Stephan Bonnar has been given the green light to return to action against up-and-coming light heavyweight Jon Jones at UFC 94: “St. Pierre vs Penn 2″ on January 31 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.

“The American Psycho” has been out all year because of a serious knee injury, which he thrashed earlier this year while preparing for a fight against Matt Hamill at UFC Fight Night 13. It took major surgery, spare cadaver parts and an intense rehabilitation to recover.

He’s now ready, which is great news, considering Stephan was on a red hot two-fight win streak prior to the setback. He is eager to get back inside the Octagon and pick up right where he left off against Jones.

That’s not going to be easy, however.

Jones is an extremely talented, young and unpredictable fighter. He demonstrated tremendous skill and ability in his Octagon debut at UFC 87: “Seek and Destroy” back in August, earning a convincing unanimous decision win over the very dangerous and experienced Andre Gusmao.

He comes to fight and likes to put on crowd-pleasing performances just like Stephan, which makes this an awesome addition to an awesome fight card.

UFC 94 features the rematch between welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre and lightweight champion BJ Penn for “Rush’s” 170-pound world title in the main event. Undefeated light heavyweights Lyoto Machida and Thiago Silva have also been confirmed to compete on the Super Bowl weekend show.

Stephan’s fight against Jones will be featured on the televised pay-per-view (PPV) card. Welcome back, Stephan!

He didn’t extend his record-breaking streak of “Submission of the Night” awards to four, but Demian Maia did do what no one else ever has:

Submit The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) alum and mixed martial arts veteran Nate Quarry. And he needed just two minutes and 13 seconds to do it.

Demian and Quarry kicked off the televised pay-per-view (PPV) portion of UFC 91: “Couture vs. Lesnar” telecast at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, on Saturday night with and important middleweight tilt that featured two fighters on hot streaks.

Quarry had won two straight since returning from a serious back injury and Demian had won three consecutive bouts inside the Octagon since his debut for the promotion.

The winner of the 185-pound would continue his momentum into 2009.

It was a classic match up between grappler (Demian) and striker (Quarry), meaning that whichever fighter could execute his gameplan and get (or keep) the fight where he wanted it would more than likely come away with the win.

Demian was able to immediately get the fight where he is most comfortable, pulling guard in the opening minute of the bout and securing a quick takedown. The Abu Dhabi world champion was then able to get behind Quarry and work his top notch submission game.

He eventually sunk-in a fight-ending rear naked choke that had Quarry tapping as soon as it was cinched.

This was perhaps Demian’s most impressive UFC performance to date against perhaps his toughest test to date — Quarry is a very good and experienced mixed martial artist. And Demian was able to finish him and somehow make it look easy.

His performance was so good that UFC President Dana White indicated that Demian is on the short list of possible coaching candidates opposite Michael Bisping for the next season of TUF, which begins taping in late January/early February in 2009. At the conclusion of the show the to coaches will collide for the right to challenge UFC Middleweight Champion Anderson Silva for his 185-pound world title.

Whether or not Demian is selected for the show, he proved once again that he is among a small group of title contenders who deserve a title opportunity. He’s more than likely at least one and at most two wins away from a title shot.

That’s a remarkable accomplishment, considering Demian turned pro only three years ago and he is already making major waves in the premier promotion on the planet.

It’s scary to imagine that his best is yet to come.

Photo courtesy of UFC.com.

On a night reserved for the “biggest fight in UFC history” between Randy Couture and Brock Lesnar, it was a lightweight war on the preliminary card that stole the show.

Aaron Riley and Jorge Gurgel lit each other up for 15 minutes during their 155-pound clash — it was the only bout on the entire nine-fight card that went the distance.

And it was an absolute treat to watch.

Gurgel appeared to get the better of the exchanges early on in the fight, but Aaron eventually began to hit his stride — and the Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt more often than not — as the match progressed. He went on to earn a hard-fought unanimous decision, which was his first inside the Octagon in three attempts.

In fact, it was his first UFC fight since a tough loss to Spencer Fisher back in early 2006.

“It’s good to be back,” Aaron said after the win. “[Jorge] is a jiu-jitsu black belt, but everybody knows he loves to stand and bang. It makes it a good fight for everybody who likes to see a fight.”

Indeed, Gurgel was game as usual and demonstrated tremendous heart.

