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After Anderson Silva beat Dan Henderson at UFC 82 on March 1, Silva received 13 first-place votes in the Y! Sports Top 10; Georges St. Pierre received two.

On April 19, GSP won the UFC welterweight title from Matt Serra. In this month's poll, St. Pierre kept his two first-place votes, while Silva added the votes of two new pollsters to last month's totals.

But what do you think? Does Silva deserve the top spot? Is St. Pierre No. 1? Or does someone else (we know you're out there, Fedor fans) belong on top?

Tell us who you think belongs atop the poll, and if you're up for it, give us your Top 10.

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Interested in finding out more about the writers who comprise the Y! Sports monthly Top 10 poll? Then check out the links to their sites:

*Carlos Arias is a veteran boxing and MMA writer for the Orange County Register.

*Denny Burkholder is the boxing and MMA producer for CBSSports.com.

*Mike Chiappetta covers MMA for NBCSports.com

*Neil Davidson of the Canadian Press is Canada's leading MMA reporter.

*Dave Doyle is the MMA/Boxing producer for Yahoo! Sports.

*Josh Gross covers mixed martial arts for SportsIllustrated.com.

*Veteran MMA reporter Loretta Hunt is currently working on a biography of Randy Couture.

*Kevin Iole is the lead MMA and boxing writer for Yahoo! Sports.

*Damon Martin covers MMA for MMAWeekly.com.

*Todd Martin covers MMA for CBSSports.com.

*Brad McCray covers the sport for The Oregonian.

*Franklin McNeil is an MMA and boxing reporter for the The Newark Star-Ledger.

*Dave Meltzer has covered the sport since UFC 1 in 1993. He is an MMA staff writer for Yahoo! Sports and has published the Wrestling Observer for 25 years.

*Pramit Mohapatra, who formerly wrote for SportsIllustrated.com and The Baltimore Sun, is the founder of Fightticker.com.

*Ken Pishna is the editor for MMAWeekly.com.

*Jose Rodriguez covers MMA for The Calgary Sun.

*Steve Sievert covers MMA for The Houston Chronicle.

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UFC sent a message to fighters last week by releasing middleweight Travis Lutter from his contract. Lutter holds the distinction of being the only person in UFC to win a round off Anderson Silva, taking the first round of their Feb. 2007 match before tapping out in the second. The other distinction Lutter holds is he's the first winner of the <i>Ultimate Fighter</i> reality show to get released by the promotion.

Lutter won the first round against Franklin in Montreal, before being TKO'd in the second. Lutter gassed badly in round two, and getting cut clearly a message that UFC isn't going to keep people who don't show up in shape to go three rounds.

But it's also the beginning of what are expected to be massive cuts. The company has approximately 200 fighters on the roster, but doesn't run enough events to keep that many fighters working three fights per year.

The decision has apparently been made not to stockpile fighters on contract to keep groups attempting to be competition from signing them.

There is no set number of how many cuts are forthcoming, but the total easily could top 50.

At the biggest risk are fighters who lose boring fights, or lose several fights in a row. The company is trying to emphasize action fights, using both the threats of not bringing people back with boring fights, and increasing the performance bonuses for having the best match or best finish on pay-per view events to $75,000.

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It was a great night for mixed martial arts on Saturday in Montreal, as an enthusiastic sellout crowd of 21,390 packed the Bell Centre to watch hometown hero Georges St. Pierre reclaim the UFC welterweight title from Matt Serra at UFC 83.

It wasn't such a good night, though, for Kalib Starnes, who spent most of the evening running from Nate Quarry in their middleweight bout. A native of Surrey, B.C., Starnes was booed heavily by the Canadian crowd that had been boisterous in its support of all the other Canadians on the card.

After losing a unanimous decision on scores of 30-26, 30-27, and an unheard-of 30-24, Starnes received even worse news: He was cut from his contract by UFC president Dana White.

"He just doesn’t belong in the UFC and after his performance the other night, he should consider a new line of work," White said Monday.

Quarry pressed the action the entire fight as Starnes simply circled and refused to engage. Late in the third round, Quarry pretended to run like he was a track star in trying to find a way to get Starnes to fight.

