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Here’s my UFC 75 preview and predictions column. I’m surprised I was able to finish this and get it in to Inside Fights before Saturday — I usually forget and try to cram 1500 words into a Saturday morning writing frenzy, and that’s never fun. This one was easy, though, as I’m genuinely excited for the show — mostly because it’s free. There’s also three fights that I really want to see, and of course the main event is the first-ever UFC/PRIDE title unification fight.

Let’s get to it.

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Mirko Cro Cop stated this morning in an interview that he wasn’t retiring, which many people felt he was considering due to his mannerisms after his devastating loss to Gabriel Gonzaga in the main event of UFC 70 last night.  Mirko also said that he felt like this would be another situation much like his loss to Kevin Randleman; he was also knocked out in the first round during that fight and came back stronger than ever.

For what it’s worth, Mirko was walking under his own power at the hotel this morning, albeit with a limp. I’m just glad he didn’t blow out his entire knee during that gruesome knockout.

Here is an image of Mirko Cro Cop’s leg just after he fell to the mat unconscious after being knocked out by Gabriel Gonzaga tonight. I’m warning you, though: it’s pretty graphic, so if you’ve got a weak stomach and sickening injuries make you ill, you might want to avoid it.

Cheick Konga d. Assuerio Silva via majority decision

Joe Rogan had the best line of the entire night during this fight when he said that someone needed to kidnap Kongo and take him to wrestling camp. Truer words have never been spoken. Kongo dominated the standup and landed some major blows on Silva, but Silva was able to take him down and keep him down at will. In fact, silva likely would have been handed the decision in this fight had he been able to stop Kongo from hitting him in the final round, but Cheick did enough to scrape by. He seriously does need wrestling lessons, though.

Terry Etin d. Donald Grice via submission (guillotine) at 4:38 of Round 1

Etin looks as though he’s in serious need of nourishment, but he looked great in this fight and will likely be higher up on the card the next time there’s a show in England. He nearly sunk a guillotine twice and finally got Grice on the third try, rendering him unconscious and putting an end to the fight.

Michael Bisping d. Elvis Sinosic via TKO (strikes) at 1:20 of round 2.

With the exception of about 15 seconds in this fight, Bisping completely dominated the overmatched Aussie. Sinosic was bleeding heavily within the first two minutes, and the only reprieve he got from the beating Bisping was dishing out was a fluke knee that knocked the Brit down and an almost-kimura that Bisping was able to escape from. Sinosic wasn’t able to intelligently defend himself from Bisping’s hammer fists and the fight was stopped.

Andrei Arlovski d. Fabricio Werdum va decision

My God in heaven, this was a boring fight. With the exception of a few flurries in the first round, Arlovski was clearly fighting for the decision here, and the crowd booed him mercilessly for it. Even Joe Rogan, usually an Arlovski proponent, commented on how boring the fight was. They said that the winner of this fight would get the next shot at the title after the next Couture defense, but I don’t see them rewarding Andrei after this performance. He seems to have a tendency to fight for the decision instead of putting on a show, and the latter is far more important in the eyes of UFC brass than the former, so I don’t see him getting a title shot anytime soon.

Gabriel Gonzaga d. Mirko Cro Cop via KO (head kick) at 4:51 of round 1

This was as devastating a knockout as you are likely to see in MMA. Gonzaga dominated the entire round, but it looked as though it was going to go to the second, when he unleashed a horrendous head kick that knocked Cro Cop unconscious. Mirko was so unconscious that his leg twisted and he fall back on his foot, which was FACING THE OPPOSITE DIRECTION OF HIS BODY, and he STILL didn’t wake up for several minutes after the fight. I thought for sure that this would be a major knee injury, but he was walking perfectly well on it afterwards, so I guess there was no harm done. Still, though, I have to wonder where Mirko goes from here. Does he retire as he wished to do several years ago, or does he try to climb back in and get a title shot? If I were Dana White, I’d be booking him against Andrei Arlovski, as Andrei doesn’t deserve a title shot after that poor win tonight and a Cro Cop knockout over him could serve to re-establish Mirko in the division rankings.

Gabriel Gonzaga will face Randy Couture for the World Heavyweight Championship in August. Next month is Chuck Liddell vs. Rampage Jackson, and the month after is Rich Franklin vs. Martin Kampmann in Ireland. It seems like the much-anticipated dream matches of Cro Cop vs. Couture and Cro Cop vs. Liddell are off the table, at least for now.

All in all, a decent show. Not a blowaway by any stretch of the imagination, as the Arlovski fight really took the wind out of the pacing of the show, but a highlight-reel knockout to end it, one that fans will be talking about for years to come.

Mirko Cro Cop vs. Gabriel Gonzaga

Gonzaga is a world-class BJJ specialist. He recently won the Mundials, which is considered to be the top BJJ competition in the world, so he presents plenty of opposition for Mirko should this fight go to the ground. The main issue for Gonzaga in facing Cro Cop is that, should Mirko succeed in keeping the fight standing, Gonzaga will be facing a man who many believe is the best striker in the world. This fight should present more of a test for Cro Cop than his last fight with Eddie Sanchez did, but it will still end via knockout.

Winner: Mirko Cro Cop

David Heath vs. Lyoto Machida

Machida is an undefeated up-and-comer who can count a victory over Rich Franklin as one of his career highlights. He also came THISCLOSE to beating B.J. Penn, despite the fact that Penn was fighting two full weight classes above Machida during the bout. To me, this fight seems like one of those times where Dana White feeds a scrub to a shooting star in order to get the young guy a bit more exposure and heat. He’s not above doing it, as we’ve seen recently with Cro Cop/Sanchez, and since the original scheduled fight with Forrest Griffin isn’t happening here, it seems like this is just a fight to give Machida more of a highlight reel.

