FanHouse Jon Fitch

After his UFC 106 victory over Anthony Johnson, Josh Koscheck proclaimed that he -- not Dan Hardy -- deserves to be the next contender to Georges St Pierre's title.

As you'll see in my rankings of the Top 10 welterweights in MMA, I think Koscheck is right -- sort of. I believe Koscheck deserves to be higher-ranked than Hardy, but I also think Hardy is more deserving of a shot at St. Pierre. The reason is simple: Koscheck has already had a fight with GSP, losing to him at UFC 74. Hardy hasn't gotten his chance yet.

So because I'd like to see GSP get a new challenge, I think Hardy is a fitting No. 1 contender, even though Hardy is just below Koscheck on the list below.

LAS VEGAS -- On the latest edition of FanHouse at the Ultimate Fighting Championship, we were joined by UFC welterweight star Jon Fitch to preview Saturday night's UFC 106 card.

Can Tito Ortiz rebound from an 18-month layoff and extensive back surgery? What does Forrest Griffin need to do to get over his recent loss to Anderson Silva? And will a victory over Josh Koscheck propel Anthony Johnson into a top-level 170-pound fight? All those questions and more were answer. Enjoy the pre-fight video special below.

The UFC has finally announced Antonio Rogerio "Minotoro" Nogueira's promotional debut at UFC 106 on Nov. 21 against Luiz Cane as well as Mike Pierce as Jon Fitch's new opponent at UFC 107 on Dec. 12.

Rogerio Nogueira (17-3), the twin brother of former UFC heavyweight champion Rodrigo Nogueira, is a top 10 light heavyweight who is entering an already stacked 205-pound division in the UFC. He'll be welcomed to the Octagon by rising contender Luiz Cane (11-1-1), who has already compiled three UFC wins.

A knee injury has forced welterweight Thiago Alves to pull out of his scheduled bout against Jon Fitch at UFC 107. FanHouse learned of the news Friday morning.

The Alves-Fitch fight was put together late last week after Fitch's opponent at UFC 106, Ricardo Almeida, pulled out due to a knee injury as well. Alves was originally scheduled to fight Paulo Thiago at UFC 107, but once Fitch was left without an opponent, the UFC booked the rematch. No word just yet on who, if anyone, Fitch will be facing on the Dec. 12 show in Memphis, TN.

Ricardo Almeida has been forced out of UFC 106 on Nov. 21 due to a knee injury and his scheduled opponent Jon Fitch will receive a new opponent at a later date.

Fitch revealed on his Twitter late Wednesday the bout cancellation and added that he has already been presented with a new offer, "I get a bigger, better fight instead. Can't say who yet, but lots of you have been waiting for this fight [for] a long time."

Ricardo Almeida's desire to compete on the UFC 101 card in Philadelphia was so much so that he postponed immediate plans for a welterweight run.

"To be honest I would have fought at 205 to fight in Philly," Almeida said. "I really wanted the people who support me on a daily basis to have the chance to watch me fight live and be a part of it."

The last time we spoke to Jon Fitch he talked about getting engaged the day after UFC 100. But that wasn't the only exciting thing to happen to him that weekend. Fitch won his second fight in a row (and 17th in 18 fights), defeating Paul Thiago via unanimous decision. The victory surely meant a lot to Fitch because Thiago had shockingly defeated his American Kickboxing Academy team member, Josh Koscheck, in February.

FanHouse spoke to Fitch about what's next for him and the funky goatee he sported on ESPN.com's MMA Live after the bout. The full interview is below.

13 out of the 22 competitors at UFC 100 underwent drug testing Saturday and all passed.

The Nevada State Athletic Commission revealed Friday that tests administered for Brock Lesnar, Frank Mir, Georges St-Pierre, Thiago Alves, Shannon Gugerty, Jon Fitch, Dan Henderson, Yoshihiro Akiyama, Mark Coleman, Tom Lawlor, Jon Jones, Dong Hyun Kim and Jim Miller have all come out negative.

At one point in 2007, it seemed as though Hayato "Mach" Sakurai was ready to ply his trade across the globe in the UFC. But the Japanese MMA star never quite made it. For various reasons, Sakurai stayed in Japan, where he remains one of the stalwarts of the nation's MMA scene. In the DREAM welterweight Grand Prix quarterfinals in April, he scored a dominant TKO win over Shinya Aoki (video above).

On Monday, Sakurai (35-8) will square off in a semifinal bout with Marius Zaromskis, a native Lithuanian with a 9-2 record. The winner will meet the Jason High-Andre Galvao victor later in the night for the tournament championship. The event will air on HDNet.

Sakurai recently answered some questions about the fight and his career for FanHouse via email and through an intrepreter.