The news keeps coming in. "The Ultimate Fighter" season five veteran Gabe Ruediger is one of the more recent released from the Ultimate Fighting Championship. Rueidger went 0-3 inside the octagon before upon his release from the organization, most recently competing at ufc 126 earlier this month, where he suffered a knockout loss to notable slugger Paul Taylor. Before then, Ruediger had run a six-fight win streak upon his return to the world's ultimate proving grounds (thanks Mike Goldberg) however his return to the UFC, which seem like a stretch just a couple of years ago, was short lived. ...

"ufc 126: Silva vs. Belfort" featured an electrifying night of fights. Champion Anderson Silva deftly defended his title with a rousing first-round knockout of former friend and teammate Vitor Belfort with a surprising front kick which floored the Brazilian. Following up with a few additional blows was all that "The Spider" needed to end the night of the former light heavyweight titleholder. Forrest Griffin made a successful return to the cage, following a year-plus spent away from the cage, when he defeated former middleweight champ Rich Franklin, defeating the legend in a clean sweep decision victory. The night produced several more exciting fights over, however some of those bouts came with their price. ...

Following ufc 126 this past weekend, a lot of new story lines have arose. Anderson Silva re-solidified himself as not only the best middleweight in the world, but arguably best pound-for-pound fighter and the greatest of all time, when he knocked out Vitor Belfort in impressive fashion in his middleweight title bout. Forrest Griffin deftly defeated former champ Rich Franklin in a pivotal light heavyweight match-up, moving him closer to the title, however Jon Jones beat him to it when he submitted then-undefeated prospect Ryan Bader with a second-round submission. However nothing surprised me more then some of these fighter pay-outs with some seeming valid, while others have me scratching my head in humble confusion. ...

Paul Taylor will try his hand at lightweight once again when he faces "The Ultimate Fighter" veteran, Gabe Ruediger. Taylor initially made his lightweight debut in just his last bout where before he competed as a welterweight in all of his other ufc appearances despite being the noticeably smaller fighter. In a barn burner, stand up affair turned in against Sam Stout, Taylor inevitably lost the bout via a close split-decision. Despite garnering a 3-5 record inside the worlds largest organization, Taylor has become a staple in the promotion due to his aggressive style, which has earned him three "Fight of the Night" awards, and in nearly every fight he's been in would be considered a candidate for said award. The same cannot be said for Gabe Ruediger. ...

It’s always a tough pill to swallow when an exciting fighter comes into a top-level bout only to under-perform and get resoundingly beaten. This, unfortunately, has been the case for much of Joe Lauzon’s UFC career. Lauzon has looked amazing in several UFC bouts only to falter when put against top-level competition, and history seemed to repeat itself at UFC 123, when a good first round by Lauzon was tarnished by a horrible second round that saw Lauzon emerge out of his corner like a shambling zombie. His opponent, fast-rising star George Sotiropoulos, quickly pounced on the opportunity and secured a fight-ending Kimura submission. So, what went wrong this time? Here’s what Lauzon himself had to say. ...

The UFC’s choice to air select preliminary fights from select Pay-Per-Views free on Spike TV remains a novel idea that should work in theory but has rarely worked in practice. For one, new programming is generally more interesting to watch than repeats, so new UFC as opposed to old Spike TV reruns should be a formula for success. Also, these are preliminary fights to major Pay-Per-Views, so it should be a great incentive to get fans to order the Pay-Per-View itself. It’s a win-win for both Spike, who can look forward to a ratings bump, and the UFC, who can look forward to a buyrate bump. However, the recent UFC 118 preliminary fights delivered the lowest ratings yet seen for these “Prelims Live” specials, putting the entire effectiveness of the process in doubt. ...

While speaking recently to Fighters.com about his upcoming fight at UFC 118 against Gabe Ruediger, Joe Lauzon also shed light on what might have been wrong with BJ Penn in his loss to Frankie Edgar last spring.  Lauzon has trained in Hawaii with Penn and Penn is working this week at Lauzon Mixed Martial Arts in the Boston area while preparing for Edgar/Penn 2 Saturday night.  Looking back, Lauzon felt his buddy was primed for a great showing vs. Edgar the first time around. ...

After starting his UFC career 3-0, Joe Lauzon has gone 2-2 in his last four fights and is chomping to start up a new win streak and get back in the lightweight title discussion.  At UFC 118, the Brockton, MA native will face Gabe Ruediger, his former Ultimate Fighter 5 housemate in the first ever MMA card at the Boston Garden.  Ruediger replaced Terry Etim who withdrew due to a rib injury.  Lauzon, a former computer tech specialist, spoke with Fighters.com about UFC 118, his favourite song from T.I., and why windows PC’s get the dreaded blue screen of death. ...