Things have been relatively quiet on the Chuck Liddell retirement watch—perhaps this is due to the fact that most people can’t really imagine the legendary fighter returning, after being unofficially retired by UFC President Dana White for a second time in June. After all, even “The Iceman’s” biggest admirers have to be asking themselves if it’s not time for Chuck to focus on other “Dancing with the Stars” like endeavours from here on out; dude’s been violently stopped three fights in a row.

Despite his KO loss to Rich Franklin at UFC 115, Liddell has still not made “it official”, making a lot of people like us here at Fix conclude Chuck’s seriously thinking about fighting again. In a recent interview with the Minnesota Star Tribune, the former light-heavyweight champ was quoted saying:

“It’s about how I feel and if I want to go back and make a run at a title and how far away that would be. And whatever I think is left in the tank. I’ve been doing PR stuff for the last couple months, and I’ll finally be home for the month. I’ll probably decide sometime in September, when I have time to relax.”

“I don’t feel like there’s anything left to prove. I still love fighting, but there’s a lot that goes into it. Maybe it might be time. I’m just not sure yet.”

Now, we could be and often are wrong, but if you put on your read between the lines glasses for a second, don’t you think the sentence ‘if Dana lets me I’ll fight’ is visible?

If you thought you’d never see the day again when Karo Parisyan rag dolls some dude to the Octagon floor, prepare to be jaw droppingly surprised. According to an initial report from MMA Fighting this afternoon, which has been subsequently confirmed by several other outlets, Parisyan will make his Octagon return on November 20^th, versus Dennis Hallman. Holy sh-t right?

Why? What’s the big deal MMA, but-not-hardcore, fans may be asking? Well after Parisyan withdrew last minute from his scheduled  UFC 106 bout with Dustin Hazelett, Dana White promptly announced that the judo stud “will not be fighting Saturday or ever again in the UFC.” It was the last straw in a series of events for the troubled fighter, which included testing positive for painkillers, getting subsequently fined and suspended (and another last minute fight withdrawal). Things weren’t looking so good in the fighting career of Parisyan, who at one point before having serious setbacks due to injuries, sat near the top of the welterweight division.

Anyways, after earning a win ‘down under’ in Australia recently and consistently stating his desire publicly to return to the UFC, it looks like Parisyan has gotten his wish. If you still haven’t seen his Fight Night 6 bout with Diego Sanchez, you should feel huge amounts of instantaneous shame, and then go find footage. Anyone asked Paul Daley yet what he makes of all this?

If someone had told you six months ago, that in September, people would be discussing whether or not Frankie Edgar vs. Gray Maynard II is a marketable championship fight, many of us would have laughed and told buddy to piss off.  Really, following BJ Penn’s violent and bloody stoppage of Diego Sanchez last December, who could have imagined that as 2010 neared its end, not only would Penn not be the champ, he’d be one or two wins away from contending? That’s some crazy sh-t. Kind of like Fedor getting tapped out in the first round…

In terms of whether or not a rematch between Edgar and Maynard can move some serious PPV’s, well, yes, clearly neither guy has put together the resume yet of a legend like Penn, so things might cool down in the hype department. And don’t expect Maynard to engage in any Chael Sonnen like, ‘deconstructive criticism’ with Edgar to help sell the fight. Speaking to MMA Weekly recently the bruising wrestler stated:

“It’s great competition. He trains hard. He’s a cool guy too. It’s cool because his dad is always like ‘hey Gray!’ talks to me and stuff; nicest guy in the world. So trash talk ain’t gonna happen,” Maynard said. “But I guarantee you he’s going to train hard, and I’ll train, and it’s going to be a good fight.”…”It’s all business. Throw the trash talk out, it’s just all business.”

So as it looks now, scandalous comments aren’t going to be flying between these guys (and clearly Dad jokes are out), but that doesn’t mean the rematch can’t be a thoroughly entertaining and violent affair.

Residents of Michigan State, who’ve had more than their fair share of sh—ty news to deal with over the last few years (during this tiresome run of ‘economic uncertainty’), have reason to smile today, as the Detroit Free Press is reporting that UFC 123 is headed to Auburn Hills. According to the report, the card is “almost certain” to take place November 20^th in the Detroit suburb, and will be hosted by the 20,000 seat plus Palace. The report included a comment from Dr. James Weber, chair of the Michigan Unarmed Combat Commission (versus armed combat commission….) who stated:

“Detroit deserves this. It is a boxing and MMA town. It would be a great boost to the economy and represents the character, fight and will of the people in this area. It is a dream of mine come true.”

