Spencer Fisher is exhibit A in what is fast becoming a mixed martial arts cliché: An exciting fighter who sometimes wins and sometimes loses will get ahead quicker than a boring fighter who wins most of his matches.

Nicknamed "The King," Fisher, a Miletich-affiliated lightweight from Iowa, has been taking UFC fans on a roller-coaster ride, consistently giving the people their money's worth.

"That's just who I am," said Fisher. "The only way I know to go is all-out. I'm giving 1000 percent from the time the fight starts."

Tuesday night, Fisher will get a chance to put his talents on display in front of a national audience when he takes on Canada's Sam Stout in a rematch of one of the most exciting battles of 2006.

The first matchup between the two just might have been the best match no one saw last year. Well, not quite no one. The match was a non-televised undercard match at UFC 58. Fisher and Stout thrilled the audience with 15 minute of nonstop action.

Fisher had taken the fight on short notice as a substitute, cutting weight in a short period of time. Stout was stronger in the third round and ended up winning a split decision.

"I was on the beach a few days before the fight," said Fisher. "I wasn't training because I didn't have a fight coming up. That's OK. If UFC wants to give me a match I'm going to take it. I don't regret taking the match, I give it my all and I just didn't get my hand raised at the end."

Since then, Fisher has been involved in one good match after another. At UFC 61, he was involved in another of 2006's most exciting matches when beat "Handsome" Matt Wiman with a sensational flying knee to the head to end a two-round war at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. At UFC 64, Fisher was floored early by 18-year old Dan Lauzon, but rallied for a TKO win at Mandalay Bay.

Most recently, Fisher lost on strikes to another fun-to-watch fighter, Hermes Franca, in another memorable matchup at an Ultimate Fight Night in January. Franca is in line for a shot at Sean Sherk's lightweight title at UFC 73 due to the win. The loss is still on Fisher's mind.

"I'm not bothered losing to Stout," he said. "But I'm still mad over losing to Hermes. I didn't take him seriously enough and wasn't at my best shape and I underestimated him. I blew a big opportunity and I'm never going to do that again."

For his part, Stout is 2-1 since defeating Fisher. Stout was submitted by Kenny Florian last June at an Ultimate Fight Night, and has since won two consecutive matches in Montreal's TKO promotion.

*Tommy Morrison proved a point on Saturday night, but it wasn't the one he was looking to make.

The former heavyweight boxing contender has been running down MMA in an attempt to keep his name in the headlines.

Instead, he proved once and for all the MMA needs to be legalized and regulated in all 50 states and kept out of the hands of wildcat promoters.

Morrison won what was billed as his mixed martial arts debut Saturday night against John Stover at the Cliff Castle Casino in Arizona.

Because the event was held on a Native American reservation, Morrison was not subjected to any pre-fight medical exams or tests. Morrison was not allowed to box for years after testing positive for the Human Immunodeficiency Virus. Although Morrison claims tests have proven him HIV-free, a recent report says otherwise.

Then there's the matter of Morrison's opponent, John Stover of South Dakota. I polled around several major MMA reporters this week, and none of them had heard of Stover before last week's fight. Stover weighed 340 pounds. Morrison clocked in at 225. There is no reputable commission in America that would sanction a match with a 115-pound weight difference.

Finally, Saturday night's match was simply not mixed martial arts. The Associated Press referred to the match as MMA and media outlets have gone on to call it an MMA fight in headlines. But the fight first was billed as a striking match with no action on the ground allowed. Which makes it kickboxing, not MMA. Then, an hour before the match, the promotion also banned standup kicks and knees. Which made this a boxing match with MMA gloves. Additionally, Morrison was allowed to wear boxing footwear Stover didn't have. So Morrison also had an advantage on footing.

So a fighter with no MMA experience took on an opponent in a 115- pound weight mismatch in a matchup in which the rules kept changing. This would not have been allowed on any reputable commission show in the country. If Morrison is serious about MMA, let him fight under Unified MMA rules on a sanctioned show.

*Alex Karalexis has been burning for a chance to redeem himself in the national spotlight for more than a year.

The Whitman, MA native was on the wrong end of a bad loss to Jason Von Flue on an Ultimate Fight Night on Jan. 16, 2006, getting choked out in the third round.

"When you lose to someone you should beat, that's the worst," said Karalexis. "I'd be in the airport and people would come up and ask 'how did you lose to Von Flue?' Nothing is worse than a bad loss."

