Evan Dunham vs. Sean Sherk official; UFC 119...

An intriguing lightweight matchup between fast-rising prospect Evan Dunham (11-0 MMA, 4-0 UFC) and former champion Sean Sherk (33-4-1 MMA, 7-4 UFC) is now official for the main card of UFC 119.

Featuring a heavyweight rematch between Frank Mir and Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, UFC 119 takes place Sept. 25 at Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis and airs live on pay-per-view and Spike TV.

The addition of the Dunham-Sherk matchup completes the evening's five-fight main card, which airs live on pay-per-view. Two additional bouts are promised for the evening's Spike TV-broadcast portion of the event.

Sherk, 36, has not been seen in the cage since UFC 98, when he dropped a unanimous decision loss to now-champion Frankie Edgar. He was originally scheduled to fight Rafaello Oliveira at UFC 108 but fell prey to the event's injury curse after agreeing to fight Jim Miller on the night's main card.

Two months later, Sherk was scratched from a bout with Clay Guida at UFC on Versus 1 due to another undisclosed injury. Since then, the former champion has been whisper-quiet on his career plans.

A disciple of Minnesota Mixed Martial Arts, Sherk dropped to lightweight when the UFC re-introduced the 155-pound belt at UFC 64. In a bloody fight, he defeated Kenny Florian to become the promotion's second champion in the weight class.

Sherk defended the belt against Hermes Franca at UFC 73, but his title was taken away five months later when the California State Athletic Commission flagged him for performance enhancers. He steadfastly denied the use of any illegal substances.

Sherk returned to action almost a year later and failed to regain his title at UFC 84 when B.J. Penn ‚ who had scooped up the undisputed belt against Joe Stevenson at UFC 80, beat him by TKO.

The 28-year-old Dunham, meanwhile, put his jiu-jitsu black belt to impressive use with a decision victory over division standout Tyson Griffin at UFC 115. The Oregon native surprised many fans by controlling Griffin, a well-known escape artist, on the canvas and keeping back control throughout much of the fight.

The victory built on another savvy grappling performance when Dunham armbarred "The Ultimate Fighter 8" winner Efrain Escudero and picked up an extra $30,000 check for "Submission of the Night."

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UFC 117 official with 11 bouts, Silva vs. Sonnen Title Fight headlines Aug. 7 Event

As expected next month's UFC 117 event is set with an 11-fight lineup.

The pay-per-view event takes place Aug. 7 at Oracle Arena in Oakland, Calif.

UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva meets challenger Chael Sonnen in the night's main event, and top welterweight contenders Thiago Alves and Jon Fitch meet in the co-headliner and a long-awaited rematch.

Without a Spike TV "UFC Prelims" special to precede the PPV broadcast, just three additional bouts are guaranteed TV time: lightweights Rafael dos Anjos vs. Clay Guida, former welterweight champ Matt Hughes vs. Ricardo Almeida, and heavyweights Junior Dos Santos vs. Roy Nelson in a bout to determine a new title challenger.

The headliner marks Silva's first fight since a bizarre victory over Demian Maia at UFC 112. Despite dominating the first two rounds of the April bout, Silva let up in the final rounds, and the fight went to the judges. The performance, which included taunting from Silva, earned the fighter the wrath of UFC president Dana White, who called the fight "embarrassing" and threatened to terminate his contract if he sees similar performances.

Sonnen, of course, has provided no shortage of motivation for his opponent. Sonnen – who earned his title shot with a string of decision victories over contenders Dan Miller, Yushin Okami and Nate Marquardt – has spent the past couple months criticizing the champ at every turn. The long-brewing feud comes to a head in less than three weeks.

The official UFC 117 lineup includes:

MAIN CARD

* Champ Anderson Silva vs. Chael Sonnen (for middleweight title)
* Thiago Alves vs. Jon Fitch
* Rafael dos Anjos vs. Clay Guida
* Ricardo Almeida vs. Matt Hughes
* Junior Dos Santos vs. Roy Nelson

PRELIMINARY CARD

* Tim Boetsch vs. Thiago Silva
* Dustin Hazelett vs. Rick Story
* Christian Morecraft vs. Stefan Struve
* Charlie Brenneman vs. Johny Hendricks
* Dennis Hallman vs. Ben Saunders
* Stanislav Nedkov vs. Rodney Wallace

This card looks to have plenty of excitement and some good match-ups.

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UFC champ St-Pierre would Retire when the Sport considers him the BEST Pound-for-Pound Fighter!

UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre is ready to retire when he's considered the sport's pound-for-pound best.

Don't worry, though. On a special "Primetime" edition of MMAjunkie Radio this past Friday, St-Pierre said he's not quite there yet.

