Couture, fighting at light heavyweight for the first time since 2006, edged Brandon Vera in the evening’s main event, battling through stinging body kicks to control the pace of the fight while landing occasional combinations to earn the unanimous nod.

Couture rebounded from back-to-back losses to improve to 17-10,  though he’ll likely need another win to earn a shot at the winner of the upcoming rematch between 205-pound title-holder Lyoto Machida and challenger Mauricio “Shogun” Rua possible. Vera falls to 11-4 with the loss, snapping a two-fight winning streak.

In the UFC 105 co-headliner, Hardy stunned Mike Swick early then rocked him again in the second and third frames to earn a unanimous decision victory.

Hardy ups his record to 23-6 with the win, including four-straight inside the UFC to earn a shot at welterweight title-holder Georges St-Pierre early next year, while Swick had his four-fight win streak stopped in dropping to 14-3.

In other main card action, Michael Bisping rebounded with a second-round knockout of Denis Kang, Matt Brown scored a second-round knockout of James Wilks, and Ross Pearson earned a second-round TKO of Aaron Riley.

On the UFC 105 preliminary card, John Hathaway, Terry Etim, Nick Osipczak, Dennis Siver, Alexander Gustafsson, and Andre Winner all earned victories.

The complete results for UFC 105 were:

• Randy Couture def. Brandon Vera via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
• Dan Hardy def. Mike Swick via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
• Michael Bisping def. Denis Kang via TKO (strikes) — Round 2, 4:24
• Matt Brown def. James Wilks via TKO (strikes) — Round 3, 2:27
• Ross Pearson def. Aaron Riley via TKO (doctor’s stoppage) — Round 2, 4:38
• John Hathaway def. Paul Taylor via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-26)
• Terry Etim def. Shannon Gugerty via submission (guillotine choke) — Round 2, 1:24
• Nick Osipczak def. Matthew Riddle via TKO (strikes) — Round 3, 3:53
• Dennis Siver def. Paul Kelly via TKO (strikes) — Round 2, 2:53
• Alexander Gustafsson def. Jared Hamman via knockout (punches) — Round 1, 0:41
• Andre Winner def. Rolando Delgado via knockout (punch) — Round 1, 3:22

For complete UFC coverage stay tuned to MMAFrenzy.com.

Both Couture and Vera tipped the scale at 204 pounds, while welterweight contenders Mike Swick (170) and Dan Hardy (171) and middleweight notables Michael Bisping (186) and Denis Kang (185) also made weight without issue.

The official weigh-in results for UFC 105 were:

MAIN CARD

• 205: Randy Couture (204) vs. Brandon Vera (204)
• 170: Mike Swick (170) vs. Dan Hardy (171)
• 185: Michael Bisping (186) vs. Denis Kang (185)
• 170: James Wilks (169) vs. Matt Brown (170)
• 155: Ross Pearson (156) vs. Aaron Riley (155)

PRELIMINARY CARD

• 170: Paul Taylor (170) vs. John Hathaway (170)
• 155: Terry Etim (155) vs. Shannon Gugerty (155)
• 170: Nick Osipczak (170) vs. Matthew Riddle (171)
• 155: Paul Kelly (156) vs. Dennis Siver (155)
• 205: Alexander Gustafsson (203) vs. Jared Hamman (204)
• 155: Andre Winner (155) vs. Roli Delgado (156)

Pictured: Randy Couture

Both UK natives, Taylor (10-4-1) is coming off a decision victory over Peter Sobotta in June, while Hathaway (11-0) has won back-to-back UFC fights over Thomas Egan and Rick Story in 2009.

Osipczak (4-0), a semifinalist on TUF 9 for Team UK, defeated Frank Lester via first-round submission in June in his UFC debut, while Riddle (3-0), a cast member on TUF 7, has won three-straight in the UFC, including his most-recent win over Dan Cramer in August.

Check out the MMAFrenzy.com UFC rumors section for the latest UFC 105 rumors.

Pictured: Matt Riddle

Silva connected with heavy punches throughout the 195-pound catchweight contest, but Franklin countered with frequent kicks and punches of his own. Both fighters were hurt on multiple occasions during the three-round, 15-minute bout, but the frequency of Franklin’s strikes were enough to earn him the unanimous decision victory.

As was the case with all of the card’s unanimous decisions, the official judge’s scores weren’t announced, but the fight appeared to be closer than the unanimous scores indicated (MMAFrenzy.com scored the bout 29-28 Franklin).

With the win, the former UFC middleweight champion Franklin, who now competes at light heavyweight, improves to 25-4, while Silva, a former PRIDE light heavyweight title-holder who is moving down to middleweight, falls to 32-10-1 following the loss.

