Why are my fights exciting? Ask yourself that. It’s because I risk it, man. I want to fight. I want to step in there and go to war. I want to leave it all out there in the cage, instead of giving a boring-ass fight like Houston Alexander running around, trying to do a few leg kicks on this weekend’s Ultimate Fighter finale. That’s not what the fans want. That’s boring. That makes our sport look bad.

In an interview with SLAM! Sports, top 155lb contender disses Houston Alexander for his lack of action during his bout with Kimbo Slice. Despite the circling, the fight peaked out at over 6.1 million viewers, proving once again that Kimbo is a huge draw, even if he’s watching Houston circle, and circle and circle. And circle again.

Sanchez is set to challenge 155lb Champion BJ Penn this Saturday in Memphis Tennessee at UFC 107.

They keep dropping line flies for UFC 98. The latest casualty is Houston Alexander, who suffered a broken hand while training. This makes the casualty count…6 I believe. Yushin Okami, Quinton Jackson, James Irvin, Frank Mir and Josh Koscheck were all at one point scheduled to be on this card.

This harkens back to the UFC 85 card, where it was originally supposed to be Liddell vs Shogun, then Liddell vs Evans, then finally changed to Matt Hughes vs Thiago Alves. It’s a good thing the UFC has a deep roster to fill these sudden changes. This news comes on the heels of all the other changes to the card.

The truth of the matter is that Alexander has lost his last three fights emphatically, after exploding onto the scene in 2007. This was likely Alexander’s last chance with the UFC. No one, save Patrick Cote, loses four fights in a row and stays with the company. It should be noted that Cote did win some fights during TUF 4, making it to the finals of the show. This just buys Alexander some more time…but things aren’t look for the charismatic, 37yr old, single father with one kidney who also DJs and talks to troubled youth. On second thought, the UFC should keep this guy around just because he is such a great story…

Here’s the card as it stands now:

Main event:

UFC L205lb Champion Rashad Evans (13-0-1) vs. Lyoto Machida (14-0)

Main card

170 lbs: Matt Hughes (42-7) vs. Matt Serra (9-5)
185 lbs: Xavier Foupa-Pokum (20-10) vs. Drew McFedries (7-5)
185 lbs: Chael Sonnen (21-10-1) vs. Dan Miller (11-1)
155 lbs: Sean Sherk (33-3) vs. Frank Edgar (9-1)

Prelims:

170 lbs: Brock Larson (25-2) vs. Chris Wilson (14-5)
265 lbs: Tim Hague (9-1) vs. Patrick Barry (4-0)
155 lbs: Phillipe Nover (5-1-1) vs. Kyle Bradley (13-6)
185 lbs: Andre Gusmao (5-1) vs. TBD
170 lbs: Yoshiyuki Yoshida (10-3) vs. Brandon Wolff (7-3)
155 lbs: Dave Kaplan (2-2) vs. George Roop (8-4)

Check out this quote from Houston Alexander:

The crowd was so loud that I couldn’t hear my corner.  If I heard them and knew, you know, there are 10 seconds left, five seconds left, whatever, I would have tried to hung in there a little longer and survived.  But it was so loud and these people were supporting me so much, I couldn’t hear and I had to tap.

Now I like Houston as much as the next guy, since he is a nice dude and an inspiration. He just doesn’t have it as a UFC fighter.   Seven seconds later, and they would have been peeling him off of the mat.  He would have been out cold in that arm triangle.  The triangle is a hold that cuts off your air/blood supply, and not like an arm bar where it’s just pain and more pain.  Houston may have one more shot since the UFC seems to really like him, but he needs some serious work on his ground game.

In a surprising move, the inked 36 year old light heavyweight Houston Alexander to a 5-fight contract extension, locking-in hard-hitting slugger for the next year or two, should they decide to keep him on their roster according to the wrestlingobserver.com.

The unknown Alexander burst onto the scene in May of 2007 by smashing Keith Jardine in 49 seconds after Jardine had knocked out Forrest Griffin.   For an encore, Alexander smashed Alessio Sakara into oblivion in 61 seconds, sending fight fans into a tizzy.  Some even declared Alexander ready for a 205lb title faght.

In his next fight against Thiago Silva, Alexander was much less impressive, getting mounted by the Brazilian and getting pounded out in emphatic fashion.  Once on the ground, Alexander seemed clueless and could not escape, although granted, Thiago Silva IS an awesome ground fighter.

Next up for Alexander was James Irvin, and Alexander set a record for fasted knockout in the UFC, 8 seconds, the length of a successful bull ride…but unfortunately for him, he was the one getting cold-cocked.

The UFC usually releases fighters on losing skids, not extend them. However, Alexander remains a popular fighter due to his stand-up and bang style; as well, he is a feel-good story himself, being a UFC fighter with one kidney because he gave one to his daughter, on top of being a single dad.

His next fight comes on September 17 against another ground fighter in Eric Schafer at Ultimate Fight Night 15 in his hometown of Omaha, Nebraska.