This Saturday, the UFC is showing off the depth of their heavyweight talent with two heavyweight bouts involving four former heavyweight champions. Yep, four. Granted, one is a former WWE champion, but that’s not the point.

Tim Sylvia - and all the awkward, crowd-despised 265lbs of him - is coming off a big win over the highly regarded Brandon Vera and has his eyes on the title he lost last year to Randy Couture. At 6′8″ and with limbs like tree trunks, to say he has “KO power” would be a soon regretted understatement. Any given strike can end the night early if the strikee isn’t prepared.

And he’s hungry. Tim’s almost uncomfortably obsessive love for the UFC title was well documented (mainly on YouTube) in his previous two reigns as the UFC champion. He has made it very clear that he wants the belt back and will do anything short of kicking a puppy to get it.

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With all the recent drama regarding Zuffa and their heavyweight champion, its good to see some things settled as they were meant to be: In the cage.

Saturday brings us the event from the Metro Radio Arena in Newcastle, England where BJ Penn will get his third shot at the UFC lightweight title against Joe “Daddy” Stevenson.

Now, most people, myself include, expect BJ to dominate the fight. His striking is technical and efficient. His chin is iron. His grappling is a work of art. He’s defeated the best fighters of the sport and fought in four weight classes. His seemingly boneless legs provide a near unbeatable takedown defense and a flexibility on the ground that frustrates and overwhelms opponents.

BJ Penn IS mixed martial arts. There’s no way around that.

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Its official! The UFC’s parent company, Zuffa, LLC, filed a lawsuit in Clark County District court against five time UFC champion and overall MMA idol Randy “The Natural” Couture. The suit alleges that certain comments Couture made regarding the UFC staff and senior management caused the business “irreparable” damage and that he is also in breach of the contract he signed to come back out of retirement in December 2006.

The conflict between fighter and organization had been brewing since Couture announced his resignation from the UFC in October last year. Not only was “The Natural” upset with UFC management, but he also wanted to close out his career by fighting the widely regarded #1 Heavyweight in the world (and suspected Cyborg) Fedor Emelianenko.

Before the announcement, Couture was confident a fight with Fedor, who opted not to sign with the UFC, would be possible later this year when he was free from his obligation to Zuffa. With the suit, though, extensive court procedures may render Couture unable to fight because blah blah blah blah.

The real question is: What does this mean for the fans?

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Money talks.

When the number is 2.4 million, you’ll get attention. When that 2.4 million is the

record-breaking number of pay-per-views buys for the most purchased event of all time, you’ll send fight promoters scurrying like an upset anthill.

Eight months after the semi-epic bout between pound-for-pound king Floyd Mayweather Jr. and fan favorite Oscar De La Hoya ended with Mayweather taking a split decision, Robert Morales of presstelegram.com writes about the possibility of a rematch. Promoter Bob Arum told the newspaper that he wasn’t able to set up a match between the De La Hoya and his client, Miguel Cotto, because the Golden Boy is scheduled to take on Mayweather again.

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Takanori Gomi. “Minotoro” Nogueira. Wanderlei Silva. Ricardo Arona. Georges St. Pierre. Mirko “Cro Cop”. Tim Sylvia. Gabriel Gonzaga. “Shogun”.

Other than being some of the best in Mixed Martial Arts, what do these fighters have in common?

They all fell victim to a twelve month period that shall forever live in MMA infamy: The Year of the Upset.

The cold winds of February delivered the first signs that it would be a tough year for MMA fanatics and an even tougher year for MMA bettors. Pride 33: The Second Coming sent the MMA world into a frenzy after three major upsets.

First, a newcomer with a 2-1 record entered the ring and made quick work of one of the best 205 lb fighters in the world. Antonio Rogerio “Minotoro” Nogueira fell to the heavy hands of Rameau Thierry “The African Assassin” Sokoudjou in just 23 seconds, which is considerably shorter than it took me to type out their full names.

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