Karalexis got that redemption live on national cable TV last week, when the lightweight scored a majority decision win over Josh Smith in World Extreme Cagefighting's show from the Hard Rock in Las Vegas. Karalexis raised his career record to 9-2 and won his fourth straight match since the Von Flue loss.

Karalexis fought the match handicapped from the early going, as he was on the wrong end of a blow that left one eye shut the rest of the fight.

"All that did was make me that much more focused," said Karalexis, who trains at Marc Laimon's gym in Las Vegas. "Training methods have advanced so much. I've done training wearing an eye patch. A lot of guys don't do that, but they should. It worked for me."

Late in the match, Karalexis was penalized for a stomp as he looked to pass Smith's guard. "I thought I was screwed at first," he said. "But I asked (referee) Big John (McCarthy) if I screwed myself and he said 'no, you dominated the match.' Still, I was nervous when the first judge scored it a draw."

World Extreme Cagefighting hit a home run in the group's live national cable television debut Sunday night. I don't have detailed notes on this one, since I watched at home, and occasionally flipped over to check on the Red Sox-Yankees game, but here are a few day-after observations:

*Zuffa did a solid job differentiating the WEC from the UFC. The show had its own distinct vibe. The Hard Rock Casino in Las Vegas actually came off looking better than it has for Ultimate Fight Nights, somehow. It is a small venue, but it came off looking like the place to be last night. WEC also did a solid job of introducing fighters casual fans might not have known going in. There were a couple technical glitches that will presumably be corrected the second time out, but all in all, the event had a first-class feel.

*Frank Mir has the potential to become an excellent color commentator. Mir displayed technical knowledge like few ever put in the position. But more important, he had a way of expressing that technical expertise in a manner that was easy to understand for the average channel-surfing fan who doesn't know the difference between an Americana and a Kimura. Even better, Mir seem to anticipate what was going to transpire right before it happened, giving the finishes an extra rush of excitement. Mir still needs to polish off a few rough edges in his presentation, but all the tools are there for the former UFC heavyweight champ to become a tremendous announcer.

*The 25 x 25 fighting surface really does speed up the pace. All but one of the televised matches were settled in the first round, and the only one to go longer, Alex Karalexis vs. Josh Smith, was 15 minutes of action.

*Karalexis is a prime example of why fighters can benefit from competing in the WEC instead of the UFC. The conventional wisdom is that the WEC is where to go if you fight at 145 pounds and under, and that's for a good reason, since the little guys don't get to compete on many big stages.

But consider someone like Karalexis, who fought 170 in the UFC and now competes at 155. Karalexis is a solid athlete, but he was looking at a future of fighting on UFNs or dark matches on pay-per-views. Instead, fighting in the WEC, Karalexis looked like a warrior going 15 minutes with one eye swollen shut and winning his match. That sort of national television exposure will mean a lot to guys like Karalexis, Brian Stann, and Brock Larson, as the average fan tuning in will remember their performances.

*Urijah Faber again proved he's the real deal. The clips of his win over Chance Farrar should be mandatory viewing for every mainstream sports reporter who thinks that nothing of note is going on when an MMA fight hits the ground. Farrar earned respect for his fearlessness, as he hung with one of the two best under-155s on the planet, but the California Kid was just too much.

There isn't much left to say about the K-1 Dynamite! show at the LA Coliseum last night that I didn't address in last night's column. What really makes last night's mess mind-boggling is that K-1's kickboxing brand is the world leader in that sport, so they clearly know how to run a successful fighting operation.

*As for attendance last night, K-1 claimed 54,000, which I guess you could say is true if they include everyone who lives in a 10-mile radius around the stadium. It's this simple: The Coliseum has a 92,000-seat capacity. 20,000 seats were taped off to begin with. There are three levels of raised seating. The lower level was filled from 40-yard line to 40-yard line on each side of the stadium, then tapered off. The middle level was filled right around the 50 on each side, then tapered off immediately and was empty the rest of the way. The upper level was empty all the way around the stadium. OK, not true, I looked up once and saw two people sitting way up at the top row. But you get my point. Add in the people on the field level and I stick with 10,000-15,000 as an estimate.

