It’s been a busy past 24 hours as several key UFC matchups have come to light.
A rumored lightweight matchup featuring Joe Lauzon vs. George Sotiropoulos for UFC 123, a light-heavyweight bout between Thiago Silva vs. Brandon Vera is being targeted for UFC 125, middleweights Kendall Grove vs. Demian Maia will meet at the TUF 12 Finale, and lightweights Gabe Ruediger vs. Paul Kelly are almost set for UFC 123.
A lightweight bout between Joe Lauzon (19-5) and George Sotiropoulos (13-2) has been confirmed by MMAMania.com that will see both men meet on Nov. 20 at UFC 123. Lauzon is fresh off of a dominating victory over Gabe Ruediger at UFC 118. While Sotiropoulos has won seven straight, including a unanimous decision win over Kurt Pellegrino at UFC 116. This match could potentially position either man near the top of the lightweight division.
A light-heavyweight bout in the works has Thiago Silva (14-2) and Brandon Vera (11-5) squaring off at UFC 125 on Jan. 1 according to MMAjunkie.com. This bout could be pivotal for each fighter as a loss for either might spell the end of their time with the UFC. Silva is 1-2 in his past three and is coming off a unanimous decision loss to Rashad Evans at UFC 108. While Vera is coming off an injury to his right eye in his TKO loss to Jon Jones at UFC LIVE: Vera vs. Jones. The loss was “The Truth’s” second straight, as he dropped a unanimous decision to Randy Couture at UFC 105.
Middleweight Kendall Grove (12-7) announced on his Twitter account that he’d be meeting Demian Maia (13-2) at “The Ultimate Fighter Season 12″ finale on Dec. 4. Grove earned a split decision win over Goran Reljic at UFC 116 and is 2-1 in his past three. While Maia defeated Mario Miranda by unanimous decision at UFC 118 last month, putting him at 1-1 in his last two.
Gabe Ruediger made a disappointing return to the UFC by suffering a first round submission loss to Lauzon at UFC 118. Now he’ll get a second chance as MMAjunkie.com is reporting that the lightweight fighter will meet Paul Kelly (10-3) at UFC 123 on Nov. 20. Before the loss to Lauzon, Ruediger had won six straight including the Tachi Palace Fights title. British fighter, Kelly is looking to return to the win column after dropping a unanimous decision to Jacob Volkmann at UFC Live: Jones vs. Matyushenko and is just 1-2 in his past three.