It took one day, one single day, for the upcoming ufc 136 card to go from a few matches to nearly complete. Yesterday, a grand total of six fights were all announced throughout the day for the upcoming event, with several major can’t-miss attractions scheduled for the card. It was news so huge that I’m going to have to break it up into two parts. So here’s the first part of “A First Look At UFC 136”, featuring the first three recently-announced bouts: Dave Herman vs. Mike Russow, Josh Grispi vs. Matt Grice, and Demian Maia vs. Jorge Santiago. ...

Jon Madsen will be returning to the cage in March of next year against arguably his toughest test to date. The undefeated heavyweight product was last seen in action when he dispatched of former PRIDE star Gilbert Yvel at UFC 121 last October in Anaheim, Cali. The win was produced by a quick TKO finish for the HIT Squad member who doubles as a training partner for former UFC heavyweight Brock Lesnar. The victory over Yvel was Madsen's first finish inside the octagon and in turn has pushed his UFC streak to four-in-a-row and moved his overall stats to 7-0 as a professional mixed martial artist. ...

As the year is coming closer to an end, the now annual World MMA Awards, which is hosted by Fighters Only Magazine, has recently announced their finalists for the December 1st event, which will take place once again in Las Vegas, Nev., which has become a hot bed for all things fighting related. 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 Todd Duffee's presence is already missed from the ufc, his release was left as a last resort. The heavyweight star made waves right away in the division when his much anticipated octagon debut met and exceeded all expectations, when the 24-year-old knocked out veteran Tim Hague in just 7 seconds at UFC 102 in August of last year. Sidelined due to injury, Duffee returned 9 months later and was thoroughly dominating PRIDE veteran Mike Russow for two and a half rounds. Then, out of nowhere, the body builder was put down by the body spiller, when a vicious right hand connected for Russow, another one followed and Duffee was out cold. Now this wouldn't be enough reason to release a previously undefeated heavyweight prospect with the kind of buzz that surrounded Todd, but if you read you might see why he got his UFC walking papers. ...

The ufc is easily the most competitive pro MMA organization on the planet. Those that don’t measure up are quickly disposed of, no matter what their accolades were in the past. Keith Jardine was a fan-favorite veteran of over a dozen UFC fights and still got the axe. Kimbo Slice helped bring in some of the biggest ratings in the history of the “Ultimate Fighter” reality TV show, and he quickly received his pink slip after going 1-1 in the organization. And according to MMAJunkie.com, you can now add Todd Duffee, who holds the record for the quickest KO in UFC history, to the growing list of UFC exiles. ...

Awoke to the sun shining and my thoughts about UFC 114 running rampant in my head. So as always "The Reverend of MMA" will bring you the gospel on yet another event, UFC 114: Rampage vs. Rashad. ...

"Croatian Sensation" Pat Miletich (29-7-2) defeated Thomas Denny (25-18) via knockout in the main event of Adrenaline MMA 2 Thursday night in Moline. Ben Rothwell (26-6) set the tone during the bout just before Miletich's victory with a submission victory of his own via strikes over Chris Guillen (13-12). Showing no rust from age, the forty-year-old Miletich revisited yesteryear with a dominant performance over Denny. The victory by knockout was both impressive and surprising in contrast to Miletich's fight record richly built off of submission wins. Pat Miletich officially won via knockout at 0:50 of the second round. Heavyweight Ben Rothwell (26-6) showed no remnants of his recent loss to "Pitbull" Andrei Arlovski (14-5) when he quickly dispatched Chris Guillen (13-12) in the opening round with a barrage of heavy elbows. Ben Rothwell officially won via submission due to strikes at 3:40 of the first round. ...