Light heavyweight fight

Round one -- Martin gets the first offense in with a series of punches, but the two then spent the next couple minutes clutching and grabbing along the fence. Referee Big John McCarthy broke things up and ordered a re-start. Martin scored a takedown after a missed Lambert kick, but couldn't do much of anything with it as Lambert went into a solid guard. Give round one to Martin, Lambert didn't do much.

They showed Tito Ortiz up on the big screen between rounds. Vehement reaction, 50/50 split.

Round two -- Lambert got a takedown about 1:45 in and went for a submission. Couldn't lock it in, so he went to a flurry of punches. Martin turned around face down and let himself open for a flurry of punches and McCarthy stopped the fight in favor of Lambert.

 

We're live at the Pond in Anaheim. Prelim fights start at 8:15 p.m. Eastern, main show at 10.

No major news to report heading into the show. Everyone on the card made weight, no one's hurt -- or at least no one is hurt to the point they have to pull out of the fight, and the lineup will go off as scheduled.

We had a chat with Joe Rogan a few minutes ago down by the octagon. Rogan is known to most of the general public as the host of the NBC show Fear Factor, but to mixed martial arts fans, he's one of the voices of the UFC, as a color commentator alongside FSN's Mike Goldberg.

Rogan's been doing this since starting as a backstage interviewer in 1996. But even he's a bit surprised at a night like this, where electricity is palpable, as hundreds of fans have been waiting out in the parking lot for hours waiting for the doors to open.

"You can feel the energy already," Rogan said. "I think this show has real caught the imagination of the people. You have a big name coming back (Tito Ortiz) to face a guy people know from television already (Forrest Griffin) in the first show in California."

Rogan has had his share of critics over the years from armchair analysts, but he's not afraid to take them on. "I hear all the time I don't know what I'm talking about," he said. "Or they'll tell me I'm biased against one fighter or the other. If you're being told you're biased in favor of both people, you're probably doing something right.

"I've done this, I've gone out and rolled around and gotten hit. That helps you understand what's going on in way that people who haven't done it wouldn't get."

One thing Rogan has seen is a change in people's attitude towards the sport.  "I think people are starting to come around," he said. "I don't think they fully get it yet, but really, all sports come down to one person kicking another person's ass. Doesn't matter if it is baseball or basketball what sport we're talking about here, it comes down to someone winning and someone losing. We just strip it down to the basics."

-DD

Welcome to the debut of the FOXSports.com mixed martial arts blog! We'll be launching for real on Saturday at Ultimate Fighting Championship 59 at the Arrowhead Pond in Anaheim, which features Tito Ortiz's return to the octagon against Forrest Griffin and Andei Arlovski's heavyweight title rematch with Tim Sylvia. -- DAVE DOYLE