Current World Extreme Cagefighting champion, Jose Aldo, defended his title against the supremely talented former champ and WEC Golden Boy, Urijah Faber last night to continue his hot streak in the WEC cage and move to 8-0 in the WEC.

Aldo dismissed former titleholder and “California Kid” Urijah Faber in the WEC 48 “Aldo versus Faber” headliner on Saturday at the Arco Arena in Sacramento as he posted a unanimous decision victory in his first defense of the 145-pound crown. Scores were 49-45, 49-45 and 50-45.

The leg kick was Aldo’s weapon of choice, as he exacted an insurmountable toll on Faber’s base with a steady stream of strikes to his lower extremities. The champion landed 10 low kicks in the second round alone, a majority of them to Faber’s lead left leg. At one point, Faber had to be carried back to his corner, proving that (yes, kids!) leg kicks are actually effective in there, even though they’re not as flashy as, say, Superman punches.

Aldo, who is enjoying a 10-win streak (7 straight in the WEC, all by TKO) nearly finished Faber in the fourth round, when he knocked down the blonde bombshell with a leg kick, mounted him briefly and attached himself to the former title holder’s back. Faber escaped, but when the action hit the floor again, Aldo trapped him in a topside crucifix for nearly two minutes, grinding on him with punches and elbows.

Taken the distance for the first time in nearly three years, Aldo seemed content to ride out the decision. Round five proved largely uneventful, but Aldo had already locked up the win by that point.

Call this a victory for Dana White, too.  After the UFC 112 debacle in Abu Dhabi (Anderson Silva’s One-Man-Circus-of-Moron), it must have felt good to put this behind the organization as we the fans look forward to a summer slate of quality fights.

Hall of Famer Chuck “The Iceman” Liddell and former middleweight king Rich Franklin will square off in the UFC 115 “Liddell vs. Franklin” headliner on June 12 at the GM Place in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The promotion confirmed the main event the day before tickets went on sale to UFC Fight Club members and three days prior to their being made available to the general public.

Liddell was originally expected to meet arch rival Tito Ortiz for a third time at the event, as the two former champions are coaching opposite one another on Season 11 of “The Ultimate Fighter” reality series; the season premiered on March 31. No word as to why the Ortiz match up will not happen, but rumors have begun circulating and Ortiz has even come to his own defense via Twitter:

“I haven’t lied to anyone. I was told not to say ‘Anything’! Having a chance to be sued for $5 million was not a chance I wanted to take. So watch TUF 11 and see what happens. I was just doing what I was told, for once. Sorry!”

Sherdog.com reported the Liddell-Franklin matchup in March, citing multiple sources. White later issued a public denial via Twitter and pointed towards a fight pairing Franklin with Randy Couture. “We are doing Couture vs. Franklin not Chuck,” his post read. On March 29, the UFC held a media conference call to promote the Liddell-Ortiz rematch, even though numerous outlets had reported the fight was no longer happening. Ortiz was not present on the call.

The 40-year-old Liddell last competed in April 2009, when he succumbed to first-round strikes from 2005 Pride Fighting Championships middleweight grand prix winner Mauricio “Shogun” Rua. Urged by White to retire, Liddell instead took a spot on ABC’s “Dancing with the Stars,” hinting all the while that he intended to return to the cage. He has lost four of his last five fights but carries with him one of the sport’s most impressive resumes, including a pair of wins over both Ortiz and Couture.

The 35-year-old Franklin has not fought since his technical knockout loss to Vitor Belfort in September. He holds notable victories over Brazilian legend Wanderlei Sliva, the world-ranked Yushin Okami and the late Evan Tanner.

Tune in to SPIKE tonight, Wednesday, at 10pm ET to see if the cast member/fighter who gets tossed from the show is actually Ortiz.  It’d be an interesting twist.

Eleven fights are now official for the UFC 114 event, which will be headlined by a long-awaited grudge match between former light heavyweight champions Quinton “Rampage” Jackson and “Sugar” Rashad Evans.  TUF Season 3 winner, England’s Michael Bisping will meet former IFL champ Dan Miller in a middleweight bout at the event slated for May 29 in Las Vegas.

Based out of the Wolfslair Academy, Bisping last appeared in February, when he dropped a unanimous decision to Brazilian icon, Wanderlei Silva at UFC 110 in Australia. Wins over Matt Hamill, Chris Leben and 2006 Pride Fighting Championships welterweight grand prix finalist Dennis Kang highlight the 31-year-old’s resume. In 21 professional bouts, Bisping has been finished only once, and that was a sobering, potentially career-changing knockout by Dan Henderson in 2009. 

Miller finds himself on a two-fight losing streak for the first time in his career. The 28-year-old Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt has not competed since being outpointed by Demian Maia at UFC 109 in February. Anchored at the AMA Fight Club, Miller has secured seven of his 11 career wins by submission.

Other fights on the card include a few former combatants from “The Ultimate Fighter” reality show, including Forrest Griffin taking on Antonio “Minotauro” Nogueira in the co-headliner.  Other TUF alumni on the card include Diego Sanchez, Amir Sadollah and Efrain Escudero. Also slated to fight,  undefeated heavyweight Todd Duffee takes on Mike Russow.