*So, if you want to make an MMA debut, you do it the way Brock Lesnar did. Lesnar is a tremendous natural athlete. He won the NCAA heavyweight wrestling title at Minnesota. As a pro wrestler, while obviously it is not a sport, it still requires athleticism, and he displayed freakish agility for someone his size. When Lesnar tried out for the Vikings, he made it all the way to the end of camp before being cut, and word was he nearly made the practice squad. Before you scoff, consider that he had not stepped on a football field since high school. How many people with zero experience can come in and nearly make an NFL practice squad?

The important thing here is that Lesnar has gone about preparing for his MMA career the right way. He has been training for nearly a year. He first trained with the Miletich camp last summer. He didn't stay with Miletich because of the distance between the camp and his home. But people associated with the gym I've spoken to raved about how he kept taking a licking and coming back for more, and was always looking to work on his weaknesses and learn.

Since then, he has been training at the up-and-coming Minnesota Martial Arts Academy, home camp of UFC lightweight champ Sean Sherk, and worked on his boxing with the highly respected Greg Nelson.

Lesnar is serious about making it. His next career choice will be a major factor in whether he does so. Lesnar needs to brought along and built properly. Someone could pay him huge money to face Fedor right now, for example, but Fedor would eat his lunch. Lesnar needs to be slowly tested against a better level of competition with each match. Will he hook up with a promoter who is willing to be patient with him, or will he sign for big, quick bucks and take a match that could impede his progress?

*By the way, there was a show this weekend that demonstrated the someone other than UFC can promote successfully in North America when it is done right. Ever notice how many quality fighters are either from Quebec, or get their first exposure there? That's because there has long been a good promotion in place, TKO, which runs out of Montreal. Georges St. Pierre, David Loiseau, Patrick Cote, Sam Stout, Mark Hominick and others came up through TKO. Promoter Stephane Patry doesn’t try to rent 92,000-seat stadiums and put on pay-per-views. Patry has slowly grown his business through smart match-making, and TKO is now at the point they run the Bell Centre in Montreal for quarterly shows. TKO's latest show was on Friday night. In the main event, Cote downed Alberta's Jason Day (11-5) to win the TKO middleweight title via stoppage at 4:05 of the first round in front of a crowd of 7,700.

*The big weekend isn't done yet. Tonight is the WEC's debut on Versus, featuring Urijah Faber's featherweight title defense against Chance Farrar. It is past due time for the 145s and 135s to get their shot at the limelight.

Tonight's main MMA attraction is the big K-1/EliteXC combined show at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Weigh-ins were held yesterday at the Wilshire Grand Hotel. The actual weigh-ins were delayed from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. due to paperwork issues, which no doubt left fighters who were cutting weight for several days thrilled. Anyway, the results:

Brock Lesnar (262) vs. Kim Min-soo (255)
Royce Gracie (188) vs. Kazushi Sakuraba (187)
Johnnie Morton (213) vs. Bernard Ackah (207)
Mighty Mo (292) vs. Ruben Villareal (270)
Tim Persey (265) vs. Jonathan Weizorek (265)
Jake Shields (170) vs. Ido Pariente (168)
Melvin Manhoef (192) vs. Yoon Doon Sik (190)
Hideo Tokoro (153) vs. Brad Pickett (155)
J.Z. Calvan (158) vs. Nam Phan (155)
Isiah Hall (156) vs. Katsuhiko Nagata (156)

