Sunday, AUGUST 10 - 1:47 P.M.

If you haven't attended a UFC show in person, I can't encourage you enough to go out of your way to see a show. The atmosphere inside and outside Target Center was incredible on Saturday night for the UFC 87 show.

I was supposed to have media credentials through a local newspaper I wrote a Brock Lensar cover story for. However, there was a problem with the number of passes the newspaper could get and I was the odd man out because I made the mistake of hooking up a friend. Yes, the friend who didn't write the article got the pass while I got the shaft.

I was even encouraged by the newspaper editor to take the pass for myself, but I declined. The friend who ended up with the pass felt so bad that he offered to let me take the pass since I made the connection with the local newspaper and wrote the article. Wait, that last part didn't happen. Yes, I'm busting his balls, but I honestly would have told him to keep the pass because I was so sick of dealing with the headache.

I would say the moral of this story is take care of yourself first, but karma stepped in when Dot Net reader Chris Ketchmark contacted me and offered me one of his $400 comp tickets. My paranoid girlfriend was concerned that Ketchmark could be a stalker, but he turned out to be a great guy and I am incredibly grateful that he invited me. I'm not sure why he followed me home and cleaned his hunting knife outside my bedroom window all night, but I'm sure it's nothing.

Ketchmark and I met up at a bar next to Target Center and I've never seen so many MMA t-shirts inside and outside the crowded pub. The MMA shirts blew away the number of pro wrestling shirts I remember seeing at WWE and WCW events during the peak of the Monday night wars. UFC is making some serious merchandising coin.

There's also something about UFC that apparently makes women wear the least amount of clothing possible. I've been to countless rock concerts over the years and I've never seen anything like this. Had it not been for the octagon set up in the middle of the building, someone who wandered in off the street may have assumed that Target Center was hosting a mixer for guys who like t-shirts and pole dancing strippers.

Even the woman who appeared to be no fewer than seven months pregnant in our section was wearing a skintight outfit. The late stage of her pregnancy didn't stop her from climbing over a chair to get down to her level of seats at least four times. (Note to pregnant women: Don't climb over chairs and risk hurting yourself or your baby. I know you're feeling fat, you can still walk past people in the aisle and get to your seat.)

The building was packed to the rafters. There were some open seats in the lower bowl (including one next to me, which is always nice), but the upper deck of the building was filled with the exception of the seats located behind the six giant television screens. In other words, people in the very last row of the building had their choice of watching the action in the octagon, viewing it on one of the six screens, or watching the action above the octagon on the huge scoreboard.

There was a huge Canadian turnout. Yes, I know Minnesota is considered Canada South, but it's at least an eight hour drive from the Canadian border, so kudos to our neighbors to the north for being such diehards. Of course, their passion didn't stop Ketchmark and I from heeling on the Canucks by rooting against the Canadian fighters just for the sake of being contrarians.

Jesse Ventura was in attendance. Actress Laura Prepon from "That '70s Show" was also in the building, meaning I unknowingly violated my restraining order. I kind of have this thing for some redheads. Anyway, Adrian Peterson and Jared Allen of the soon-to-be Super Bowl Champion Vikings were also in the house.

The Lesnar fight was the main event for anyone who didn't have to cross the border while en route to Minneapolis. The pop for Brock coming out to Motley Crue's "Shout at the Devil" was tremendous, and the (adopted) hometown hero put on a hell of a show while grounding and pounding his way to a three-round unanimous decision.

There were some fans who left the building after Brock roughed up Heath Herring for 15 minutes, but the overwhelming majority stuck around to watch George St. Pierre dominate Jon Fitch in the actual main event. I gained some serious respect for Fitch due to the heart he showed by hanging in there for five rounds despite some of the shots he took.

Overall, it was a fun show to see live and I can't thank Ketchmark enough for the ticket. Now if only I could figure out why he's parked across the street with a pair of binoculars and a roll of duct tape.

Saturday, AUGUST 9 - 3:07 P.M.

-UFC 87 is hours away and will take place at Target Center, which is about 15 minutes from my house. Well, it would be only 10 minutes, but we're still missing the collapsed bridge that connected me to downtown.

There's some serious buzz in Minneapolis regarding the fight. UFC has held a series of press and fan events over the last few days and the show has generated a lot of buzz on local TV and radio.

