When the two agreed to fight on the UFC 114 card, it was no surprise that the two were back at the arguing.

“(Beating Evans will) be like a moral victory for me,” Jackson said. “Rashad, he has no title. He couldn’t even hold onto the belt after one fight. Why am I even fighting this guy? Then I did The Ultimate Fighter and I know why I’m fighting this guy. Because I want to teach guys like this a lesson — to keep his mouth shut when you aren’t on the same level as the next man.

“It’s not up there with a title shot or even a big accomplishment. Who is this guy? He has done nothing compared to what I’ve done. I’m the first ever undisputed champion of my sport. So fighting this guy is kind of like a step backwards.”

The bad blood between these two doesn’t run one way, as Evans had much to say about Rashad as well.

“It’s just the way he is — just like that last comment,” Evans said. “Who am I to fight him? Who is he to fight me? I beat Forrest (Griffin). You didn’t beat Forrest, bro. You lost. You almost got finished in the second round.”

So as the two are set to square off tomorrow evening, will the hype sell this fight?

First of all, I know you’ve probably been asked this many times but your first fight in the UFC was in Montreal, how do you feel fighting on Canadian soil again?

Oh it’s awesome to be back, being in front of the Canadian fans gives me goosebumps.  There are so many great fighters from Canada, and it’s been amazing to move up the ranks with them.

With your training did you do anything different, and what skills did you focus more on?

Like any other fight, I prepare hard, and train for specific opponents.

I heard you spent a few weeks in Thailand, how was that?

It was awesome, I do it every year, just to get out and train my Muay Thai.

Johnny Hendricks is a well-rounded wrestler, is there anything special you did to prepare yourself for him?

I’ve prepared my wrestling, working on escapes, but I just plan to take the fight to him.

You’re known as a submission guy, do you see this fight going to the ground?  If so, do you think your BJJ can counter his wrestling?

Like any MMA fight, go out there and see what happens.  I know what to do when it happens.

What do you think you bring to this fight that could possibly give Hendricks his first loss?

I’m here to win, I’ve trained hard for the fight, and I’m proving that on Saturday.

You fought on the same card with Hendricks at UFC 107, did you get a chance to catch his fight?

Yeah, I got a bit of it and then watched it again online to see how he fought.  It wasn’t the most exciting finish, but it was still impressive.

Any final thoughts you’d like to share?

I’d like to thank all the fans for the support, and hope to bring the win home.

Since TJ’s inception into the UFC he’s been nothing but impressive.  His first fight went the distance were he won in a split decision.  His second fight against Dong Hyun Kim didn’t play out the way he wanted but he did what he did. In his last fight he was able to pull off an impressive TKO victory over Kevin Burns, which won him Knockout of the night honors.

It seems TJ might be facing his toughest opponent against Hendricks, but he believes he has what it takes to be the one to give Hendricks his first loss in MMA.

Along with TJ, there are many prominent Canadian fighters making their way to the octagon this Saturday.

Jason MacDonald, who was released from the UFC last year, is making his return after going 3-1 in smaller organizations.  As well Tim Hague who went 1-2 in his UFC career is back in after a release was issued not just two months ago.

UFC Veterans Sam Stout and Patrick Cote are also set to fight on the main card against different opponents.  Cote’s last fight was against Anderson Silva well over a year ago.  So here’s hoping cage rust doesn’t set in.

Other then the three main fights, this is looking to be a UFC 58 in the making as these talented fighters from Canada are facing off against their American counterparts.  Here’s hoping Canada brings home the win, like the Olympic hockey team.

During the fight Shogun discoved and exposed the cracks in Machida’s almost impenetrable game.  Machida had never lost a round in his 15 pro fights, but Shogun broke apart his game with leg kicks and tenacity.

However the Los Angeles crowd mostly reacted with disbelief when Machida won the unanimous decision with identical 48-47 edges on all three judge’s scorecards.  Dana White even disagreed with the decision so he did something about it.  He ordered a rematch almost immediately following the fight.