Notes on the show: Both Gracie-Sakuraba and Manhoef-Sik are catchweight matchups, with Gracie and Sakuraba agreeing to a weight limit of 190 and Mahoef-Sik at 195. Calvan missed weight for his lightweight showdown with Phan and will be docked 20 percent of his pay as a result. Morton, the former USC and Detroit Lions wide receiver, is making his MMA debut. His opponent, Ackah, is an Ivory Coast native and a popular television personality in Japan. Ackah is 1-0 in MMA. This fight will be three, three minute rounds instead of the usual five-minute rounds, due to the lack of experience for both fighters. Lesnar, likewise, is making his MMA debut. This isn't a lark. Lesnar, a former NCAA heavyweight wrestling champion at Minnesota is serious about making it and has been training for nearly a year. Dana White has openly said he's interested in having Lesnar. Lesnar was originally scheduled to face Korea's Hong Choi-Man, but Choi-Man was denied medical clearance by the state of California, due to what the Wrestling Observer reported as a tumor in his pituitary gland. Min-Soo is 2-5 in his career and is a former Olympic judo silver medalist. Both of his wins are by submission, but he simply hasn't mastered the standup game. The first part of this show will be broadcast live on Showtime at 9 p.m. Eastern/6 Pacific; the pay-per-view portion starts at 10 p.m. Eastern/9 Pacific. … Gracie-Sakuraba is the key draw for hardcore fans. It is a rematch of one of the most legendary matches in MMA history, their 90-minute clash at a PRIDE show in 2000, won by Sakuraba. Sakuraba is known as "the Gracie Hunter," not just for this win, but for snapping Renzo Gracie's arm and scoring wins over Royler and Ryan Gracie. This fight won't go 90 minutes, though, as it is three, five-minute rounds. … Eight countries are represented on tonight's fight card: The United States, United Kingdom, Japan, South Korea, Brazil, the Netherlands, Isreal, and the Ivory Coast. ... Main K-1 promoter Sadaharu Tanigawa declared at Friday's press conference that all 100,000 tickets have been sold for the event. He may as well also have declared world peace and that he will take a trip to Mars next week. It is no secret that the LA market has been flooded with free tickets to the event. I've heard from a hal####ozen friends of mine who don't follow MMA, including a Spanish teacher who doesn't follow sports, who have told me they've gotten free tickets to the show. How many of these people with freebies show up will determine how good the turnout looks on television.

You've heard a lot about the recent spate of upsets in mixed martial arts, which was punctuated by 4-1 underdog Houston Alexander's devastating 48-second thrashing of Keith Jardine at UFC 71.

You haven't heard as much about why these are happening.

I've chatted with several people with deep roots in MMA off the record over the past few days. Here are some of their thoughts on why more big-name fighters than ever seem to be going down to defeat:

1. The sheer number of events being run means more opportunities for more fighters. UFC ran five events per year as recently as 2004. Now they're looking at two dozen this year. If you have more than 200 matches in a year as opposed to less than fifty, there will be more upsets through sheer volume.

2. High-profile fighters can be scouted in minute detail by up-and-comers. If you're Joe Lauzon, for example, you grew up looking up to someone like Jens Pulver, watched all his fights on television, watched them over and over on DVD, and his success was a big part of the reason you got into the sport. Lauzon went into his 48-second TKO of Pulver at UFC 63 knowing all of his tendencies, strengths and weaknesses. Pulver, at best, might have seen some of Lauzon's clips kicking around on youtube. So many of these unknowns are coming in with a scouting advantage over their opponents.

3. Some of the top guys, quite simply, are getting a taste of the good life and aren't working as hard as they could to keep up with changing times. This could be the case with Mirko Cro Cop, who didn't even bother training in an octagon before his fights with Eddie Sanchez and then Gabriel Gonzaga. Cro Cop looked lost while he was trying to defend Gonzaga's elbows on the ground at UFC 70 while pushed up near the edge of the cage, right before the restart that led to Gonzaga's KO kick. Cro Cop, incidentally, has since purchased a cage for his future training.

4. Finally, perhaps the biggest factor, we're starting to get a hint of the sheer scope of how many talented athletes are getting into MMA these days. While some outlets just noticed that UFC exists last week, anyone who has been paying attention any length of time knows that interest in MMA has been steadily rising for years. What we're seeing now is the first generation of top-notch athletes who specifically got into the game wanting to be the next Matt Hughes, B.J. Penn, Fedor, Rich Franklin, etc.

Consider there are now groups like Team Takedown, which is recruiting NCAA champion wrestlers into MMA. They signed a pair of Oklahoma State standouts -- Jake Rosholt, the 2006 and 2007 national champ at 197 pounds; and Johny Hendricks, the 2005 and 2006 champ at 165 -- who will be training with Randy Couture.

With athletes of that caliber ####ing down the door looking to get in, don’t expect the upsets to end anytime soon.

***

The idea that all the recent title fluctuation in the UFC is unprecedented simply isn't true.

Take a look at the results of title matches between UFC 46 on Jan. 31, 2004, and UFC 53 June 4, 2005:

46: B.J. Penn beats Matt Hughes for the welterweight title; Vitor Belfort beats Randy Couture for the light heavyweight title (on a fluke injury, but still a title change)

47: No title matches

48: Frank Mir beats Tim Sylvia for the vacant heavyweight title

49: Couture regains the LHW title from Belfort

50: Hughes beats Georges St. Pierre for the vacant WW title

51: Evan Tanner beats David Terrell for the vacant middleweight title; Arlovski beats Sylvia for the interim HW title after Mir had to forfeit the title due to his motorcycle accident

52: Hughes retains against Frank Trigg; Chuck Liddell beats Couture for LHW title

53: Rich Franklin beats Tanner for MW title; Arlovski retains against Justin Eilers.

