A five-fight veteran of the world’s toughest MMA promotion, UFC fighter Rousimar Palhares will get his second shot at Middleweight greatness on September 15, when he faces Nate Marquardt in the main event of UFC Fight Night 22. Palhares lost a Unanimous Decision to PRIDE FC legend Dan Henderson in 2008 in his first attempt at breaking through to the top of the division, but since then has been on an absolute tear: he’s won three straight fights, two of which coming by way of the heel hook submission that has become his specialty (of his nine submission wins, six have been by heel hook). Palhares most recently caused a not-insignificant amount of controversy when it looked like he held onto the fight-ending heel hook against his last opponent, Tomasz Drwal, for far too long. Yet in a recent interview, Palhares claims that it was all a simple misunderstanding. ...

Xtreme Couture's "Phenom" Vitor Belfort (18-8) scored his bulliest victory in four-plus years TKOing Fighters.com's ninth-ranked middleweight "Ace" Rich Franklin (26-5) at 3:02 of round one in a 195-pound catch weight main event at UFC 103 in Dallas Saturday night. "Jesus, I love you," shouted Belfort in the Octagon after the fight, and in his dressing room he added,  "God gave me a gift and I'm using it.  And, I'm ready.  A lot of people thought I was done, you know, and that's what I'm bringing to this game - hope, faith, and hard work. ...

Italy’s Ivan Serati (10-2) will face Polish light heavyweight “Travolta” Tomasz Drwal (14-2) at the UFC’s Dublin event 17 January, according to Fighters Only Friday. Serati, who will be making his Octagon debut, KO’d Claudio da Silva (0-1) at 2:15 of round one in August.   Seven of his ten victories came in under a minute. Drwal’s thirteen-fight win streak ended with his last fight in September 2007, when he was TKO’d in the second round by Fighters.com’s tenth-ranked Thiago Silva (13-0). ...

Tuesday the UFC officially added two more bouts to the UFC 87 card in Minneapolis on 9 August. Andre Gusmao (5-0) will face “Travolta” Tomasz Drwal (14-2) in a light heavyweight match-up, and welterweights “The Silent Assassin” Luke Cummo (6-5) and “The Barn Cat” Tamden McCrory (8-1) will meet. Gusmao almost signed with the UFC in February to fight David Heath (8-3), but happened to still be under contract with the IFL. His last fight was in September. Drwal tallied a loss against Thiago Silva (13-0) by second-round TKO in September at his UFC debut, ending a thirteen-fight win streak. TUF 2 competitor Cummo is coming off a loss by unanimous decision to Luigi Fioravanti (12-3) at UFC 82 in March. McCrory’s only loss of his professional career came during his last fight at UFC 78 in November, when PRIDE veteran Akihiro Gono (28-12-7) submitted him with an armbar in the second round. ...