In a battle of heavyweight contenders, Cain Velasquez used his superior wrestling to dominate Cheick Kongo en route to a unanimous decision victory in the UFC 99 co-headliner. Velasquez, now 6-0 in his young career with four-straight UFC victories, should meet another contender in the 265-pound division in his next bout with fellow wrestling prospect Shane Carwin among his potential opponents. Kongo, meanwhile, must improve his ground game if he’s to climb back up the heavyweight ladder towards a title shot, as Velasquez easily secured mount and rained down ground and pound throughout the bout.

Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic successfully made his return to the Octagon at UFC 99, dispatching of Mostapha Al-Turk with punches midway through the opening round of their heavyweight fight. An accidental eye gouge that set up Cro Cop’s finishing flurry was the only blemish on the bout, but appeared to have little affect on the result as Al-Turk had been staggered with punches moments earlier. Unbeaten in his last four fights, Cro Cop improves to 25-6-2, while Al-Turk falls to 6-5, including an 0-2 mark in the UFC, and should soon find himself released by the promotion.

Mike Swick stopped Ben Saunders with punches in the second round of their welterweight contest on Saturday at the Lanxess Arena, lining himself up for a fight against a 170-pound contender, with the loser of July’s matchup between current champion Georges St-Pierre and Thiago Alves, Martin Kampmann, or Carlos Condit among the possibilities. Swick is now 14-2 on his career with wins in 9 of 10 UFC bouts, while Saunders drops to 7-1 with the first loss of his career.

In other main card action, Spencer Fisher spoiled Caol Uno’s UFC return with a unanimous decision victory and Dan Hardy won the biggest fight of his career by outpointing Marcus Davis via unanimous decision in the pay-per-view opener.

The event’s official results were:

• Rich Franklin def. Wanderlei Silva via unanimous decision
• Cain Velasquez def. Cheick Kongo via unanimous decision
• Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic def. Mostapha Al-Turk via TKO (strikes) — Round 1, 3:06
• Mike Swick def. Ben Saunders via TKO (strikes) — Round 2, 3:47
• Spencer Fisher def. Caol Uno via unanimous decision
• Dan Hardy def. Marcus Davis via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
• Terry Etim def. Justin Buchholz via submission (D’Arce choke) — Round 2
• Denis Siver def. Dale Hartt via submission (rear naked choke) — Round 1
• Paul Taylor def. Peter Sobotta via unanimous decision
• Paul Kelly def. Roli Delgado via unanimous decision
• Stefan Struve def. Denis Stojnic via submission (rear naked choke) — Round 2, 2:37
• John Hathaway def. Rick Story via unanimous decision

[Pictured: Rich Franklin]

Surprisingly, the staredown between Marcus Davis and Dan Hardy appeared tame compared to the shoving matches that broke out between preliminary card fighters Roli Delgado and Paul Kelly and Denis Stojnic and Stefan Struve.

MMAFrenzy.com will have live coverage of UFC 99 tomorrow beginning at noon ET.

The official weigh-in results for UFC 99 were:

• 195: Rich Franklin (194) vs. Wanderlei Silva (194)
• 265: Cain Velasquez (239) vs. Cheick Kongo (230)
• 170: Ben Saunders (169) vs. Mike Swick (169)
• 170: Marcus Davis (171) vs. Dan Hardy (170)
• 155: Spencer Fisher (154) vs. Caol Uno (155)
• 265:Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic (233) vs. Mostapha Al-Turk (236)
• 155: Justin Buchholz (155) vs. Terry Etim (156)
• 155: Dale Hartt (156) vs. Denis Siver (156)
• 170: Peter Sobotta (169) vs. Paul Taylor (169)
• 155: Roli Delgado (155) vs. Paul Kelly (156)
• 265: Denis Stojnic (241) vs. Stefan Struve (248)
• 170: John Hathaway (170) vs. Rick Story (169)

John Hathaway

Welterweights John Hathaway and Rick Story will square off at UFC 99: The Comback on June 13th in Cologne, Germany, according to Five Ounces of Pain.

Hathaway (10-0), an England native and Cage Rage veteran, made his UFC debut at UFC 93 in January, defeating Tom Egan via first-round TKO.

Story (7-2), who was tapped to replace Karo Parisyan at UFC 94 had he been forced out of the bout, will make his UFC debut on a six-fight win streak, most-recently defeating Brandon Melendez via first-round submission last September.

