While November lacks world championship action, it will feature plenty of top draw action with featured events including the penuilitimate WEC event, the UFC’s return to Germany with UFC 122 and Michigan with UFC 123. Check out all the month’s big fights and where you can see them:
WEC 52: Faber vs. Mizugaki (11th November) – Versus
- Urijah Faber vs. Takeya Mizugaki
- Chad Mendes vs. Javier Vazquez
- Erik Koch vs. Francisco Rivera
- Joseph Benavidez vs. Wagnney Fabiano
- Demetrious Johnson vs. Damacio Page
UFC 122: Marquardt vs. Okami (13th November) – Spike TV
- Nate Marquardt vs. Yushin Okami
- Jorge Rivera vs. Alessio Sakara
- Dennis Siver vs. Andre Winner
- Amir Sadollah vs. Peter Sobotta
- Krzysztof Soszynski vs. Goran Reljic
Strikeforce Challengers: Shaolin vs. Wilcox (19th November) – Showtime
- Vitor “Shaolin” Ribeiro vs. Justin Wilcox
- Antwain Britt vs. Ovince St. Preux
- Waachim Spiritwolf vs. Marius Zaromskis
- Liz Carmouche vs. Jan Finney
- Caros Fodor vs. Derek Getzel
UFC 123: Rampage vs. Machida (20th November) – PPV
- Quinton “Rampage” Jackson vs. Lyoto Machida
- Matt Hughes vs. B.J. Penn
- Maiquel Falcao vs. Gerald Harris
- Tim Boetsch vs. Phil Davis
- Joe Lauzon vs. George Sotiropoulos
- Mark Munoz vs. Aaron Simpson (Spike TV Pre-lim)
- Matt Brown vs. Brian Foster (Spike TV Pre-lim)
Staff Picks: Fight To Watch
Jon’s Pick: Urijah Faber vs. Takeya Mizugaki
When pitted against top-tier opponents, Takeya Mizugaki is just as good as any bantamweight fighter in the world. He turned it up against Miguel Torres back at WEC 40, and you can expect him to turn it up against Urijah Faber. For Faber, this is quite possibly one of the most important bouts in his career. Not only is it his WEC bantamweight debut, but also if he and Dominick Cruz both walk out of their next fights as the winners, it only makes sense they will be the coaches on the next season of The Ultimate Fighter. On a technical perspective, Mizugaki has never been submitted and Faber is walking into the cage with six submission wins.
Shawn’s Pick: Matt Hughes vs. B.J. Penn
Chris’ Pick: George Sotiropoulos vs. Joe Lauzon
If you’re looking for big name fighters then may I direct your attention to either Rampage vs. Machida or Faber vs. Mizugaki, however if you are looking for the fight with the highest possible upside then I would stick with Joe Lauzon vs. George Sotiropoulos from UFC 123. The UFC lightweight division is twice the size it was when this fight was booked which means that a win for Sotiropoulos probably no longer means an automatic title shot. And that’s a damn shame since the fight he has now is deceptively difficult and could easily trip him up on his way to the top. Back at UFC 118 Lauzon looked like a natural born submission artiste as he armbarred Gabe Ruediger and he currently owns a 6-2 record in the UFC. Between the two of them they have 3 Fight of the Night awards and considering what they are surrounded by my money is on them to score another one on November 20th.
Will’s Pick: Lyoto Machida vs. Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson
UFC 123’s main event fight between the last two men to make a successful defense of the World Light Heavyweight Title (admittedly with a huge asterik in Machida’s case) will hopefully answer a lot of questions about two fighters struggling to remain relevant in the UFC’s most competitive division. Neither impressed in their previous fights with Machida looking nervous and tentative against Shogun Rua while Jackson struggled to handle the pace or athleticism of Rashad Evans. Worse for Jackson he looked one-dimensional, with his once excellent boxing technique now reduced to looking for single big punches whilst his wrestling and Muay Thai were non-existent. Now back as a full-time fighter, can Jackson fight at the pace and with the variety of offense that will confound the master of Machida’ Karate? Can Machida put behind him a rotten thirteen months and regain the mental discipline that made him such a fearsome fighter until Shogun dismantled and then defeated him? With a possible world title shot on the line, we’ll get answers to those questions and more on November 2oth.
