FanHouse Heath Herring

Less than a month before his UFC 99 fight against Cain Velasquez, Heath Herring was forced to withdraw from the bout after getting sick. Had he won that fight, Herring would have immediately become a player again in the UFC's heavyweight division.

Since then, there have been few updates on his health and his expected return to the Octagon. FanHouse spoke to "The Texas Crazy Horse" on Tuesday about his MMA future and his budding acting career. The full interview is below.

The UFC 100 heavyweight title match between Frank Mir and Brock Lesnar could not possibly have worked out better for the UFC.

First, there is the previous history between the two. Second, there is Frank Mir trying to ascend back to the top as the UFC champ (interim title notwithstanding) after his first run was cut short due to a motorcycle crash. And finally, the company gets to showcase two heavyweights as the main event of the biggest event in its history.

So how will it all go down? Let's take a look.

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A day after Heath Herring pulled out of UFC 99 because of an illness, the card just got better: Cheick Kongo will step in for Herring and fight Cain Velasquez in the co-main event.

Heavyweight Heath Herring, who had been scheduled to fight Cain Velasquez in the co-main event at UFC 99, will not fight on the card as scheduled, FanHouse learned Tuesday.

FanHouse's Ariel Helwani first got the news that Herring is out. I separately confirmed with a source close to Herring that he has been battling an illness for weeks and unable to train.

It is not known at this point what will happen with Valasquez, a former Arizona State wrestler who is one of the brightest young heavyweight prospects in the UFC.

A heavyweight battle of Cain Velasquez vs. Heath Herring has been added to the June 13 UFC 99 card in Germany, a card that is also expected to feature Rich Franklin vs. Wanderlei Silva, Caol Uno vs. Spencer Fisher and Dan Hardy vs. Marcus Davis.

Wrestling star Brock Lesnar took a big step toward becoming a star in mixed martial arts tonight in Minneapolis by dominating Heath Herring in a bloody fight at UFC 87.

A brutal punch from Lesnar battered Herring's eye in the first round, and throughout the rest of the fight Lesnar, who won the NCAA heavyweight wrestling title in 2000, used his wrestling skills to dominate. The fight went the distance because Lesnar couldn't find a finishing move, but Lesnar's unanimous decision was clearly deserved.

Lesnar, who weighed in at the 265-pound heavyweight limit, overpowered Herring throughout. Herring is a skilled, experienced MMA fighter, but it was never even close. Lesnar destroyed him.

Lesnar was fighting for the first time since losing to Frank Mir by first-round submission in his UFC debut in February. He has clearly improved since then, and he's clearly a real player in the sport of MMA.

Welcome to the FanHouse UFC 87 live blog, where we'll be providing round-by-round updates of all of tonight's fights, including Brock Lesnar's return to the Octagon against Heath Herring, the long-awaited lightweight fight between Roger Huerta and Kenny Florian, and the welterweight title bout between Georges St. Pierre and Jon Fitch.

The show begins at 10 p.m. Eastern. Join me then.

All this week FanHouse looks forward to Fedor Emelianenko's fight against Tim Sylvia by reliving Fedor's career history. This is the first installment.

Though Fedor had been competing in combat sports for several years, the story of his mixed martial arts career begins in earnest in June 2002. A standout in the Russian self-defense art of Sambo, Fedor made his entrance onto the international fighting sports scene two years earlier in the RINGS organization, a pro wrestling promotion that had begun holding (mostly) legitimate contests. Though similar to MMA, the fights contested in RINGS did not allow for any striking on the ground, only submission grappling.

UFC is the undisputed champion of mixed martial arts promotions, but there are a few organizations that are trying to put some chinks in UFC's armor. EliteXC got a prime time network TV deal, and Affliction has a pay-per-view show next month -- headlined by Fedor Emelianenko -- that will have every bit as much MMA talent on display as a typical UFC pay-per-view show.

But UFC President Dana White could take a huge step to undercut Affliction and show that UFC is still the dominant dog: He could take the Brock Lesnar-Heath Herring fight, which is currently scheduled for UFC 87, August 9 on pay-per-view, and move it to July 19 on free TV or basic cable (most likely Spike), head to head with Affliction's pay-per-view show.

That would crush Affliction. Although I was skeptical about Lesnar when he first signed with UFC, he's undeniably a big draw. He's well-known from his days in the WWE, and MMA fans respect his background as an NCAA wrestling champion. Emelianenko is a much more accomplished MMA fighter than Lesnar, but among American fans, Lesnar's name is bigger than Fedor's, and if the choice is between watching Lesnar on basic cable or paying $50 to watch Fedor, for most fans, that's an easy choice to make.