Chicago’s best MMA talk show is headed to the championship rounds.

Beginning today, Steve Muehlhausen and “Fight Club Chicago” can be heard five days a week, Monday through Friday from 3pm – 5pm central.

The show focuses on both local and national MMA events, and it’s always jam-packed with interviews of fighters, scribes and commentators. King Mo, Miesha Tate, Lorenz Larkin, Gilbert Melendez and Tyron Woodley are just a few of the big names they’ve had on the show recently. They also let listeners talk to the guests, taking your calls at 630-403-5200.

You can listen to the show live or download recent podcasts at sportstownchicago.com/fightclub.

Best wishes to Steve on the new schedule, and we hope you all give it a listen!

Just a few weeks ago, Midwest Training Center fighter Dan Stittgen got the call of a lifetime. The call was from the UFC, asking Stittgen to fight at UFC 143. Oddly enough, Stittgen was being asked to replace the only fighter to ever beat him in MMA.

The dream of fighting in the UFC will come true for Stittgen when he fights Stephen Thompson in Las Vegas this Saturday night. Thompson will also be making his UFC debut.

Stittgen is replacing Justin Edwards, who had to withdraw due to injury. Edwards submitted Stittgen back in January of 2010 in Wisconsin, the only blemish on his career record.

Since then he has rattled off four straight victories, including wins locally in Rockford and at XFO 39, where he tapped out Jason Graves just over a minute into the bout. Stittgen has also fought locally at TFC and Fight Club One. He made his amateur debut back at XFO 23.

Stittgen is coming of a majority decision win against Mark Stoddard at King of the Cage in Wisconsin, but he is best known as a submission specialist. Five of his seven pro wins have come by submission.

You can see Stittgen’s fight on Facebook this Saturday.

Matt Giancarlo is an amateur fighter out of Gilbert Grappling, who has competed at Brawl at Bourbon Street and G2 Fight Night. He got the smack-talk rolling at the press conference yesterday with this exchange with Michael Bisping. In true Bisping form, he gives it right back.

Giancarlo has trained with Sonnen at Team Quest in Portland, and he’ll fight again locally in March or April. He’ll eventually turn pro, and maybe we’ll even see him on the same UFC card with Bisping some day.

The training camps are finished, the poorly-timed Sandusky jokes have faded away and the fighters will finally enter the Octagon.

Rashad Evans and Phil Davis will battle at the United Center on Saturday night, with the winner getting the next shot at Jon Jones and his UFC light heavyweight title.

Evans lives in Chicagoland and has family here, but that’s not why I want him to win. Phil Davis is a very young fighter and he’ll have other shots at a title fight. I want Evans to win because I love a good grudge match. I think most of the MMA community wants to see Evans/Jones and I am no different.

But I think Evans just has too much for Davis at this point: Evans has too much power, too much experience and he’s a top-level wrestler, which is what ultimately might thwart Davis’ gameplan.

Here is the preview video from the UFC, as if you weren’t already pumped for this bout.

It will be a battle of two former PRIDE fighters when Chicago’s Mike Russow takes on Norway’s Jon Olav Einemo Saturday night at the United Center for the UFC on FOX event.

Russow is 14-1 as a pro fighter, suffering his only loss back in 2007 from a Sergei Kharitonov armbar at PRIDE 33. He has won all three of his UFC fights, including one of the all-time comebacks in UFC history when he knocked out Todd Duffee at UFC 114.

Chicago fight fans remember Russow crushing opponents in local promotions like Adrenaline, XFO and the Combat-Do Fighting Challenge. He’s also well-known around the area for his work as a Chicago police officer. ESPN did a nice feature on Russow, also interviewing Comprido, his Jiu-Jitsu coach.

“This is the biggest fight of my career, without a doubt,” Russow told ESPN. “I’m pumped I finally get to do it in front of my hometown on national television. I’m in the best shape of my life, and I’m ready.”

The matchup with Einemo definitely favors Russow. Russow has power in his hands, an excellent chin and a much better ground game than Einemo. All signs point to Russow getting his hand raised on Saturday night, something that is sure to make the United Center roar.

