-UFC.com finalized the cards for their two upcoming events, UFC Fight Night: The Final Chapter on 10/10, and UFC 64: Unstoppable on 10/14.
The 10/10 card saw one change, as Brazilian Thales Leites was forced out of his fight with Nathan Marquardt due to Visa problems. Leites’ Visa hearing was scheduled for 10/11 for unknown reasons, and it’s likely that he will make his UFC debut at a later date. Kickboxer Crafton ‘Blaze’ Wallace – coming off a loss to Martin Kampmann at the last UFC Fight Night – has stepped in to face Marquardt at late notice. The completed card now stands as:
Televised Bouts:
-Tito Ortiz vs. Ken Shamrock
-Kendall Grove vs. Chris Price
-Ed Herman vs. Jason MacDonald
-Seth Petruzelli vs. Matt Hamill
Preliminary Bouts:
-Nathan Marquardt vs. Crafton Wallace
-Dustin Hazelett vs. Tony DeSouza
-Rory Singer vs. Josh Haynes
-Thiago Alves vs. John Alessio
-Forrest Petz vs. Marcus Davis
UFC 64, co-headlined by the Middleweight Title fight between Rich Franklin and Anderson Silva, and the battle for the vacant Lightweight Title between Sean Sherk and Kenny Florian, was also finalized with the addition of Spencer Fisher vs. Dan Lauzon, Cheick Kongo vs. Carmelo Marrero, Kalib Starnes vs. Yushin Okami, and Kurt Pellegrino vs. Junior Assuncao. The completed card now stands as:
Televised Bouts:
-Rich Franklin vs. Anderson Silva
-Sean Sherk vs. Kenny Florian
-Jon Fitch vs. Kuniyoshi Hironaka
-Spencer Fisher vs. Dan Lauzon
-Cheick Kongo vs. Carmelo Marrero
Preliminary Bouts:
-Keith Jardine vs. Mike Nickels
-Kalib Starnes vs. Yushin Okami
-Clay Guida vs. Justin James
-Kurt Pellegrino vs. Junior Assuncao
-UFC.com both confirmed and rubbished a couple of rumors that had been flying around by announcing that UFC 65: Bad Intentions will indeed take place on Saturday, November 18th in Sacramento, California’s Arco Arena.
The show will be headlined by the long-awaited rematch for the UFC Welterweight Title between champion Matt Hughes and challenger Georges St-Pierre, finally putting an end to the rumors of a Hughes injury/failed drug test. The co-main event will see Tim Sylvia defend his UFC Heavyweight Title against challenger Jeff Monson.
The card thus far (as confirmed by Zuffa representative Beth, on MMA.tv) consists of:
Matt Hughes vs. Georges St-Pierre
Tim Sylvia vs. Jeff Monson
Brandon Vera vs. Frank Mir
Joe Stevenson vs. Dokonjonosuke Mishima
Nick Diaz vs. Graison Tibau
with four additional fights to be confirmed in the near future. Fighters rumored to be taking part on this card include TUF alumni Michael Bisping and Brad Imes, as well as Thales Leites and Eric ‘Ravishing Red’ Schafer.
-Although not yet officially announced by UFC.com, Diego Sanchez’s official website claimed that the ‘Nightmare’ will be taking on fellow Welterweight contender Joe ‘Diesel’ Riggs on an upcoming Spike TV UFC Fight Night card on December 13th. Although the news item has now been removed (as of 10/07), MMA forums are already divided in discussion over the clash between these two somewhat controversial fighters.
-PRIDE FC also announced the majority of the card for their upcoming 11/05 Bushido 13 show, headlined by the rematch between Takanori Gomi and Marcus Aurelio, this time with Gomi’s PRIDE Lightweight belt on the line. The show also sees the semi-finals of PRIDE’s Welterweight tournament, with Denis Kang taking on Akihiro Gono, and Paulo Filho facing off with Kazuo Misaki. The finals are likely to take place on PRIDE’s New Year’s Eve show.
PRIDE announced four additional fights for this show, including an exciting clash in the 160lbs division between Gilbert Melendez and Shooto champion Shinya Aoki, as well as the PRIDE debut of former WWE superstar Mike Barton (AKA Bart Gunn) as he takes on perennial Japanese favourite Ikuhisa Minowa. The other confirmed fights are Murilo Bustamante vs. Yoon Dong Sik, and Luis ‘Buscape’ Firmino vs. Nobuhiro Obiya. More fights for this card are expected to be announced in the near future.
Source: UFC.com, prideofficial.com, dieognightmare.com MMA.tv
