(Wait…it’s already been FIVE YEARS since these two last fought?!!)
Trilogy fever has officially struck Zuffa.
Word has it that lightweight scrappers Sam Stout and Spencer Fisher will meet for a third time at UFC on FX 4 this June, in a fight that will be an early front runner for “Fight of the Night” to say the least. Both Fisher and Stout are coming off losses to Thiago Tavares, so it seems a good a time as any to have these two square off once again, because MMA fans eat up rematches like fried Kool-aid nowadays.
Fisher and Stout last met way back at UFN 10 in June of 2007, where Fisher was able to erase the memory of his split decision, “Fight of the Year” earning loss to Stout at UFC 58 by walking away with a close but unanimous decision victory. As of late, however, Fisher has descended further down the lightweight ladder with each performance, to the point that he could be fighting for his job come June 22nd. He has dropped 4 of his last 5, with the lone win coming by way of UD over UFC washout Curt “The War” Warburton at UFC 120. Yes, you read that correctly; Curt Warburton’s nickname is “The War.” What a crafty SOB.
Stout has seen quite a bit more success recently, scoring wins in 4 of his last 6, including a first round starching of Yves Edwards at UFC 131 last year. After his long time trainer and close friend Shawn Tompkins suddenly passed away, however, Stout pulled out of his bout with Dennis Siver to do some “soul searching” along with fellow Team Tompkins members Chris Horodecki and Mark Hominick. Upon returning to the octagon, the aftereffects of such a tragic loss were still noticeable, as both Stout and Hominick suffered defeats to Tavares and Chan Sung Jung, respectively.
In other fight booking news, it has been reported by Marc Bocek himself that his original UFC 145 opponent, TUF 5 alum Matt Wiman, has blown out his knee in training and has been forced to withdraw from their match. Replacing him will be none other than UFC, WEC, KOTC, and damn near every other promotion veteran John Alessio, who will be making his return to the UFC following a six year absence. In the past three years, the 35 year old journeyman has put together a hell of a run, notching eleven victories, including wins over UFC veterans Luigi Fioravanti (via KO) and War Machine (via submission), alongside just two defeats.
Canadian grappling savant Marc Bocek has gone win-loss in his last five UFC bouts, with one of those losses coming to current lightweight champ Ben Henderson and the other to top contender Jim Miller. We last saw Bocek score a unanimous decision victory over Nik Lentz at UFC 140 in which Lentz tried to submit Bocek with a guillotine no less than 375 times.
UFC 145 is set to transpire on April 21st from the Phillips Arena in Atlanta, Georgia.
While we’re on the subject of last minute injuries, it appears that Jorgen Kruth, who was expected to make his UFC debut against Cyrille Diabate at UFC on FUEL 2, has been forced to pull out of the contest and has been replaced by fellow newcomer Tom DeBlass. A student of Ricardo Almeida and currently undefeated as a professional, DeBlass is accepting the fight on just over a week’s notice against a dangerous, albeit struggling, striker in Diabate. “Snake” has not competed since getting strangled by Anthony Perosh at UFC 138, and currently sits at 2-2 in the UFC. Being that submissions have always been Diabate’s Achilles heel, he might want to utilize the huge reach advantage he will have against a much shorter BJJ blackbelt in DeBlass.
UFC on FUEL 2 goes down from the Ericsson Globe Arena in Stockholm, Sweden on April 14th.
Who you got for these, Potato Nation?
-J. Jones