Sherdog.com Preview: UFC 57 – Liddell-Couture 3

Ah the “rubber match,” taken from the game of bridge or, some say, from the English game of “bowls” or lawn bowling (you roll wooden balls across a green and … forget it).

All you need to know is it means “you won one, I won one, let’s finish it.” And so here we are. The Liddell-Couture trilogy finishes as it began: with the UFC light heavyweight championship title on the line.

I just hope Vitor Belfort (Pictures) doesn’t jump into the ring and yell “I got next” or some such foolishness. That would be embarrassing wouldn’t it? Well that bout is just the “piece de resistance” or as the French prefer to say "le morceau de résistance.” (Georges St. Pierre (Pictures) would love that line.)

Um … anyway, let’s put all the fancy talk away and focus on the fights. The entire card breaks down as follows:

Elite Performance fighter Mike Whitehead (Pictures) throws down with former TUF cast-mate Keith Jardine (Pictures) of Jackson’s Submission Fighting.

Hammer House athlete Branden Lee Hinkle (Pictures) meets American Top Team/Olympia fighter Jeff Monson (Pictures).

Brawler Gilbert Aldana from BraUsa Academy takes on American Kickboxing Academy striker Paul Buentello (Pictures).

Brazil Dojo “vale tudo” fighter Alessio Sakara, from Italy, faces Australian grappler Elvis Sinosic from Machado Jiu-Jitsu.

Nick Diaz (Pictures) of Cesar Gracie’s camp and Joe Riggs (Pictures) of Arizona Combat Sports take to the cage.

Gracie Barra’s Renato Sobral (Pictures) goes toe-to-toe with Mike Van Arsdale (Pictures) of the American Kickboxing Academy.

Former UFC heavyweight champion Frank Mir (Pictures) from the Las Vegas Combat Club squares off against jiu-jitsu fighter Marcio Cruz from Gracie Barra.

City Boxing fighter Brandon Vera (Pictures) confronts Elite Performance fighter Justin Eilers (Pictures).

And in the main event, reigning UFC light heavyweight champion Chuck Liddell (Pictures) from The Pit Fight Team battles Team Quest’s Randy Couture (Pictures) for the third time.