The official weigh-in event for UFC Fight Night 22: "Marquardt vs. Palhares" is set to go down Tuesday, September 14, 2010, from the Frank Erwin Center in Austin, Texas.

It is currently scheduled to air LIVE right here on MMAmania.com, as well as several other online destinations via streaming video. The first fighter is expected to tip the scale at 7 p.m. ET.

As usual, MMAmania.com will provide the latest coverage of the UFC Fight Night 22 weigh-ins, as well as provide a detailed recap of the festivities as soon as they conclude.

"Marquardt vs. Palhares" will feature a main event between perennial middleweight contender Nate "The Great" Marquardt and muscular submission master Rousimar "Toquinho" Palhares.

TUF alumni and lightweight standouts Ross Pearson and Cole Miller will also hook 'em up in a bout that could push the winner into the 155-pound contender's mix.

Here is the current UFC Fight Night 22 fight card:

Main event:

185 lbs.: Nate Marquardt vs. Rousimar Palhares

Main card (Televised):

155 lbs.: Efrain Escudero vs. Charles Oliveira
155 lbs.: Jim Miller vs. Gleison Tibau
155 lbs.: Cole Miller vs. Ross Pearson

Under card (May not be broadcast):

155 lbs.: Yves Edwards vs. John Gunderson*
185 lbs.: Dave Branch vs. Tomasz Drwal
185 lbs.: Rich Attonito vs. Rafael Natal
155 lbs.: Jared Hamman vs. Kyle Kingsbury
170 lbs.: Brian Foster vs. Forrest Petz
170 lbs.: David Mitchell vs. Anthony Waldburger

*Fight not officially confirmed by UFC.com.

For those fortunate enough to be in "The Lone Star State" for the promotion's highly-anticipated debut inside the Frank Erwin Special Events Center, remember that the weigh-in is FREE to attend and open to the public. Doors to the weigh-in will open at 3 p.m. local time.

In addition, UFC Fight Club members will be able to attend an exclusive Q&A session with UFC Middleweight number one contender Chael Sonnen at 2 p.m. local time (check-in starts at 1:30 p.m.).

MMAmania.com will provide LIVE blow-by-blow, round-by-round coverage of UFC Fight Night 22 beginning with the Spike TV telecast at 8 p.m. ET on Wednesday, Sept. 15. In addition, we will deliver up-to-the-minute quick results of all the under card action much earlier on fight night.

Remember that UFC Fight Night 22 serves as the lead-in to the twelfth season of The Ultimate Fighter (TUF), featuring coaches and welterweight rivals Georges St. Pierre and Josh Koscheck.

It's going to be a fun night of fights so don't miss it. And remember to check us out for all the pre, during and post-fight UFC Fight Night 22 coverage you can handle.

• Former Colorado Avalanche star Peter Forsberg appeared in a surreal commercial for Risifrutti XL that features him doing everything from the Arsenio Hall fist pump to eating clearly-labeled popcorn at the movies ... while dressed in full hockey gear. Watch the greatest actor of this or any other generation here. [@puckarinen]

• Breaking news: TSN and ESPN and Chris Stevenson all report that the NHL and NHLPA have struck a deal, with details to be finalized before 5 p.m. ET, and that Ilya Kovalchuk's 15-year, $100 million contract will be "grandfathered in" ahead of a new CBA amendment. Much more on this later on Puck Daddy. [TSN]

• Interesting piece by Al Cimaglia on the Antti Niemi "blame game" for the Chicago Blackhawks, the goalie and agent Bill Zito: "As a fan my hope would have been Niemi would stay in Chicago for a long time, the same as some others who left this summer. What I won't do is justify his departure by concluding an agent screwed up. Zito is probably not to be blamed and the same might be said for the Bowman's." [Hockey Independent]

• Washington Capitals forward Mike Knuble: "You can't predict how big of a window you're going to have before you have to blow it apart and the salary cap gets in the way," Knuble said. "You don't want to be on a team where you look back in 15 years and say, 'Damn, why'd we screw that up?' That's my big fear." [Capitals Insider]

• Steve Zipay of Newsday floats a trade proposal: Matt Gilroy, Sean Avery and a second-rounder for Marc Savard. The Boston Bruins have no need, nor want, for Avery. But the New York Rangers and Savard would be a rather intriguing match. [SNY Rangers]

• This passes for extreme optimism in Edmonton: "What If the Oilers Aren't Terrible?" [Copper & Blue]

Leahy's story on Eric Naughton, who survived cancer and decided to learn hockey, has led to a bit of awesome news from the Pittsburgh Penguins. [Penguins]

• Mats Zuccarello-Aasen of the Rangers isn't cool with his nickname "Norwegian Hobbit Wizard." Which, in the grand tradition of elementary school yard rules of decorum, guarantees it will stick with him until it's on his tombstone.  [National Post]

• Seth on the Pittsburgh Penguins' signing of Mike Comire: "Even though Comrie comes as a bargain, we just don't see the sense in this move. Yes, Jordan Staal's wonky foot is cause for concern and that probably the prime motivating factor in Ray Shero bringing in Comrie, but it seems to us that the Penguins already have some internal options such as Mark Letestu available to pick up Staal's minutes should he miss some time." [Empty Netters]

• Pens Universe with an alternative take: "If Comrie succeeds in Pittsburgh, Shero will have made a cup-contending roster even better by adding minimal salary - one of the biggest keys to succeeding in the salary cap era. " [PU]

• "There is guarded optimism surrounding the Toronto Maple Leafs heading into the 2010-11 NHL season, much of that due to the astute moves made this offseason by general manager Brian Burke." [Sports Network]

• Unemployed Andreas Lilja feels pretty stupid for not having signed with the Detroit Red Wings. [MLive]

• Nice piece by Ryan Kennedy about the Cult of Gary Roberts, whose player conditioning is making an big impact with young players in the NHL. [THN]

• Chris Stewart re-signs with the Avs for 2 years and $5.75 million, and Colorado fans seem pretty stoked about the cap hit. [MHH]

• Ladies and gents, hockey is back: Our first brawl video of the season, courtesy of the KHL. (About 35 seconds in.)

