Check out Dave's full play-by-play of the show as well.

We are LIVE from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in recession-affected Las Vegas, Nevada. I'm a little bit late in getting started here due to assorted technical difficulties. By technical difficulties, I'm referring both to the Wi-Fi inside the arena and an important discussion with Miguel Torres and Mike Straka about whether Kimbo Slice would rule WEC if he were allowed to compete in a new 105-pound division. I'll let you all guess the answer they gave to that.

Thus far Matt Brown beat Ryan Thomas in a match I missed and Mark Bocek beat Alvin Robinson with great wrestling ending in a rear naked choke.

Rafael Dos Anjos vs. Jeremy Stephens is next. As far as arena notes go, we have a huge media and Observer contingent here (Martin, Alvarez, Meltzer, Copp and Miller) and a pretty darned full arena. No celeb sightings yet, though Stephan Bonner got a celebrity reaction from one guy when he stepped out into the casino area a couple of hours ago.

Stephens won with a gosh darn HUGE uppercut. Man, oh man. This is when you know you are not at a boxing match. That thing came from Las Cruces and Dos Anjos still got hit. That really woke the crowd up. They had been somewhat subdued thus far, even for Arianny. Mike Chiappetta astutely pointed out that even with that memorable finish, Rogan asked Stephens about the uma plata he almost got caught in during the first round to start out the interview. Good ol' Rogan. Ever the Jiu Jitsu purist.

Aaron Riley vs. Jorge Gurgel is up next. Somebody This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it me the song, but Riley entered to that great techno song from the nightclub shootout scene in Collateral. Gurgel enters to some kind of hard metal again. Yawn.

Heck of a back and forth standing fight here. First off, if Stephens has best knockout locked up early after that uppercut, Riley almost certainly locked up best nutshot. Man, that kick to the balls in the first round was vicious. Riley got the big punch in and had Gurgel close to a finish in round 3, which ended up being the deciding round in the fight. As far as the crowd goes, there is a much lower bimbo quotient tonight. I guess when the economy goes...

Intermission time. I'll be back in a few minutes around Baba O'Riley time.

Baba O'Riley! (Teenage Wasteland) If UFC is listening, all I ask is that you never change that song and the finish of that montage (Bonnar vs. Griffin I). Crowd has filled all the way in. Online/print media is packed to the gills. We are ready for the PPV.

During the PPV intro we got a great pop for Couture and somewhat of a heel reaction for Lesnar. We also got tons of Couture highlights in all of the video packages. Brock really plays a great heel. I am less than certain that he is trying to, but if he is he is a master.

Damien Maia vs. Nate Quarry is first up on the live broadcast. This is your official Todd Martin Upset special. Maia enters to Jay-Z and Lincoln Park, while Quarry shows his 36 years by going back to Public Enemy. On the celeb front, 50 Cent and Chuck Zito are in the arenas, and I've been told that Jack Nicholson is here as well. The ladies love fiddy.

That was a thrashing by Maia. He almost immediately took down Quarry and went straight to mount. From there Maia got his back and moved in for a rear naked choke. Ho hum. Maia did at least name Bisping when asked for a future opponent. I wonder if management told the fighters not to be bland and actually name a future opponent. If not, that's interesting that Maia wants that fight. It seems like Silva should be able to handle either guy, but you never know. Could be a top contenders match in any case. Boos for Lesnar as he's shown entering. Very good pop for Couture for his entrance to the building. That's Kim Couture. Also, we got a celeb update of D.J. AM (Nicole Ritchie's ex-BF) and Ryan Howard (Philadelphia Phillies). I find it impossible that anyone could care about both of those people. Maybe one, but not both.

It's now time for Gabriel Gonzaga vs. Josh Hendricks. This is the official Ben Miller Upset special. Word of warning that my upset specials are always based on betting line movements, however. By the way, I forgot about this, but Gabriel Gonzaga is a man of great taste, entering to Mother by Danzig. Let's see if we get another great fight like on the undercard, or another one-sided squash like in the PPV opener.

