It is back to the regional circuit for Dan Lauzon, who many tabbed as an MMA wunderkind when he first broke on the national scene at UFC 64 fighting Spencer Fisher.

Lauzon lost to Fisher and then to Deividas Taurosevicius but subsequently railed off seven straight wins in 2^nd tier shows before beating Bobby Green at the last Affliction show in Anaheim, CA in 2009.  That rip of wins got him another shot in the UFC.  However, “The Upgrade” was still not prime time material as he lost to Cole Miller and Efrain Escudero in the big show.

Still very young at 22 years of age, Dan Lauzon needs to find some maturity and discipline in his training.  It was widely reported that Dan and his brother Joe had a “falling out” prior to Dan’s last UFC fight when he lost to Escudero.  However he feels about his big brother, Dan could certainly use a dose of Joe’s work ethic and passion for prepartion and game-planning a fight.  Anybody who watched the younger Lauzon rip through opponents in the WCF (World Championship Fighting) in 2008 can see the raw talent.  Yet, when faced with an equal skill set across the cage, Lauzon must understand how to manage a game-plan.

Fighting at the Snow Brawl and Damien Trites will be good start on the road back for Lauzon.  Promoter Crutchfield is a believer, of course, in his main event but also his entire night of fights for folks looking for MMA in the Northeast.  In addition to Lauzon v. Trites, Mike Campbell faces Tony Hervey at lightweight and Mat Santos gets his rematch against BJJ stud Everilton Silva.

“This is our third MMA show and it promises to be the best by far. “We’re improving each show in order to give fans what they want – action and compelling match-ups. Lauzon and Trites don’t like each other and that’s certainly going to show in the cage. Campbell’s ready to bounce right back from a disappointing loss on our first show, also at Twin River, but he’s going to have his hands full with a tough veteran like Hervey. Mat Santos kept MMA alive in this state and we’re excited to have him back fighting with the opportunity for him to avenge a controversial loss against Silva. Our matchmakers are rounding out the remainder of what promises to be a power-packed undercard for our last show of 2010.”

Clearly Dan Lauzon is the calling card for this night given his UFC pedigree, the question is – will he start to live up to all the hype he garnered back at UFC 64 and perform to his highest abilities?

Your thoughts.  Will Dan Lauzon ever make it back to the UFC?  He is still very young.

The 2009 event opened up to a large audience, and has become a propellant in the mixed martial arts world, opening up the eyes to a mainstream audience, by the community taking leaps and bounds in order to legitimize itself as not only a legitimate sport, but one that deserves that same sort of recognition that most others receive, here in these United States.

While some categories have changed, in order to be politically correct, must stay the same. Voting continues until November 26, where till then you can cast your votes online at All winners are determined by a fan vote, and ballots can be cast through Nov. 26 at www.worldmmaawards.com.

The full list, which was formatted by MMAJunkie.com, of finalists includes:

CHARLES “MASK” LEWIS FIGHTER OF THE YEAR

* Anderson Silva
* Brock Lesnar
* Frankie Edgar
* Jose Aldo
* Mauricio “Shogun” Rua

FIGHT OF THE YEAR

* Anderson Silva vs. Chael Sonnen at UFC 117
* Brock Lesnar vs. Shane Carwin at UFC 116
* Leonard Garcia vs. Chan Sung Jung at WEC 48
* Chris Leben vs. Yoshihiro Akiyama at UFC 116
* Jorge Santiago vs. Kazuo Misaki at Sengoku 14

KO OF THE YEAR

* Anthony Njokuani vs. Chris Horodecki at WEC 45
* Cain Velasquez vs. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira at UFC 110
* Mauricio “Shogun” Rua vs. Lyoto Machida at UFC 113
* Mike Russow vs. Todd Duffee at UFC 114
* Rich Franklin vs. Chuck Liddell at UFC 115

SUBMISSION OF THE YEAR

* Matt Hughes vs. Ricardo Almeida at UFC 117
* Chris Leben vs. Yoshihiro Akiyama at UFC 116
* Cole Miller vs. Dan Lauzon at UFC 108
* Anderson Silva vs. Chael Sonnen at UFC 118
* Fabricio Werdum vs. Fedor Emelianenko at “Strikeforce: Fedor vs. Werdum”

