UFC has a video that plays on the big screens right before the start of every pay-per-view broadcast, in which they air clips of some of their all-time highlights, set to The Who's Baba O'Reilly. It is one of the greatest promotional pieces I've ever seen. The highlights of Matt Hughes taking Frank Trigg for his famous ride and Forrest Griffin going toe-to-toe with Stephan Bonnar in their first battle always gets a huge reaction out of the fans. They put this together to hype up the crowd in the arena, but the fans at home should get to see this at least once.

They aired interviews with Chuck Liddell and Quinton Jackson on the big screen. Liddell got his usual superstar reaction from the full house at the MGM Grand; Rampage got a vehement mixed reaction.

The pay-per-view opener between middleweights Kalib Starnes and Chris Leben was billed as a fight both needed to win to have any real future in the UFC. Leben (16-4) came in with losses to Anderson Silva and Jason MacDonald in the past year; Starnes is coming off a loss to Yushin Okami. Both fighters went all out in a memorable battle before Starnes won a unanimous decision. The scores were 29-28, 30-27, 29-28.

Seattle's Leben pushed the pace with his go-for-broke style for the bulk of the first round, mixing in high and low kicks and going in for occasional combos. But the Team Quester got cute in the final minute with an attempted spinning back fist and Vancouver's Starnes caught him with a takedown. Starnes really rocked Leben with a flurry of punches as he was attempting to stand up in the final minute, which was apparently enough to sway the judges in Starnes' favor for the round.

The second was Leben's round, as aside from being on the wrong end of an early takedown, Leben pushed the pace and did more damage standing up.

Leben came out on fire in the third and rocked Starnes backwards with a kick to the midsection. Leben got in the mount, but Starnes reversed and controlled the action for the remainder of the round, including a nasty right elbow to the head, followed by a big right hand. The fight finished with both fighters trading haymakers on the ground, and they were given a standing ovation from the crowd afterwards.

Hopefully the loss doesn't drop the popular Leben out of sight. The Ultimate Fighter grad has lost three of his past four fights, but always puts on an entertaining show and may have gotten a decision with different judges tonight.

Okami (18-3), from Kanagawa, Japan, made his UFC debut in August, winning a decision over Alan Belcher at UFC 62. Starnes (9-1-1), a 31-year old from the Vancouver area, is 7-0-1; his most recent match was a first-round submission win over Danny Abbadi in June.

Round 1: Starnes comes out with a right and pushes Okami back into the fence. They clinch, with Starnes looking like he's trying to throw Okami and Okami resisting. Ref orders a restart, Starnes hits a kick, Okami scores a combo, Okami with a kick but Starnes blocks, Starnes blocks another kick and feigns a leg kick. Midway through the round and they're both picking their spots. Crowd getting restless. Okami with a kick that makes a nice pop but doesn't do damage. Okami backs Starnes into the fence, gets a takedown, but walks into a choke. Okami breaks it. One minute left, round still a tossup. Okami hits three rights that do damage, gets up, and catches Starnes in a choke as Starnes tries to get up. Starnes escapes and Okami hits a knee along the fence. Okami won that round with his performance over the final minute.

Round 2: Starnes keeps Okami at bay with several kicks, but then walks into a flurry of uppercuts. Starnes pushes Okami back into the fence and hits several knees to the thigh. Okami reverses Starnes into the fence. Referee calls time about two minutes in, as Starnes hit a knee low. Fight restarts. Starnes connects with a running kick to the head that registers, and Okami is pushed back into a corner. Starnes continues to work Okami's thighs, this time with punches. Still lots of clinching on the fence. Okami scores a trip with 1:30 left and ends up on top. It's Starnes' round to this point. Okami stands up and lands a couple punches. They're back on their feet with Okami trying to sink in a choke to no avail. I give Starnes the edge in this one.

Round 3: Starnes appears to have a cut nose. Okami looks the fresher of the two. They trade kicks. Okami rocks Starnes with a right. Starnes runs to escape, and maybe should have been docked a point, but either way, Okami ends up scoring a trip and working from the top. Okami scores nine straight rights, Starnes flips over, Okami scores seven consecutive lefts, and the referee stops the fight on TKO due to strikes. Starnes' nose cut open badly.