his most impressive feat must be his draw against Rashad Evans.

If you haven’t heard the news by now, Evan Tanner is not among us anymore. The former middleweight champion took a cleansing trip to a dessert and was found dead by an Imperial County Sheriff’s Department Deputy on Monday.

Evan had done these trips before, but this time when he didn’t answer his text messages by Friday, people knew something was wrong. Unfortunately, they could not find him on time. Tanner will be remembered for his tenacity and his warrior-like attitude. He was a UFC champion, and he was willing to defy odds and his age to get back there. He will be sorely missed.

UFC 88 was more exciting that it looked on the paper. Rich Franklin showed that he is capable of competing at 205. Dan Henderson survived a very tough match against a submission expert, and he is back. But more surprisingly, Chuck Liddell was knocked out cold by Rashad Evans, and he wasn’t able to put an effective punch on Rashad.

I really don’t know where Chuck goes from here. I know he is a UFC favorite, but now he has lost 3 of his last four fights, and he could have lost to Wanderlei Silva too. He is definitely not getting a title shot, so a match against Silva could be next for him if he loses to Jackson. Griffin may not have to fight Machida with Liddell out of the picture, and the Brazilian will be the heavy favorite there.

Rashad Evans is a good fighter and he proved it tonight. But I just don’t know if he is a big draw. He may have to win a couple of other fights before going after the title. He outsmarted Chuck tonight. But there are more dangerous fighters out there in Jackson, Silva, and Machida.

Rich Franklin is in a no man’s land in 205, and I don’t think he can challenge the top guys, but he can have money matches with Liddell or Silva. Heck. He might even fight Evans. But I think a match with Dan Henderson should be in the cards for him. Speaking of Dan Henderson, he is back. He wasn’t overly impressive, but his opponent was extremely dangerous. He wants a rematch with Silva but I think it’s a bad idea. He should either go to 205 or risk getting demolished by Anderson Silva again.

I don’t know about you but I am just bummed that Liddell lost that badly tonight. He was just bad tonight and Rashad deserved victory. I think he should retire soon after another big money fight. His legacy is secured, so he doesn’t need to put himself through these tough losses.