A good sportsman Shogun is, he didn’t let the decision get him worked up.

“This is all in the past for me right now,” Rua said through a translator. “And what gives me comfort is the fact that I’m having another shot at a title, and I’ll fight for the world championship again.”

The pressure is on Machida in the rematch to prove he’s still a confounding opponent. Machida, who had surgery on his left hand one week after the victory, has studied everything from sumo to boxing, yet he built his streak of eight consecutive UFC wins on a game grounded in the traditional martial arts, rather than wrestling.

“There’s not too much that’s going to change,” Machida said. “I’ve worked on certain areas of my game to improve, but for the most part I’m going to come in and apply my strategy. … The great thing about the rematch is that we’re both a lot more familiar with each other than we were the first time we met, so I think it just makes the chance all that much greater for a better fight this time around.”

Rua spent six months training for Machida last year, and he ratcheted up his work level for the rematch, even perhaps getting a head start while Machida recovered from surgery.

“I’m training for all situations so I can get no surprises when the fight starts,” Rua said. “But actually I have to also think on different game plans and different approaches to the fight in case Lyoto comes up with something different. I have to be prepared.”

Rua largely hurt Machida with a nonstop attack of leg kicks, preventing much of Machida’s unorthodox style from ever getting off the ground. Yet such a strategy sometimes doesn’t show up on the scorecards in MMA, where judges must weight multiple disciplines and methods of showing progress in a match.

Some judges highly value leg kicks, which were used by Jose Aldo and Matt Hughes in recent weeks to dominate fights. Other judges aren’t impressed by the kicks, which cause soreness and movement-hindering bruises, but no blood or drama.

Rua would love to see more concrete guidelines for scoring such an attack, since he clearly got little benefit from the strategy at Staples Center.

“I don’t think about controversy or any thoughts or what happened, because I think this can only hinder an athlete,” Rua said. “The fight sometimes doesn’t end really as the fans want, because it’s not easy to do whatever you want. Obviously I always fight trying to look for a knockout, and that’s what I’ll do again. But Lyoto is a great fighter, so it’s not an easy thing to achieve.”

However there’s one person who thinks the fight will end fast, but not in Kimbo’s favor.  Matt Mitrione believes he’s going to end the fight quickly and violently.

“I think I’m going to punch him in his face and I think he’ll go to sleep,” Mitrione says. “I’m hard-nosed and I’m aggressive and I will take the fight to him and it will be the fight that the Houston Alexander-Kimbo fight should have been. And I will dot him in his face and I think once he tastes his own blood it will make him think, ‘This shit kind of sucks.”

It’s funny how effective the Kimbo-Alexander fight was for getting fans to buy into the next fight, with the promise that it will be a war.

However, this writer among many more, believes Mitrione is right.  He’s going to punch Kimbo and put him to sleep.  But it won’t be the last of Kimbo that’s for sure.

Dana White told the press and the pre-fight conference that the winner will indeed receive a title shot.  It was to be Fitch-Alves II who would face off against GSP, but the UFC wants a fresher matchup for the current champ.

As of Wednsday, both fighters were unaware of the high stakes on the fight.  Both fighters told press that they are focused on their fight first.  Daley went on to say if he were to win, he would consider turning down the fight.

“As much as I am confident,” Daley said. “I don’t want to go in there with negative things in the back of my head. I rather be 100% confident, 100% focused, I want to know everything in my personal life and in training is 100%. A good structure to my training, everything’s working how it should be to prepare for such a huge test. Cause once you fall from top of the mountain, it’s hard to get back up.”

Daley, whose fight this Saturday is only his third inside the Octagon, holds (T)KO UFC wins over Martin Kampmann and Dustin Hazelett.

Koscheck, coming off wins over Frank Trigg and Anthony Johnson, has shared the cage with St-Pierre before, losing by unanimous decision at UFC 74 back in August 2007.

