OK, so it's not the best nickname (but then again, neither is Bedlam, which is the name of the June event in England). But nicknames don't matter. What does matter, however, is the fact that this is a helluva card. It's the best so far this year, and that's because it has everything that makes a well-rounded card: big-name undercard fights that have title implications (Ortiz/Machida and Silva/Jardine), quality names on the prelim fights (Rameau Sokoudjou, Rich Clementi), a few solid debuts (Shane Carwin, Dong Hyun Kim, Goran Reljic, Rousimir Palhares), and an anticipated title fight (Penn/Sherk). So, while I take the time to wonder why the people in Las Vegas are so damn lucky, I'll let you read my preview for this event.

Preliminary Fights

HW: Shane Carwin (8-0) over Christian "The Hungarian Nightmare" Wellisch (8-3) - Wellish is a UFC veteran (2-1) and a member of a top team at the American Kickboxing Academy, but Carwin is undefeated and he is one of the fighters that has been brought in to help bring some life back to the UFC HW division. Carwin has never had a fight last longer than one round, so expect this one to end early.

WW: Dong Hyun Kim (9-1-1) over Jason Tan (5-2) - Kim is a top WW prospect making his UFC debut, and the DEEP veteran should be able to handle a less experienced Tan, who hails from England, in this fight.

WW: Yoshiyuki Yoshida (9-2) over Jon "War Machine" Koppenhaver (5-1) - Yoshida is a Shooto veteran with wins over some quality opponents; War Machine was on TUF 6, but I'm not as high on him as some other people in the sport. I think that Yoshida uses his experience and power to defeat Koppenhaver in this one.

LW: Rich "No Love" Clementi (31-12-1) over Terry Etim (10-1) - Etim is another British submission fighter, and he holds a 1-1 record in the UFC. Clementi is one of the hottest fighters in the UFC LW division, with three straight wins (he has five straight overall). He is extremely well-rounded, and it looks like he'll look to stand up with Etim in this one to pull out the victory.

LHW: Rameau Sokoudjou (4-2) over Kaz Nakamura (11-7) - Sokoudjou became a top-ten LHW fighter after two straight upset wins in PRIDE last year, but Lyoto Machida showed that he has a lot to work on to become a top fighter again. Luckily, he's only 24 years old, and he trains with a top camp at Team Quest, which means that he should be prepared for this comeback fight against Nakamura, another PRIDE veteran and Japanese judo champion.

MW: Rousimar Palhares (7-1) over Ivan Salaverry (12-6) - Palhares is one of the young guns part of a rebuilding Brazilian Top Team camp, and his Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu experience has led him to some notable wins already in his career. He should be able to take care of Salaverry, a UFC veteran (3-3) who might be competing in his last fight in the top organization if he loses.

Main Card

MW: Thiago Silva (12-0) over Antonio Mendes (14-2) - Silva was originally scheduled to face Rashad Evans on this card before he was moved to UFC 85 to face Chuck Liddell (a fight that has since been scrapped), and Mendes is a replacement with little experience and little hype surrounding him. Mendes fights with Europe Top Team, a camp that I have honestly never heard of before. Silva is an American Top Team member, and he should end this fight early with his devastating striking.

LHW: Lyoto Machida (12-0) over Tito Ortiz (15-5-1) - Ortiz has always struggled with strikers (Chuck Liddell, Forrest Griffin) that he couldn't take down, and Machida is a karate expert out of Brazil with decent wrestling. This fight could go one of a few ways, and the only way that Ortiz wins it is if he grinds out Machida and uses his superior conditioning to wear the karate man down. If anything else happens, Machida takes it.

LHW: Wilson Gouveia (10-4) over Goran Reljic (7-0) - Reljic is a Jiu-Jitsu champion who trains with Roger Gracie at Gracie Barra UK, and the Croatian comes into his first UFC fight as a much-hyped prospect. Unfortunately for him, he is facing another solid Jiu-Jitsu fighter with more experience and a higher-level camp - American Top Team - to his credit. Gouveia has won four straight in the UFC, and there's no way that he lays down just because Reljic has more hype surrounding him.

LHW: Wanderlei Silva (31-8-1) over Keith Jardine (13-3-1) - Sure, Silva has lost three in a row and four of his last six, but that doesn't change the fact that he is still one of the most feared strikers in all of MMA. Jardine might train with a solid camp in Jackson's Submission Fighting, but he'll be in trouble if he takes Wanderlei lightly for even one second of this fight.

LW title: B.J. Penn (12-4-1) over Sean Sherk (32-2-1) - B.J. Penn is one of the top three pound for pound fighters in the world for a reason. And that reason is because his is just as well-rounded as guys like Georges St. Pierre and Anderson Silva. Penn has amazing flexibility that he translates into his Jiu-Jitsu game, and he can submit just about any fighter in the world at just about any time. Sherk, a wrestler by trade, has never been submitted and has amazing cardio, but he comes into this fight with question marks still surrounding him stemming from a failed steroid test from last July. Sherk has also won 16 of his last 17 fights, and his only loss during that period is to George St. Pierre, the current welterweight champion of the UFC.

I'm finally willing to forgive Sherk for cheating (and that's exactly what he did, no matter how you color it), but I still don't think that he can defeat Penn, who has a new-found focus on his fighting life since fighting Jens Pulver last June. B.J. Penn will become the first person to ever submit Sean Sherk.


Ouch

If you have a few minutes...