— Anderson Silva has told UFC management that he would like to fight again in April. That pay per view event is tentatively scheduled for Montreal, with the idea being that if St. Pierre beats BJ Penn in January, he’ll defend the welterweight title against Thiago Alves in his home country. There are only eleven weeks between those two shows, however, so St. Pierre will have to come out of the Penn fight nearly completely unscathed in order to fight again in April.
As for Silva’s opponent on that show, it’s a tricky situation. The internal discussion has centered on having Silva face the loser of the Rampage Jackson vs. Wanderlei Silva fight, but Silva doesn’t want to leave the middleweight division entirely and the only marketable fight currently on the table for him would be to face the winner of Michael Bisping vs. the USA coach. Obviously, that fight couldn’t happen until late in 2009, which means the middleweight title would be virtually shelved unless someone becomes an instant superstar and draw.
The best case scenario is for Silva to vacate the middleweight belt and move to light heavyweight permanently. All of the big money matches Silva seeks are available there, while there are zero big money matches available at middleweight.
— With Silva being off the February show, the company is left with a main event hole. There’s a chance that the winner of the Forrest Griffin/Rashad Evans could defend the title against the winner of Jackson/Silva, but nothing is set in stone. They are scrambling to fill the main event as we speak.
— Zuffa is definitely interested in Bobby Lashley. They aren’t going to bring him in any time soon, because they feel like he’s another Brock Lesnar and they already have a Brock Lesnar. If Lashley is able to keep winning in impressive fashion, however, they’re going to have a tough time not bringing him in by the end of 2009. I personally believe that Brock Lesnar vs. Bobby Lashley will headline The Ultimate 2009, but there are so many things that have to happen between now and December 2009 for that to happen that it’s almost impossible to say with any certainty if it’ll actually happen. As a main event on a pay per view, it would do absolutely gigantic numbers, and anything with that kind of potential will get fast-tracked by the company.
Lashley isn’t as gigantic as Lesnar, but he’s even more muscular, which is almost impossible to believe. Sources inside American Top Team say he’s going to be very, very good. He has to work harder than Lesnar because while he’s a great athlete, Lesnar is a once in a generation athlete and soaks up training and methods like a sponge. Lashley spends Monday through Friday each week in Florida training with American Top Team. His next fight will likely be in February, and he says he’d like to fight at least three times total before entering the UFC. But make no mistake about it — ending up in the UFC is his major goal, and a fight with Lesnar is his ultimate goal.
— Superheavyweight judo gold medalist Satoshi Ishii stated in an interview that he wanted to debut in the UFC, rather than DREAM as many have speculated. Ishii (rightly) believes that Zuffa has the best competition in the world right now. He would be a key asset for the company if they decided to expand into Japan, because he’s a national hero. If the story is true and Ishii truly does want to sign with the UFC, it will badly hurt DREAM because that company is in desperate need of a true national star.
— There will be eight fights behind closed doors on January 11th in the UK to determine the eight UK participants for the next season of The Ultimate Fighter. Michael Bisping is confirmed to coach the UK team, and while Dan Henderson is most frequently named as the American coach, nothing is even remotely close to being finalized.
— The Ultimate 2008 has sold 7,000 tickets for a $2 million gate. They’re giving away a ton of tickets for that one and there will be plenty of casino buys, so the building will certainly be full for the show. The January 17th show in Dublin is sold out for a $1.4 million gate.
— Betting lines for upcoming shows: Georges St. Pierre -210 vs. BJ Penn 170 and Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira is a rough 4 to 1 favorite over Frank Mir. I suspect those odds will be even higher come December 27th. Forrest Griffin and Wanderlei Silva are slight favorites in their fights against Rashad Evans and Rampage Jackson.
— The Cologne, Germany show will be officially announced within the next thirty days, including the main event. My money is still on Couture vs. Liddell.
