Michael DiSanto, UFC - Late last week, I was talking about UFC 109 to a Silicon Valley venture capitalist, and he said, “I wish Randy Couture would just go away; I’m so over that guy.” Interesting. When pressed why, he responded, “Because he beats all of my favorite fighters, and the guy is older than I am!”

Fair point.

Thomas Gerbasi, UFC - Chael Sonnen is the worst kind of fighter to be in the Octagon with. Not because he will knock you out in 30 seconds or submit you in the same amount of time. It’s because he will punish you and make you miserable for 15 minutes, and that’s precisely what he did to Nate Marquardt in the UFC 109 co-main event Saturday night at the Mandalay Bay Events Center, pounding out a unanimous decision victory that earned him a shot at April’s middleweight title fight between champion Anderson Silva and challenger Vitor Belfort.

Middleweight contender Chael Sonnen and light heavyweight Brian Stann have more in common than their presence on the UFC 109 fight card. They’re both smart (Sonnen’s degree is in sociology; Stann’s in economics), well-spoken, accomplished athletes. Both have served their country – Sonnen as an elected official; Stann in the US Marines. And if you look closer into their MMA resumes, they share something else – a pro career in the WEC.

Click below for the official weigh-in results for Saturday’s UFC 109 event. UFC 109, which is headlined by the light heavyweight bout between UFC Hall of Famers Randy Couture and Mark Coleman, and the middleweight title elimination bout between Nate Marquardt and Chael Sonnen, airs live on pay-per-view from the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas beginning at 10pm ET / 7pm PT. Fans can also tune in to Spike TV at 9pm ET / 6pm PT to see live UFC 109 preliminary bouts.

Thomas Gerbasi, UFC - Home to the Packers, Brewers, and Bucks, Wisconsin will now welcome mixed martial arts to the fold after Governor Jim Doyle signed a bill into law Thursday that will now regulate MMA in this great sports state, which also doubles as the base for UFC fighters Eric Schafer (Fond Du Lac), Pat Barry (Milwaukee), Ben Rothwell (Kenosha), renowned trainer Duke Roufus, and WEC standouts Anthony Pettis (Milwaukee) and Jameel Massouh (Kenosha).