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The much anticipated fight between Jon Fitch and Thiago Alves finally happens at UFC 117 on August 7th. The two fighter’s history will be talked about a lot as the fight approaches.

Having fought in the past these two fighters have been looking for a rematch for a very long time. In their first bout Thiago Alves fell to Jon Fitch and since then there have been 3 different fights scheduled in attempts to get these two fighters together again but none of them materialized. Assuming nothing goes wrong this time the two fighters will finally take part in their rematch on the 4th attempt.

Alves once climbed near the top of the sport and was a top contender in the welterweight class, looking forward to a shot at the belt. As of late he has been injury prone and even needed to correct some brain issues. Will his health issues become a problem as the two fighters square off in August?

Putting up long stretches without losing fights Jon Fitch has all of the tools necessary to fight with anyone out there and when he is at his best he is one of the top fighters in the sport. However, just like Fitch, Alves has strung together long stretches of awesome fights in his career.

It is difficult to tell what will happen in this rematch as these fighters have each grown and evolved a lot in their time since their last matchup 3 years ago.

Clay Guida will fight against Rafael Dos Anjos in a lightweight bout at UFC 117 on August 7th. These two fighters will square off after having good showings in their recent fights.

Clay Guida had recently had a small losing streak of 2 fights before snapping that little losing streak in his last fight. At his last fight he put away his opponent with an impressive submission move. The move was so impressive that it earned him a “Submission of the Night” award and bonus. This sort of momentum will be a key for him as he takes off against Dos Anjos.

Rafael Dos Anjos has been very hot as of late. He has managed to win his last 3 matches and has looked impressive in each of them. One of the fights was particularly noteworthy. Dos Anjos, like Guida, recently won a “Submission of the Night” award. Dos Santos lost his first two matches in the UFC, but he has been great since overcoming his slow start and looks like he is feeling comfortable in the UFC now.

These fighters have both shown that they can put their opponents away via submission so it will be a battle of positioning throughout this match as they resist the attempts of their opponent to bend them around in a favorable position.

The styles of these two fighters will be interesting as they square off. Look for a solid fight as these fighters both try to prove that they are on their way up in the UFC betting.

On August 7, 2010 Anderson Silva and Chael Sonnen will fight at UFC 117. The current Heavyweight champion is Anderson Silva and puts his title on the line against Chael Sonnen. Naturally, as the champion, Anderson Silva is the favorite but that doesn’t stop Sonnen from approaching the bout with a high degree of confidence.

Winning his last three fights Chael Sonnen is fighting at the highest level of his career. Touting his abilities Sonnen insists that he will be more than a challenge for Silva and this is a big factor in getting him ready for this match. I think we all know how Silva will react to this trash talk in the cage.

His 26-4 career mixed martial arts record proves Anderson Silva is a great champion. Even though he has lost 4 fights over the course of his career, it has been around 4 years since Silva has lost a fight. For most of his matches Silva has proven himself to be one of those fighters that can find a way to win his fights one way or another.

The winner of this fight will be the new UFC Heavyweight champion and you know that this fight will be in all of the conversations surrounding UFC 117 and has the makings of being one that will be talked about long after wards.

This bout is slated as the main event in the heavyweight match between two very large fighters. Brock Lesnar and Shane Carwin square off at UFC 116 on July 3rd 2010 and it is expected to be one very exciting fight.

With only fought 5 career mixed martial arts fights in his career to this point Lesnar has won 4 out of his 5 matches including a 3-1 record to date in the UFC. Known for his powerful attack Lesnar is the type of guy that will come hard and heavy at his opponent with huge swings looking for an early knockout. With such powerful fists his strikes are known for shattering his opponents.

Of the two Carwin is by far the more experienced fighter. He has fought 12 fights in his mixed martial arts career and he has not lost a single fight to this point, including his four victories in the UFC – amazing. In spite of his impressive experience, which should give him the advantage, he will be in for a tough match against Lesnar.

Nobody wants to underestimate the power of Lesnar but Carwin is probably the favourite. This fight is probably one for the ages as these two fighters will more than likely go toe to toe like only really big fighters can.

The key for victory for either fighter will be to stay upright. As can be expected whichever fighter gets knocked down will get trounced on with Thor like hammer blows as soon as he is down on the mat.

On July 3, 2010 Wanderlei Silva and Yoshihiro Akiyama will square off. This bout has been rumoured for ages, all the way back to 6 or 8 UFC. The much anticipated middleweight fight will take place at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.

These two fighters have an opportunity to show everyone what they are about and should display the different paths that brought them here. Silva is an extremely experienced mixed martial arts fighter and he has won 33 matches in his career while losing just 10. While these numbers are impressive it is important to note that he has only managed a record of 3-5 in his UFC career. While this success suggests that this level might be a bit overwhelming for him but to his credit, many of his losses have been to solid fighters. Still it is difficult to overlook a 3-5 record.

Akiyama has not lost a fight since March of 2005 and sports a 13-1 career record in mixed martial arts fights and has not fought in a year but will return to the sport well rested and healthy. His last fight earned him a “Fight of the Night” award and his return to the UFC has been much anticipated especially after his decision win over Avan Belcher last July.

It is difficult to gauge where Akiyama is at with just one fight in the UFC but he has an impressive career record. This fight should prove be a good measure of what we can expect from him in the future.

UFC 116 will see George Sotiropoulos and Kurt Pellegrino square off against each other. Both of these fighters have been great in the ring as of late and this matchup should be a good one.

George Sotiropoulos career record includes 12 wins out of his 14 total fights making him pretty successful though out his career. George’s star potential is on the rise as he has really been able to dominate his opponents in recent fights.

