FanHouse C.B. Dollaway

Jesse Taylor's life could be so much different right now. A year ago he earned a spot in the finale of The Ultimate Fighter, where he should have been fighting on national television for an opportunity to earn a six-figure contract with the UFC.

How good was Frank Mir's 2008?

Mir, the new UFC interim heavyweight champion, had two fights this year. In one, he beat the biggest, strongest fighter to come along in MMA in years, Brock Lesnar. In the other, he finished the hardest fighter to stop in MMA history, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira.

And it took Mir less than nine minutes, total, to beat them both.

It's time for the FanHouse live blog of UFC 92: The Ultimate 2008. The C.B. Dollaway vs. Mike Massenzio live blog starts below.

UFC 92 is the best mixed martial arts card of the year, one with three fights that could be main events on pay-per-view shows: Forrest Griffin vs. Rashad Evans for the light heavyweight championship, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira vs. Frank Mir for the interim heavyweight championship, and Wanderlei Silva vs. Quinton "Rampage" Jackson in what looks likely to be a Fight of the Year candidate.

Here are all the details.

What: UFC 92: The Ultimate 2008

Who: In addition to Griffin-Evans, Nogueira-Mir and Wanderlei-Rampage, the other fights on the televised portion of the card are Cheick Kongo vs. Mostapha Al-turk and C.B. Dollaway vs. Mike Massenzio. There are some good fights that might or might not be televised, including Dean Lister vs. Yushin Okami and Matt Hamill vs. Reese Andy.

When: Saturday, 10 p.m. Eastern

Where: MGM Grand Garden Arena, Las Vegas

How: Pay-per-view, $44.95 ($54.95 in HD), or just follow along with our FanHouse UFC 92 live blog.

Predictions after the jump.

Everyone knows about the big Wanderlei Silva-Rampage Jackson rematch at UFC 92. But there's another rematch on the pay-per-view show: Mike Massenzio vs. C.B. Dollaway.

Yes, Massenzio went mano-a-mano with Dollaway once before, but it was on a wrestling mat, not in the Octagon. Both were junior college wrestlers, and at the national tournament, Dollaway beat Massenzio. He tells Elliot Worsell of UFC.com he hasn't forgotten:

"He's been a bit of a monkey on my back for the last five years. ... After he beat me in our first year at junior college, I was distraught. I trained like an animal the following year in the hope of getting a rematch with CB but it just never materialised that way.

"Every night after that fight I had to put up with CB Dollaway in my dreams and in my thoughts. I couldn't get away from his face. It was everywhere. I remember that match like it was yesterday."

He gets his chance to put it behind him on Saturday.

Here's the latest episode of ESPN.com's MMA Live:

The show began with a look at the Ultimate Fighter finale and Amir Sadollah's upset victory, including the dispute over whether C.B. Dollaway really tapped out. (Kenny Florian insists that he did.) They also discuss the upcoming mixed martial arts schedule and take a look at Kim Couture's MMA debut.

Amir Sadollah defeated C.B. Dollaway with a first-round arm bar tonight in Las Vegas, earning a UFC contract by winning the final fight of this season of The Ultimate Fighter.

The fight was a rematch of a fight that aired during the Ultimate Fighter season; Sadollah won that fight and eliminated Dollaway, only to have Dollaway invited back as a replacement for finalist Jesse Taylor, who was kicked out of UFC.

Although this fight was shorter than their first fight, the result was similar: Dollaway appeared to be in an advantageous position on top on the ground, only to have Sadollah put him in an arm bar. Sadollah is a likable, articulate guy and a skilled fighter who's got a great future ahead of him in UFC.

Said Sadollah after Joe Rogan called him The Ultimate Fighter, "I just heard it and I like it."

Here's a look at Amir Sadollah and C.B. Dollaway talking about their fight tonight in the finale of The Ultimate Fighter:

Thanks to the unprecedented situation with Jesse Taylor getting kicked out of UFC after earning a spot in the Ultimate Fighter finale, Dollaway got into the finale even though he lost to Sadollah in the semifinals.

And yet even though it was Amir who won the first time and C.B. who took the back door into the finale, just about everyone thinks C.B. is going to win tonight. C.B. is the betting favorite and a nearly unanimous pick among the experts I've seen.

Although I'm sure Amir is using that fact as motivation, frankly, C.B. is the favorite for the very simple reason that he's just a better fighter. Yes, he left himself exposed for an arm bar the first time they fought, but prior to that he was controlling the fight. At the start of the season C.B. had the best credentials of any member of the Ultimate Fighter cast, and I'll be very surprised if he isn't The Ultimate Fighter when it's all over tonight.

We'll be live blogging tonight's finale here at FanHouse.