MMA

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 Murder" 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.

Watching Kerry Vera beat Kim Couture on Friday night, I was thinking about the current state of women's MMA and how hard it is to determine who the top fighters are.

Women's MMA is still in its infancy and it's nearly impossible to identify which fighters can really fight (like I think Vera can), which fighters are a step below (like I think Couture is) and which fighters really shouldn't even be in the cage (like I think would be a fair way to describe Couture's one-time opponent Lina Kvokov).

So I've put together my own list of the top 10 pound-for-pound fighters in women's MMA, and I want you to give me your suggestions in the comments, in e-mail or to me on Twitter @MichaelDavSmith.

Ben Saunders made an impression last December when he destroyed Brandon Wolff with knees, but after falling short in his next fight in June to Mike Swick, Saunders will have to wait longer to be considered a contender as he now has to reestablish himself in the welterweight ranks.

In this exclusive interview with FanHouse, Saunders talks about fighting Marcus Davis at UFC 106 and learns through this interview of friend War Machine's new career in the adult film industry.

Strikeforce considers Tyron Woodley one of its best welterweight prospects, and Woodley won again on Friday night, defeating Rudy Bears at the Strikeforce Challengers event in Kansas City.

Woodley got a takedown less than a minute into the fight, and when he got to full mount on the ground it looked like he was close to finishing it. Bears did a nice job of getting back up and landing a kick on his feet, but then Woodley took Bears down again and forced him to tap with an arm triangle choke midway through the first round.

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.

Kerry Vera handily defeated Kim Couture in the first round of their fight at Friday night's Strikeforce Challengers series event, showing off impressive kicks and bloodying Couture's face and knocking her to the ground with hard punches before the referee stopped the fight.

Couture used her left jab effectively in the early part of the fight, and she snapped Vera's head back a couple of times. But Vera, a former professional muay Thai fighter, is the more skilled, polished striker, and she won the fight convincingly, ending it at 3:35 of the first round.

In 2007 and 2008, Rafael "Feijao" Cavalcante was viewed as one of the most promising prospects in mixed martial arts, a light heavyweight with devastating striking and a killer instinct.

LAS VEGAS -- FanHouse was on hand when Dana White and Cain Velasquez fielded questions from the fans at Friday's UFC 106 question-and-answer session.

Some of the topics that were discussed included Brock Lesnar's health status, Karo Parisyan's future with the UFC, women's MMA and Fedor Emelianenko. Check out the video, which contains some mature language, below.

The UFC's first fight card in Australia is rounding out, with a fight between Chris Lytle and Dong Hyun Kim being added to the Feb. 21 UFC 110 event, FanHouse's Ariel Helwani has learned.

All 20 fighters made weight when they stepped on the scales for the UFC 106 weigh-in Friday at the Mandalay Bay Events Center, with Forrest Griffin at 205 pounds and Tito Ortiz at 204 for the main event.

"Tomorrow night it really comes down to these fans ... This is what I fight for," said Ortiz.

The weigh-in results are below.