Winner: Lyoto Machida

Michael Bisping vs. Elvis Sinosic

See my notes on the Machida/Heath fight above. Bisping is going to absolutely murder poor Elvis, who is just about as close to a wrestling jobber as you’ll find in UFC. The hometown boy had to be on the card, and this fight is simply to showcase him and nothing more.

Winner: Michael Bisping

Fabricio Werdum vs. Andrei Arlovski

Werdum is a PRIDE heavyweight who only has two losses on his record, both to top-tier fighters. He’s beaten some of the biggest names in the sport, including Gabriel Gonzaga. A lot of people are picking Arlovski, but I’m going in a different direction. Werdum is going to shock a lot of people and instantly cement himself as a contender for the heavyweight title with a TKO victory over the vampire.

Winner: Fabricio Werdum

After Randy Couture’s amazing win last Saturday night over Tim Sylvia, UFC is in a position to have a year that is even stronger than last year’s amazing run. Nobody in MMA journalism thought they could possibly top the run of amazing main events they had last year, but Couture’s win along with Chuck Liddell moving to the heavyweight division after his fight with Rampage Jackson puts them in a position where they’ve got even more big-money matchups than ever.

A short listing of possible fights:

It looks like all the speculation surrounding how UFC 70 will air in the United States can very nearly be laid to rest. A source close to the negotiations between Zuffa and Home Box Office told me this morning that “the deal is done, they’re just waiting on final authorization and signatures” and that UFC 70 will almost certainly air on HBO.

If, indeed, this agreement is finalized and announced, it’s huge. As big as getting MMA on Showtime in the form of EXC was, having UFC air on HBO is a much, much bigger deal. Airing the show on HBO will help get UFC more mainstream coverage, and there’s even reports that ESPN will begin covering UFC events before the April show in Houston.

UFC 70 takes place in May from Manchester, England and features Mirko Cro Cop vs. Gabriel Gonzaga in the main event. The winner of that fight will get the next title shot at new UFC Heavyweight Champion Randy Couture, who dominated Tim Sylvia this past weekend at UFC 68 to win his fifth UFC championship at the age of 43.

Dana White held a press conference for the UFC 70 event today in Manchester, England. He introduced his latest signing, Fabricio Werdum from Pride. Dana also announced the finalization of the main show card and a few other matches:

• Mirko Cro Cop vs. Gabriel Gonzaga
• Tito Ortiz vs. TBA
• Forrest Griffin vs. Lyoto Machida
• Fabricio Werdum vs. Andrei Arlovsky
• Michael Bisping vs. Elvis Sinosec
• Assuerio Silva vs. Cheick Kongo
• Allesio Sakara vs. Victor Malimaki
• Dennis Siver vs. Jess Liaudin

There are rumors going around that Rampage Jackson is going to be named as the opponent for Tito Ortiz, but I can pretty much guarantee that fight isn’t going to happen. Even though money talks and guys will fight their best friend for the right price, it’s highly unlikely that Ortiz and Jackson will fight each other, at least at this point in time. Yes, a win over Ortiz would solidify Jackson as a credible opponent for Chuck Liddell, but a loss (even to Ortiz) would hurt the potential of a big time payday for the eventual Liddell/Jackson main event.

Since I’m getting about 200 hits a day from Google from people searching for information about UFC 70, I thought I’d post the current card. The show is more than two months away, and interest in the show is far outpacing the March and April events (if my search logs are any indication, anyway).

UFC 70 will be held in England and will be headlined by Mirko Cro Cop vs. Gabriel Gonzaga in a battle of top heavyweight contenders. Dana White said today in a radio interview that if Cro Cop beats Gonzaga, he’ll face the winner of the upcoming UFC 68 Tim Sylvia/Randy Couture fight for the UFC Heavyweight championship.

These are the matches that are both confirmed and matches that are rumored to be booked. The rumored fights come directly from sources within Zuffa itself and are in plain text, while the confirmed fights are in bold. I’ll add bold text to each fight as it is confirmed by either Dana White or someone else from Zuffa.

• Mirko Cro Cop vs. Gabriel Gonzaga
• Tito Ortiz vs. Forrest Griffin
• Andrei Arlovski vs. Cheick Kongo
• Michael Bisping vs. Elvis Sinosic
  
• Victor Valimaki vs. Alessio Sakara

UFC 70 RESULTS ARE HERE 

UPDATE: My UFC 70 predictions are available here.

I talked to a buddy tonight who is pretty involved with Zuffa and the UFC, and he told me some very interesting news: the current plan for UFC 70, which will be the first UFC event to take place in England, is scheduled to have two main event matches.

The first will feature a rematch between Forrest Griffin and Tito Ortiz, and the other main event could see Mirko Cro Cop fight Andrei Arlovsky in a fight to determine who the #1 contender for the World Heavyweight Title will be. The winner of that fight likely would face current Heavyweight champion Tim Sylvia or the guy who will challenge him at the UFC 68 event in March, Randy Couture.

An Arlovsky/Cro Cop match is considered by many to be one of the main “dream matches” that immediately became a possibility once Mirko signed a six fight deal with UFC in December. Stylistically speaking, this fight should be an interesting one to watch; Arlovsky is no pushover by any stretch of the imagination, and a fight between the two would firmly cement the winner as the rightful #1 contender for the belt.

A rematch between Ortiz and Griffin is inevitable; they’ve fought before and Ortiz won a questionable decision, but both of these guys are coming off recent painful losses and are looking to cement their place in the Light Heavyweight division.

UFC 70 will also feature England’s own Michael Bisping, but an opponent has yet to be named.

Take these news items with a grain of salt; my source is a pretty good one and in fact told me about the Cro Cop signing in early December, long before it was ever revealed to the rest of the world.