Aaron was simply a little too much for him inside the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, on Saturday night. It’s the type of fight in which Aaron excels — former heavyweight champion and ESPN “MMA Live” analyst Frank Mir told just about everyone, accurately, that the veteran comes to scrap in every fight.

Frank was right.

In the end, Aaron and Gurgel put on such crowd-pleasing performances that it earned them the “Fight of the Night” and $60,000 each in additional bonus money.

It’s good to be back indeed. Congratulations to both Aaron and Gurgel on their individual efforts. It really was a great fight.

“I think I froze up there a little bit. I just made a small mistake. I tried to come to my feet when I shouldn’t have. I thought that I was just going to be able to come up. He had a figure four body lock. It was just a bad idea and he made me pay for it….. My fault. Now I know where I need to totally go back and work twice as hard…. My fault.”

– Former number one lightweight contender Joe Stevenson talks about his first round submission loss to Kenny Florian via rear naked choke at UFC 91: “Couture vs. Lesnar” immediately following the fight on November 15. “Daddy” did some nice work in the opening fram, securing a takedown that had Florian scrambling for position. Unfortunately, Florian was able to obtain full mount, putting Joe on the defensive. Joe then attempted to escape and made the mistake of trying to get to his feet too soon, which Florian capitalized on by sinking in a fight-ending choke that Joe could not defend. The good news is that Joe sustained little damage in the lightweight bout and is already talking about what he needs to to do to improve the next time out. This is just the third loss for Joe in nine UFC fights — rest assured that he will return sooner rather than later with renewed vigo and hunger to get back to the top of the division. He always does.

UFC 91: “Couture vs. Lesnar” took place tonight from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, drawing a near sellout crowd of 14,272 fans and tallying a gate of $4.8 million, which is the third-highest for the promotion in its 15-year history.

Pay-per-view (PPV) buys are typically not released and are hard to determine so early, but UFC President Dana White predicted that he anticipated around 1.2 million.

In short, UFC 91 was a success.

And the new UFC Heavyweight Champion Brock Lesnar more than likely had a lot to with it — the former three-time WWE wrestling champion piqued a ton of interest across the nation. Just about everyone wanted to see if he could dethrone returning division title holder and UFC Hall of Fame inductee, Randy Couture.

Lesnar was able to stop “The Natural” in the second round with a glancing blow that landed just behind the ear of the 45-year-old mixed martial arts legend. He followed up with a barrage of strikes while Couture was on the ground and the referee soon stepped in to stop the fight.

Here are the complete UFC 91 results:

Brock Lesnar defeated Randy Couture via technical knockout (strikes) in round two
Kenny Florian defeated Joe Stevenson via submission (rear naked choke) in round one
Dustin Hazelett defeated Tamdan McCrory via submission (armbar) in round one
Gabriel Gonzaga defeated Josh Hendricks via technical knockout (strikes) in round one
Demian Maia defeated Nate Quarry via submission (rear naked choke) in round one
Aaron Riley defeated Jorge Gurgel via unanimous decision
Jeremy Stephens defeated Rafael dos Anjos via knockout in round three
Mark Bocek defeated Alvin Robinson via submission (rear naked choke) in round three
Matt Brown defeated Ryan Thomas via Submission (armbar) in round two

Of course, MMADHOUSE fighters Joe Stevenson, Demain Maia and Aaron Riley were all in action tonight. We’ll pass along more detailed reports about their performances shortly.

Weigh ins for the UFC 91: “Couture vs. Lesnar” pay-per-view (PPV) took place today at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.

The field of 18 fighters were all successful on the scale and given the green light to compete tomorrow night, including MMADHOUSE fighters Joe Stevenson, Demian Maia and Aaron Riley.

Here are the complete UFC 91 weigh in results:

Brock Lesnar (265) vs. Randy Couture (220)
Joe Stevenson (156) vs. Kenny Florian (156)
Josh Hendricks (238) vs. Gabriel Gonzaga (256)
Demian Maia (185) vs. Nate Quarry (185)
Tamdan McCrory (170) vs. Dustin Hazelett (170)
Aaron Riley (156) vs. Jorge Gurgel (155)
Rafael dos Anjos (155) vs. Jeremy Stephens (155)
Mark Bocek (155) vs. Alvin Robinson (155)
Ryan Thomas (170) vs. Matt Brown (171)

ESPN.com kicked-off its coverage of what is being billed as the “biggest fight in UFC history” with a live show for the weigh in event, which included our very own Frank Mir and Stephan Bonnar on the panel of four. Both fighters were on hand to provide their insight on the weight cutting process, as well expert commentary on the individual fights on the card.

