Well after a long hiatus, I'm bringing back the DVD reviews! Quiet down people, I can't hear myself think over all this excitement. I'm actually breaking this first one up into two parts. Its a two disc set put out by King of the Cage. Disc one is called "Reality Stars" and features guys from TUF in a "before they were stars" of sorts. Disc two is "Extreme Champions" and features the likes of Rich Franklin, Pat Miletich, Matt Hughes, and Jeremy Horn. Check back this weekend for the review of Disc two. On to the review!

In a touch I always like, we get the ring intros for all the fighters. Some of these fights take place in the Gladiator Challenge organization. Not sure if they're affiliated with KOTC or if they just purchased the rights to the fights.

1 - RASHAD EVANS VS. BRYAN PARDOE

ROUND 1: Clinch to start. After about a minute in the clinch Rashad finally gets a takedown. He gets in the mount and lands several punches. Rashad takes Pardoe's back. Pardoe stands and turns around to escape. Unfortunately for him, Rashad is still standing right there and gets another takedown with the double-leg. Rashad rains down punches until Herb Dean (yep, that Herb Dean) steps in a stops it.

FINISH: Rashad Evans by TKO at 3:24 of Round 1

STAR RATING: (*) Not much to it. Pardoe was jacked up but didn't bring anything to the fight. Easy, one-sided victory for Rashad.

RAMIFICATIONS: Well this was part of a light-heavyweight tournament, so Rashad moves on. That's the short-term ramifications of the fight. This was only Rashad's third professional fight. He showed glimpses of his potential, but he wasn't nearly the fighter he is today. Pardoe has gone 3-3 since this fight to put his record at 11-9. He hasn't been able to get out of the minor leagues though. King of the Cage is the biggest organization he's fought for.

2 - STEVE SAYEGH VS. FORREST GRIFFIN

ROUND 1: Forrest presses the action early. Same old Forrest. He lands several good knees in the Thai clinch. Takedown by Forrest and he lands in half-guard. Griffin goes for the mount and Sayegh gives up his back. Griffin attempts a rear naked choke, but decides punching is easier and pounds on Sayegh until the ref puts a stop to it.

FINISH: Forrest Griffin by TKO at 1:45 of Round 1

STAR RATING: (*) Very similar to the Rashad fight as Griffin was clearly the better fighter and imposed his will for the easy victory

RAMIFICATIONS: Forrest fought four more times after this, losing only to Jeremy Horn, before being chosen for the first season of The Ultimate Fighter. Sayegh still fights, but he's a lifetime minor leaguer. His current record is 6-12.

3 - JORGE SANTIAGO VS. DIEGO SANCHEZ

ROUND 1: Clinch to start. Diego lands a couple of knees. Sanchez with the early takedown. He lands a couple of nice elbows and then backs out. Its a trick though as he dives back in with a big punch. Santiago reverses and lands a huge knee to the face as Sanchez stands up. Another clinch and Sanchez drops Santiago with a right hook. Round one goes to Diego.

ROUND 2: Another clinch to start. Beautiful judo throw by Santiago takes Sanchez down. Sanchez, however, is the only one doing damage as he lands some nice elbows and punches from the bottom. The ref (the incomparable Cecil Peoples, by the way) stands them up. Santiago misses a high kick and gets taken down. Sanchez lands some big elbows and punches from the top as the round ends. Round two also to Sanchez.

ROUND 3: Big slam from Diego starts the final round. Sanchez lands some good elbows and punches from the top. Cecil Peoples, in all his infinite wisdom, stands the fighters up AS Diego is in the process of passing Santiago's guard. Sheer brilliance! Diego doesn't appreciate it so he immediately takes Santiago down again. He starts raining down punches and goes for an arm bar trying to finish. Santiago slips out and ends up on top but falls right into a triangle attempt. That's where the fight ends. Another round clearly to Diego Sanchez.

FINISH: Diego Sanchez by unanimous decision at 5:00 of Round 3

STAR RATING: (***) Very good fight. A bit one-sided, but Diego showed why he's a force. Good action throughout, despite what Mr. Peoples thinks.

RAMIFICATIONS: This was a pretty tough test for Diego. Santiago is a member of the American Top Team. Since this fight, he's fought three times in the UFC and is currently fighting for BodogFight. Diego went on to win season one of The Ultimate Fighter. He was in line for a welterweight title shot before his horrifically boring decision loss to Josh Koscheck.

4 - JOE STEVENSON VS. THOMAS SCHULTE

ROUND 1: Cecil Peoples is once again presiding. Ugh. Fast paced action to start. Stevenson is getting the better of every stand up exchange. Schulte keeps trying to got to the ground, but Stevenson won't follow him down. That's not the Joe "Daddy" I know. There's not a dull moment in this fight, and yet Cecil Peoples keeps yelling at both fighters to "mix it up". Unbelievable. Schulte finally just covers up and sits there waiting for the big shot and BOOM! Stevenson drills him with a huge knee to the face for the KO.

FINISH: Joe Stevenson by KO at 3:29 of Round 1

STAR RATING: (**+) Very one sided, but I don't care. It was entertaining as hell and had a brutal KO finish.

RAMIFICATIONS: Well this was Joe Stevenson's third to last fight before going on to win season two of TUF. He fought on the show at 170lbs. but he's now back home at 155. Good move. He's a beast in the lightweight division and should be in line for a title shot soon. Oh, and this was for the KOTC lightweight title, so he won that. Schulte has had a decent MMA career, going 13-5 to this point. He hasn't gotten out of the minors, but he fights consistently and has a respectable record, so there's no shame there.

5 - RASHAD EVANS VS. HECTOR RAMIREZ

ROUND 1: They start out with a nice, long clinch against the fence. Rashad lands some nice punches as he backs out of the clinch. Double-leg takedown by Rashad. Ramirez, though, stands up. In a running them of this fight, Rashad showcases some very quick hands. Ramirez lands a nice body shot. Good exchange as round one comes to a close with both fighters landing some good shots. Rashad controlled the action and did more damage so he takes round one.

ROUND 2: I'm not gonna go into great detail in the second round, because it followed the same pattern for five minutes. Rashad got to show off his dancing skills here. If Matt Hughes didn't like his "head-bob" showboating during season two, he would've had a heart attack if he witnessed this fight. At one point Rashad even put his hands behind his back and stuck his chin out, daring Ramirez to come in and engage. The whole round is Rashad dancing around, then coming in and landing two or three quick shots and then backing off. Rashad takes round two also, but there was more dancing than action to speak of.

FINISH: Rashad Evans by unanimous decision at 5:00 of Round 2

STAR RATING: (**) While not particularly exciting, it was reasonably entertaining. Rashad has ultra quick hands and showed off some of his skills. This looked just like one of his fights from The Ultimate Fighter, but with much more showboating.

RAMIFICATIONS: Well this was the second fight in two days for Rashad (the first fight on the DVD being the first) and he'd go on to fight later the same night and defeat Jaime Jara to win the light-heavyweight tournament he was competing in. Then if was off to bigger and better things on TUF right after that. Hector Ramirez is doing well for himself these days. He's scheduled to have his second fight in the UFC next month. His only two losses were to Rashad Evans and James Irvin, so no shame there. He also owns a KO victory over Kendall Grove.