Denny Burkholder

Up first on the main card is Jorge Rivera vs. Kendall Grove. Let's see if Rivera get inside Grove's reach advantage and do some damage.

Round 1: Rivera set Grove up with a punch and took him down. Rivera kept after him with non-stop ground and pound. Grove got to his feet but Rivera never stopped striking his face, and finally dropped Grove with a fist shortly after he made it to his feet. The referee stopped it. Big win for Rivera here.

Winner: Jorge Rivera defeated Kendall Grove via TKO due to strikes at 1:20 of Round 1.

Once again, if you do not want to know the results of UFC 80's fights, don't read any further. Spoilers below.

Quickie undercard fight results for UFC 80:

• Antoni Hardonk defeated Colin Robinson via KO with a left hand at 17 seconds of Round 1.
• Paul Kelly defeated Paul Taylor via unanimous decision after three rounds.
• Alessio Sakara defeated James Lee via TKO due to punches at 1:30 of Round 1.
• Sam Stout defeated Per Eklund via unanimous decision after three rounds.

I'll be live-blogging UFC 80 starting at 3 p.m. ET today, so for those of you who can't watch it on TV, keep it right here this afternoon for results. Refresh the page periodically to see the latest post... each fight of the main card will have its own blog entry.

That's also a warning to anyone planning to order a PPV replay later tonight (around the normal time a UFC would air live, if it were in the U.S.): This blog will contain detailed spoilers. If that bothers you, you should wait until after you view UFC 80 to check back in with us.

The Las Vegas Review Journal broke the news that the UFC filed a lawsuit against Randy Couture on Monday, charging breach of contract and dealing "injurious falsehood and trade disparagement" to the company, leading to financial loss.

The story reported that the UFC is suing Couture for a figure north of $10,000. Doesn't sound like a lot, but hey -- it's "not about the money," right?

Everyone with connected brain cells saw this lawsuit coming, although the timing was a bit of a surprise, as was the apparent final straw. Reportedly, the addition of Team Xtreme Couture to the IFL this season sparked the breach of contract claim, since Couture is contractually prohibited from competing with the UFC directly or indirectly.

Keep in mind there are vast differences in interpretation between the UFC and Couture regarding his contract terms, and that's where the UFC and Couture both stand to lose the most in this divorce -- particularly, the two fights remaining on Couture's contract and just how obligated Couture is to fulfill those. Couture thinks he'll be free from the shackles if he just sits out until the term expires. The UFC thinks he owes them the two fights, term or no term, or else he must retire forever.

In comparison to that, the IFL issue seems rather trivial -- more like the excuse the UFC was waiting for to sic the lawyers on Couture, rather than a significant breach of exclusivity.

I'm not a legal expert, but when you consider things like lost revenue from PPV and DVD sales (not so much ticket sales, because the UFC is capable of filling an arena without Couture), the UFC would certainly be able to prove more damages if they waited a while for Couture's deal to run out. By choosing to sue Couture right now for a meager $10,000+, the point of the lawsuit seems less about damage recovery and more like Zuffa firing a warning shot.

In other words, before they reach the point of suing Couture for the big stuff -- if it gets that far -- they might want to give him a taste of how serious they are about holding him to his deal, on the chance that it will make Couture think twice about going the distance with them on the issues that matter most: Where he fights next, when, and for whom.

The most interesting part of this lawsuit is the conspiracy angle, and Zuffa's pledge that they will name Couture's partners in (alleged) misdeed during the trial. One can only assume Couture's representation will be fingered in the allegations. One might also speculate that M-1 or the IFL could be dragged into this, especially if the UFC alleges that Couture -- due to his still-valid UFC contract -- did not have the legal right to even field an offer from the IFL, much less accept it, even if his IFL involvement is in name and team ownership only.

Until more information comes out regarding the specific (alleged) conspirators, the exact wording of the contract terms at issue, and the nature of UFC's cool $10,000+ in losses, it's all speculation.

In the meantime, we get Tim Sylvia vs. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira for a UFC heavyweight title that the UFC won't admit is vacant while Couture's contract is still unfulfilled. If this lawsuit succeeds in giving Couture cold feet about the bigger issues with his contract, he might come back. It's more likely, though, that this is the tip of the iceberg.

Ken Shamrock is back. Again.

Both Ken and his 19-year-old son Ryan signed multi-fight contracts with EliteXC, the company announced Monday night in a press release.

Ken's first fight under Pro Elite's family of promotions will be for Cage Rage in London on March 8. An opponent has yet to be named. He will be 44 years old by the time of the fight.

Shamrock was one of UFC's most recognizable faces dating back to the very first UFC event in 1993. In his last fight for UFC, Shamrock lost for a third time to Tito Ortiz in an October 2006 fight that drew a significant TV rating for Spike TV. Shamrock announced his retirement after the loss.

Speculation has been brewing for more than a year that Shamrock and his adoptive younger brother Frank -- also an MMA legend and currently the top contracted star for EliteXC -- would fight each other. The chatter escalated this month with the surfacing of a web site, BloodBrothersPPV.com, featuring Ken and Frank facing off and a countdown clock ending in the spring. The countdown now lasts until December. Meanwhile, Frank Shamrock is slated to fight Cung Le at a Strikeforce event on March 29.

Ryan Shamrock is 1-0 in MMA after making his debut on a show in Oroville, Calif. in August 2007. Shamrock defeated Josh Besneatte with a choke in under two minutes at the event promoted by his father.