Morning Droppings

- An official press release from GracieFighter.com has announced a fight between Jake Shields and undefeated former IFL welterweight Antonio McKee, as well as the MMA debut of Mia St. John and Leland Chapman (Dog the Bounty Hunter’s son) on October 19 in San Francisco. Also expected to be on the card are Jeff Monson, Vernon White, Kimo Leopoldo, James Thompson, Dan Severn, and Krazy Horse Bennett.

- Doug Evans’ camp has said that an injury to Evans caused them to decline the October 20 fight with Jorge Gurgel as part of UFC 77. No official announcement has been made by the UFC about Gurgel's opponent

- After winning his UFL match last night, welterweight Chris Lytle announced that he had the chance to headline next month’s Spike TV UFC event but instead opted to fight for the UFL last night in his home town of Indianapolis, citing that the UFC event was not a pay-per-view event.

Straight Talk

"To all my fans I would like to announce that I will be fighting Doug Evans at the UFC in Cincinnati on October the 20th. It’s a great honor to finally be able to perform in front of my home crowd, students and family. I would like to thank everyone in advance for all the support over the years. I will do my best."

- Lightweight Jorge Gurgel's MySpace post.

I'm sorry, but I just can't understand the UFC's love affair with Jorge Gurgel. Yes, he trains UFC golden boy Rich Franklin and seemed like a pretty cool guy on TUF 2, but Gurgel has never impressed me in the octagon, despite his jiu-jitsu expertise and pro kickboxing credentials.

I remember writing something in the days leading up to UFC 73 about how I've never been wowed by Gurgel, but how he'd be healthier than ever for his fight with Diego Saraiva. An MMAWeekly.com article on his UFC 73 fight dubbed him "The Bionic Brazilian." Ironically, of all the fighters who left the arena after UFC 73, Gurgel was by far the most battered of the night.

I don't know, maybe I'm just being cranky this morning, but I'm once again baffled why the UFC keeps putting Gurgel on its cards. In his three UFC matches, he's won lackluster decisions against Saraiva and Danny Abbadi and lost a unanimous decision to Mark Hominick. What am I missing?

Morning Droppings

- UFC president Dana White has officially confirmed in an ESPN interview that Mauricio “Shogun” Rua will debut at UFC 76 against undefeated Lyoto Machida.

- Fresh off a January drug suspension, American Top Team’s Thiago Alves will reportedly make his octagon return at UFC Fight Night 11 in September against Japanese MMA veteran Kuniyoshi Hironaka.

- Jorge Gurgel suffered a broken jaw and a facial fracture in the second round of his UFC 73 fight with Diego Saraiva and has been suspended indefinitely by the California State Athletic Commission. So much for the "Bionic Brazilian" moniker.

- UFC vet Joe “Diesel” Riggs has been reportedly been told by the UFC that if he loses his July 21 Hardcore Fighting Championship match against Dan Chambers, he will no longer have the opportunity to fight under the Zuffa-owned UFC or WEC banners.