Lightweights Dennis Siver and Andre Winner are expected to meet at UFC 122.
MMAFighting.com first reported the bout, and sources close to the negotiations told MMAjunkie.com that verbal agreements are in place, though no bout agreements have been sent.
UFC 122 takes place Nov. 13 at Konig Pilsener Arena in Oberhausen, Germany, and airs via same-day delay on Spike TV. A middleweight fight between Vitor Belfort and Yushin Okami headlines the event.
Wow word gets around fast. Kimbo Slice, who by the way performed much better than James Toney in the UFC, has quickly responded to James Toney via MMAFighting:
“I never heard anything about me fighting James Toney, but you know, like I said, again, I’ll fight anybody, man. C’mon, everybody knows that about me from my street-fighting days. Put anybody in front of me, train me to be the best, I’ll fight the best. That’s one thing about Kimbo Slice that everybody knows.”
A fight between the two would be a huge draw, and you could bank that the pay per view numbers would be amazing to say the least. Despite the fact that Toney’s way past his prime and that Slice isn’t even close to his boxing level the two would generate enough interest from both die hard boxing fans and mainstream America to make it bankable. With Gary Shaw promoting you could certainly see Slice going for the one and done route, and he would more than likely make a ton of money in the process. So far this is nothing but some back and forth but we’ll keep you in the loop.
Fans questioning Ken Shamrock’s future in Mixed Martial Arts were given a new nugget for discussion earlier today when it was revealed the one-time “World’s Most Dangerous Man” will step into the ring once again on October 16th. Shamrock, who is 1-6 in his last seven fights, will compete on USA MMA’s upcoming event in Lafayette, Lousiana against 71-fight veteran Jonathan Ivey.
News of the bout was reported by MMAFighting, who also mentioned Ricco Rodriguez would see action at the event against Mike Perez.
Ivey is 29-42 and registers in at a rotund 250 pounds while only standing a little over 5’8”. Twenty-three of his wins are by way of submission and should offer the MMA icon an interesting test if things hit the mat.
Shamrock will be looking to get back on the winning track after losing via first round TKO to Pedro Rizzo this past July. Despite his recent struggles he is still 27-14-2 as a professional with twenty three tap-outs to his credit.
Strikeforce heavyweight champion Alistair Overeem didn’t take long to reply to the recent request by M-1 and Fedor Emelianenko for a matchup between the two. Unfortunately it doesn’t seem like it’s going to happen any time soon, as Overeem is leaning towards a K-1 fight in October, and even after that doesn’t seem to have any interest in Fedor until he faces Fabricio Werdum. MMAFighting had the quotes:
No, unfortunately not. The reason is because if I enter the Final 16 and win, I will fight the K-1 Final in December. My decision was made because nothing was certain and Strikeforce and M-1 didn’t act fast enough when I made my decision to start K-1 training. Now I read on the internet that Fedor and his management want to fight me all of sudden. Do they really need two months of thinking and negotiating? I think it’s a little strange to be honest. If Fedor challenged me right after the fight it would have been something to take in consideration, but the M-1 management started to say that all the polls on several websites stated that people rather have a Fedor vs. Werdum rematch then a fight against me. There we have another lie by M-1 because every poll I have read stated the opposite and showed that everybody want to see Fedor versus me. Check their current poll at their own Web site (laughs).
Fans have been waiting for this matchup for some time, and it looks like were going to be waiting for a while still. Overeem vs. Fedor is certainly the most compelling heavyweight matchup outside of the UFC, and Strikeforce has got to be wanting this one as well as it would be great for ratings. Looks like it’ll be 2011 before the two lock horns, which seems like a long time away but there’s not much that can be done about it.
Strikeforce CEO Scott Coker answers questions about last night’s Houston event and gives his thoughts on the nights upsets, former WWE star Bobby Lashley, the October 9th middleweight tournament, and more in these two interviews.
Tito Ortiz will return to action against Matt Hamill at UFC 121, according to MMAfighting.com. UFC 121 will take place on October 23 from the Honda Center in Anaheim, California and will mark the return of Ortiz who last fought at UFC 106 as part of the main event of the night when he took on and lost to Forrest Griffin.
Ortiz hasn’t looked good at all, having struggled to compete at a high level and not having won a bout since 2006(and that was against Ken Shamrock) but has gone on the record to say that injuries to his back have been the culprit, not a decrease in skill set. Ortiz is still a strong draw, however, and fighting against Matt Hamill will certainly get many fans watching, both live and PPV.
Hamill is riding a four fight win streak, with his last loss coming to Rich “Ace Franklin” at UFC 88, though everyone including Hamill himself, realises that his disqualification win over Jon Jones was pretty hollow as he was thoroughly getting his butt whipped. Hamill last fought against Keith Jardine and won the fight, prompting the UFC to cut Jardine from the roster. With a win over Ortiz, he could make it two for two as Ortiz clearly is a “name” but with no wins in so long one has to wonder how many more chances he’ll get.
UFC 121 will feature heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar taking on number one contender Cain Velasquez and will also mark the introduction of Jake Shields to the promotion when he takes on Martin Kampmann.
Lightweights Dennis Siver and Andre Winner are expected to meet at UFC 122.