Amen to that. What’s even better for Michigan MMA fans is that the expected headliner for UFC 123 is a light-heavyweight tilt between former champs Lyoto Machida and “Rampage” Jackson. We immediately jumped on board with that bout as soon as it was rumored to be next in line—not only could it be an outstanding fight from a talent / technical perspective, but both Rampage and Lyoto need a win big time.

MMA Junkie has also confirmed the location and date for UFC 123 in a follow up report.

It was just a couple of months ago that the “Axe Murderer” nation was riddled with grief, upon hearing the news that not only was Wanderlei Silva no longer fighting Yoshihiro Akiyama at UFC 116 in July, but that the former Pride champ was so banged up, he’d be out until 2011. It was a damn tough pill to swallow, considering that Silva was coming off a UD win over Michael Bisping in February, after losing back-to-bouts against Rich Frankin and “Rampage” Jackson.

Well, several weeks have blurred by (courtesy a heavy MMA schedule) and already people are looking towards what’s in store next for Wandy. At the UFC 118 festivities this past weekend, while reportedly still utilizing crutches, Silva informed MMA Fighting that he hopes to be back in stomping action by February or March. So who might be his opponent? While Silva talked about his wish to rematch Vitor Belfort, it’s looking like “The Phenom” will face Yushin Okami in November, and one would think the winner will get a title shot. Silva also conceded that he’d like to face Chris Leben, however, and had this to say about fighting the man who replaced him vs. Akiyama.

“He won’t pass the first two rounds with me,” Silva said. “I saw his fight with Akiyama. It was a great match, and he beat him in the final round. He’s a tough guy. He had only fought two weeks earlier. I think it will be perfect for my next fight.”

Huh. Clearly Wandy’s feeling pretty confident; that aside, here’s hoping this fight happens. Has FOTN written all over it.

Heading into his first bout with Georges St. Pierre, Josh Koscheck likely wasn’t most Canadian’s ‘favori’ fighter to begin with, but after his post UFC 113 interview / antics (you may recall him declaring that the asses of both the Montreal Canadiens and GSP were going to get kicked), we’re thinking Kos might not be the right guy to give you a tour of the historic city.

Well, word has come today from MMA Fighting, that the rematch between GSP and Koscheck will in fact go down in Montreal, on December 11^th. Dana White reportedly confirmed the fight date and location to the outlet, and in a follow up report from MMA Junkie, they too have verified that the fight will take place in St. Pierre’s hometown.

While Koscheck may or may not be looking forward to returning to a city where likely 90% of the people hate his guts (Kos does seem to revel in pissing others off), this news absolutely guarantees a packed Bell Centre / house come December 11^th. Throw in the fact that each dude is coaching in the upcoming season of “The Ultimate Fighter” and you’ve got yourself some serious hype. Oh yeah, if the NHL isn’t part of your regular sport’s diet, the Penguins ended up being eliminated by the Habs…How many signs do you think will be pointing that lil nugget out at UFC 124? If GSP in fact loses that night though…wow.

Frankie Edgar might as well had walked out to the Octagon last night with a Rodney Dangerfield bit playing, as despite being the UFC Lightweight Champion, it wasn’t like the guy was receiving a ton of respect heading into his rematch with BJ Penn. Of course, Penn has long been widely regarded as the world’s best lightweight, as well as one of the sport’s best P4P fighters, so something must have been wrong with him in their first meeting right? Wrong.

Now it wasn’t like Edgar beat the holy living hell out of Penn last night in Boston, but it was a pretty damn convincing win, as the Jersey fighter once again outscored the Hawaiian on his feet and threw in a couple of takedowns for good measure. Speaking afterwards at the post-fight presser, Dana White took the opportunity to heap praise on the promotion’s lightweight champ, saying (thanks to MMA Bay for the quote):

“This kid just beat the s— out of BJ Penn for five rounds. Dominated him in every facet of the fight: on the ground, on top, on bottom, stand-up, everything. The kid’s got a heart as big as this room. He comes from wrestling, but his boxing is unbelievable, his jiu-jitsu was great tonight, his wrestling was sick. He picked BJ up and power slammed him. I guarantee you BJ Penn is banged up right now.”