Sanchez, after a three-fight stop at 155 pounds, will return to the welterweight division, where the unbeaten John Hathaway awaits.

Sanchez has not appeared since being systematically dismantled by former lightweight champion BJ Penn in the UFC 107 main event four months ago. The 28-year-old Albuquerque, N.M., native had never before been finished.  His return to the 170-pound division will be no walk in the park. Perfect through a dozen professional bouts, Hathaway outpointed fellow Brit Paul Taylor  by unanimous decision at UFC 105 in November. The 22-year-old London Shootfighters standout has finished six of his first 12 foes inside one round. His showdown with Sanchez will serve as his debut on American soil.

Meanwhile, Sadollah, the unlikely winner of “The Ultimate Fighter” Season 7, will collide with rugged South Korean judoka Dong Hyun Kim in a pivotal matchup at 170 pounds. Sadollah will ride a two-fight winning streak into the match. 

Escudero, on the rebound for the first time in his career following his submission loss to Evan Dunham, will take on Dan Lauzon — brother of Joe –  in a preliminary lightweight duel. Still only 24, Escudero already has wins over American Top Team’s Cole Miller and Phillipe Nover under his belt. The Mexican-born lightweight has not fought since succumbing to Dunham’s armbar at UFC Fight Night 20 in January. Escudero has secured nine of his 12 career wins by submission.

Two bouts on UFC 114’s undercard will be televised live on SPIKE Network before the Pay-Per-View event begins.  Matches between Escudero and Lauzon, as well as Sadollah vs. Kim will begin at 9pm ET.  Check your local listings for details.

On Saturday night at UFC 112, Frankie “The Answer” Edgar finally solved what the rest of the lightweight division had been asking for the last three-or-so years: how do you beat BJ Penn? For all the talk of Penn being the best pound-for-pound fighter and the greatest lightweight to ever put on a pair of 6 oz. gloves, it was Edgar who came in and fought with the confidence and aggression of a champion.

From the outset, Penn appeared out of synch as Edgar swiftly moved in-and-out and side-to-side to keep the champ guessing. At one point, Edgar’s quickness irritated Penn’s corner so much they advised him to take the wrestler to the mat. Once the scorecards were read and Bruce Buffer had announced there was a new UFC lightweight champion, you could almost hear a collective sigh of relief coming from the rest of the division’s challengers.

And just like that, with one career-defining match, Frankie Edgar, one of the division’s most diminutive fighters cracked the whole thing wide open.  BJ was searching for answers as this was going on, sporting two very well-defined welts under his eyes.  Maybe he couldn’t see The Answer standing right there next to him.

Now that the crown rests atop a new head, the UFC’s 155-pound division has added some much needed intrigue. With a newly minted title holder, the possibilities for potential challengers are growing by the day. Obvious choices for next dibs would be Maynard (the only man to hold a win over Edgar) and former two-time top contender Kenny Florian. However, a potential rematch with Penn could be in the cards as well. Personally, I’d like to see Edgar defend his title against another fighter before embarking on a rematch with Penn, but Sherdog is reporting that a rematch is in the works for sometime this summer/fall.

We knew it wasn’t ‘if’ but ‘when’ this would happen.  Regardless, we’ll all be watching.

Anderson Silva coasted to victory last night against Demian Maia and looked equally impressive and completely disinterested.

Light-Heavyweight Champ, Anderson Silva.

The promotion’s longest-reigning champion attacked for two rounds and then disengaged from the fight, mentally and physically, as he posted a unanimous decision victory in the UFC 112 “Invincible” headliner on Saturday at the Ferrari World Concert Arena in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. Scores were not announced.

Unbeaten in 11 UFC appearances, Silva spent as much time clowning and taunting as he did competing, even with a potential box office blockbuster matchup against welterweight king Georges St. Pierre on the horizon. Boos and chants of “Maia” and “GSP” rained down upon the embattled champion, who has drawn criticism for similar disjointed efforts in the past. Silva seemed disinterested at times, disgusted with Maia at others. The performance was eerily reminiscent of his April 2009 title defense against Thales Laites.

“Demain actually surprised me with some of his punches, and I apologize to everybody,” Silva said through his translator, Ed Soares. “I don’t know what got into me tonight. I wasn’t as humble as I should have been. It was just the ring rust and a little bit of everything. I’m really sorry.”

Silva — who appeared as if he could have ended the match at a moment of his choosing — battered Maia for the first 10 minutes, as he popped him with powerful leg kicks and dropped him with a beautiful flying knee. From the third round forward, however, he did little more than circle the challenger, which prompted referee Dan Miragliotta to threaten to take away a point in the fifth round.

Overmatched and outgunned, Maia did all he could to keep the fight interesting. He even resorted to punching from his knees in the fifth.

Silva’s antics continue to grate on some fans of the sport as he’s been labeled a prima donna for a perceived lack of respect for the sport, the UFC and for his competition.  We’ll see if Silva pulls it together for a mega-match with St. Pierre, and if Dana White and Joe Silva endorse that.  It could be the biggest fight in UFC history, but with two belts and two weight classes at stake, there’s no telling if it will actually happen.