The preliminary card begins with Roan Carneiro Vs. Ryo Chonan- This one airs on the fair side of things, a typical split decision result, each has a moment or two, but mostly there is some stalemating. Chonan's pressure and Carneiro's tiring seems to be the deciding factor. Jason Lambert Vs. Jason MacDonald- Lambert is a fireplug wrestler making his move to MW after years as a LHW while Lambert has sort of staked out his spot in the B tier of MW fighters. The first round takes place almost entirely in one spot, MacDonald getting a takedown, but fighting out a guillotine, grinding it out, then ending the round fighting off another tight guillotine. MacDonald's tough first round defense and persistence pays off in the second when he forces Lambert to tap to a rear naked choke.

Tim Boetsch Vs. Mike Patt is a fight for best balding, goatee'd, white guy. Patt has BJJ black belt and a brown belt in lovehandles. Boetsch in the prefight rundown is said to be a practitioner of Jeet Kun Do, yet in his post fight interview he says he hadn't trained in striking very much prior to his previous UFC debut fight. Regardless, a Boetsch right hand finds its mark and sends Patt's eyes spinning. Fight of the Night honors went to Kurt Pellegrino Vs. Thiago Tavares. Things look to be all but over for Tavares in the first. After getting dropped, Tavares find himself on his back with Pellegrino pounding away, advancing to mount, and battering Tavares' face with punches and elbows. By the end of this single round, Tavares looks like he's had a five round beating, so it is all the more remarkable that he guts it out for the rest of the fight, arguably winning the second round, before finally losing that momentum in the third, but still gamely making it to through the fight.

The main card begins with Dong Hyun Kim Vs Matt Brown. Kim was added to the UFC roster to appeal to emerging South Korean MMA market while Brown is most notable for being a tough scrapper from UFC's Spike reality series. Again, we have another typical split decision resulting match. Kim is winded early and predictable on the feet. Brown takes advantage of this, winning the better of the standup, but Kim's dogged persistence and dexterous grappling seems to give him a slight edge in the first and third rounds. I thought the MW contender matchup of Martin Kampmann Vs. Nate Marquardt would be the nights most competative match but an early Marquardt head kick stuns Kampmann and as he reels Marquardt becomes a bullrush of uppercuts and straights until Kampmann crumbles.

Dan Henderson Vs. Rousimar Palhares I dont even want to mention. It is simply a bad pairing of the unproven, relatively untested submission grappler Palhares, who was overmatched against the rugged veteran Henderson. Sure, the fight has its moments but you've got one fighter in too deep and the better man playing it mindful in order to get a cautious win. The co-main event pitted Rich Franklin Vs. Matt Hammill. Franklin was the former MW champ, now back to his LHW roots after being brutalized by Anderson Silva. Hammill is notable for being the only deaf fighter in the UFC. This fight purely comes down to strategy: Franklin's stick and move, faster striking- good, Hammill's seeming refusal to go for takedowns and use his wrestling and instead plod forward eating kicks and punches- bad.

The main event was Chuck Liddell Vs. Rashad Evans. Originally this match was slated for UFC 85 and was itself a replacement, Liddell's first opponent was Mauricio "Shogun" Rua, then Evans, and was scrapped after both fighters had to bow out due to injuries. The undefeated Evans was the winner of the second season of The Ultimate Fighter reality show. Liddell was (is) one of the UFC's log running poster boys, a fighter who's image is so well known you can see jackasses in the crowd of UFC 88 sporting Liddell inspired mohawks. The first round is an incredibly deceptive one. Liddell does his usual awkward stance stalking and circling while Evans feints... and feints... and feints some more while moving away. Even when Liddell catches him with a flush shot, Evans mocks him and dances, but also doesn't get fight back, just goes back to moving and feinting. But, apparently there is a method to the madness of giving away a round. They start to engage more in the second and things come crashing to an end with a prefect Evans right hand.

The DVD

The Picture: UFC 88 is presented in Anamorphic Widescreen for your viewing pleasure. UFC really doesn't skimp on the production end. They do so many events a year, they really have their tech side down to a science and the image transfer here reflects that. Solid lighting. Vivid color. Fine contrast. No severe issues with compression or other defects.

The Sound: The event has two 2.0 Stereo tracks, one in English, the other in Spanish. Again, we have basic sports stuff here. No real need for audio leaps and hurdles, just keep the commentators clear and a little action in the mix.

The Extras: A second disc of extras contains the following featurettes: UFC 88 Countdown (40:50), Weigh-in (14:47), Behind the Scenes (24:28), and UFC.com Interviews (21:00).

The Countdown show, which airs on Spike TV, has become a staple of UFC's prefight hyping for its events. As usual it follows the main and co-main event fighters as they prepare to face off, letting viewers get a glimpse of their training and personality. The interviews are good, covering many fighter pre and post-fight comments as well as press conference footage. For me, the real meaty extra was the candid behind the scenes material. Beginning with the camera crew and a pre-event rehearsal, you then watch several matches from the moment of the walkout, to the fight as its being directed, even from the coaching corner, and then the post fight aftermath where you get to see such backstage details as the loser and winner side by side receiving stitches.

Conclusion: Well, if you are an MMA die hard and a pesky completist then you will probably grab this regardless of what anyone says. Thats just the way it is with fandom (and I'm one of those guys). But really, in the overall scheme, this isn't the greatest event. But, the price for these is usually pretty low and the extras are pretty decent. I'll lean towards a rental for the casual crowd and purchase for the rest.