Frank, of course, has a vested interest in the main event of the evening between Couture and Lesnar. The winner of the bout will advance to the next round of the mini heavyweight tournament that has been created to declare an undiputed champion.

If Frank defeats Antonio Rodrigo “Minotauro” Nogueira at UFC 92: “The Ultimate 2008″ on December 27 he will fight the winner of the bout sometime in 2009.

That’s not the only fight tomorrow with title implications on the line.

Joe Stevenson will earn the next opportunity to challenge BJ Penn for his 155-pound crown if he can topple Kenny Florian in the co main event of the show. He and BJ collided earlier this year and the Hawaiian came away with the win and the belt, which was up for grabs after Sean Sherk was stripped.

“Daddy” is motivated more than ever to get another chance at championship glory.

Demian, too, is out to prove that he is among the short list of contenders in the middleweight division. His Brazilian jiu-jitsu is off the charts, resulting in three straight “Submission of the Night” honors inside the Octagon.

Quarry will be more than likely his toughest test to date … Demian will without a doubt need to be on top of his game to vault himself into the upper echelon of the division and emerge as a serious title threat in 2009.

And last but not least, the super tough Aaron Riley has fought his way back into the UFC with several wins in smaller shows. He last competed inside the Octagon against Spencer Fisher in January 2006.

He will headline the preliminary card against former contestant on The Ultimate Fighter (TUF), Jorge Gurgel. This is without a doubt a great opportunity for Aaron to prove he belongs in the UFC with a win over a high profile and talented opponent.

Best of luck to all our fighters and their opponents tomorrow night. And great job Frank and Stephan on holding down a live show on The Worldwide Leader in Sports!

Photo courtesy of UFC.com.

“This fight is going to be amazing, and the winner of this fight will face B.J. Penn for the lightweight title after B.J. fights Georges St. Pierre.”

UFC President Dana White today confirmed at the UFC 91: “Couture vs. Lesnar” pre-fight press conference that the winner of the lightweight bout between Joe Stevenson and Kenny Florian would earn a title shot against reigning division champion BJ Penn in early 2009.

Joe and Florian will collide in the co-featured bout of the evening this Saturday, November 15, at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. It’s a match up between two of the best 155-pound fighters in the world.

That simple fact alone has Joe amped more than usual to get inside the Octagon and compete.

“When you’ve been in as many fights as I have, one fight pretty [much] is the same as the other for the most part,” Stevenson said via Yahoo!Sports.com. “Of course, a title fight is a whole different thing, but the other fights, after a while, they all kind of feel the same. But this one, coming on this card right before Randy and Brock come out, with all those people going wild, and getting to fight a guy like Kenny Florian, yeah, man, I have to admit, it gives me that little tingling feeling. It’s a position of honor to be right before those guys.”

The fans inside the arena will not be the only ones going wild — the UFC expects UFC 91 to draw somewhere in the neighborhood of 1.2 million pay-per-view (PPV) buys, which would set a record for the organization.

That’s an enormous audience, considering the number of viewers would be exponentially higher than the total amount of PPV buys.

Those viewers — a majority of which may tune in just to see the main event — will be in for quite a treat with the co main event. Joe and Florian have already competed for the lightweight title and both came up a little short.

In fact, Joe hooked up with Penn earlier this year at UFC 80: “Rapid Fire,” losing via submission (rear naked choke) after sustaining a nasty cut early in the fight that more than likely would have been a fight stopper if it were to continue for another round.

As a result, he pinned the pedal to the floor and went for broke. It didn’t go his way, but as he will tell you, he’s now a better fighter for it. He’s hungry to get back in that title position. And now that it’s all but guaranteed expect him to make the most out of this latest opportunity.

Penn will fight welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre at UFC 94: “St. Pierre vs. Penn 2″ for his 170-pound strap on January 31. Provided Penn comes out relatively unhurt in that match, we can expect that he will be ready to defend his lightweight crown as soon as April.

That’s more than enough time for “Daddy” to get prepared for his chance at redemption.