BEST PROMOTION

* Bellator
* DREAM
* Strikeforce
* UFC
* WEC

LEADING MAN OF THE YEAR

* Bjorn Rebney, Bellator founder and CEO
* Dana White, UFC president
* Joe Silva, UFC VP of talent relations
* Michael Schiavello, HDNet broadcaster
* Scott Coker, Strikeforce founder and CEO

INTERNATIONAL FIGHTER OF THE YEAR

* Alistair Overeem
* Dan Hardy
* George Sotiropoulos
* John Hathaway
* Shinya Aoki

BREAKTHROUGH FIGHTER OF THE YEAR

* Charles Oliveira
* Evan Dunham
* George Sotiropoulos
* John Hathaway
* Jon Jones

FEMALE FIGHTER OF THE YEAR

* Cristiane “Cyborg” Santos
* Megumi “Mega Megu” Fujii
* Miesha Tate
* Sarah Kaufman
* Zoila Frausto

COACH OF THE YEAR

* Cesar Gracie
* Firas Zahabi
* Greg Jackson
* Rafael Cordeiro
* Shawn Tompkins

GYM OF THE YEAR

* American Kickboxing Academy
* American Top Team
* Black House MMA
* Greg Jackson’s Submission Fighting
* Wand Fight Team

RING GIRL OF THE YEAR

* Arianny Celeste
* Brittney Palmer
* Chandella Powell
* Natalie Skyy
* Rachelle Leah

BEST LIFESTYLE CLOTHING BRAND

* Affliction
* Fight Chix
* RVCA
* Silverstar
* TapouT

REFEREE OF THE YEAR

* “Big” John McCarthy
* Dan Miragliotta
* Herb Dean
* Josh Rosenthal
* Mario Yamasaki

MOST MEMORABLE RING ENTRANCE

* Anderson Silva
* Clay Guida
* Jason “Mayhem” Miller
* Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal
* Tom Lawlor

BEST TECHNICAL EQUIPMENT BRAND

* Everlast MMA
* Fairtex
* Hayabusa
* TapouT
* Venum

BEST TECHNICAL CLOTHING BRAND

* Bad Boy
* Hayabusa
* Jaco
* TapouT
* Venum

MEDIA SOURCE OF THE YEAR

* “Inside MMA” on HDNet
* MMAjunkie.com
* MMAWeekly.com
* MMAFighting.com
* Sherdog.com

MMA JOURNALIST OF THE YEAR

* Aaron “Tru” Teweles, Freelance
* Ariel Helwani, MMAFighting.com/Versus.com
* Conner Cordova, MMAReligion.com
* Gareth A. Davies, Telegraph.com
* John Morgan, MMAjunkie.com

So, MMA peeps, any surprises here? Anyone you would have liked to seen in some of these categories? Who do you think will take home some of the honors of the night? Sound off in the comments section below.

News broke straight from Escudero’s Twitter account, where he tweeted the following: “Hello true fan I was released by the Ufc today speaking to strikeforce and bellator. Taking a week off and make my way back!!!!!”

After being one of Season 8’s standout stars, the Mexican-born Escudero won the TUF 8 competition by taking a Unanimous Decision against Phillipe Nover. Escudero’s popularity and relevancy took a bit of a hit when he took an almost year-long absence from MMA for various reasons, but he bounced back in the best way possible and seemed on the fast track to Lightweight gold after TKO’ing Cole Miller. A win over Dan Lauzon was sandwiched between losses to Evan Dunham and Charles Oliveira, and apparently those losses were a good enough reason to let go of what could have been a major star, especially when you consider how the UFC has been milking the heritage of UFC Heavyweight Championship contender Cain Velasquez.

I respect that the UFC is trying to be very strict about who’s allowed to compete within the Octagon, but I can’t say I agree with this firing. I haven’t heard of any attitude problems with Escudero, so I’m left to assume that his firing was performance-related. I think that the UFC should lay the hammer down on fighters who obviously aren’t cutting it in the world’s biggest and best MMA promotion, but Escudero’s record was 3-2. It’s not the best in the world, but it’s by no means the worst.

In regards to what the future holds for Escudero, I think both Bellator and Strikeforce would be happy to have him. Strikeforce’s Lightweight division is rather weak, save for a few obvious exceptions, and they could really use someone who’s both popular and has the skills to (usually) back up his fame. Bellator would also see a big boost in their legitimacy by having someone like Escudero compete in their tournaments, the same kind of boost they received when Roger Huerta made the jump from the UFC to Bellator.

