(Will justice be served to Rogers by Sylvia?)
Well, our hunch about Brett Rogers fighting on DREAM’s New Year’s Eve card was right.
According to a report by Heavy.com, the former Strikeforce heavyweight and convicted wife abuser will travel to the Land of the Rising Sun to take on former UFC heavyweight champ and current part-time Illinois police officer Tim Sylvia.
Rogers, who was sentenced yesterday to 60 days in jail for his highly publicized June 28 attack on his wife Tiuana, will be looking to improve on his 1-4 slide in his past five fights. Besides a questionable decision win over Ruben “Warpath” Villareal last October under the W-1 banner, Rogers was finished by Josh Barnett, Fedor Emelianenko, and Alistair Overeem and lost by decision to UFC cast-off Eddie Sanchez in that span. Prior to that, he was a perfect 10-0 including a shocking win over Andrei Arlovski.
The Chicago native, who now lives in Apple Valley, Minnesota, will be released 17 days prior to the bout. He spent 26 days in pre-trial custody, including a 10-day stint for a breach of a court order, and is only required to serve 2/3 of his 60-day sentence.
“The Maine-iac” has done slightly better than “Da Grim” in his recent outings, racking up a respectable 6-1 record his past seven fights to rebound from a three-fight losing streak that saw him dropped by the UFC, knocked out by Emelianenko and embarrassed by Ray Mercer. The only win of note in his current stretch, however, came against Paul Buentello at War on the Mainland in August 2010. Other than a win over Marius Pudzianowski, he really hasn’t beaten anyone to write Joe Silva about since Zuffa released him. He lost to somewhat unknown regional fighter Abe Wagner January 28, making his plan to make it back to the Octagon an unlikely aspiration unless he racks up a few wins over UFC-level opponents.
The event, dubbed “Fight for Japan: How are you! New Year! 2011,” which will be broadcast live on HDNet, will also feature a lightweight title fight between champion Shinya Aoki and Satoru Kitaoka, a featherweight title bout between champ Hiroyuki Takaya and Takeshi Inoue and a heavyweight bout between Emelianenko and a yet-to-be-determined opponent. Our guess is Todd Duffee, Tim Hague or Sean McCorkle.