You can watch Russow’s fight, as well as the rest of the preliminary bouts on Fuel TV.

Pat Curran will get to fight for the Bellator featherweight title fairly close to Team Curran’s Crystal Lake location.  Curran will take on current Bellator Featherweight Champion “The Baddest Man on the Planet” Joe Warren at The Venue at The Horseshoe Casino in Hammond, Indiana on Friday, March 9. Tickets for this event go on sale at 10 a.m. CT on Friday, January 20 and are available at The Horseshoe Casino, Ticketmaster, www.thevenue-chicago.com, or by calling 1-800-745-3000.

The event will broadcast starting at 7 p.m. CT on MTV2 and in commercial-free HD on EPIX. Doors open at 5:30 p.m. CT, with the first fight scheduled for 6 p.m. CT. The preliminary card will be streamed LIVE and FREE around the world on Spike.com starting at 6 p.m. CT.

“Everything is falling into place right now,” Curran said. “My hometown is really close to where I’m fighting and I know I’ll have the support of my family and friends. This is something that is meant to be.”

Even though Curran admits he will have the “home-cage advantage” on March 9, the 24-year-old Crystal Lake native knows the challenge that is right in front of him.

“Even though he’s coming off a loss, he’s a very dangerous opponent,” Curran said of Warren. “He is a very strong wrestler who’s going to try to close the distance and work the clinch against me. I’m looking forward to a great fight.”

After a one-fight stint at Bantamweight, Joe Warren is back defending his Bellator Featherweight championship. Winner of his last five Featherweight fights, the 35-year-old Denver product has the experience and the cage savvy to bust up Curran’s homecoming party.

“The Midwest is known for great fighters and great fight fans,” Bellator Chairman & CEO Bjorn Rebney said. “To be hosting an event of this magnitude in our backyard is like Christmas morning; plus you get to see Chicagoland’s own, rising superstar Pat Curran vie for the World Title against one of the toughest fighters in all of MMA – Joe Warren. As a diehard MMA fan, I can’t wait for March 9^th to get here at Horseshoe.”

Also on this big night in Hammond, the Season 6 Featherweight Tournament kicks off as Season 5 finalist Marlon Sandro  takes on Roberto Vargas. A member of the renowned Team Nova Uniao, the 19-3 Sandro is widely regarded as one of the top featherweights in the world. With seven of his 19 wins coming via KO/TKO and three by submission, don’t blink when the dangerous Brazilian enters the Bellator cage. A former wrestler at Cal-State Bakersfield, Vargas has used his wrestling pedigree and parlayed that success into a 12-1 mixed martial arts record with three knockouts and four submissions.

Born in Thailand and raised in England, the UK’s best featherweight Ronnie Mann has the talent and drive to make a deep run in this season’s tournament. A tenacious standup fighter with 10 submission victories on his record, the 20-4 fighter has possibly his toughest test to date when he takes on dangerous veteran Wagnney Fabiano. The Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt and former WEC fighter holds an impressive 14-3 record and adds another true contender to this season’s featherweight tournament.

Top featherweight prospect Alexandre “PoPo” Bezerra enters his first Bellator tournament and will face stiff competition in his quarterfinal matchup as the 12-1 submission ace battles fellow Brazilian Genair da Silva. “Junior PDQ” is coming off an impressive victory at Bellator 52, and will be looking to carry that momentum into the tournament on March 9

XFO veteran Daniel Straus returns to the Bellator cage after nearly a year. Straus made a dominant run through the Season 4 Featherweight Tournament, only being stopped by eventual tournament Champion Patricio Pitbull in the finals. When the Ohio native steps into the cage on March 9, it will be against the undefeated Jeremy Spoon, who brings a spotless 12-0 record to the cage, including eight submission victories.

Duneland Vale Tudo’s Keith Wisniewski has been slated to fight at UFC 145 in Canada. Wisniewski will battle Chris Clements on March 24 in a welterweight match during the prelim fights, as reported by Matt Erickson of NWITimes.com.