From the time Penn beat Hughes to the time Franklin beat Tanner, you had eight new champions crowned in nine title fights over eight shows (one of which had no title matches), three of which were filling vacancies. In a span of more than 16 months, Hughes was the only man to step into the octagon as a UFC champion and leave with the belt.

Now, let's take a look at another eight-show span, from UFC 64-71:

64: Sean Sherk decisions Ken Florian for vacant lightweight title; Anderson Silva beats Franklin for MW title

65: Sylvia retains HW title against Jeff Monson: St. Pierre beats Hughes for WW title

66: Liddell retains LHW against Tito Ortiz

67: Silva defeated Travis Lutter in a non-title match, originally scheduled to be a title match, but Lutter missed weight.

68: Couture beat Sylvia for HW title

69: Matt Serra beats St. Pierre for WW title

70: No title matches

71: Quinton Jackson defeats Liddell for LHW title

Over this span, two champions retained; Silva won a fight which should have been a title match, and there were five new champs crowned, including a vacancy filler.

The current stretch of title changes may seem more pronounced because it has occurred over a seven-month span, but it simply has yet to match the 2004-05 run in terms of volatility.

(For a post-press conference column on the fight, CLICK HERE)

This is it, the big one, the fight which brought everyone here to the MGM Grand. Anyone who has even the slightest interest in mixed martial arts knows the story behind this: The UFC's biggest star, light heavyweight champion "The Iceman" Chuck Liddell, has lost three times in his stellar career. He has avenged his losses to Jeremy Horn and Randy Couture. Only Quinton "Rampage" Jackson remains.

Jackson (26-6) took it to Liddell (20-3) in a one-sided fight on a PRIDE show at the Tokyo Dome in 2003. But they were never able to rematch until Jackson became a part of the UFC when the company bought his contract as part of an assets sale for the struggling World Fighting Alliance late last year.

Liddell has won his past seven fights since losing to Jackson, all by the way of KO or TKO. He is the longest-reigning current champ in the UFC, holding the title since beating Couture in April, 2005. Rampage has won his past four, including his UFC debut, a second-round TKO of Marvin Eastman at UFC 67.

The fight closed on the MGM Grand books with Liddell as a -170/+150 favorite. More than 46,000 people voted in our FOXSports.com "Who will win?" poll, with 67 percent picking Chuck.

The lights go down. The noise is deafening and just about everyone in the building is standing. Memphis native Jackson's walk out to the octagon is slow and deliberate. Jackson gets a mixed reaction as he enters the octagon. He grabs the fence in his corner, looks down toward the mat, and stretches out his calves.

The lights go down again, and a huge roar comes from the crowd as Liddell makes his appearance. Liddell, who lives in Santa Barbara, CA, wastes no time on his way to the octagon, slapping hands with the fans as he comes down the aisle.

Jackson gets a mixed response in his introduction. He doesn't look happy about it, but Liddell represents the home team for UFC fans. Liddell gets another ear-splitting response in his intro.

Big John McCarthy is your referee.

Round 1: Rampage comes out and immediately establishes octagon control. Chuck throws a quick low kick. Jackson still at center octagon. Both fighters still circling, Rampage maintains octagon control. Rampage gestures with his hands, looking for action.

The two trade their first combo. And Rampage just floors Chuck with a devastating right to the jaw, Jackson jumps in with four big right hands with an elbow mixed in, and that's it. Quinton "Rampage" Jackson is the new UFC light heavyweight champion. Chuck looks like he can't believe the fight is stopped at 1:53.

That absolutely was the correct call by Big John McCarthy in stopping the fight. Liddell was rocked by the first big right hand, and was not defending several huge, powerful right hands.

I'm going into play-by-play mode for the two main billed fights. Next up is the best pure judoka in the UFC, Karo "The Heat" Parisyan, going up against Josh Burkman.

Parisyan, an Armenian from North Hollywood who teaches judo at Randy Couture's Legends Gym, is long established as one of the most exciting fighters in the UFC, already a veteran in his mid-20s with a 24-4 record. He's beaten Nick Diaz, Matt Serra, and Chris Lytle, and has lost to Georges St. Pierre and Diego Sanchez. Burkman, a solid wrestler from Salt Lake City, is 10-3 and looking to rebound to a loss to tough Jon Fitch.

