Here are the highlights of an interview Evans recently had with ESPN: “”…If I don’t get the chance to fight for the belt, I will never ask to fight for this belt again. I will never want to fight for that belt again… If [Rua] is going to be out longer than May or June then [UFC] should consider an interim title and I will fight for an interim belt… But if I don’t get a chance to fight for an interim belt, then I will just beat everybody in the division and I will never fight for the belt… If I don’t get to fight for this belt because [Rua] stays injured too long and they don’t make anything happen, then I will never ask to fight for that belt again, man.”

On some level, I can see where Rashad is coming from. Mauricio Rua’s expected return is around March 2011, if Rashad continues to play the waiting game he’ll be looking at a layoff of almost a year before he finally steps into the cage to get his shot at the gold. “Shogun” is looking at an even longer layoff, but he’s rehabbing an injury. Evans is perfectly healthy and needs to remain active in order to fully capitalize on this comeback that’s in the works.

But it seems as if Evans thinks that the UFC is conspiring against him. That’s wishful thinking at best. Rashad earned his shot at the champion, and then the champion came down with an injury. It happens. The UFC shouldn’t jump the gun and make an Interim title at a moment’s notice, especially not in the Light Heavyweight division, which hasn’t seen a dominant champion since the glory days of Chuck Liddell. The actual UFC Light Heavyweight Championship is so hotly contested that any Interim Championship would immediately be recognized for the make-believe belt that it is, and it would be a small comfort to an athlete like Evans.

Interim belts should only be created when the future of the current champion is uncertain. Many people don’t like Interim belts to begin with, regardless of the circumstances surrounding their creation. Even past UFC stars have been quick to criticize and basically throw away their Interim Championships. If Rashad Evans wants a belt so badly, he should train hard, minimize any ring rust, and wait for it. Rua’s future is not uncertain, he will be making his return, and in the meantime, an Interim belt is completely meaningless.

Perhaps the funniest thing about this entire situation is that I seem to be one of the few that believes that not only will Evans beat Rua, but that he’ll beat him decisively. Evans certainly isn’t endearing himself to the general public with these kinds of interviews, but he’s still a dominant wrestler with serious KO power. If “Shogun” blew out his knees defending the takedowns of Lyoto Machida, they’ll be turned to jelly against “Sugar”, so long as Evans stops needlessly complaining and focuses on preparing for one of the biggest fights of his career.

And what about you, fans and friends? What do you make of Rashad’s comments and/or his chances against “Shogun”?

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.

UFC light heavyweight champion Mauricio “Shogun” Rua has undergone successful knee surgery this past June, and is still in recovery mode. According to UFC President Dana White in a recent interview with Sportscenter revealed that he intends on making Rua’s return in the Spring or early Summer of next year.

Dana also made a mention on the champ’s proceedings towards his knee surgery, which marks Shogun’s third in just under three years, that he had Rua come to the states to have the surgery done. The first two surgeries took place in his native Brazil, though some might remember Rua’s sluggish returns to the octagon post-knee surgeries. His initial UFC debut against Forrest Griffin at UFC 76 in Anaheim, California in 2007, did not go quite as easily as most fans and media alike had predicted. “The Ultimate Fighter” veteran submitted the former Pride champion with a third-round rear naked choke.

Over a year later, at UFC 93 in Dublin, Ireland, “Shogun” returned on the winning side of things when he rallied back against then UFC fighter Mark Coleman, defeating the former heavyweight champion with strikes in the third round. However since those sluggish performances, Shogun is red-hot.

Despite sporting a subtle 3-2 record inside the cage, his actions speak volumes. After earning his bid for a title shot after knocking out former champion and UFC Hall of Famer Chuck Liddell at UFC 97, Rua then went the distance with then champ Lyoto Machida at UFC 103 and on all accounts beat “The Dragon”, but in a surprising turn of events, lost by unanimous decision, much to the dismay of the fans and press alike, who were all left scratching their heads.

The rematch was set, and at UFC 113 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada in May of this year, the Brazilians battled it out and “Shogun” exacted revenge when he knocked out Machida inside of the first round, to claim Number One supremacy.

The knee surgeries were taxing on the Brazilian, but the UFC head honcho is more optimistic about Rua’s recovery time and methods of returning back strong this time around. With what looks like a year-long layoff for both “Shogun” and challenger Rashad Evans–who was last seen in action in May as well, with a unanimous decision win over heated rival Quinton Jackson at UFC 114.

Do you think the fight being pushed to a later date would benefit both fighters on a stint with “TUF”? Rashad was an excellent coach, “Shogun” is the man–though his English is limited.

Im my opinion, the longer this fight is pushed, the less attention it will receive and the less relevant it will become, even if it is a title fight. So to keep both competitors in the public eye, a visit towards a possibility with “The Ultimate Fighter” should be addressed.