After the bout, members of Quarry's corner were complaining to Starnes about his lack of activity. Starnes shouted an expletive at one member of Quarry's team and called him a derogatory term for homosexuals.

Starnes couldn't be reached for comment about his performance, but Quarry expressed disappointment with Starnes' lack of effort.

A one-time contestant on The Ultimate Fighter, Starnes was 8-2 going into the bout and had had quality victories over Chris Leben and Jason MacDonald.

"I think if you're fighting in the UFC, you've got to come to fight," Quarry told UFC.com in a post-fight interview. "I would much rather get knocked out than lose a decision running backwards. No disrespect to Kalib. I know the stress really gets to you. A lot of guys, they focus on not wanting to lose instead of wanting to win. I didn't mean to disrespect him in any way. I just got frustrated because you can't fight when somebody's moving backward that fast."

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MONTREAL – At Thursday's UFC 83 news conference, welterweight champion Matt Serra tried to put to rest the idea he has hate for the people of Quebec.

"Can I make something clear? I have nothing against the French," the Long Islander said.

The message must not have gotten through. Serra was lustily booed by the 4,000 or so fans in attendance for Friday's UFC 83 weigh-ins at the Bell Centre.

St. Pierre, however was treated like a conquering hero, earning a standing ovation from the crowd, which spread out to the upper deck after the lower and middle sections of the curtained-off end of the arena were filled.

Both competitors made weight for their main event title showdown Saturday night, as both came in at 169.5 pounds, a half-pound under the weight limit.

St. Pierre downplayed the talk that the two fighters don't like each other.

 "I do not fight in anger, I fight with my heart," he said. "Don't believe the hype, believe what you see on Saturday night."

Serra, for his part, was drowned out by the jeers of the audience every time he tried to speak. He contented himself to hold up two fingers, indicating he planned on beating St. Pierre a second time.

Most of the Canadian fighters received big ovations from the crowd, including Sam Stout of London, Ontario, who got a standing ovation. British Columbia's Kalib Starnes, Edmonton's Jason MacDonald and Quebec's Jonathan Goulet also got notable reactions.

American and former UFC middleweight champion Rich "Ace" Franklin got the second-loudest reaction of the afternoon after St. Pierre. Franklin weighed in at 185.5 pounds. His opponent, Travis Lutter, got something of a mock round of applause for making weight. Lutter missed weight for his last fight, against Anderson Silva. Lutter clocked in at 185.

All 22 fighters made weight for the show. While most of the post-fight photo poses went without a hitch, Michael Bisping created a scene by popping off to opponent Charles McCarthy as they stared down. McCarthy stomped off the stage in anger, while Bisping, who got a vehement mixed reaction from the crowd, grinned from ear to ear. Likewise, MacDonald made a smirking comment at opponent Joe Doerksen, who turned around and walked off without shaking MacDonald's hand.

Full weigh-in results:

Jonathan Goulet 169.5 vs. Kuniyoshi Hironaka 170

Cain Valasquez 235.5 vs. Morris 225.5

Sam Stout 155.5 vs. Rich Clementi 155

Ed Herman 185.5 vs. Damon Maia 184.5

Alan Belcher 185 vs. Jason Day 183.5

Jason MacDonald 185 vs. Joe Doerksen 184.5

Kalib Starnes 186 vs. Nate Quarry 185.5

Mac Danzig 154.5 vs. Mark Bocek 154.5

Michael Bisping 185.5 vs. Charles McCarthy 186

Rich Franklin 185.5 vs. Travis Lutter 185

Matt Serra 169.5 vs. Georges St. Pierre 169.5

What is your take on UFC 83? Will St. Pierre win the title in his hometown, or will Serra pull off another major upset? Will Franklin get back on track? How will Bisping's middleweight debut go? Let us know what you think.

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Even before the debut of the Yamma Pit Fighting Championships  Friday night in Atlantic City, N.J., you had to know there was trouble.

When the most hyped thing in the television commercial is the debut of a new revolutionary fighting surface, you start wondering what the fights themselves will bring. 

And they hardly exceeded expectations.

To paraphrase former Minnesota governor Jesse Ventura, after this show, please start the revolution without me.