Burkman gets a healthy round of applause from the crowd, as does Parisyan. Herb Dean is your referee. The combatants have an intense eye-to-eye staredown during Dean's instructions.

Round 1: They both come out trading haymakers. Parisyan goes for a takedown, doesn't get it, gets up and hits a right. Burkman goes down, with Parisyan clutching at Burkman's left foot, but he gets right back up. Burkman just misses a big high kick and Parisyan pops him with a sharp counterpunch. Burkman with a low kick. Burkman walked into a big punch. Lots of darting and weaving. Parisyan mixing up low leg kicks  with combos. Parisyan goes for a kick, but Burkman grabs a leg and scores a takedown. Parisyan gets back up, hits him with a couple of punches, and scores one of his sensational judo throws, which gets a rise out of the crowd. They get back up, 1:20 left. Burkman goes for a takedown, Parisyan sprawls backwards, but Burkman won't let go of Karo's left leg as they work along the fence. Parisyan avoids a slam in the final seconds. Big round of applause for five minutes of solid action, round one to Parisyan.

Some in the crowd tried to start a "USA" chant. Burkman is from Salt Lake City, Karo lives in N. Hollywood, Herbie lives in SoCal. OK then.

Round 2: Parisyan with a quick jab, then a right to the stomach. Burkman tried to get in close, but Karo pushes him off. Burkman misses a wild uppercut. Burkman with some real haymakers, but then he has to block a high kick from Parisyan. Burkman connects with a right that registers, but Karo flashes "bring it" with his hands. Both fighters trading big shots. Just over two minutes left, Karo hits a knee to the head, but they continue to circle around the octagon. Anyone's round at this point. Karo pops Burkman with a low kick and a high kick, but Burkman is able to defend with Karo tries to shoot in. Some Greco grappling, with neither getting an advantage. Karo has really popped Burkman several times but Burkman is real tough and keeps on motoring. Round 2 also goes to Parisyan, as he was more aggressive and controlled the tempo. Burkman is hanging with him, but needs to take more chances.

Round 3: They stand and trade in the first minute, then Burkman shoots in on Karo and pushes him back into the fence. Karo goes for a throw, Burkman switches position, Karo tries to sink in a guillotine, and Burkman picks him up for a slam. Karo gets up and scores a trip on Burkman. They get up and clinch along the fence. Karo gets in underhooks, but lets go and they come back out to the middle with two minutes left. 1:30 left, both fighters looking to pick their spots. Burkman's either tired or thinks he has the match won, because he isn't really taking it to Karo. Burkman chases Karo backwards to finish and the two fighters embrace at the end of the match. Close third round, but I again have it going to Parisyan.

Parisyan wins on a unanimous decision, taking scores of 30-27, 30-27, and 29-28. He says he wants a title shot in his post-fight interview. It's hard to argue with him. Parisyan was supposed to fight Matt Hughes for the belt at UFC 56, but suffered a quad injury and had to pull out. There's a logjam ahead of him in the deep welterweight division, with Serra holding the belt, Hughes looking for his rematch, and St. Pierre in the picture, but Parisyan deserves his shot.

This is the final fight before the main event. They will air one of the preliminary matches, then the main event will hit the ring at midnight Eastern/9 Pacific.

The UFC has its latest major upset of 2007, as unheralded light heavyweight Houston Alexander, a late substitute and a 4-1 underdog on the MGM's sports book, just destroyed "The Dean of Mean" Keith Jardine in 48 seconds.

Albuquerque's Jardine (12-4-1) came right out and popped Alexander with a big left that rocked him backwards. But Alexander kept his wits and floored Jardine with a couple big rights. Twice Jardine tried to get up, only to meet Alexander's relentless onslaught.

The second time Jardine tried to get up, he was met with a big right knee, followed by a right hand that connected. The Omaha-based Alexander (6-1) hit a left knee as Jardine struggled to his feet, then polished Jardine off with a ferocious right that knocked out Jardine's mouthpiece. Steve Mazzagatti then stopped the fight.

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.

A second straight awesome finish went down as Biloxi's Alan Belcher needed just 53 seconds for a guillotine win over former Ohio State wrestler Sean Salmon in a light heavyweight showdown.