With the exception of his most recent win by decision he had not allowed a fight to go to decision in a long time. You never know what will happen if you let your opponent stick around until the end so look to him to continue fighting this way.

Kurt Pellegrino is not as much of a big name fighter as his opponent is but he has really been great on the mat as of late and has a unique opportunity in this fight to improve his stock. Kurt has the ability to set up his play and if he is able to dictate the pace of the match than he will definitely have a shot of upsetting his opponent.

An upset for Pellegrino would be huge as Sotiropoulos is considered to be a title contender. Pellegrino has the opportunity to kick Sotiropoulos out of contention with a victory here and if his victory is impressive even he could even find himself in talks surrounding an outside shot at the title.

At UFC 110 Krzysztof Soszynski and Stephan Bonnar fought a brutal and wild fight that lasted three rounds before it was waved off with a head butt from Krzysztof Soszynski. These two fighters will face off once again in an exciting rematch at UFC 116.

This rematch has the potential to be one of the most exciting fights in recent history as these two fighters have gone in different directions recently. It will be interesting to see if recent history plays a part in the outcome of this matchup.

Krzysztof Soszynski has been finding a way to win matches in whatever way he can and has been on a great streak for the past little while. Of his last 8 matches he has managed to win 7 of them and this kind of momentum can help a fighter like him maintain the attitude that it is his fight to lose.

Stephan Bonnar, we have seen what he is capable of, even in his fight at UFC 110. He battled through that one, but was not able to finish the fight. Even though he lost partly due to a cheap head butt it is difficult to excuse him for all of his past struggles as he has been on a bit of a slide lately. Having lost his last three matches Bonnar needs to win this one if he hopes to turn around his current trend.

The welterweight match between Chris Lytle and Matt Brown at UFC 116 on July 3rd 2010 should garner a lot of attention for these two fighters.

For those who follow these two fighters they know that they both display exciting styles and outcomes in their matches. Lytle has generally been the most popular in his fights.

A competitor in every match that he participates in Lytle has had several “fight of the night” awards recently and is known to stick in during tough matches. Having beaten several good fighters recently his losses came off against some tough fighters.

Matt Brown has been a solid fighter since being promoted to the UFC going 4-2 at this level of fighting. This fight will actually be a rematch of a previous fight while in the United Fight League. These two combatants squared off and had a good fight with the fight ending in the 2nd round when Lytle managed to pull out the victory with a guillotine choke on Brown.

Amped up and ready for this rematch Brown will be anxious to show the world that he is a different fighter than he was 3 years ago when last matched up against Lytle. Brown should expect Lytle to come at him with everything he has in this rematch.

Born May 30, 1978 Lyoto Carvalho Machida is the former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion. This Japanese Brazilian mixed martial arts (MMA) fighter from Salvador, Brazil is 6ft 1 inch with a 74 inch reach and is known as “The Dragon”.

At age twelve he started training in the art of Sumo and earned a black belt at age 13 and went on to Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu at age fifteen. In 2001 he won the Pan American Karate Tournament and other amateur karate tournaments.

In the 2000 Machida was the runner up for the Brazilian Sumo Championships. Machida made his MMA debut in Inoki’s New Japan Pro Wrestling. He then fought runner-up Stephan Bonner in The Ultimate Fighter 1.

With a 3-0 record Machida fought Michael McDonald and Sam Greco then beat B.J. Penn in K-1 Hero’s. Signing with the World Fighting Alliance he began to compete in the U.S. and in his debut fight he defeated Vernon White. After the WFA went out of business the UFC then acquired Machida’s contract.

Winning his UFC debut fighting Sam Hoger and he also beat David Heath and then he also beat Kazuhiro Nakamura at UFC 76 and was nominated for the 2009 ESPYS “Best Fighter” category. Machida fought Rashad Evans at UFC 98 and was crowned the new UFC Light Heavyweight Champion.

Machida’s first title defense came in 2009 when Mauricia “Shogun” Rua fought him. Machida fought Rua in a rematch for the title for UFC 113 on May 8th in Canada. This match had been postponed for several months and Lyoto Machida eventually lost this rematch to Mauricio Rua by knock-out at the 3:35 mark of round 1.

Saturday, May 29, 2010 at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, NV UFC 114 is takes place. This card features some great matchups and exciting fighters.

Quinton “Rampage” Jackson against Rashad “Sugar” Evans headlines this fight. This is a 205lb light heavyweight bout that was originally scheduled for UFC 98 and because of Jackson’s film schedule and talk of retirement, the fight was canceled and later rescheduled. The two men constantly butted heads during the Ultimate Fighter show and should prove to be a great grudge match.

Former light heavyweight champion Forrest Griffin verses Antonio Rogerio Nogueira is co-heading this fight and is also a light heavyweight bout. This will be Nogueuria’s first fight back since suffering a broken ankle in December. Forrest Griffin is coming off an embarrassing loss to Anderson Silva and a split decision win over Tito Ortiz back in November. The wild fighting style of Forrest Griffin and the very technical fighting style of Antonio Rogerio Nogueira should make for a very exciting fight.

The main card will be also featuring John Hathaway vs. Diego Sanchez, Michael Bisping vs. Dan Miller, and Dong Hyun Kim vs. Amir Sadollah. The undercard rounds out with fights from Todd Duffee vs. Mike Russow, Melvin Guillard vs. Thiago Tavares, Efrain Escudero vs. Dan Lauzon, Chris Leben vs. Aaron Simpson, Luiz Cane vs. Cyrille Diabate, Joe Brammer vs. Aaron Riley and Jesse Forbes vs. Ryan Jensen.

Coinciding with the 2010 UFC Fan Expo, which takes place May 28-29 at the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino fans should be prepared for a great weekend at the expo followed by the explosive fights at UFC 114.