You don’t have to sell this on us Dana; Frankie’s got our complete and total respect. Now it just remains to be seen whether or not Joe and Jane ’UFC’s kind of cool’ embrace the new champ, or get pumped for his first bout with Gray Maynard.

If there’s one man that knows what the hell he’s talking about in regards to the whole ‘boxing vs. MMA’ debate, it’s gotta be Marcus Davis. After all, before transitioning into the Octagon, the welterweight went 17-1 as a pro-boxer—that probably qualifies him as an expert no?  (Although we’ve learned a thing or two from playing UFC Undisputed immediately following EA Sport’s Fight Night…)

Of course, unless you’ve been having a spat with the internet, TV, and or any other form of communication, you know that renowned boxing champ James “Light Out” Toney is making his MMA debut Saturday against Randy “The Natural” Couture. It’s a pretty, pretty, pretty big deal in terms of settling the aforementioned, yet tired, debate, and while speaking to MMA Fighting, Davis had this to say about how he thinks Toney will fair at UFC 118.

“He ain’t doing nothing. He’s not going to do anything,” Davis said when asked about Toney’s chances. “Just like everybody who’s a journalist of MMA, a practitioner, a coach, or a fan, they’ll tell you, it’s got to be a one-punch victory and that’s it. If he gets pushed up against the cage, he’s going down on the ground. If they go down, he ain’t getting back up. Randy’s not going to let that happen.”

It’s hard to disagree with you Mr. Davis, and thank you for including the rest of us, non-bad-asses in your comments. Of course Davis will swap leather with Nate Diaz in Boston, Saturday, which in addition to several other bouts scheduled for UFC 118, could be wicked awesome. To bet, head here.

Just days removed from Saturday’s UFC 118, James Toney continues to toss smack at Randy “The Natural” Couture, further increasing what could very well be, one of the largest helpings of humble pie the sport of MMA has ever seen (Chael Sonnen escaped that humiliation by dominating Anderson Silva for nearly five rounds). That is of course if the decorated boxer loses…no worries right? (Cue nervous laughter).

Really, even if Couture does smash Toney in under two minutes, it probably won’t silence the heavyweight too, too much, but seeing him get bowled over by “Captain America” would be damn satisfying for most MMA fans. So what’s the latest word from Mr. ‘Trust me I got this’ Toney? Speaking at today’s pre-fight UFC 118 presser, the boxing champ revealed:

“I seen fear,” Toney told MMAjunkie.com at Thursday’s media workout session. “I smelled it, too.”…”Everybody can sit there and say, ‘Oh, Randy was tough. He was cool.’ All the Randy Couture fans were [saying that]. Up close and personal, you could see it in his eyes. He ain’t never seen nobody like me in his life.”

Curious; what does fear smell like? Is there a feint (or strong) presence of urine? At any rate, Toney’s right, Couture has never faced anyone like him in his life, but that doesn’t change the fact that 9 out of 10 times The Natural should win that fight. To bet on that tilt, or any other at UFC 118, head here.

Yesterday we passed along the news that Fedor Emelianenko is calling out Strikeforce Heavyweight Champion Alistair Overeem to be his next opponent in 2010 (we used to say victim, but these days, we’re not so sure). Fabricio Werdum is a no go until 2011 due to elbow surgery, so apparently, Fedor and his M-1 Global crew have decided that the Russian heavyweight should throw down with Overeem next.

Well, as well all know (some more than others), often in life you don’t get what you want, and while speaking to MMA Fighting Overeem pretty much dismissed any chance that he’ll face Fedor in 2010.

“No, unfortunately not. The reason is because if I enter the Final 16 and win (in October), I will fight the K-1 Final in December. My decision was made because nothing was certain and Strikeforce and M-1 didn’t act fast enough when I made my decision to start K-1 training. Now I read on the internet that Fedor and his management want to fight me all of sudden. Do they really need two months of thinking and negotiating? I think it’s a little strange to be honest.”

In addition to his K-1 commitments, Overeem also raised the completely rational yet meddling point, regarding the fact that since Fedor just lost to Werdum, why would he get a title shot? (Does Brett Rogers want to field this one?) In Alistair’s Dutch eyes, Fedor is ranked #3 and Antonio Silva is #4, and thus, those two should fight. Well, considering Fedor’s seemingly ever decreasing options, maybe he’ll just have to do that.