As it turned out, the fighting arena, which was a circular cage with a steeply elevated "warning track" as it was called, three feet from the cage, didn't appear to make a huge amount of difference. It  favored the wrestlers, who dominated the heavyweight tournament format won by veteran Travis Wiuff, after winning three fights by decision.

The incline made it impossible for a fight to stall with both men standing and clinching by the cage.  Instead, it favored the guys pushing his foe into the cage, because when his foe would get to the warning track, the incline would cause him to lose his balance and be easily taken down.  And in almost every instance, action then stalled until the referee had enough and would order a stand-up.

Parts of the show were a nostalgic throwback to the early days of the UFC. Bruce Beck, the UFC's lead announcer before Mike Goldberg, was back at the helm with longtime sidekick Jeff Blatnick. Former matchmaker John Perretti joined them, with Perretti coming off like he'd been transported ten years in time. 

As much as nobody was nostalgic for Rich "G-Man" Goins, the UFC's original ring announcer, after the performance of Scott Ferrall in that role, well, we have a winner of the worst ring announcer in history contest.

If there was a good, it's that the return to national pay-per-view of early UFC stars Oleg Taktarov and Patrick Smith wasn't the sad spectacle the return of so many past their prime fighters have turned out to be.

On the flip side, their respective opponents, now 266-pound Mark Kerr, and the now 416-pound Eric "Butterbean" Esch, more than made up for it.

Taktarov, 40, was a Sambo specialist in Russia and one of the early favorites in the UFC.  He's only fought once in the past decade since becoming an actor, often playing Russian mob muscle in movies, including working alongside Robert DeNiro and Harrison Ford. He showed the most technical work of the entire show, baiting a terribly out of shape Kerr on the ground, and clamping on a kneebar in 1:50.  It was the first time Kerr, now 14-7 but considered the No. 1 fighter in the world during the primitive days of the sport, ever tapped out to a submission.

Smith, at 44, looked just standing there in better condition than almost all of the younger fighters in the tournament, which is also a statement about the heavyweights on the show.  A competitor who dates back to the very first UFC event in 1993, where he lost to Ken Shamrock, when walking in the ring moved like a man with bad knees from decades of competing as a boxer, kickboxer and MMA fighter. 

But next to Bean, Smith may as well have been Pretty Boy Floyd,  picking him apart standing as the 41-year-old former cult boxing star would throwing lunging missing punches.  He threw an inside kick that tripped Butterbean, and once on the ground, Butterbean took punch after punch before finally verbally quitting at 3:17.

The show was put on by Bob Meyrowitz, owner of the UFC from 1993 until selling to Lorenzo and Frank Fertitta in early 2001.  It was his first foray into MMA since the sale, after years of talking about a return.

The gimmick, besides the new fighting arena, was a return of the heavyweight tournament, the format that the early UFCs were built around.  But it quickly became apparent why this isn't a good idea.

First, the New Jersey Athletic Control Board only would agree for a fighter to have a potential of three matches, if the first two matches were one round.  Second, it became clear that the goal in the tournament was that everyone, knowing they may have to fight again, was trying to avoid taking damage. 

In the quarterfinals and semifinals, every fight but one was identical. The stronger wrestler got the takedown and was content to ride out the time limit on top.  Only one fight ended before the time expired.  It made for a night of boring, repetitive fights. The only name anyone in the crowd seemed to recognize was Ricco Rodriguez, a former UFC heavyweight champion, who defeated Randy Couture for the title in 2002.

But in recent years, he's become more known for weight problems and drug problems, including a recent stint on the VH-1 program "Celebrity Rehab."

Rodriguez weighed 267 at weigh-ins, before losing two pounds for his second try to make the 265 pound limit. Although only 30, he looked out of shape, but also appeared to have the highest skill level of anyone in the tournament.  He won his first round match over George W. Bush, a name which led to a series of predicable jokes.

But in the second round, Wiuff took him down twice and won a decision.

Wiuff beat 264-pound Chris Tuscherer, a training partner of Brock Lesnar, in the finals, taking a three-round decision.  Wiuff dominated the first round, breaking Tuscherer's nose and knocking him down twice.  But Wiuff believed he broke his hand, and fought conservatively from that point on.