But no matter where he ends up, I think the future looks bright for Efrain Escudero We haven’t heard the last from “Hecho in Mexico”, oh no. I think he’ll get back into the UFC one day, and it may take years of grinding it out against mid-level competition both in and out of the UFC, but I think Escudero could challenge for a championship one day. He’s got all the makings of a star, and he’s got a huge amount of heart. It’s always darkest before the dawn, and I think that Escudero will rebound from this setback in a big way.

And what do you think, fans and friends? What promotion do you see Escudero signing with, and what are some non-UFC names that you’d like to see him compete against? And do you think the UFC acted too harshly when they fired Escudero?

The season 8 winner of “The Ultimate Fighter” has faced some hurdles since his inception into the UFC, not so long ago. After suffering his first career loss to contender Evan Dunham last January, via arm bar submission in the third round of their lightweight affair, “Hecho en Mexico” bounced back against Dan Lauzon last May on the preliminary card.

And while Efrain aspires still to be a contender in his weight class, they just couldn’t make it easy on the proud Mexican-fighter.

After garnering preliminary honors for the second time, Efrain was to face John Gunderson, however was pulled to compete as the new co-main event, opposite of Matt Wiman, after Wiman’s original opponent and fellow TUF veteran Mac Danzig had pulled out due to injury.

Well now the news has made it around the bend, and it looks like Wiman has suffered a broken arm, and in steps in arguably the best Jiu-Jitsu practitioner in the 155-pound division, Charles Oliveira. The dynamic Brazilian, who has already been likened to the “Jon Jones of the lightweight division”, made his UFC debut against Darren Elkins, needing less than a minute to submit the gritty-lightweight with a first round submission, arm bar (ironically enough).

MMAWeekly reported the news Thursday, after learning of Wiman’s injury.

Will the shift change anything for Escudero come Sept. 15, for UFC Fight Night 22? Who does the match up favor more? Logic would say, Escudero is a natural wrestler, but taking it the ground this time might not be the greatest idea. I guess we’ll have to wait and see.

The night started with prelims thanks to Spike TV. “The Upgrade” Dan Lauzon (12-4) came into this fight against Efrain Escudero (8-1) after having a disagreement with his coaches and his brother, UFC fighter “J-Lau” Joe Lauzon (18-5). They refused to travel with him to the fight because they felt he had not spent enough time in the gym and did not follow their plan correctly. This fight proved that the older brother knows best as Dany seemed to tire quickly in the fight. He was never able to score much and Efrain had his way the entire fight. What shocked me was Efrain not using his wrestling background more in the fight. While Efrain is a good prospect he will have to work on becoming more aggressive, looking for the finish and finding the balance between striking and wrestling.

Next up was Dong Hyun Kim (10-4-2) versus Amir Sadollah (3-2) in the final fight on Spike TV before the pay-per-view (PPV) started.

Kim used his solid wrestling base to take Amir down at will during this fight. The one thing that stood out was that while Amir has improved his striking, you can’t do much of that if you can’t stop takedowns. I was shocked at the number of people on Twitter stating that they thought Amir would now get cut from the UFC. Since winning “The Ultimate Fighter” season seven he has gone 2-2 in the UFC and was coming off of back-to-back wins before running into the takedown machine named Dong Hyun Kim. That does merit a cut from the organization and one has to remember he is the face of “Inside the Octagon” on Spike TV. Amir will need to go back to work and spend a ton of time with high quality wrestlers in order to succeed in the UFC. I look for Joe Silva to allow him to do just that and his next fight will probably be against a striker.

Kim, while impressive with his takedowns and top control, never seemed to go for the finish in the fight except when he had the neck tie position. This position is rarely seen in MMA and I have to give credit to Amir for fighting through it. I am looking forward to seeing what UFC matchmaker Joe Silva does with Kim after this win.

The first fight on the PPV was the first fight back inside the Octagon for “The Nightmare” Diego Sanchez (21-4) after his lopsided loss to then UFC lightweight champion “The Prodigy” B.J.  (15-6-1). He decided after that loss to move back up to 170 and last night against “Hitman” John Hathaway (12-0) it was apparent that the move was a bad decision. He was simply outclassed by the young Hathaway. I stated in this article that Diego is not an elite fighter and this is further proof of that. His best bet would have been to stay at lightweight and work to get back to the title just like “KenFlo” Kenny Florian (13-4) did after being defeated in his title shot. Diego will continue to have a home in the UFC, as a stepping stone.

