Thomas Gerbasi, UFC – For a little over a minute, former WWE superstar Brock Lesnar looked like he was going to have his way with former UFC heavyweight champion Frank Mir in his Octagon debut tonight at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas. But at this level of the game, it only takes one mistake to end up on the losing end of the equation, and Mir proved it, submitting Lesnar 90 seconds into the opening round.

Thomas Gerbasi, UFC – After surviving a horrific childhood accident that saw him get run over by a truck, it’s hard to count Antonio Rodrigo ‘Minotauro’ Nogueira out of anything, let alone a mixed martial arts fight. So after he took a pounding from Tim Sylvia for ten minutes of their bout tonight at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, it wasn’t a sign to make your way for the exit; he was just getting warmed up, and in the third round, Nogueira, the comeback kid of MMA, finally found the opening he needed and he submitted Sylvia to win the interim UFC Heavyweight Championship.

Thomas Gerbasi, UFC – The win was quick, decisive, and career-altering for Frank Mir, a talent-laden prizefighter who had proved that he needed a little adversity to truly show what he could do when the bell rang in the Octagon.

Thomas Gerbasi, UFC – “I played his game for almost three rounds,” said a weary but happy Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira after his fight with Tim Sylvia Saturday night in the main event of UFC 81. “He played my game for two minutes and I won the fight.”