• Is James Neal's free agent situation with the Dallas Stars inflating expectations for him? [Defending Big D]

• Steve Yzerman hires Steve Thomas as a player development consultant for the Tampa Bay Lightning. And also because you can never have enough guys named "Stumpy" in your front office. [Lightning Strikes]

• Looking for the breakout team in 2010-11, and Yzerman's Lightning make the cut. Not sure what the Blue Jackets are doing there. [From The Rink]

• Finally, here's a commercial created by Flyers Goal Scored By ... that pimps the Philadelphia Flyers vs. Washington Capitals rookie game this month. BABY FIGHT.

Of the many memories Ronald Nored shared in a blog post looking back at Butler's historic Final Four run, the most interesting was an anecdote that revealed how close the sophomore guard came to not participating in any of it.

When the Bulldogs were in San Jose for first- and second-round games against UTEP and Murray State last March, they spent some downtime walking around the city's bustling downtown area. The Alabama-born Nored is such a country boy that he somehow stepped in front of a moving train that he neither saw nor heard coming.  

I was running my mouth like usual as I was going to throw my trash away. I wasn’t paying attention to where I was or the horn from the train that was honking at me. The train was less than 10 feet away from me and it took Avery Jukes yelling at me to get me see that I probably should speed up otherwise I was a goner.  

Thankfully Nored averted disaster, however, he'd have to endure one more harrowing experience before earning the chance to play in the Final Four. Hours prior to Butler's Elite Eight matchup with Kansas State, Nored and 15 others got stuck in the elevator of their Salt Lake City hotel for roughly 25 minutes on the way up to their rooms.

At the time it was not very funny because there was no air and we were all very upset. We took our anger out on Kansas State by playing harder than ever.

Despite those two nerve-jangling memories, most of Nored's March memories are naturally pleasant ones. He reflected on the joy of proving the naysayers wrong, practicing in front of 30,000 fans and sharing a memorable journey with not just his teammates and coaches but an entire university and city.

"We couldn't have gone as far as we did without support from our school, the fans and the nation," he wrote. "Our university came together in a way that could only be understood if you were apart of it. Now people aren't asking, "who is Butler?" or "where is Butler". Now they know, and those of us who are here are proud to say where we go to school."

"The name carries connotations that sound like somebody with a scimitar, going around and cutting people's heads off. It's not as heartless as it sounds. The coaches talk about how to minimize the moment. There's always a lot of thought put into it because there's a bond between the coach and player with all the hard work they put in. And then 'Oh, by the way, you're not going to be around.' It's not easy for anybody.

"Some places it's a messenger that says 'The head coach wants to see you.' More often than not, The Turk is not a person far up the organizational chart. He's someone near the bottom. It's pretty impersonal, but the person's not at any emotional risk because he clearly is not the one who made the decision. There's a psychology there, obviously.

"I can remember being very, very depressed on that day. That's the hardest day of the year. A lot of coaches will tell you that. It's absolutely no fun."

"The Turk has been many people and a much-storied individual, that's for sure. He's somebody that you don't want to know. I was never The Turk. I just had to deal with the aftermath of The Turk's visit. It was always very touching to see, really, how they were affected by it and, in many cases, realized how the course of their life was about to change.

"I did have a circumstance when I was coaching the linebackers for the Jets with Bill Parcells. His name was Chad Cascadden, a walk-on player and very bright. I had been his position coach, and now I was head coach of the team. I'd been in that meeting room with him every day for three years, spent a lot of time with Chad and admired him. My wife and I went to his wedding. And it was my chore to tell him he wasn't going to be with us anymore. That was particularly difficult."

"When I went to training camp there were 125 guys. It was two months and six preseason games. The Turk was alive and well. They were cutting 10, 15 guys at a time. You'd get five or six on a Monday, then get another four or five on Tuesday.

"My rookie year in Philadelphia they used to slide a white piece of paper under the door. It would have the name and say 'Bring your playbook.' I was roommates with a guy by the name of Skip Sharp. We both were defensive backs. He was a draft pick. I was a free agent. The second week of camp, they slid the paper underneath the door, but you couldn't see the name. I was an early riser, and when the paper came under the door around 4:30 in the morning or so, I go 'You gotta be kidding, man. They're getting ready to cut me?' I thought I was doing pretty good. So I picked up the paper, and it had Skip's name on it. I didn't wake him up at all. I got out of there. I put the paper down, went to facility at about 6 in the morning and checked my locker to make sure my gear was still in there."

"Sometimes a player gets cut not because they can't play, but because you don't have a spot for them at the moment. A lot of times, you cut a player and you bring him right back as soon as there's an injury.

"I can tell you a story. When I was with Kansas City in 1981, we had a player I had gotten a tryout. I had coached him at Rutgers University. He signed as a punter and got an opportunity to play in the exhibition season. Because of some injuries, I got him an opportunity to play safety the last couple games. He did a great job, but he did not make the team. He was one of the last cuts. I said 'As soon as someone gets hurt, you're probably coming back here because of what you have done.' Three weeks later, he was brought back. He goes on to make six Pro Bowls. He's on their Ring of Honor. His name is Deron Cherry."