The hits keep coming for the UFC, Dana White and matchmaker Joe Silva. The fellas have to scrounge up a quality heavyweight to fight Junior Dos Santos Jan. 2 in Las Vegas at UFC 108. White confirmed that Gabriel Gonzaga is off the card because of staph infection.

Gonzaga (15-4, 7-3 UFC) last fought Chris Tuchsherer at UFC 102 in August. He's won 3-of-4 fights. Dos Santos, 25, is unbeaten in the UFC. The promotion will wait until after Thanksgiving to come up with a list of candidates to replace Gonzaga. It's slim pickings at the top of the UFC heavyweight food chain right now. The most logical choice would be Cain Velasquez, who just lost his opportunity to fight on the card against Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira. Big Nog is also out with staph.  

Cagewriter told you about Forrest Griffin's apology to Anderson Silva just after his win over Tito Ortiz. After getting knockout by Silva back at UFC 101, Griffin sprinted from the cage. On Saturday night, he told Silva he meant no disrespect (7:53 mark). It's more proof of the sportsmanship often exhibited but rarely covered in mixed martial arts. Even Phil Baroni is seen clowning on himself for taking a beating (5:09 mark).

Was that Silva speaking very good english? During a cageside chat, Silva says he weighs 207 pounds. Tiki Ghosn sitting next to him is actually slimming. 

Ortiz and Dana White can say all they want about how their relationship is repaired, just watch (6:55 mark) their postfight encounter with Jenna Jameson present and feel the "love."

Who knew Chuck Liddell was such a big Josh Koscheck fan (5:38 mark)? Or did he have money on the fight? It was a nice score at plus-115. 

The news is still trickling out on Brock Lesnar's condition and future. Dana White dropped the bombshell just after UFC 105 on Nov. 14. According to White, Lesnar's problem is a perforated intestine which was crushing his immune system and causing him to be consistently worn down. It's still up in the air when and how the problem will be fixed but the prognosis is more positive today. White said Lesnar had minor surgery in Bismark, ND but it's unknown if the hole was actually closed.

Now White was told by Lesnar to respect his privacy but the UFC president still felt an obligation to release some information. People worked up a speculative lather when White said it wasn't HIV or cancer. It all made Cagewriter wonder if the generally cantankerous Lesnar flipped out on White after he spilled the beans (5:56 mark):

"Dude, that's my job," White told Cagewriter on the eve of UFC 106 in Las Vegas. "Brock Lesnar is a UFC fighter. He's under our umbrella and people want to know. If it was up to Brock Lesnar nobody would know. Nobody would even know this happened."

At 6-foot-4, 285 pounds, Lesnar may be the scariest guy in all of fighting, but even this one spooked the UFC's heavyweight champ:

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Robbed was the word of the night for Tito Ortiz following his loss to Forrest Griffin but deep down he thinks he's the one who pulled off the heist. That's right, he won the long war against UFC president Dana White. Ortiz pulled a fast one on the big guy when he got the UFC owner Lorenzo Fertitta to overrule White in favor of him. 

Tito blurted out that he "won" between the two of them during the press conference (8:25 mark) and also said it during an interview with DC and The Sunshine Man on ESPNRadio1100 on Thursday. Maybe it was an unfair fight. Adam Hill from the Las Vegas Review-Journal wrote:

The insults hurled at former friend and manager and current UFC president Dana White? The shots at the company's pay structure? The joke about Chuck Liddell's speech? Even the shirt with a derogatory term about White that Ortiz wore to the weigh-ins before his most recent fight? All part of the plan.

How did Ortiz win? Because he's smart:

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Forrest Griffin was pretty grumpy the first time he had to answer questions about his crazy behavior following his UFC 101 loss to Anderson Silva. During an interview with MMA30's Dave Farra, he wondered aloud why anyone even cared and went on an odd rant about not being a role model. As time went along, he came to grips with his postfight antics and addressed them at length last Wednesday before UFC 106.

Any lingering questions about his mental state were finally answered on Saturday night, first with his win over Tito Ortiz and then officially when  Griffin sought out Silva following the UFC 106 press conference:

"I’m sorry I ran out on you, it was no disrespect," The Las Vegas Sun heard Griffin saying to Silva towards the back of the media center. "I just wanted it to be a great fight and I was really disappointed when it wasn’t."

Griffin trainer Jimmy Gifford said the Ortiz win was huge physically and mentally for Griffin. Sun writer Brett Okamoto pointed out that Griffin had pinched a nerve in his neck, a rib injury and broken foot in the weeks leading up to the fight. 