But the traditional reason for sticking around - fame and money - isn't his primary concern. Doing it his way is.

"People are going to be shocked," St-Pierre said of his tentative retirement plan.

St-Pierre (20-2 MMA, 15-2 UFC) currently is in Las Vegas wrapping up a coaching stint on "The Ultimate Fighter 12" opposite top contender Josh Koscheck (15-4 MMA, 13-4 UFC). The two are expected to meet sometime at the end of the year in a traditional season-ending fight between "TUF" coaches.

Beyond that, he's done some additional planning. In fact, St-Pierre said his potential retirement plan recently came about while he was setting goals for his remaining career.

"Growing up in my career, I always fix my goals very high," he said. "And every time I achieve one of my [goals], I fix another goal to reach. It's important as a martial artist [never to be] satisfied because otherwise there is no point to keep doing what you're doing."

As to what goals remain, there are a few. St-Pierre has achieved what he initially set out to do: become a professional fighter, become a UFC fighter, and finally, become a UFC champion.

Being considered the best overall fighter in the world? That's the one goal he thinks currently is unmet.

That doesn't mean he's complacent, of course. In his second run as welterweight champion, St-Pierre has taken on four consecutive contenders and soundly beaten them all. At the end of the year, he will attempt to tie former champion Matt Hughes' record of five consecutive title defenses when he meets Koscheck.

Still, some fans believe St-Pierre already has cleaned out his division. He's already beaten all the division's top contenders - Koscheck, Jon Fitch, Thiago Alves and Dan Hardy - and some point to a middleweight showdown against current champion Anderson Silva as a final hurdle to the pound-for-pound crown. Silva is still widely considered to be the holder of that unofficial title. St-Pierre knows he could snatch it away by beating him.

But St-Pierre said a move up in weight would likely come near the end of his career, and it won't come anytime soon.

"If I go up in weight, it's going to be hard to go down," he said. "If I put on lean muscle like I already did recently … it's going to be hard to come back down. So it's not like I go up and I go down. I have to be very careful with what I do."

Still, if St-Pierre takes "a couple" of welterweight fights in the next year or two, and if Silva is still the pound-for-pound king at that point, the French-Canadian then would consider moving up to fight him. And if he defeats Silva, that's a win worthy of retirement, he said.

"If one day I fight at 185 pounds for a superfight to know who is the best pound-for-pound in the world, (and) if I reach my goal, then my goal will be reached," St-Pierre said. "There will be no point for me to still compete because I'm not going to have a goal left."

St-Pierre also said he wants to secure his and his family's future before he takes the risk of moving up, though money and fame aren't the driving forces in his career.

"Of course, the money's there," he said. "The difference between me and a lot of fighters … (is that) a lot of fighters fight for the fame. They fight for the money.

"Yeah, the money is there. It's pleasant. The money is there. It's good that I have this security. I have a lot of money now. It's good. But there is a lot of things I can do outside of mixed martial arts … because of the name that I reached with MMA, that the UFC helped me to have.

"The fame is the same thing. I didn't have it in the beginning, and now I have it. But if one day I reach my goal of becoming the best pound-for-pound (fighter) of all-time, it will be time for me to retire. But I don't know right now, at 29 years old, if I want to retire. So it's better I have to stick around."

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Tito Ortiz Calls Out Forrest Griffin, Says Liddell Should Stay Retired!!

Why can't the little woman beater just disappear into thin air or crawl undre a rock some place?

Following successful surgery on his neck, "The Huntington Beach Bad Boy" Tito Ortiz has targeted a November return to the Octagon.

Ortiz has been on the shelf since suffering a neck injury while filming The Ultimate Fighter. Ortiz was scheduled to face Chuck Liddell at UFC 115 but pulled out of the bout.

Ortiz recently spoke his return and called out one of his former opponent, but not Chuck Liddell:

"The surgery went really, really well. I just started doing weight training so next week I start doing drills. I have to make sure I make the right steps for my future and my career. I hope I get the Chuck fight. As a fighter, I would love to kick his ass. As a human being, I don't think he should fight anymore just because health is more important than fights. Grudge matches are important to sell, but at the same time he has kids to take care of and I don't want nothin' serious to happen to him. (Getting knocked out) that many times, it gets kinda scary. I was really shocked (by the loss to Rich Franklin fight), I saw all my money go out the window. It is what it is, everything in this world happens for a reason and I'll be back at the end of November. I'd like to [fight] Forrest. If Forrest would like to do a trilogy it'd be awesome. We gave two great fights both times we fought and we'll get a triple fight more exciting than the last two."

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