Salmon picked up Belcher (10-2) for a slam, but Belcher sunk in the guillotine while he was getting set to go for a ride. Salmon (9-2) slammed Belcher hard, but Belcher, who took the fight on short notice, held on to the choke and Salmon tapped.

UFC 71 is under way at the MGM Grand Garden Arena. The buzz around the city of Las Vegas has been palpable, this is by far the biggest event in the city this weekend.

The American Top Team's Wilson Gouveia scored a solid win over Philadelphia's Carmelo Marrero in the opener, winning with a guillotine at 3:06 of the first round.

After a minute or so of pacing in center octagon, Gouveia (9-4) opened up his game with low leg kicks. Gouveia pushed the pace and hit a nasty knee that dropped Marrero (6-2). A big flurry of right hands led to the opening for the submission.

Gouveia said he wanted Chuck Liddell in his postfight interview, which got a mixed reaction from the crowd. Speaking of the crowd, they were quick to boo the lack of action in the early going.

In the second match, veteran Din Thomas (23-7) taught Iowa youngster Jeremy Stephens (13-2) a lesson with a spectacular armbar victory at 2:44 of the second round in a lightweight showdown.

Stephens sprawled to defend an attempted Thomas takedown and mounted his opponent. Thomas managed to nearly sink in an armbar, but Stephens picked him off the mat and slammed him hard.

Thomas hung on, however, and sunk in the armbar. Referee Big John McCarthy stopped the fight and Stephens claimed he didn't tap, but he was seconds away from a broken arm.

"I'll tell you what, if Big John didn't stop that, I was gonna break that arm off and take it with me," said Thomas, who put the Ft. Lauderdale-based American Top Team at 2-0 on the evening.

In the first round, Thomas feigned left then scored a takedown, then spent most of the rest of the round in control. Twice he got side control and twice he got Stephens back, nearly sinking in a guillotine at one point. Stephens reversed position late and landed a couple big bombs to the downed Thomas for a huge reaction from the crowd, but Thomas carried most of the action.

Here is FOXSports.com's preview of Chuck Liddell-Quinton Jackson. Now, a look at the UFC 71 undercard:

Welterweights: Karo Parisyan vs. Josh Burkman. If anyone has a right to gripe about not getting a fair shake in the UFC, it is sensational judoka Karo "The Heat" Parisyan. The N. Hollywood native was set for his shot at then-champ Matt Hughes' welterweight title at UFC 56, but had to pull out do to a torn quad.

The Gene LaBell protégé is afraid of no one. He owns wins over Drew Fickett, Matt Serra, Chris Lytle, Nick Diaz, and Shonie Carter. He's lost to Georges St. Pierre, Sean Sherk, and Diego Sanchez. The latter, a controversial unanimous decision, is considered by many the best MMA match of 2006.

Parisyan goes right back at it when he takes on up-and-coming Josh Burkman (8-3). A strong wrestler from Salt Lake City, Burkman has won four of his five UFC matches, with his only loss coming at the hands of standout Jon Fitch. He's also lost to Jeremy Horn.

A win over Parisyan rockets Burkman up the welterweight depth chart. Parisyan needs the win to keep his spot among the top contenders. Burkman has openly said he can withstand Parisyan's trademark, textbook throws and use his wrestling to his advantage when they hit the ground. This has all the makings o####ood one.

Middleweights: Terry Martin vs. Ivan Salaverry. Chicago's Martin (15-2) lost to James Irvin in his first UFC go-round at UFC 54, but returned at UFC 68 and made a memorable impression with a 14-second KO of veteran Jorge Rivera. Nine of his wins are by KO/TKO. With Salaverry 12-4), you never know what you're going to get. Will it be the guy who owns memorable UFC wins over Andrei Semenov and Joe "Diesel" Riggs, or the one who looked bad in losses to the likes of Matt Lindland and Nate Marquardt?

Light heavyweights: Keith Jardine vs. Houston Alexander. On paper this seems a mismatch, as Alexander comes in as a substitute. "The Dean of Mean" Keith Jardine (12-2-1), from the Greg Jackson camp in Albuquerque, made his mark on the UFC in big permanent marker by dishing out a strikes-based beating to Forrest Griffin at UFC 66. E. St. Louis native Alexander is 6-1, but has less than five minutes of cage time over the past two and a half years.

