FanHouse DrewMcFedries

DALLAS – While Rich Franklin will likely never say it, he didn't want a fight in September, let alone one against Vitor Belfort. Franklin would have preferred some time off, but the need for a headliner for UFC 103 pushed him into making the decision to participate.

Franklin may be a company man, but that loyalty – along with Belfort's considerable skills – cost Franklin, as Belfort returned to the UFC with a shocking first-round TKO over the ex-UFC middleweight champion in front of 17,428 at the American Airlines Center.

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Tomasz Drwal showed once again on Saturday night that he's a fighter worth keeping an eye on, dominating Drew McFedries at UFC 103 in Dallas.

This is the UFC 103 live blog for the Spike TV portion of the night's event, featuring fights between Cole Miller and Efrain Escudero, and Tomasz Drwal and Drew McFedries.

I'm cageside at the American Airlines Center in Dallas for all the blow-by-blow. You can also keep track of all the action by following me on Twitter.
The live blog begins below.

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WEC's first-ever heavyweight champion James Irvin has suffered a knee injury that will force him out of his middleweight fight against American Top Team's Wilson Gouveia at UFC 102 on Aug. 29 in Portland.

Radio host Carmichael Dave of Sports 1140 KHTK in Northern California was first to report of Irvin's injury and FanHouse has confirmed the injury and removal with Irvin's management, MMA Incorporated.

The Ultimate Fighting Championship formally announced today that UFC 103 will take place on September 19 in Dallas, and four fights have been set: Mike Swick vs. Martin Kampmann, Efrain Escudero vs. Cole Miller, Josh Koscheck vs. Frank Trigg and Tyson Griffin vs. Hermes Franca.

Notice anything missing?

Following his impressive win over Xavier Foupa-Pokam at UFC 98, Drew McFedries was quick to thank Matt Hughes and the rest of the H.I.T Squad for helping him get prepared in the days leading up to the fight. He also added that he "didn't get a lot of support from actually my own team at MFS [Miletich Fighting Systems], which is sad. I mean, that's my hometown."

FanHouse recently spoke to the founder of MFS, Pat Miletich, about why McFedries said that to the media at the post-fight press conference.

It hasn't been a good 2009 for Yves Lavigne, and it got worse on Saturday night at UFC 98. Lavigne, one of the best-known referees in mixed martial arts, was loudly booed at the MGM Grand Saturday night because he brought the undercard bout between Phillipe Nover and Kyle Bradley to what many in attendance thought was a premature ending.

The light heavyweight division is the most talented weight class in the Ultimate Fighting Championship, but after watching Lyoto Machida dominate Rashad Evans for the title Saturday night at UFC 98, I'm having a very hard time seeing how anyone is going to beat him any time soon.

That might sound like a crazy thing to say, because upsets happen all the time in mixed martial arts, and the light heavyweight title has changed hands four times in the last two years. But the fundamental way to win a fight is to hurt your opponent without getting hurt yourself, and there's no one better at that than Machida.

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Rising lightweight star Frankie Edgar scored a major upset over former UFC champion Sean Sherk, while Chael Sonnen and Drew McFedries were among other early winners at UFC 98.

In a matchup featuring two lightweight fighters primarily known for their wrestling abilities, Frankie Edgar earned the biggest win of his young career by defeating former champion Sean Sherk in a dominant performance, taking all three rounds on every judge's scorecard.

Sherk, coming off a win over Tyson Griffin in which he out-struck him, opted to stick with his standup, largely staying away from takedowns until late in the third round. That strategy turned out to be a big mistake. Edgar got the best of most of the exchanges, bloodying Sherk's face in the process.

Welcome to the FanHouse UFC 98 live blog. This is where we'll provide, live, round-by-round updates of the three big undercard fights: Xavier Foupa-Pokam vs. Drew McFedries, Dan Miller vs. Chael Sonnen and Frank Edgar vs. Sean Sherk.

When the undercard live blog is over you'll want to head over to our live blog of the co-main event between Matt Serra and Matt Hughes, and then to our live blog of the main event between Rashad Evans and Lyoto Machida. The pay-per-view broadcast and the live blog begin below at 10 PM ET.

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