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UFC 88 this Saturday, headlined by Chuck Liddell vs. Rashad Evans, with the return of Dan Henderson as well as Rich Franklin facing Matt Hamill.
Liddell is returning after an injury prevented this matchup from happening at UFC 85, which was originally Liddell vs. Mauricio "Shogun" Rua. Rashad hasn't been active since his decision win over Michael Bisping last November. This should be interesting to see, as Liddell lost to Jardine back at UFC 76, who is a training partner with Rashad (over at Greg Jackson's camp). Keith did a good job of maneuvering out of Liddell's range and scoring points with low kicks, I'm guessing Rashad's going to work the same plan. Liddell always has that punching power and good takedown defense, as well as that "octagon control" they seem to talk about a lot.
Rich Franklin's experience and conditioning is up against Matt Hamill's strength and durability. I'm actually most excited for this fight, as Hamill continues to impress the hell out of me.
The biggest news is Randy Couture has signed a 3 fight contract with the UFC, and will defend his Heavyweight Title against Brock Lesnar at UFC 91 in November. The winner of this match faces the winner of Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira vs. Frank Mir, for a Heavyweight Title Unification bout. I am definitely excited to see Couture fight again. I don't like that they're giving Lesnar a title shot already, however. I understand he's got a lot of buzz around him, but it's not really showing respect to the other fighters. With that said, I can't think of any alternative that they could have done, aside from making Couture wait until the outcome of Mir vs. Nog.
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