Middleweights: Chris Leben vs. Kalib Starnes. Quite simply, both of these guys need a win to ensure any real future in UFC. Leben's record is nice at 16-3, but the Team Quester has lost every time he's stepped up in caliber of opposition, like Anderson Silva and Jason MacDonald. Vancouver's Starnes is looking to rebound from a bad loss to Yushin Okami at UFC 64.

Light heavyweights: Sean Salmon vs. Alan Belcher. Salmon (9-2) is known for being knocked out by a Rashad Evans KO kick on national TV. That's unfortunate, since Salmon was winning the fight up until that point and has strong potential. Belcher (9-3), stepping in on short notice for the injured Eric Schafer, is stepping up from middleweight and last time out lost to Kendall Grove.

Lightweights: Din Thomas vs. Jeremy Stevens. Thomas (19-6) is a longtime fighter who owns wins over Jens Pulver, Dokonjonosuke Mishima, and Matt Serra. So he'll be a good first test for 20-year old Iowa hotshot Stevens (8-1), who makes his UFC debut.

Light heavyweights James Irvin vs. Thiago Silva. Northern California's Irvin (12-3, one no-contest) made a big impression at UFC 65 by absorbing a beating from Hector Ramirez, then scoring a sensational second-round KO. Silva (9-0), a Chute Boxer from Brazil, makes his UFC debut.

Light heavyweights: Wilson Gouveia vs. Carmelo Marrero. An intriguing battle for positioning in the 205 division. The American Top Team's Gouveia (8-4) fought Keith Jardine tough in a decision loss, and has since submitted both Wes Combs and Seth Petruzelli. Philly's Marrero (6-1) looked great in a win over Cheick Kongo and awful in a loss to Gabriel Gonzaga.

Have a few links I want to pass along:

*The latest FOX News Channel Fight Game video is up. In it, David Mamet talks about the MMA-themed movie Redbelt.

*Longtime MMA announcer Stephen Quadros, who can be seen on the IFL on FSN, has his take on UFC 71.

*And last but not least, writer Chi Kong Lui has a post about the merits of winning a fight in less-than-spectacular fashion as opposed to putting on an exciting show. It is worth a read.

A sampling of raw quotes from today's UFC 71 teleconference featuring Chuck Liddell and Quinton "Rampage" Jackson:

Chuck Liddell

On the constant sniping at UFC from boxing types in the buildup to DeLaHoya-Mayweather: I think it is a sign of the times when a boxing show is taking shots at us to try to sell more pay per views. To promote their fight they're bringing us up. A couple years ago they wouldn't even mention us. …

On fighting at heavyweight: We've talked a bunch of times about it. If it is an interesting fight, if it is something the people want to see, I'm interested. I think I'm in one of the best weight classes, I'm walking around at 216. … We were talking about fighting (Mirko) Cro Cop, but I wouldn't mind taking a shot at Fedor (Emelianenko).

On whether he's concerned about the upsets of 2007: Not at all. We're all different people. People talking about jinx, I'm like if it's all coming from the same camp, that might be a curse, but these are independent events. It shows the diversity of the sport. Sometimes you get caught.

Quinton "Rampage" Jackson

How has Rampage changed since he last fought Chuck: I'm more disciplined in the way I eat, my nutrition. Last time I ate fast food, I wasn't preparing right, I didn't know how to cook for myself. I used to have to cut 15 pounds the day before the fight. I don't like to cut 15 pounds.

On his big slams: I never look for the slam. People are mistaken. Most time it happens they make a mistake and boom, I pick 'em up and do it. Even in practice, I don't look for it. I don't train my slams. If they're there, I take 'em.

Who are Rampage's favorite fighters? BJ Penn and Fedor. I like the way they fight. I don't think anyone is unbeatable, but (Fedor) doesn't give a damn. ... Even if someone takes him down, he gets back up and he kicks your butt.

What most impressed him about Chuck: His Mohawk. I'm impressed with his Mohawk. How does he get his Mohawk like that every time? How does he do that? Does he do it himself? Does he have someone do it for him? Does he have something he puts on it to make it look good every time?

Notes

*Rampage says he has done the bulk of his training up at Big Bear with Cheick Kongo, James Irvin and Hector "Sick Dog" Ramirez.

*Rampage was asked a couple times about getting used to fighting in a cage as opposed to a ring. Jackson, of course, had extensive experience fighting in a cage before he joined PRIDE and both of his fights since leaving have been in a cage.

*Dana White did not participate in the press conference, reportedly due to a bad cold.