I’m actually getting pumped for UFC 93.

The last time Rich Franklin headlined a card, he got his ass kicked all over the cage by Anderson Silva for the 2nd time.  The time before that, he headlined one of the worst selling PPV cards ever, UFC 72 (given he was fighting Yushin Okami, who we all know makes a career out of putting on horrible fights).  The time before that, he headlined UFC 64, where he first met Anderson, and just like he did at UFC 77, he got his ass kicked….only worse.

Dan Henderson last headlined UFC 82, where he fought Anderson, and then proceeded to get choked out in the 2nd round, before that…it was UFC 75, where he fought a valiant fight but ended up losing a unanimous decision to former UFC light-heavyweight champ Rampage Jackson.  Now, what was written above is completely irrelovent to the upcoming UFC 93 card, considering both fighters are back on winning ways, not to mention the fact that neither fighter is fighting the “X-Factor”, which in this case would be Anderson Silva….instead they’re fighting each other, which in my humble opinion is an excellent matchup that should have happened a long time ago when both fighters were a little more “primed”….but beggars can’t be choosers, we’re getting it now and that’s that. More after the jump!

So, UFC 93 takes place over in Ireland (enter Marcus Davis and his “Irish heritage”), and will officially be the first UFC card of the new year.  It’s an interesting fight card for the following reasons:

• As of right now it’s featuring four very talented light-heavyweights (Franklin, Hendo, Coleman, and Shogun), and the victors will find themselves much closer to contending for the light-heavyweight title.
• Mark Coleman and Shogun Rua are getting to have their long-awaited rematch.  The two previously met in the PRIDE organization, and Coleman left the victor after Shogun fell funny and broke the hell out of his right elbow. In case you don’t remember, Chute Boxe (Shogun’s camp), and Hammer House (Coleman’s camp), had a riot in the ring immediately following the stoppage due to Coleman’s all-to-familiar roid raging.  It’s a definite grudge match between the two, and I can’t wait to see how it goes down now that Coleman is back in the cage where he can drop elbows and keep his opponent in the corner w/o having to worry about “rope breaks”.
• Denis Kang, the former Spirit-MC heavyweight champion and former PRIDE, DREAM, K1, M1, and TKO veteran is making his “highly anticipated” debut.  He’ll take on UFC veteran Alan Belcher, which is no doubt a fight looking to simply boost him up quickly within the middleweight ranks.  That division sucks right now, and Denis has a big name and big credentials underneath him.  He could easily contend for the title after one or two victories, and I suspect that the UFC will do just that.  Belcher’s not a gimme though, if Kang comes unprepared he’s gonna get owned.

Now, the rest of the main card includes a welterweight bout between Marcus “The Irish Hand Grenade” Davis and Chris “Lights Out” Lytle, which should more or less be a brawl until one of them suffers a cut and gets the fight stopped, as well as a middleweight bout between the constantly-deteriorating Jeremy Horn and the psychotic grappling guru Rousimar Palhares….which I expect will end in the first round and via whatever submission Palhares can grab ahold of.

The undercard is garbage with the exception of Martin Kampmann’s welterweight debut, as well as the debut of UFC newcomer Ivan Serati.  All-in-all, this card doesn’t look too impressive, but I think that the main and co-main events are going to be awesome, and just watching the in depth look at the official UFC 93 website today made me jump around like I did when I got my first Nintendo 64.