–UFC.com confirmed the cards for a number of their upcoming events this week.
Firstly a change was made to the undercard of 05/26’s UFC 71: Liddell vs. Jackson, as Eric Schafer was forced out of his bout with Sean Salmon thanks to a broken rib sustained in training. Taking Schafer’s place will be rising star Alan ‘The Talent’ Belcher, who is coming off a loss at UFC 69 to TUF III winner Kendall Grove. His fight with Salmon will be Belcher’s first fight in the UFC at 205lbs, after his initial three bouts at 185lbs. The full card for the event now stands at:
Televised Card:
-UFC World Light-Heavyweight Title: Chuck Liddell (c) vs. Quinton Jackson
-Ivan Salaverry vs. Terry Martin
-Karo Parisyan vs. Josh Burkman
-Keith Jardine vs. Houston Alexander
-Kalib Starnes vs. Chris Leben
Preliminary Bouts:
-Thiago Silva vs. James Irvin
-Alan Belcher vs. Sean Salmon
-Din Thomas vs. Jeremy Stephens
-Wilson Gouveia vs. Carmelo Marrero
-UFC.com also confirmed the full cards for both June 12th’s UFC Fight Night 10, and June 16th’s UFC 72: Victory this week.
Headlined by the rematch between Spencer Fisher and Sam Stout – one of the better fights of 2006 – UFN 10 is relatively low on star power, but still contains some intriguing bouts. The card contains:
Televised Card:
-Sam Stout vs. Spencer Fisher
-Jon Fitch vs. Roan Carneiro
-Drew McFedries vs. Jordan Radev
Preliminary Bouts:
-Thiago Tavares vs. Jason Black
-Tamdan McCrory vs. Pete Spratt
-Luigi Fioravanti vs. Forrest Petz
-Gleison Tibau vs. Jeff Cox
-Chad Reiner vs. Steve Bruno
-Luke Caudillo vs. Nate Mohr
As was previously reported, the main event for UFC 72 saw a change last week as Martin Kampmann was sidelined by a knee injury, and was replaced in his fight with Rich Franklin by Japanese contender Yushin Okami. The undercard for the UFC’s first event from Northern Ireland has now also been confirmed.
Televised Card:
-Rich Franklin vs. Yushin Okami
-Forrest Griffin vs. Hector Ramirez
-Jason MacDonald vs. Rory Singer
-Tyson Griffin vs. Clay Guida
Preliminary Bouts:
-Marcus Davis vs. Jason Tan
-Jake O’Brien vs. Tom Murphy
-Eddie Sanchez vs. Colin Robinson
-Scott Smith vs. Ed Herman
-Dustin Hazelett vs. Stevie Lynch
-Despite some rumors suggesting different, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira’s fight with Heath Herring is still a go for July 7th’s UFC 73: Stacked. The only change to the expected card thus far came when Welterweight contender Jeff Joslin pulled out of his scheduled fight with Chris Lytle – he has been replaced by UFC veteran Drew Fickett. The card currently stands at:
Televised Card:
-UFC World Middleweight Title: Anderson Silva (c) vs. Nathan Marquardt
-UFC World Lightweight Title: Sean Sherk (c) vs. Hermes Franca
-Rashad Evans vs. Tito Ortiz
-Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira vs. Heath Herring
-Kenny Florian vs. Alvin Robinson
Preliminary Bouts:
-Stephan Bonnar vs. Mike Nickels
-Drew Fickett vs. Chris Lytle
-Jorge Gurgel vs. Diego Saraiva
One more preliminary bout is expected to be announced in the near future.