Well, that was quick. Josh Hendricks needs to go back to the family picnic where he learned how to fight. Gonzaga decked him with a straight right and that was basically it. Todd and I are down. Bryan is claiming Brock as his Upset special. Actually he's saying he doesn't want to play our little game. Smart on his part.

No wonder fiddy is here. In the arena they are now showing a video package featuring fight highlights and 50 Cent rapping. That means most likely he was paid to appear. That means on the celeb front we are down to two guys mostly known through tabloid mentions and a bunch of athletes. From a pop culture standpoint, that may mean that this fight didn't cross over or that UFC is below its former peak. Maybe it's the economy, though. We'll see if De La Hoya draws more attention next month.

Tamdan McCrory vs. Dustin Hazelett is next up. I think the universal feeling in the media area is that we are ready for a more competitive fight than the first two. Death metal entrance for McCrory. Hazelett just turned himself babyface by entering to Clarence Clearwater Revival's Bad Moon Rising. Alvarez is saying entrance of the year. Clearly he hasn't seen a Terry Martin fight lately.

Alvarez is disgusted with me liking Billy Jean over CCR. Maybe he has a point. That beard on Hazelett is impressive as well.

Great shoulderlock win from an uma plata for Hazelett. He really got over tonight. Beard worked, CCR worked and Jiu Jitsu worked. Well done.

Anderson Silva got a big pop during the 15 minute break that is coming up. Sporting a hot pink sweatshirt, too. Maybe he was showing support for the protests today.

Alright, we are back with Joe Stevenson vs. Kenny Florian. Stevenson enters to Wanksta by 50 Cent. Is that a message to KenFlo? I say yes. Buffer likes the musical choice, as does Arianny.

Great win by Florian. He looked very sharp and professional standing. Then he got a takedown, moved to mount and when Stevenson gave up his back eventually sunk in the RNC. I mean, people said this undercard was garbage and boy has it ever lived up to its billing. Florian wants B.J.'s belt. He'll get his shot. I must say that Florian cuts a heck of a promo. He doesn't really have a superstar look, but he knows how to get over. Main event is next. I have a good feeling we may get an Over The Edge '98, where the undercard was beyond terrible but the main event delivered one of the most memorable spectacles in WWE history.

And heeeeeeeere we go. Brock vs. Randy. Brock disappoints me immediately by choosing Enter Sandman rather than Shout at the Devil. I was all ready to write that Shout has become my new favorite entrance theme -- replacing Country Boy Can Survive for Matt Hughes -- but instead he chose the most generic entrance theme (wrestlers, baseball closers, etc.) possible. Randy enters to Back in the Saddle by Aerosmith. Absolutely electric atmosphere. Even WEC featherweight champion Mike Brown is taking pictures of this one from ringside.

Before this starts I must say that I would love a "Brock is gonna kill you" chant right about now. I also have to point out that the 55%-45% text messaging margin for Randy would mean money would have him a -180 favorite. Instead he is an underdog. Usually that is good news for the favorite (Brock).

Read Dave's full play-by-play for the details, but I just have to say after round 1 that this is an incredible atmosphere. Very little is actually happening, but everyone is going nuts. Boos for 50 Cent.

Brock is the champ!!! He crumpled Randy with a straight right and then went Donkey Kong on his head until Yamasaki stopped it. To me it looked like Couture took about a dozen punches after he was trying to tap. Brock was great afterwards, soaking up the heel heat by jumping on the cage and looking out at the crowd. Big pop for Couture when he got up.

Time to wrap things up. Lesnar still looks a bit raw, but man is that guy a handful. He's just so big and strong. The winner of Mir vs. Nogueira will certainly have Jiu Jitsu going for them, but it is just going to be really hard to get an advantage on Lesnar if he keeps improving his punching at this rate. As for Mr. Couture, he's a star so he'll fight as long as he wants to. I'd imagine that he'd jump at a shot at one of the big light heavyweight stars. As for UFC, they put together a superb main event. They seem to be in the zone as far as promoting attractive shows. As for me I'll be in Tunisia during the 12/27 show but I will be back for either the 12/13 TUF finals show or the Super Bowl weekend show featuring St. Pierre vs. Penn. Until then, cheers.