Denny Burkholder

All right, boys, here's the one everybody is waiting for: Frank Mir vs. Brock Lesnar.

Mir entered to Nas' "Hate Me Now." Lesnar came out to Motley Crue's "Shout at the Devil."

Round 1: Mir throws a kick and Lesnar immediately takes him to the mat. Lesnar with strikes as Mir tries to turn into him. Lesnar lands some strikes and referee Steve Mazagatti stops them, deducting a point from Lesnar for one of the punches hitting Mir in the back of the head. Upon restarting, Lesnar resumes ground and pound. Mir tries for an armbar twice but Brock is too strong. Lesnar is standing over Mir looking to punch, and Mir grabs the leg and taps Brock out with a kneebar.

Winner: Frank Mir defeats Brock Lesnar via submission due to a kneebar at 1:30 of Round 1.

Up next is Jeremy Horn vs. Nate Marquardt.

If you're a wrestling fan, reports are that Kurt Angle, Stone Cold Steve Austin, The Undertaker, JBL, and (of course) Rena "Sable" Lesnar are among those in the audience. In fact, even if you're not a wrestling fan, they're still in attendance.

An unnamed source also tells me that CBS MMA contributor Todd Martin can be seen at ringside taking notes for a forthcoming column.

Round 1: Marquardt takes Horn down and starts landing serious bombs to the face. Horn gets back against the fence and Marquardt lets him up. Marquardt takes Horn down again. They're back up and Marquardt is punishing Horn with uppercuts. Horn is throwing upkicks from his back and Marquardt is trying to strike. Horn catches him in an omoplata and almost got a gogoplata. Marquardt spun out of it, but Horn was able to use the momentum to take top control as the round ended. I'd give it to Marquardt 10-9, but Horn made it close at the end.

Round 2: Horn begins the round by taking Marquardt to the mat. Marquardt gets up and as Horn tries another takedown, Marquardt catches him in a standing guillotine for the submission.

Winner: Nate Marquardt defeats Jeremy Horn via submission to a guillotine choke at 1:37 of Round 2.

The return of "Big Dog" Ricardo Almeida is up next. His opponent, Rob Yundt, fills in for Alan Belcher tonight on about three days notice.

Round 1: Well, that was quick. Almeida trapped Yundt in a guillotine after  takedown and Yundt tried to slam him. Almeida flipped during the slam and held onto the guillotine and Yundt had no choice but to tap out.

Winner: Ricardo Almeida defeats Rob Yundt via submission to a guillotine choke at 1:08 of Round 1.

Tyson Griffin vs. Gleison Tibau kicks off the show.

Round 1: The fight started sort of slow with some standup. Tibau had Griffin against the fence for a bit, but about three minutes in, they went back to striking and Griffin landed several nice shots. Tibau took him down but couldn't go anywhere with it. I'd give it to Griffin 10-9 on account of the striking.

Round 2: More nice striking by Griffin and Tibau has a bloody nose. Griffin's also mixing in some body kicks. Tibau takes Griffin down again but Griffin is up almost immediately. I give it to Griffin again, 10-9. Tibau can't do anything with Griffin on the mat but he's losing the standup, too.

Round 3: Tibau needs to finish Griffin to win at this point, which is a pretty tall order. Tibau takes Griffin down again. He takes head and arm control in half guard and nearly gets swept, so he settles back into Griffin's full guard. Griffin escapes and we're standing again. Griffin with a body shot and Tibau takes him down. Griffin gets up immediately and lands more strikes. Griffin has Tibau against the fence with a body lock. They break with a few seconds left. Griffin 10-9, and I think anything but a unanimous decision here would be a shocker.

Winner: Tyson Griffin defeats Gleison Tibau via unanimous decision (30-27 across the board).

I'll be blogging the UFC 81 PPV broadcast beginning at around 10 p.m. ET. Meanwhile, the four undercard bouts have finished, and here are your winners:

• Chris Lytle defeated Kyle Bradley via TKO due to strikes at 33 seconds of Round 1.
• Tim Boetsch defeated David Heath via TKO due to strikes at 4:52 of Round 1.
• Marvin Eastman defeated Terry Martin via unanimous decision after three rounds.
• Rob Emerson defeated Keita Nakamura via split decision after three rounds.

Nakamura is now 0-3 in the UFC and is probably just about finished with the promotion. Martin really needed this win to get back on track, so losing to Eastman (who himself was lucky to get another shot at the UFC) is a pretty big setback for him.