Not The Best Weekend For The UFC

Like a lot of sports fans, we only recently started keeping an eye on this whole UFC business, approaching it gingerly, with as much optimism as one can have for anything that prominently features Joe Rogan. The last two weeks have been a blitz of positive publicity, with an oddly fawning Sports Illustrated cover story and every Don King-weary pundit declaring the UFC our new boxing replacement. With champion Chuck Lidell on magazine covers and "Entourage," the sport was drawing the eyes of the curious.

And then, as tends to happen when the spotlight is brightest, UFC had one of its worst weekends, with its golden boy — and only in the UFC would a guy who looks like Chuck Lidell ever be referred to as a "golden boy" — showing up to his weigh-in looking tubby and, worse, being knocked out by a stray punch that didn't look nearly as decapacitating "painful" as it probably was. The last couple of weeks have been full of mainstream media coverage that declared UFC as more exciting, more honest and safer than boxing. But a lot of people who tuned in for the first time on Saturday had to wonder what all the fuss is about.

Rampage + Chuck Liddell Photos from UFC 71 Weigh In - He Looked Fat [beRecruited SportsWrap] Rampage Jackson Will Knock You Out And Hump Your Leg [Deadspin]