This Following weekend Anderson Silva defended his belt against Demian Maia, which proved to be a lackluster fight with the only entertaining going on was the dancing.  This wasn’t the first time Silva acted this way in the cage. In recent bouts against Patrick Cote and Thales Leites, Silva danced around the ring but never finished the fights in previous fashion.

Henderson and Silva met back in 2008 to unify the Pride and UFC Middleweight belt, in which Silva was able to lock a submission and win the fight.  Ever since then Silva hasn’t been able to finish his fights like he used to.

“I think he fights like an idiot,” Henderson said in a chat with MMAFighting.com readers. “I don’t think anyone knows what’s going through his head these days, why he’d fight like that.”

Dan Henderson is set to take on Jake Shields for the Strikeforce Middleweight belt this coming weekend.

During the fight however, Silva looked more like a schoolyard bully, then an MMA fighter.  During the first two rounds Silva mocked Maia, dancing around and looking like a fool in front of millions of fans.  Silva, who tends to throw in some dance moves, was unable to throw in his usual combinations of punches.

By the last three rounds, Silva looked to be out of it mentally and physically.  At that point, Maia was giving it all he could, and even connected some punches with Silva.

“Demain actually surprised me with some of his punches, and I apologize to everybody,” Silva said

Those punches weren’t enough for Maia to make any points, but he did make more fans after sticking out 5 full rounds with Silva.

What shocked the fans was how disrespectful Silva was during the fight.  At the beginning he was a fan favorite, but by the third the crowd was cheering on Maia.  At one point UFC President Dana White even walked over to the corner of Silva.  White had the belt, threw it at the feet of Silva’s manager and went to the back of the arena.  White exploded during the post fight conference.

“Believe me, I’ll answer the questions of what a disgrace the main event was.  To end it the way that we did was an embarrassment for the UFC, the Fertittas, the UAE, and me.

White even went on to talk about Silva’s showboating in the ring.

“If you’re that talented, be Mike Tyson.  Go in there and finish.  I’m so blown away and disgusted and saddened.”

“I don’t know what got into me tonight. I wasn’t as humble as I should have been.”

“Too good, man. Too good,” Edgar said, as he tried holding back the tears. Though the judges were unanimous and Edgar dominated on two of the three scorecards, it wasn’t always an easy match to call, especially the first two rounds. But as the bout went on, Edgar became more active and kept getting through Penn’s defense.

The biggest sign it was going to be Edgar’s night: he completed a takedown of Penn and landed some shots on the mat, something that had not been done in six years.

When the final horn sounded, Edgar immediately raised his hands over his head in celebration while Penn immediately went to his corner.

“I just hope I can be half the champion he was.”

When the fight started, it was clear the fans were cheering for Etim, as they cheered his name.  After some unsuccessful takedowns, RDA was caught in a guillotine and had it held for well over a minute.  After a quick recovery, RDA threw some knees into Etims side, although it looked like his spine from the ref.

By the 2^nd Dos Anjos continued to control the bout in the second round, took Etim down, and kicked into an armbar.  In the end, RDA walked out of the ring head high, and a nice chunk of change for submission of the night

What looked like Munoz second loss in the UFC against another TUF fighter, ended up being a victory over the TUF 3 Winner.  Grove was able to pick apart Munoz standing up with knees and punches that rocked the smaller shorter Munoz.  Once on the ground, Grove executed some perfect submission attempts but was unable to pull anything off.

As the 2^nd round came around, it looked like Munoz was in to deep, but after he got Grove on the ground it was all over.  Munoz was able to throw in 15 or 16 unanswered punches as Grove huddled on the ground trying to survive.

“Yeah I was hurt,” Munoz told UFC color analyst Joe Rogan. “You gotta have will to survive in the cage. I want to make it to the top. That’s what you need to make it to the top.”

For Munoz it was a great comeback, and no matter what he always seems to put on a show.  After a two round battle, both fighters were awarded fight of the night honors.