Hathaway however is the complete opposite from Diego. A prospect that at 22 has nowhere to go but up after a win over “The Ultimate Fighter” season one winner. He did much better than many expected him to in this fight. He showed excellent takedown defense which he will need as he wades into the deep end of the division. I will enjoy watching the young man develop over the years.

Six weeks ago Forrest Griffin (17-6) had to pull out of his fight that was scheduled for UFC 114. The UFC replaced him with “The Hitman” Jason Brilz (18-3-1). Many thought that his opponent “Lil Nog” Antonio Rogerio Nogueira (18-3) would walk right through Brilz. Brilz shocked the MMA world by not only going all three rounds with Nogueira but actually dominating him at times during the fight. This fight ended up being a split decision win for Nogueira which brought boos from the crowd and talks of bad judges from those on Twitter.

This was a close fight with Lil Nog controlling the stand up in the first round. The second was a battle of position with Lil Nog using amazing sweeps off his back and both fighters working for guillotines. Brilz sunk in a very deep choke that many would have tapped out to but Lil Nog is a black belt in jiu jitsu and showed great poise in the position.

No matter the outcome, Jason Brilz was the winner in this fight. He gained respect from many in the MMA community and garner quite a few new fans as shown by the massive increase in followers on his Twitter account. Noguiera will continue to rise through the division and Brilz will follow closely behind him. I hope the UFC and Joe Silva decide to put these two back inside the Octagon together sometime in the future.

The hype surrounding Todd Duffee (5-1) was not unwarranted contrary to what you may have heard. Yes, Todd was viciously knocked out in the third round by his opponent Mike Russow (13-1) who is the complete opposite of Duffee in the physique department. This does not mean he is a bad fighter or that the high praise was not deserving. His first fight inside the Octagon was a seven second knock out and he almost repeated that performance by rocking Mike early in the first. Russow was being dominated until the third round. Todd was able to stop any takedown attempts, push away from the clinch and landed strikes at will on the very durable chin of Russow. Then as writers all across the country were starting to pen their pieces on another Duffee win inside the Octagon, Russow stunned the world by catching Todd with a right hand that had put him out cold.

I have my doubts about Russow making it very far in the division. He carries around a lot of unnecessary weight and may be better off trying to work a new conditioning program. His striking was bad until that right hand and he never could get the fight to the mat where he wanted it.

Todd will learn from this mistake and grow as a fighter. He is only 24 and has much to learn and will need to work cardio as well. He seemed to burn out and lose a lot of steam in the middle of the second round. He will need all the cardio he can muster if he plans on making a major push to the top of the UFC heavyweight division.

What can I say about “The Count” Michael Bisping (19-3) and his win over tough Dan Miller (11-4)? Miller looked lost from the start of the round and I have to wonder about his decision to not look for takedowns earlier in the fight. Bisping was the better striker and is great at beating mid-level fighters. I am still not sure he has what it takes to beat the best in the division. Sadly to all the Bisping fans out there, I see him as a gatekeeper in the division. Only time will tell if I am wrong.

There of course is the main event but that will have to wait for another article. After the fights were over I was left with a feeling of dissatisfaction. I was let down for some reason and I am not really sure why. In a night that had a clear favorite being pushed and one being beaten, a knock out by a guy who was never in the fight and the “most anticipated grudge match in UFC history” one would think I would have been excited afterward but that was not the case.

UFC 114 let me down and that is the Monday Gospel. What did you think of UFC 114 overall?

Make sure to follow me on Twitter at www.twitter.com/mmagospel where I tweet live during the fights.

Englishman Daley lost a UD to “Goat” Nick Thompson (38-11-1) at MFC 20 in Edmonton last February and was scheduled to fight “Thoroughbred” Jay Hieron (14-4) at Affliction in Anaheim Saturday before the event’s cancellation.

Lauzon tapped Bobby Green (5-2) in a rear naked choke at Affliction in Anaheim last January and would’ve tangled with “Polish Hammer” Chris Horodecki (13-1) at Affliction Saturday. He begins a second stint in the Octagon after getting TKO’d by “King” Spencer Fisher (23-4) at UFC 64 in Las Vegas in 2006.

