FanHouse Wanderlei Silva

LAS VEGAS -- FanHouse caught up with Wanderlei Silva at his Wand Fight Team Gym on Tuesday to discuss his upcoming fight against Yoshihiro Akiyama.

"The Axe Murderer" also talked about his dream of fighting at Madison Square Garden, introducing the Australian fans to MMA, and dropping down to 185 pounds for the first time. Check out the video interview below.

It looks like Wanderlei Silva vs. Yoshihiro Akiyama is all but official for early 2010 in Sydney, Australia.

"The Axe Murderer" posted a video on his YouTube Channel late Thursday night announcing that he will be facing "Sexyama" on Feb. 21 in the UFC's first event Down Under.

Yoshihiro Akiyama said at a UFC press conference Tuesday in Japan that he will fight Wanderlei Silva inside the Octagon some time in early 2010, possibly in the main event of UFC 111 in Sydney, Australia.

A reality show competition is currently in the works that will feature Wanderlei Silva scouting aspiring fighters for his Wand Fight Team, and FanHouse has confirmed that the show will be broadcasted on a television network to be announced.

With his face looking noticeably different, UFC star Wanderlei Silva has posted a video on his official YouTube channel explaining that he went through multiple facial surgeries to repair injuries he has suffered in his long mixed martial arts career.

No one can confidently say Keith Jardine's UFC 102 fight against Thiago Silva is a must-win situation for "The Dean of Mean." Sure, he's coming off a unanimous decision loss to Rampage Jackson at UFC 96, but he also seemed to raise his stock in standing toe-to-toe with the hard-hitting Jackson for three full rounds.

FanHouse spoke to Jardine about reinventing his game for his fight against Silva and the balancing act when it comes to marketing oneself to the fans. The full interview is below.

It is fitting given his soft-spoken demeanor that Nate Marquardt has very quietly been among the top-rated middleweights in the world for years. The 30-year-old Coloradan is 9-2 over his last 11 fights, with his only losses coming to awe-inspiring champion Anderson Silva and the former No. 1 contender Thales Leites, a fight in which Marquardt had two points deducted for fouls and still only narrowly lost by split-decision.

At UFC 102, Marquardt (28-8-2) will square off with unbeaten Brazilian ground wizard Demian Maia. The winner is not likely to receive a title shot, as UFC President Dana White has indicated Dan Henderson is the likely next foe for "the Spider," but a win will certainly move Marquardt right on Henderson's tail.

The contender recently took a few minutes from his training to talk to FanHouse about his recent improvement, the risk of going to the ground with Maia, and chasing the title.

Gina Carano is no stranger to making history. The first to fight in a sanctioned women's MMA bout in the state of Nevada, the first woman to fight MMA on cable TV and later on network TV, on Saturday, the 27-year-old will add another impressive note to her resume, when she and Cris 'Cyborg' Santos become the first women to headline a nationally televised MMA event.

Cyborg vs. Carano is enjoying the type of media buildup that is usually reserved for top-level men's bouts, but will it live up to the hype?

Let's take a closer look at the matchup.

Wanderlei Silva is one of the greatest fighters in the history of mixed martial arts, but after falling to Rich Franklin at UFC 99, he's lost five of his last six fights. Does that mean his fighting career is just about over?

Silva doesn't think so. When I talked to him over the weekend, he sounded excited about returning to the Octagon late this year, and about his work as a trainer and as an ambassador for MMA. He also refuted reports that he had a hard time making the 195-pound limit for the Franklin fight, offered a prediction on the upcoming Forrest Griffin vs. Anderson Silva fight at UFC 101, and talked about whether his old friend from their days fighting in Japan, Fedor Emelianenko, will ever fight in the UFC. Silva's comments are below.