There was much hype leading up to this fight from as far back as UFC 96. We sat and watched them throw verbal jabs at one another on “The Ultimate Fighter” as opposing coaches. We then had to wait until Jackson had finished with the “A-Team” movie for the fight to finally take place. There was even a war of words on Twitter between the two men leading up to the event.

I think everyone knew this fight would end one of two ways, Rashad by decision or Rampage by knock out. The end result was Rashad Evans with a unanimous decision victory in what was more or less a grappling and position battle.

Rashad caught Rampage at the opening bell with a shot that seemed to rock him. From that point on it was Rashad uses the clinch to push Jackson against the cage and effectively neutralize the striking of Rampage. It is an effective tactic when you have a wrestler going against a striker.

This tactic is not something one can really complain about since the sport is mixed martial arts (MMA) and wrestling is a part of that. However that does not mean someone has to like watching a fighter that uses this tactic. Rashad seems to have become a fighter many fans love to hate and the tactics he used Saturday night did nothing but help to cement his status as a one of the more hated fighters in the UFC. I think Jackson was hurt less by the loss than Rashad was by the type of win he pulled off.

I come from a wrestling background so I enjoy that aspect of the sport but I would much prefer to see a wrestler use his skills to not just control where the fight takes place but to finish fights. I believe many of the fighters with a wrestling background game-plan fights with strikers to become a decision victory. They want to use the cage to clinch, put try to wear their opponent down and grind out a win. In today’s sport of MMA we no longer are supposed to be watching style versus style. Now MMA fighters are touted as well rounded athletes that mix all the styles together and this simply is not true.

There are some out there that do it well and there are wrestlers that use their control to work on submissions or striking from a dominant position. Rashad did neither of these things as he seemed content to coast to a win.

Of course we can also lay blame to Jackson for not being more effective in the clinch and the takedown defense department. After all it is his job to know he is facing a wrestler and to be prepared to counter such a tactic. I have even heard some go so far as to say we should blame UFC matchmaker Joe Silva for always giving us striker versus wrestler match-ups. These fights tend to lead to upset fans but there is no way he can only have striker versus striker or wrestler versus wrestler. It is just not a viable solution.

Regardless, Rashad survived yet another third round disaster as he was put down by Rampage. Rashad fought through it to survive and Jackson is now taking some heat for not being more aggressive in going for the kill after the knock down.

In the end Rashad comes out on top and gets the title shot against current UFC light heavyweight champion “Shogun” Mauricio Rua (19-4). It is another grappler versus striker fight but the difference here is Rua’s underrated jiu jitsu skills. Not his ability to submit guys per say but more his sweeps and ability to get back to his feet.

As a fight fan what did you think of the main event at UFC 114?

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.

This war of words will finally come to blows inside the Octagon as the Pride veteran Rampage takes on “The Ultimate Fighter” (TUF) season two winner Evans, finally ending the feud. This fight has some major significance as it is the first ever UFC event headlined by two African-American fighters but also will help to shape the top of the UFC’s light heavyweight division.

It has been very apparent these men dislike each other to put it mildly. During their time on TUF Evens criticized Rampage for the way he handled his team even going so far as to say he quit on them. Jackson has called Rashad “fake” and said that he needs to be “shut up.” The tension between the two got even deeper during the conference-call for this event.

Rashad Evans said that Jackson was “perpetuating negative stereotypes with his public persona” while Quinton Jackson fired back saying Evans was “being gay”. As you can see from their verbal jabs, these men could not be more different.

Rashad grew up in a nice neighborhood in upstate New York where he was a National Junior College wrestling champion before moving on to wrestle at Michigan State where he graduated with a degree in Psychology. In contrast, Rampage grew up in some of the most downtrodden parts of the city fighting the the lure of the streets every day on his way to a rags to riches story.

Stylistically this fight is a very tight affair with Rashad having the perceived edge in wrestling and Jackson the edge in striking.  May fans that I have talked to seem to believe that the wrestling Rashad brings to the Octagon will be the determining factor in this fight. However one must realize that Rampage Jackson has done very well against wrestlers he has faced. He did very well against Olympic wrestler “Hendo” Dan Henderson (25-8) and beat another in a controversial decision when he faced “The Law” Matt Lindland (22-7).

I feel the biggest factor in this fight will be Rampage and the log layoff he has had due to filming the movie “A-Team”. Ring rust has always been a major factor in fights and he will have to have had an amazing training camp to not gas out in this fight.

That being said, Rampage will look to exploit the major weakness in Rashad, his chin. Rampage has very accurate and powerful strikes with a solid chin. I would not be shocked at some point in the beginning if we saw Rashad try and stand with Rampage.

