(Etim and Lauzon, seen here demonstrating the Tomax and Xamot effect.)
Two lightweights will be looking to bounce back from horrific, nightmare-inducing losses and vie for the love of their malnourished alien overlord when Joe Lauzon takes on Terry Etim at UFC on Fox 4, which goes down on August 4th from the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California.
The last time we saw Etim in action, he fell victim to, and in fact helped spawn the idea behind, the “Falling Tree” knockout, when he was leveled via a spinning heel-kick compliments of Edson Barboza at UFC 142. The fight was only Etim’s second in as many years, as he spent most of the 2010-2011 season nursing a rib injury that forced him out of a match with, you guessed it, Joe Lauzon, at UFC 118. He was replaced by Gabe Rudiger for that event, and we all know how that ended up. Etim finally made his return at UFC 138 in England, where he submitted Edward Faaloloto with a guillotine in just 16 seconds. The victory earned Etim his fourth “Submission of the Night” award in his ten fight career under the Zuffa banner.
Lauzon is also coming off a devastating head kick KO loss– his coming against top lightweight contender Anthony Pettis in their main card scrap at UFC 144. Prior to that, Lauzon had put together a two fight win streak over Kurt Warburton (via kimura) at UFC Live: Kongo vs. Barry and Melvin Guillard (via rear-naked choke) at UFC 136. Lauzon has never lost two in a row in his UFC career, and Etim hasn’t since dropping back-to-back contests to Gleison Tibau and Rich Clementi at UFC 75 and 84, respectively.
I feel compelled to reiterate that the similarities between these two is nothing short of suspect. Both are coming off head kick knockout losses, both are SOTN savants, and both look like the offspring of Christopher Walken and a hairless Aye-Aye. Could it be that these two were separated at birth, destined to fight for the right to rule all of mankind somewhere down the road? Or are these mere coincidences? I suppose it all really depends on which type of person you are.
While you take a moment to reconsider everything your futile religion taught you to believe, take a gander at these fight booking rumors…
Although it has yet to be confirmed, word has it that Mark Munoz will square off against Chris Weidman at either the aforementioned UFC on Fox 4 event or UFC 149, which is tentatively scheduled for June 21st in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Munoz has put together four straight since dropping a number one contender match to Yushin Okami at UFC Live: Jones vs. Matyushenko, most recently dispatching Chris Leben via second round TKO due to cuts at UFC 138. Weidman is fresh off what should have been an upset victory over Demian Maia at UFC on FOX 2 back in January. Despite taking the fight on just a couple weeks notice, Weidman was listed as a favorite over Maia, proving that Vegas bookies have better intel than the Goddamn CIA.
The UFC’s first trip to Calgary will host the rematch between TUF 11 veterans Court McGee and Nick Ring. These two first met on episode 6, with Ring emerging victorious by way of majority decision. When CP guest blogger Rich Attonio was forced to withdraw from the competition, Dana White awarded the open spot to McGee, likely due to how pissed off coach Chuck Liddell was at the decision that cost McGee his spot on the show. After McGee’s return, a rematch was scheduled but just as quickly canceled after Ring opted to leave the show to rehab a long recurring knee injury.
In their respective UFC runs, McGee managed to string together three straight against Kris McCray (to win the TUF 11 trophy), Ryan Jensen, and Dongi Yang before falling by way of UD to Constantinos Philippou at UFC on FX 2. Ring, on the other hand, managed to sneak away with a decision over Riki Fukuda at UFC 127 and beat down James Head at UFC 131 before running into the unstoppable beast that is the middleweight version of Tim Boetsch at UFC 135, where he suffered his first professional loss via unanimous decision.
Finally, UFC 149 will feature the Bobby Riggs of MMA, Bryan Caraway, taking on undefeated promotional newcomer Mitch Gagnon. Try to contain your excitement.
-J. Jones