Thiago Alves said last week that he wanted Jon Fitch as early as UFC 114. Close enough; He’s going to take the bearded wrestler at UFC 115 in Vancouver, according to Dana White’s Twitter.

ALVES vs FITCH in vancouver!!!!!! …The vancouver card is looking very good!!!

Yes, it is. We still don’t know what the deal with the main event is, but let’s take a look at the rest of it. We have Fitch v. Alves, Carlos Condit v. Rory McDonald, and Tyson Griffin v. Evan Dunham. While those three fights might not bring the numbers that GSP does, They are three great fights that will make the hardcore fans squeal with delight.

As for the fight, I still like Fitch. He needs to be more exciting, but we saw GSP take advantage of Alves’ takedown defense. Unless he has seriously improved, I expect the same from Fitch.

There are a bunch of people who are rooting for Bobby Lashley to fail. After Brock Lesnar came over from the WWE, people were worried that others would follow. Since Lashley was the next to attempt it, he has drawn a ton of heat from the hardcore MMA fans.

However, what they don’t realize is that Lashley does have some real talent. A strong wrestling background in his back pocket, he is training with American Top Team to improve the other areas of his game. While he hasn’t been tested yet, he is 5-0, and sure to start facing tougher competition in Strikeforce.

It does have the look of a WWE t-shirt, doesn’t it? I do really like the look of the lightning graphics.

MMA Warehouse has this one for 35.99.

For more TapouT shirts, check out The 3rd String Store.

The Dean of Mean. What a nickname.

Whatever you choose to think about Keith Jardine, you could never say that he had it easy in the octagon. He has taken on only the best of the best, fighting against Forrest Griffin, Chuck Liddell, Wanderlei Silva and Brandon Vera just to name a few. Sure, he’s come out on the losing end more than a few times, but it’s not for lack of competition.

Jardine holds some hardcore fans despite not having the best win-loss record in the octagon. TapouT pleasures those fans with this shirt. The black and red color scheme really makes the shirt.

MMA Warehouse has the hookup for 27.99.

For more UFC 110 gear, Check out The 3rd String Store.

We went into this fight with a tacit understanding of the situation. Gray Maynard was fighting for a title fight tonight. He didn’t just need to win, he needed to impress. He needed to part of a solid main event that was not only a quality fight, but one where he took care of Nate Diaz in an exciting way.

Unfortunately, it looks like Maynard took that to heart a little too much. Instead of the focused power striker that we are used to Maynard being, we got a trash-talking, bar hook throwing sub-par version of himself. He may have won a split decision, but he lost his shot at champion B.J. Penn, and maybe even some of the hardcore fans as well.

Photo by Dave Mandel of Sherdog

I was really disgusted by what I saw from “The Bully” last night. I really thought that we were going to see an advanced fighter avenge his only loss (even if it doesn’t really count) with passion and precision. I thought that when Diaz did the Nate Diaz thing and threw his hands up and said something no one understood because he can barely speak English, Gray would throw a right hand down the pipe and put Stockton, California’s (second) favorite son down for good.

Instead, what did Maynard do when Diaz called him a bitch? He called him a bitch back and threw a lunging hook that made one of the best prospects in the lightweight division look like he had been mainlining tequila. And then he did it again. And again.

So, instead of “The Bully” taking on Penn, it will be up to New Jersey’s Frankie Edgar to try and dethrone the champ. Edgar’s boxing is better than the good version of Maynard’s, let alone the atrocity that we saw on Monday night. There will be people who write about Maynard’s victory over Edgar. They will say that it’s a travesty that Edgar is getting this shot now.

Well, here is what we know: Dana White (and I) hate people who piss away opportunity. That’s what Maynard did tonight. He proved that to him, tonight was more about revenge against the big mouthed Diaz than it was the title shot.

That’s not only misguided, it’s just dumb.

If you watched UFC 100, you likely saw Brock Lesnar absolutely lose his mind at the end of his fight. He went up to a barely conscious Frank Mir to talk more trash after winning the fight, he gave the entire Vegas and Pay Per View audiences the one finger salute, and he verbally berated the UFC’s biggest sponsor of the night, Bud Light, because they wouldn’t pay him. SI.com transcribed the whole thing to make my life a little bit easier.

“I’m going to go home tonight and drink a Coors Light because Bud Light won’t pay me,” said Lesnar, pointing at the logo of the presenting sponsor of the event. “I’m going to sit down with my friends and family and hell, I might even get on top of my wife tonight.”

While Lesnar may have looked like an uncontrollable loose cannon after the fight, he was a changed man when he walked into the press room soon after. Wearing a wide smile and holding a Bud Light, he took a big swig as he looked at White and said, “I love Bud Light! I must have caught a hard knee to the head.”

Sure, the apology is nice, but I just ain’t gonna buy it. Lesnar’s act after the fight hasn’t been the only thing about him that has bothered the hell of me this week. I hated the scene of him flipping out during the video of him losing to Mir to first time around. I hated seeing Dana White have to tell Lesnar to stay put a couple of different times during the pre-fight press conferences. I hate the fact that the face of the heavyweight division is a guy that Cagewriter’s Maggie Hendricks said has been “grumpy” since his amateur wrestling days.

You see, Brock hasn’t been around all that long. He doesn’t understand the fight that we’ve all gone through for the last few years. We, as MMA fans, fight for legitimacy every day. If you read us here, you’ve seen the struggle for a long time. However, when the main event star of the UFC and reigning king of the heavyweight division is cursing out sponsors and talking about screwing his 42 year old wife, MMA looks more and more like the WWE. That’s not good.

There’s something else that Brock doesn’t likely know about. The rage of the man that signs his checks. You see, Dana White is not a patient guy. He’s dealt with quite a few men in day that he deemed “un-controllable.” There was this guy named Tito Ortiz. He was a huge star. He made the UFC tons of money, then he made some decisions that Dana didn’t like. Soon, he found himself losing quite a few fights. He found himself booked in fights that were designed to put over his opponents. He fought up and coming stars like Rashad Evans and Lyoto Machida. After his contract was up, he was told to go elsewhere. Most recently, he was completed banned from the UFC 100 Fan Expo.

Brock, don’t end up like Tito. Don’t wind up in the nether regions of the MMA world because you wouldn’t fall in line. Instead of giving the hardcore fans that hate you the finger, just ignore us. After all, if you keep winning, we’ll all have to deal with you being around. If you don’t, Dana White and his band of merry men will find ways to destroy you.