If this fight goes three rounds I think Rashad takes the decision but my gut tells me to expect a Rampage knock out of Rashad Evans in the first or second round.

I think Dana White would be happy with a Rampage win as it sets up a re-match from the Pride days between Rampage and the current UFC light heavyweight champion, “Shogun” Mauricio Rua (19-4). That fight would be an easy sell for the UFC as they would be able to use the footage from the earlier fight to push this one.

Who do you think wins this fight and how?

Waylon comes from a wrestling background and works very good submissions despite the loss to Santino DeFranco (0-0) on “The Ultimate Fighter 9″. I have had the opportunity to watch Waylon compete at a NAGA event where he manhandled the competition.

Stepping in on short notice against a guy like Melvin will not be an easy task. Melvin was once known for his lack of ground skills but those have improved drastically since moving to New Mexico to train under Greg Jackson.

The UFC seems to be setting up Melvin with one grappler after another. Surprising to many people he was able to beat two men with very legitimate jiu jitsu games in Ronys Torres (6-2) and Gleison Tibau (18-6). The fight against Tibau many feel Melvin lost as it was a split decision at The Ultimate Fighter 9 Finale.

This is the first time in the history of the UFC that a fighter has lost the first elimination fight on The Ultimate Fighter to eventually find himself back inside the Octagon. Lowe is currently on a six-fight win streak with his last fight being against Steve Berger who he knocked out brutally in the first round at King of The Cage: Bad Boys 2.

This will be an interesting match-up as Waylon has never faced a striker with the speed that Melvin possesses and coming into this fight on short notice, while it will impress the UFC, it could be detrimental to him. It takes time to prepare properly for a man with as much potential as Melvin when the only thing really getting in his way is himself.

Diabate signed a four-fight deal with the UFC, according to MMA Junkie.  He’s bounced around promotions across the globe and had a four-fight losing streak in 2004 and 2005.  But, Diabate enters the Octagon on a five-fight winning streak, though against mediocre competition and lower.  Most recently, Diabate tapped out Robert Smith (0-1) in a rear naked choke at Gladiator Challenge in Lemoore, California last December.

Cane enters the fight off of a rise-halting knockout loss to seventh-ranked “Minotoro” Antonio Rogerio Nogueira (17-3).

Sanchez will return from a TKO versus Fighters.com and UFC lightweight champion “The Prodigy” BJ Penn (15-5-1) at UFC 107 in Memphis last December.

Hathaway won a unanimous decision over “Relentless” Paul Taylor (10-5-1) at UFC 105 in Manchester last November.

The matchup is a significant step-up for Hathaway, a prospect Fighters.com has had our eye on for awhile.  However, from Taylor to a recent lightweight title challenger, even though the fight is at 170 pounds, is quite a leap.

The first fight ended in a controversial decision for Machida.  The rematch should crown a definitive champion at 205 pounds.

If Rua wins, we could even see a mouthwatering matchup versus top contender “Spider” Anderson Silva (25-4), who also reigns as Fighters.com and UFC Middleweight Champion.  Silva has indicated his unwillingness to fight training partner Machida, but Silva and Rua have a war of words between them and a title fight would be a grudge match as well.

Fourth-ranked “Sugar” Rashad Evans (14-1-1) won a workmanlike unanimous decision over fifth-ranked Thiago Silva (15-2) at UFC 108 in Las Vegas January 2 with a return to his wrestling base.  Next for Evans is seventh-ranked “Rampage” Quinton Jackson (28-7) at UFC 114 in Las Vegas May 29.

Silva should get a second crack at a top ten opponent in his next fight.

Sixth-ranked Forrest Griffin (17-6) and eighth-ranked “Minotoro” Antonio Rogerio Nogueira (17-3) are likely to matchup at UFC 113, though the fight isn’t yet official.

Ninth-ranked Strikeforce champ “Dreamcatcher” Gegard Mousasi (24-2-1) expects he’ll fight rising star “King Mo” Muhammed Lawal (4-0) at Strikeforce in April on CBS.

Tenth-ranked “Axe Murderer” Wanderlei Silva (33-10-1) has been preparing to return after facial surgery, but into the middleweight division.

Fighters.com’s January Light Heavyweight Top Ten

1. “Dragon” Lyoto Machida (16-0)

2. “Spider” Anderson Silva (25-4)

3. “Shogun” Mauricio Rua (18-4)

4. “Sugar” Rashad Evans (14-1-1)

5. Thiago Silva (15-2)

6. Forrest Griffin (17-6)

7. “Rampage” Quinton Jackson (28-7)

8. “Minotoro” Antonio Rogerio Nogueira (17-3)

9. “Dreamcatcher” Gegard Mousasi (24-2-1)

10. “Axe Murderer” Wanderlei Silva (33-10-1)