The momentum builds with each close fight. Many fans and media members are looking for answers on how to fix what they think is a problem, inconsistent judging in mixed martial arts. That's if there is a problem. Forrest Griffin and Tito Ortiz engaged in a back and forth fight for two rounds before Griffin rolled in the third at UFC 106. The decision (30-27, 29-28 and 28-29) went to Griffin. Frankly it wouldn't have been outrageous had it gone to Ortiz. When fighters don't try to finish fights these things happens. Boxing has a long history of close fights and close decisions don't always mean they're controversial, yet for UFC president Dana White the complaining hurled his way is getting old (2:15 mark):

"I don't even know, I'm so exhausted by this whole thing," White said during the postfight press conference. "It's tiring. It's terrible. These athletic commissions need to start looking at this and figure out what they're going to do."

White said fans should contact the head of the nation's leading commission, Keith Kizer, the executive director of the Nevada State Athletic Commission.

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Dana White's weigh-in day video blog takes you through the Friday before UFC 106. It's interesting to see the fighters standing in line to enter the Mandalay Bay weigh-in area. Josh Koscheck is standing with no Anthony Johnson present (3:40 mark). When asked where he is, Koscheck says he heard Johnson passed out trying to make the weight. When you finally see Johnson (4:45 mark), he does confirm that he had some issues and says he was "dehydrated."

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With a nickname like "Da Spyder" you'd think fighters would be afraid to go anywhere near Kendall Grove. But that hadn't been the case in some recent fights against the likes of Jorge Rivera and Ricardo Almeida. Once those fights got into clinch situations, Grove was manhandled and easy to takedown. Last night at UFC 106, it looked like Grove turned the corner. In the opening minutes, he was being thrown around like a rag doll and taken down often by Jake Rosholt. The difference this time? Grove was actively looking to stand right back up and making Rosholt work hard to maintain position.

"I just gotta work with it. I can't freak out when I'm down there," Grove told Cagewriter shortly after the win. 

Rosholt, a three-time national champion wrestler at Oklahoma State, is still learning the nuances of submission defense. Grove is pretty slick with his triangle and d'arce choke. The matchup worked in favor of the 6-foot-6 Hawaiian:

"Me and my jiu-jitsu coach Justin McCully right here, we just was working on that same exact triangle from that same position back in the lockerroom right before we went out."

Rosholt slipped for a split second and Grove locked on the choke. He said it was tight and there was no way for Rosholt to escape. Grove was a little emotional during the postfight while remembering his grandmother who passed away on Nov. 12.

Dana White couldn't say enough good things about Josh Koscheck and his dominating win over Anthony Johnson. He even matched his mouth with his money by giving both the Fight of the Night and Submission of the Night bonuses to Koscheck. That's a hefty $140,000 double-bonus check on top of his fight night salary of $106,000 ($53,000 to show and $53,000 to win). Koscheck likes the money but a title shot would be even nicer. That's a bonus White isn't willing to pony up. White confirmed there is no turning back now, Georges St. Pierre against Dan Hardy is etched in stone (2:45 mark).

Koscheck was resigned to towing the company line (2:10 mark):

"Thanks to the UFC. I love to fight. Hopefully in 2010, if I'm not fighting St. Pierre next, I'll fight every month. Dan Hardy's the next guy in line. We'll let him fight for the title and then we'll see what happens after that."

His tune, sober or not, was a bit different this morning.

White was floored by the performance especially since Koscheck had an excuse to bow out of the fight after being poked in the eye as Johnson threw an illegal knee:

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Even after spending much of the UFC 106 postfight press conference complaining about how he got robbed in losing a split decision to Forrest Griffin, Tito Ortiz sent out one last tweet in the late Las Vegas night.

It may have been ring rust and fatigue that did in Ortiz in his comeback fight aftr 18 months away recovering from back surgery, but Tito still had his best tool, his mouth,  working in peak condition.

Watch Tito Ortiz in all his glory during the UFC 106 postfight press conference:

Ortiz said he got robbed at least 10 times during the postfight presser at the Mandalay Bay Events Center. He opened the conference by saying Dana White robbed of his Fight of the Night bonus:

"How the [expletive] are you giving him Fight of the Night," asked Ortiz when White announced the winners were Josh Koscheck and Anthony Johnson.

White responded, "Here we go again. We're back!"

Ortiz went on to explain why he won the fight (1:50 mark):

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