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BROOMFIELD, Colo. —  Kenny Florian and Joe Lauzon delivered as advertised on Wednesday at Ultimate Fight Night 13 at the Broomfield Events Center.

They put on a high-paced lightweight battle with a lot of back-and-forth fight, but Florian's experience won out over Lauzon's strength and youth.

After a sensational first round in which they traded kicks, punches, takedowns and submission attempts, Florian got Lauzon down early in the second and managed to gain mount. For about the next two minutes, he pounded at Lauzon's head.

Lauzon was blocking some of the punches, but enough were getting through that referee Herb Dean had to take a close look. Finally, after an elbow and two rights, Dean had seen enough and dove in to stop it at 3:28 of the second.

"I wanted to take some of his heart and take it out," Florian said. "We knew that was a weakness he had."

Florian cut Lauzon on the top of the head with an elbow early in round one. Lauzon, though, managed to fight back.

He had several good takedowns and submission attempts and was creating an extremely fast pace. Florian was spending much of his time trying to fend off Lauzon.

In the second, though, Florian got control early and never lost it. He kept beating on Lauzon until Dean halted it.

Since losing a decision to Sean Sherk in a match for the vacant lightweight title at UFC 64 in Oct. 2006, Florian has finished four consecutive opponents.

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*In a battle of two outstanding college wrestlers, Gray Maynard used his size and strength to pull out a unanimous decision over Frankie Edgar.

Maynard won 30-27 on all three judges' cards.

Maynard, who wrestled at Michigan State, was able to take Edgar down frequently and apply punishment. Edgar, who was a star wrestler at Lock Haven, seemed to have the edge in the stand-up, but was outwrestled by Maynard consistently.

"I'm bigger, you know," Maynard said. "He's a tough kid, but he's a little small. I picked him up and threw him around a little bit.

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*Karo Parisyan has been begging UFC management for a shot at the welterweight title for a long time. After Thiago Alves got done with him Wednesday, he'll have to wait a little longer.

Alves ripped Parisyan with a knee and then finished him off with four shots to the face, forcing referee Steve Mazzagatti to jump in to save Parisyan. The end came at 34 seconds of the second round.

Parisyan jumped up and complained about the decision, but he had taken several big shots square in the face.

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*Matt Hamill made his return to the cage a successful one when he took Tim Boetsch down and pounded him out at 1:25 of the second round of their light heavyweight bout.

Hamill, who had knee surgery after losing a highly controversial decision last year to Michael Bisping in London, took a vicious knee to the face from Boetsch earlier in the second round.

But Hamill managed to take Boetsch down and get into mount, where he ended the bout with a series of hard strikes.

*In a lightweight bout the crowd was very into, Nate Diaz overcame a rocky first round to slap a triangle choke on Kurt Pellegrino and force a submission. As Diaz put the triangle on, he flexed his biceps to the delight of the crowd, seconds before Pellegrino tapped out.

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The only bout on the preliminary card that went the distance was the last, a lightweight match between Josh Neer and Din Thomas.

They essentially engaged in a standup battle, trading hard strikes, but Neer consistently got the better of the exchanges and wound up winning a unanimous decision. All three judges scored it 30-27 for Neer.

Neer ripped Thomas with a right elbow to the cheek late in the third round that opened a deep gash under Thomas' left eye. Referee Herb Dean had it check, but allowed the bout to continue.

All that did was cause Thomas to endure more punishment. He had a fat lip, the cut under his eye and he limped back to the dressing room.

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*In a night of early endings, Marcus Aurelio got one of the quickest. He slapped an arm bar on Ryan Roberts and earned a submission just 16 seconds into the bout.

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*Manny Gamburyan stopped Jeff Cox in the first, using a judo throw to set up a guillotine choke. Cox tapped at 1:21 of the opening round.

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*Clay Guida, who suffered a series of heartbreaking losses in 2007, got off on the right track in 2008, pounding out an impressive stoppage over Samy Schiavo.

Guida got into mount and ground and pounded his way to a stoppage at 4:15 of the first.