I don't think it was a good idea to sell $600 ringside tickets in this market, though. I just checked the Ticketmaster website and discovered that I could score two tickets in the fifth row on the floor if I were rich and wanted to be seen. Let me get this straight. I could pay $600 for one seat or sit home and watch the show on pay-per-view for $45? The building will be packed, though, as the cheap seats sold out.

The pro-Brock Lesnar crowd should be a blast. It will be a big change from Lesnar's first UFC fight when the live crowd booed him heavily before, during, and after his loss to Frank Mir. Lesnar has been all local television and radio promoting the fight, and he's done a great job of promoting this show and UFC in general.

-So who will win the fight? Herring is one hell of a fighter and I'm a fan of his work. If he can stay on his feet, he will be dangerous. However, I don't think he can avoid Lesnar's takedowns.

As such, I'm taking Brock to win in the second round via ref stoppage. His ground and pound against Mir was sensational and I think he would have won that fight had the referee not ordered both fighters to stand up after Lesnar struck the back of Mir's head. If Brock gets Herring off his feet, I think he'll do serious damage and put him away.

-How great was Edge on Smackdown last night? My assumption for the Hell in a Cell match at SummerSlam was that Undertaker would destroy Edge. And maybe he still will, but I can't get over how quickly WWE has transitioned Edge from being the chickenshit heel into a sadistic prick who is actually looking forward to his match with Taker.

Edge has an edge. Mick Foley said Edge needed to get his edge back. Let's be honest, though, Edge never had an edge like this before. Even if he loses next week, WWE should move forward with this version of the Edge character by having him defeat a top babyface or two without cheating to build his credibility as a wrestler.

Sure, Edge should continue to be the guy who will do whatever it takes to win if the situation calls for it, but he's taken the chickenshit routine as far as it can go. Edge needed to evolve and it appears like he has. This version of Edge vs. Triple H at WrestleMania would be a legitimate money match.

-Brian Kendrick was great on Smackdown. His post-match dance routine and his all around arrogance is great. I like the way the Ezekiel Jackson character is evolving. He's not just muscle, he's an adviser. I don't know where they're going with Jackson, but it would be fun to see him serve as a boss-type who controls a stable of wrestlers.

-Big thanks to Brian Fritz of BetweenTheRopes.com for hooking me up with tickets to the Larry The Cable Guy show last night. The tickets even came with passes to a meet and greet session, but we arrived at the building too late to meet the Blue Collar comedian.

Great show. Highly recommended. I haven't laughed that hard in a long time. His opening act Reno Collier was also very funny, and the show lasted nearly two hours. I don't think I'm ready to suffer through Larry's movies (well, other than Cars), but he puts on one hell of a comedy show. Now if only I can find someone who knows Ron White and Chris Rock.

Monday, AUGUST 4 - 12:18 P.M.

-Ric Flair's decision to leave World Wrestling Entertainment has a number of people within the industry scratching their heads. The hope of his friends is that he's making the right long-term move, yet there is concern that he is making another bad financial decision by leaving the security of WWE for a run outside the company.

Flair has been telling friends that he is excited about some potential projects he's involved in, and has dropped the names of some major corporations who want to do business with him. He was also frustrated that WWE limited some of the appearances he wanted to make and the assumption is that he feels he can make more money outside WWE than he would have had he continued working for them.

Although Flair is said to be struggling to make the adjustment to life outside the wrestling ring, no one I've spoken with believes his WWE departure has anything to do with his desire to return to the ring for TNA or any other company.

More than one Flair friend has confessed to being concerned Flair's life after wrestling. His wife Tiffany was conspicuous by her absence from the Smackdown tapings in Charlotte last month, and friends fear that he still lives for the moment and hasn't learned from his past financial mistakes. Flair has borrowed money from Vince McMahon in recent years to help with his taxes and other financial issues, but all indications are that he still lives a frivolous lifestyle.

Flair's friends and colleagues believe he can make good money without WWE's help. He should have no trouble making a good living via personal appearances, autograph shows, sponsorship deals, and perhaps even reality television. The big question is whether Flair can settle down and live within his means regardless of how many millions he earns.

If Flair chooses now to settle down, then the question is whether he's surrounded by people who truly have his best interest in mind. Are they willing to watch over him and not just cash in on his popularity resurgence following WrestleMania weekend?

-Flair isn't the only WWE legend who might be on his way out of the company. Dot Net Members currently have access to a story I wrote this morning that explains why Summer Slam could be Mick Foley's last date with WWE for a while. For instant access to that story an all the other membership perks, become a Dot Net Member for only $5 per month by visiting the Dot Net Members' Signup Page.

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