“The Spaniard” had a crazy week in his own right, and it ended with him picking up a unanimous win over Rick Story in the co-main event of UFC Live 4 on Sunday night. It also all went down in his home town of Pittsburgh.

Originally scheduled to face T.J. Grant, Brenneman was told he wouldn’t have a fight early in the week after Grant came down with an illness.

Dana White and the UFC told Brenneman to make weight for Saturday and he would earn a winner’s payday. Somehow, that turned out to be a blessing for both parties as Nate Marquardt failed to get a license for his main event bout. Just 24 hours before UFC Live 4 took place, Brenneman was offered to fill in for Marquardt, and he accepted.

What happened in the octagon was Brenneman using his wrestling to keep Story on the ground for two rounds. Story won the third, but was unable to finish the scrappy Brenneman, who improves to 3-1 in the UFC with the win.

It was a tough spot for Story, who was looking to earn the biggest win in his MMA career and then had to take on a fight against an opponent he hadn’t trained for. To me, Story shouldn’t drop in the rankings, as he originally took the fight with Marquardt on short notice to raise his profile.

In the main event, Cheick Kongo knocked out Pat Barry in maybe the craziest fight I have ever seen. Barry seemingly had Kongo out twice, but referee Dan Miragliotta let the fight continue and Kongo hit Barry with two big punches that put Barry out cold.

It was a good win for Kongo, but he should thank his lucky stars that he had a very lenient ref.

Matt Mitrione continued to raise his stock as he earned a second round TKO win over Christian Morecraft. Mitrione looked sharp with his striking once again, but did get taken down a few times by Morecraft. Still, he was able to get back up with relative ease and finished the fight impressively.

In prelim action, Tyson Griffin and Joe Stevenson made their featherweight debuts. Griffin was able to win his by decision over Manny Gamburyan while Stevenson lost his by decision to Javier Vazquez.

UFC Live 4 Results

Cheick Kongo def. Pat Barry by first round KO (2:39)

Charlie Brenneman def. Rick Story by unanimous decision

Matt Brown def. John Howard by unanimous decision

Matt Mitrione def. Christian Morecraft by second round KO (4:28)

Tyson Griffin def. Manny Gamburyan by unanimous decision

Javier Vazquez def. Joe Stevenson by unanimous decision

Joe Lauzon def. Curt Warburton by first round submission (1:58)

Rich Attonito def. Daniel Roberts by unanimous decision

Charles Oliveira def. Nik Lentz by second round submission (1:48)

Ricardo Lamas def. Matt Grice by first round TKO (4:41)

Micharl Johnson def. Edward Faaloloto by first round TKO (4:42)

Despite all the chaos surrounding Nate Marquardt and the main event of UFC Live 4, the event will still take place on Sunday night at 9 p.m. ET.

Here are my picks for the four main card bouts.

Heavyweight Bout – Cheick Kongo (25-6-2) vs. Pat Barry (6-2) – As much as I would like to see Barry win this fight, I think Kongo’s experience and grappling ability will pay off. Barry has the clear edge in terms of technical striking, but I expect Kongo to push Barry against the cage and win the clinch battle and also score some takedowns to get a decision victory.

Welterweight Bout – Rick Story (13-3) vs. Charlie Brenneman (13-2) – This is a tough spot for Rick Story as it is really lose-lose. He now fights a lesser opponent on 24 hours notice, and that guy is fully prepared for a war, since he was originally scheduled to fight on the card anyway. Brenneman has everything to gain in this fight. Still, I suspect Story will have the skills to control the fight and earn a tough decision.

Welterweight Bout – John Howard (14-6) vs. Matt Brown (13-10) – I am actually going to predict an upset in this one and go with Brown. Brown has done well against strikers and Howard has struggled lately against guys that can pack a punch and negate his striking. Brown also can mix in some takedowns and put on relentless pressure. I will take Brown to win by submission in the third round.

Heavyweight Bout – Matt Mitrione (4-0) vs. Christian Morecraft (7-1) – I like Mitrione to continue his rise up the ranks. He really has a nice diverse striking style that is tough for opponents to counter. I don’t suspect Morecraft has the striking or the grappling to really stop Mitrione from winning this fight. Give me the meathead by decision.

Following the failed physical, UFC President posted this, stating Marquardt will no longer be with the UFC

MMAJunkie.com was the first to report on the matter

MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) has learned that Marquardt is a late scratch from Sunday’s UFC on Versus 4 event, and opponent Rick Story (13-3 MMA, 6-1 UFC) will now instead meet Charlie Brenneman (12-2 MMA, 2-1 UFC) on the evening’s main card.

With the late change, a highly-anticipated heavyweight bout between Pat Barry (6-2 MMA, 3-2 UFC) and Cheick Kongo (15-6-2 MMA, 8-4-1 UFC) has now been promoted to main-event status.

The reason for Marquardt’s last-minute withdrawal, mere hours before he was scheduled to hit the scales at the event’s official weigh-ins, wasn’t immediately evident. However, Marquardt’s camp did release a statement insisting the setback was temporary and his future still lies at 170 pounds.

“Nate is really disappointed,” the statement read. “He really was looking forward to making his welterweight debut, and he plans to be back in there as soon as possible.”

Brenneman is the replacement, but that probably won’t suit Story, who took this fight on short notice for a chance to really thrust himself into the title picture. This fight seems like a lose-lose situation for Story.

For Marquardt, it is hard to know what will happen next, but clearly there is still more to this story.