(No, I did not buy this belt at Wal-Mart as a joke. Who the hell would do that?)
After being forced out of his originally anticipated debut match against Karlos Vemola back in January due to a last minute injury, Maximum Fighting Championship Light-Heavyweight king and CP guest blogger Ryan Jimmo finally has a date set for his UFC debut. July 21st, at UFC 149 in Calgary. Since dropping his first professional contest to Adam Braidwood in February of 2007, Jimmo has gone 16 fights in a row without a blemish, most recently outpointing (emphasis on the “point” aspect) UFC veteran Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou in October of 2011. Jimmo also holds notable victories over Wilson Gouveia, Marvin Eastman, and Jesse Forbes. He also does one hell of a robot.
Next to Mark Hunt, Australian submission specialist Anthony Perosh has probably had the most unexpected 2011-2012 season of any fighter in the UFC. His original tour of duty with the promotion, which dates back to 2006, featured a pair of losses to Jeff Monson and Christian Wellisch at UFC 61 and 66, respectively. After compiling a 5-2 record in various promotions, “The Hippo” was brought back to the UFC to fill in for Ben Rothwell against Mirko Cro Cop on just two days notice. The results were as one would expect, but Perosh would follow up that brutal loss with a drop to light heavyweight, resulting in a three fight win streak over the likes of Cyrille Diabate, Tom Blackledge, and most recently a minor upset win over Nick Penner at UFC on FX 2.
It’s been a while since we’ve seen Jimmo in action, but a guy like Perosh is a pretty good litmus test for the Canuck. His last win over Sokoudjou was a snoozer, and he’s only finished one opponent in his last six fights, so let’s hope he brings the fury come May 12th, because Perosh does not go down easy.
Who do you got, Potato Nation?
-J. Jones