(DON’T MOVE ROB! There is the biggest hornet on your nose right now!)
A battle between undefeated heavyweights Stipe Miocic and Philip De Fries has recently been booked for the UFC’s upcoming debut on FUELTV, which transpires February 15th at the CenturyLink and Cornmeal Center in Omaha, Nebraska.
After starting off his professional career with five straight (T)KO victories, all coming within the first two rounds, Croatian-born Stipe Miocic scored a second round leglock submission over Bobby Brents to earn himself a call from the UFC. In his debut, Miocic would handle tough veteran Joey Beltran with a deft combination of leg kicks and takedowns en route to a unanimous decision victory. Though his choice to sport the same checkerboard trunks as the legendary Mirko Cro Cop would earn him the ire of many keyboard warriors across the nation, a win over De Fries, specifically a head kick KO, would certainly give him some breathing room. De Fries, on the other hand, had finished all of his opponents (excluding a No Contest against Dave Wilson) via submission before making his UFC debut, where he scored his own unanimous decision win over Rob Broughton at UFC 138.
After original opponent Eric Koch was forced to withdraw from their bout citing an unknown injury, featherweight wrecking machine Dustin Poirier was in need of an opponent to continue the four fight win streak he had built up starting back at WEC 52, which had included brilliant wins over Pablo Garza and Josh Grispi. It has been reported that fellow UFC on FOX victor Ricardo Lamas has stepped up to the challenge and will meet Poirier at UFC 143, which goes down February 4th from the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas and features an interim welterweight championship bout between Nick Diaz and Carlos Condit.
Lamas has built up a two fight streak of his own in his time under the Zuffa banner, following up a head kick TKO over Matt Grice with the aforementioned UFC on FOX win over Cub Swanson via second round arm triangle.
What say you, Potato Nation, who takes these?
-Danga