Rich Franklin and Cung Le in the main event.

Since we last discussed Saturday’s UFC on Fuel 6 event – you know, the one with the brand new ring girls that more than make up for a lack of Brittney Palmer and Arianny Celeste – there has been another change of note to the preliminary fight card. Kyung Ho Kang will no longer be fighting Alex Caceres. If Dana White could have replaced Kang with a guy named Kodos, I think the Internet would have exploded. Alas, Kang has been replaced by Motonobu Tezuka, who has won 12 of his last 13. Other than that, the rest of the card hasn’t changed and it still looks fantastic. And for those of you joining us for the 7 PM ET re-broadcast, check out Lobster Monster’s awesome-as-always primer.

In the main event, former UFC middleweight champion Rich “Ace” Franklin will face off against former Strikeforce champion Cung Le, but we’re going to be doing the typical With Leather Live Discussion starting from the very first bout between David Mitchell and Lim Hyun-Gyu, which you may remember was the first fight that changed Riki “Killer Bee” Fukuda and Tom DeBlass. Hopefully there won’t be any other changes.

But this UFC event is just a tad different from the past PPV events that we’ve covered. This one, obviously, is live from China, which means that it will air on Fuel TV… at 9 AM ET. Is that too early for you? No. Because I’ll be up bright and early to watch the live action and chat the whole way through. Then I’ll also be back for the 7 PM ET re-broadcast on Fuel TV to watch it all over again and chat it up as well. Don’t worry, I’ll be doing my best to play spoiler police in case anyone tries to get funny.

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These two activities are very far apart in the 'having fun' spectrum.

While you were probably trying to get your wife to return the veggie burgers she purchased for the sparsely attended barbeque you planned,  40-year-old Chuck Liddell spent his weekend valiantly kicking, punching and gasping his way to a stirring defeat at the hands of MMA veteran Rick Franklin. You can find the whole fight here.

Liddell displayed the fighting competence he’s lacked in years early in the fight, laying into Franklin with blasts that brought to mind his early career mixed martial arts dominance. At one point late in the fight he shot off a high-kick that would have probably left me writhing around with a torn groin had I attempted it. He even broke his opponent’s left arm. Alas, by the end of the match he had dissolved into a sluggish ball of wheezing that left his actions reckless and his punches long and slow. Franklin jumped at an opening uncovered when Liddell wildly missed a righthanded desperation haymaker and finished the fight with a well placed jab to the chin that knocked Liddell out cold. Thus ended an era.

The former middleweight champion [Rick Franklin] fought through a broken arm suffered when he blocked a Liddell kick, ultimately recovering to knock out Liddell at 4:55 of the first round in front of nearly 20,000 fans at a sold-out GM Place.

The crowd, which roared for both men all night, collectively rose as one to celebrate their performance. The win makes Franklin an instant player in the light-heavyweight division. It also probably makes him the last man to ever enter the Octagon against Liddell.

“It’s kind of a bittersweet victory because I like Chuck. Chuck and I are friends,” said Franklin (28-5-1), his arm in a sling and bathing in ice following the contest. -Montreal Gazette

An MMA icon for almost a decade, Liddell made up for his lack of top flight technical ability by displaying extreme toughness and white Mr. T type vibes that eventually made him the face of a fledgling sports dynasty. Though he may not have been the best fighter, he sure was the most entertaining and the ‘media darling’ badge he earned enabled his legacy to grow even as his fighting ability diminished. As MMA fighting quickly became popular, newly minted fans ascribed to the time held tradition that ‘whoever looks the baddest probably is the baddest’. And Liddell looked the baddest.

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Anderson Silva has Rich "Ace"Franklin considering retirement: 

Yes, the Buddha did enjoy violence.  Joe Rogan should be a Comparative Religions professor. -KD