UFC 99 is headlined by Rich Franklin vs. Wanderlei Silva and also features Caol Uno vs. Spencer Fisher, Marcus Davis vs. Dan Hardy, and Cain Velasquez vs. Heath Herring.

For the latest UFC 99 rumors check out the MMAFrenzy.com UFC rumors section.

Dan Henderson Defeats Rich Franklin at UFC 93

UFC 93: Franklin vs. Henderson took place today at The O2 in Dublin, Ireland. In the evening’s main event Dan Henderson topped Rich Franklin, earning a split decision victory to secure his spot as a coach on The Ultimate Fighter 9 and a future middleweight matchup against opposing coach Michael Bisping. One judge scored the contest 30-27 in favor of Franklin, while the victory went to Henderson, who was awarded two 29-28 scores.

In the evening’s co-main event, Mauricio “Shogun” Rua scored his much-needed first UFC victory with a late third-round TKO of UFC Hall of Famer Mark Coleman. The 44-year-old Coleman was visibly exhausted midway though the opening round but Rua was largely unable to capitalize. Coleman survived the opening round and continued to get Rua to the canvas over the remainder of the fight. The fight appeared destined to go to the judges’ scorecards, where Rua was likely to be awarded the victory, but a botched call by the referee allowed Rua to connect with a combo that sent Coleman to the canvas. Coleman protested the stoppage and has his sights set on a rubber match with his rival, though Rua will first fight Chuck Liddell before the two could meet again.

Both fights were not without controversy as Henderson’s victory was marred by an accidental headbutt and eye poke, while a legal knee by Rua was ruled illegal and resulted in a standup that immediately preceded the knockout of Coleman.

Despite a broken hand suffered in the opening round, Rousimar Palhares took Jeremy Horn the distance to earn a unaniomous decision victory. Horn showed heart in the loss, surviving what was shaping up to be an early stoppage to force Palhares to work hard for the victory, which improved his record to 2-1 in the UFC and 9-2 overall.

In a featured middleweight matchup, Alan Belcher snubbed Denis Kang’s UFC debut, submitting the promising middleweight with an arm-in guillotine late in the second round to improve his UFC record to 5-3. The submission came out of nowhere as Kang dominated with first two rounds with superior ground work before Belcher transitioned a stuffed takedown attempt into a fight-ending submission.

The highly anticipated scrap between Marcus Davis and Chris Lytle kicked off the UFC 93 broadcast with back-and-forth standup action as expected, but the solid effort failed to live up it’s extreme hype. In the end, Davis walked away with the split decision victory.

UFC 93: Franklin vs. Henderson Results

• Dan Henderson def. Rich Franklin via split decision (29-28, 27-30, 29-28)
• Mauricio “Shogun” Rua def. Mark Coleman via TKO (strikes) — Round 3, 4:36
• Rousimar Palhares def. Jeremy Horn via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
• Alan Belcher def. Denis Kang via submission (guillotine choke) — Round 2, 4:36
• Marcus Davis def. Chris Lytle via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
• John Hathaway def. Tom Egan via TKO (strikes) — Round 1, 4:36
• Martin Kampmann def. Alexandre Barross via TKO (strikes) — Round 2, 3:07
• Eric Schafer def. Antonio Mendes via TKO (strikes) — Round 1, 3:35
• Thomasz Drwal def. Ivan Serati via TKO (strikes) — Round 1, 2:02
• Denis Siver def. Nate Mohr via TKO (strikes) — Round 3, 3:27

For complete, blow-by-blow results click here.

Denis Kang

The UFC today announced additional bouts for UFC 93 on January 17th in Dublin, Ireland and UFC 94 on January 31st in Las Vegas.

Announced for the UFC 93 main card, which is headlined by Dan Henderson vs. Rich Franklin and Mark Coleman vs. Mauricio “Shogun” Rua, were Alan Belcher vs. Denis Kang, Marcus Davis vs. Chris Lytle, and Jeremy Horn vs. Rousimar Palhares. Antonio Mendes vs. Andre Gusmao, Tomasz Drwal vs. Ivan Serati, Tom Egan vs. John Hathaway, and Dennis Siver vs. Nate Mohr were confirmed for the unaired preliminary card.

A superfight between UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre and UFC lightweight champion BJ Penn is joined on the main card by Lyoto Machida vs. Thiago Silva and Stephan Bonnar vs. Jon Jones. Manny Gamburyan vs. Thiago Tavares, Jake O’Brien vs. Christian Wellisch, and Matt Arroyo vs. Dan Cramer are officially slated for the preliminary card.

For the latest UFC rumors check out the MMAFrenzy.com MMA rumors section.