Oliveira won a UD over John Mahlow (12-10) at XFC 8 in Knoxville last April and was tapped to take on former PRIDE lightweight champion “Fireball Kid” Takanori Gomi (28-6) at Affliction.

Hominick tapped Savant Young (8-8) in an armbar at Affliction in Anaheim in July 2008 and would’ve met Deividas Taurosevicus (10-3) Saturday.

The 20-year old lightweight will next test his win streak against former IFL champion “Polish Hammer” Chris Horodecki (12-1) at Affliction: Day of Reckoning 24 January in Anaheim.

The remaining fights on the WCF card went as follows:

Greg Rebello (7-2) defeated Chris Canale (1-3) via split decision

Stephen Stengal (3-5) TKO’d Jay Fortier (2-4) at 0:49 of round one

Calvin Kattar (5-1) submitted Bobby Dias (3-6) via triangle choke at 0:49 of round one

John Benoit (6-0) submitted Bill Jones (3-2) via rear naked choke at 1:45 of round two

Dan Bonnell (6-4) defeated Josh Spearman (6-17) via unanimous decision

Jose Lopez (3-4) TKO’d Wayne Harnois (2-7) at 0:35 of round one

James Pittner (1-0) submitted Robbie Roberts (0-5) via guillotine choke at 0:31 of round one

Dan Ferrer (5-4) submitted Ethan Kean (1-6) via kimura at 3:36 of round one

Chad Beane (4-1) defeated Joe McGann (1-1) via disqualification (illegal blows to back of the head) in round one

Lauzon is also scheduled to fight former IFL lightweight champion Chris Horodecki (12-1) at Affliction 24 January.

About his decision to take on a fight two months before a major pay-per-view event, Lauzon said, “I really wanted to stay sharp and keep my momentum. I’ve fought for them [WCF] three times now and they take great care of me, and I love fighting for them in front of their fans and my friends and family. These (Boston) fans really are the best sports fans in the world.”

Lauzon is currently on a six-fight win streak, most recently defeating Brendan Hoxie (3-5) with a second-round TKO in June.

Hammerstrom snapped a four-fight losing streak in September, submitting Matt Johnson (1-5) with a guillotine choke at 1:08 of the first round.

Horodecki’s management team confirmed the lightweight bout with Lauzon, who was his original opponent for Day of Reckoning on 11 October before the event was postponed.

Strikeforce executive Mike Afromowitz confirmed that Horodecki will not be on the Destruction card on 21 November.

Horodecki said, “I’d like to fight Thomson, but now I’m thinking about November and Affliction.”

Horodecki is also considering a November fight in Japan’s Shoot Boxing organization.

Lauzon, 8-2, cranked up after a straight right bent his head backwards.  The fight hit the mat and Lauzon took Latina, 4-1, through a list of submissions before sinking the final technique.

Lauzon’s fight will be featured in a future episode of “TapouT”, an MMA reality show on the Versus network hosted by the founders of the TapouT apparel line.

“The Upgrade” Lauzon is noted as the youngest fighter to appear in the UFC at 18-years old in October 2006, losing to Spencer Fisher.  His win versus Latina may have been an audition for a gig in the WEC.

Also on the card, Henrique Bicalho tapped Jason Bennett at 2:15 of the first round.

Nate Kittredge fell to 2-1 after a disqualification loss to Ronnie Wuest at 1:40 of the first.

Welterweight Nuri Shakur ended a four-fight losing strike with a TKO of Travis Lerchen.

John Benoit choked out Justin Hammerstrom in a triangle 45-seconds into the second round.

Ken Stone improved to 3-0 after 1:46 with winless Daniel Duarte.  Duarte has lost both of his professional MMA fights in a rear naked choke.

John Franchi TKO’d Justin Homsey at 40 seconds of the second round to improve to 3-0.

Nate LaMotte ended Stephen Stengal’s night in 39 seconds.

Dan Bonnell evened to 3-3 with a guillotine choke of Mark Giove 2:45 into the fight.

Greg Croteau defeated Aaron Chidester by unanimous decision.

Larry Kerrigan choked out Lou Czekalski by guillotine at 3:23 of the second round.

Jose Lopez notched his first win, a unanimous decision over Sean Ratcliff.

UFC President, Bostonian Dan White made a special guest appearance at the Aleppo Shriners Auditorium for the second WCF card.