This will be the second fight of Wisniewski’s second stint with the promotion. He made his return to the UFC against Josh Neer at UFC Live: Cruz vs. Johnson in October, losing via TKO after a doctor stoppage due to cuts.

After the first round of that fight, Neer told his corner that he thought Wisniewski broke his ribs after a hard body shot, but he pressed on. He proceeded to land the elbows that would stop the fight in round two. Wisniewski wanted to keep fighting.

“I thought that I could have continued and both myself and my cornerman lobbied the doctor to allow the fight to continue,” Wisniewski told Chicago’s MMA. “I felt that the doctor didn’t take a very close look at the cuts before deciding to stop the fight, as he made the call without ever coming over to me to actually inspect the cuts. That being said, I took over 20 stitches total on four different cuts and two staples on my scalp. The cut over my left eye was long and fairly deep. I’d like to have seen the fight continue, but it’s hard to argue that the doctor decision to stop the bout didn’t have any merit.”

Clements, who hails from Ontario, will be making his first appearance in the UFC at age 35. He owns a career record of 10-4, and has fought tough vets like John Alessio, Jonathan Goulet and Rich Clementi. He also had one fight in the IFL, getting stopped via TKO by Rory Markham in the first round.

Wisniewski, 30, had a 6-fight winning streak stopped by Neer in October. He holds a 28-13-1 professional record, and previously fought in the UFC at UFC 56, losing to Nick Thompson via decision.

Wisniewski has been fighting locally since 1998. He fought Jeff Curran and Joey Gilbert when they were both still amateurs. He fought Shonie Carter back in 1999, and fought on the same JKD Challenge 3 card as Matt Hughes. He has fought in HFC, XFO, C3, Cut Throat MMA, TFC and Ironheart Crown.

Wisniewski and his brother Justin are also promoters, putting on the Duneland Classic events. Those events have featured local fighters such as Eddie Wineland, Dan Hornbuckle, John Kolosci, Josh Shockley, Yusup Saadulaev, Darren Elkins and Kevin Knabjian.

American Predator Fighting Championship returns with another edition of “MMA at the Max” on March 3rd in McCook, featuring five title fights.

Tyler Reece will defend his APFC heavyweight title against against Hackney Combat’s Rick Farbo. Reece defeated Jason Belyew in the inaugural “MMA at the Max” in October to claim the belt.

Reece fought an astounding seven times in 2011, going 6-1. All of his fights were in local promotions. He fought in APFC, XFO and the Rocktown Showdown. His only loss came to Maurice Greene at the Shamrock Showdown 2 in March. He’ll take on Farbo, whose last fight was a TKO win in July at Summer Brawl, according to MMA.TV.

Sam Agushi will defend his lightweight belt against Oliver Vazquez. Agushi put on a grappling clinic in his title fight against Otis Brumfield in October, catching him in all kinds of sub holds. Brumfield refused to tap from even the most cringe-worthy positions, but Agushi still took the belt via unanimous decision.

Vazquez is making the drop to lightweight after fighting for the APFC welterweight belt in October. He dropped that bout to Louie Boulhanis in one of the best local fights of 2011. Both fighters stood in the pocket and exchanged shots in all three rounds, fighting at a such an unbelievable pace that Vazquez even puked in his corner after round 2. The Agushi/Vazquez matchup has ‘Fight of the Night’ written all over it.

Three other bouts will be awarded at this event. APFC will crown a middleweight and a featherweight champion, as well as a featherweight women’s champ.

New Breed’s James Etley will fight for the 145 lb. title, although no opponent has been named yet. Etley submitted Rodney Ross at MMA at the Max in October, defeating him by rear naked choke early in round 2.

Former Golden Gloves champion Jon Manos will also be fighting on the card, as will Robbie Draski. Draski scored a KO in October with the very first punch he threw against Brandon Conners.

We’ll have more on this card as we get closer to the event, but for now mark your calendars — this looks like a must-see night of fights.

Check out the results from the first MMA at the Max from October.