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*George Sotiropoulos had nearly ended his welterweight bout with Roman Mitichyan in the first round, getting close to a series of submissions. Mitchyan survived the first round, but he didn't manage to make it out of the second.

Sotiropoulos worked into mount and pounded away at Mitichyan before the bout was stopped at 2:24 of the second.

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*The opening bout of the card didn't take long to conclude. Anthony Johnson erupted seconds after the opening bell and pounded Tommy Speer, a finalist in The Ultimate Fighter 6, in just 51 seconds.

Johnson landed a powerful right that hurt Speer and backed him into the cage. After a few shots on the ground, Speer got up, though not for long. Johnson ripped Speer with a straight right that not only landed flush on the cheek, but banged Speer's head into the cage.

Referee Tim Mills dove in to save Speer, who was in a seated position for several minutes.

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BROOMFIELD, Colo. — Nobody expected the light heavyweight bout between James Irvin and Houston Alexander at Ultimate Fight Night 13 on Wednesday to last long.

Both men love to brawl and have knockout power in both hands.
But what happened at the Broomfield Events Center was almost hard to believe. Irvin knocked Alexander down with a right hand and then landed two punches while Alexander was on his back.

Referee Steve Mazzagatti jumped in just eight seconds in and stopped it to a chorus of boos. It tied the mark for the fastest end to a UFC fight. Don Frye knocked out Thomas Ramirez at UFC 8 on Feb. 16, 1996.

Alexander wasn't pleased, but Irvin said he simply isn't aware of what had happened.

"He wasn't even looking at me," Irvin said. "I clipped him and he went down and I looked at his eyes and he was looking off to the right. He was bleeding out of both of his nostrils. He wasn't even looking at me. The third punch when he was down was the best punch of all of them."

Irvin raced across at the bell and threw a "Superman punch," jumping in the air while throwing the right.

It connected on the chin, knocking Alexander down. Irvin quickly went for the finish. His first punch missed, landing on the top of Alexander's back. He grazed Alexander with a right to the chin, then landed a hard right to the face.

That prompted Mazzagatti, who has made a number of controversial stoppages in other fights, to halt it.

Alexander complained instantly and seemed to be fine seconds after he got to his feet. In the locker room after the bout, he said he'd been hit harder many times.

"Just give me a chance," Alexander said. "I've been hit hard a lot of times in my life. I was OK. No excuses. I'm a professional. I got caught with a shot, but that's what this is about. But I definitely felt I could go on."

This marked the third consecutive bizarre finish to an Irvin fight. The Northern California-based light heavyweight won by disqualification over Luis Cane after getting kneed in the head while on the ground at UFC 79 in December, which was the first DQ in a UFc match since 2003; and a freak leg injury brought a halt to his UFC 71 loss to Thiago Silva last May.

"That's the story of my life," said Irvin. "I just told people I hoped it would be a good fight. Even in my interviews, I told people I didn't want a quick knockout. ... I've knocked people out in three or four of my fights, but it's all been by one shot. But at least I got this win and I can go back and train harder and hopefully get something against some of the big names."

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SAN JOSE -- Both Frank Shamrock and wife Amy ended up in San Jose's Valley Medical Center on Saturday night.

Frank Shamrock went to the hospital for the treatment of injuries suffered during his Strikeforce middleweight title loss to Cung Le, including what is believed to be a broken right forearm.

Amy Shamrock, who is pregnant with the couple's first child, went into labor during the match and was rushed to the facility as well.

Frank Shamrock also has a 19-year old son from a previous marriage.

Update, 10 p.m. Pacific: As it turns out, Mrs. Shamrock, who isn't due until May, thought she went into labor but actually didn't. She was released from the hospital after the false alarm.

Update, 1 a.m. Pacific: Frank Shamrock's right forearm was broken in two; he'll undergo surgery and have a plate inserted in his arm Sunday.

Monday update: Shamrock underwent a five-hour operation Sunday to put in a plate and six screws for a complete break of the ulna bone in his right forearm.  Shamrock believes the break took place during the second round of the fight, but a kick in the third round worsened it and the arm was at that point useless, so he couldn't continue the fight.  

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