According to multiple reports and independent confirmation we received this afternoon from a source close to the negotiations, a welterweight match-up between Martin Kampmann and Thiago Alves has been verbally agreed to for an unnannounced UFC event in March.
MMAWeekly was first to report the news.
Both fighters rebounded from disappointing losses in impressive fashion in their last outings.
According to multiple reports and independent confirmation we received this afternoon from a source close to the negotiations, a welterweight match-up between Martin Kampmann and Thiago Alves has been verbally agreed to for an unnannounced UFC event in March.
MMAWeekly was first to report the news.
Both fighters rebounded from disappointing losses in impressive fashion in their last outings.
Alves, who is 2-3 in his last three fights submitted UFC newcomer Papi Abedi at UFC 138 earlier this month. In his previous outing, “Pitbull” lost to Rick Story at UFC 130 by unanimous decision.
Kampmann breathed a sigh of relief when Bruce Buffer announced he had claimed a split-decision victory over Story after debatable back-to-back decision losses to Jake Shields and Diego Sanchez at UFC 121 and UFC Live: Kampmann vs. Sanchez. Compounding “Hitman’s” bad luck was a knee injury he sustained while training for a planned UFC on Versus 4 bout with John Howard in June that kept him out of action for the past eight months.
Ariel is *still* asking fighters about beefs. Some guys never learn. VidProps: Ariel Helwani
Donald Cerrone is one of those guys that will apologize for not kicking a guy’s ass thoroughly enough, even when no drunk frat guys are booing in the crowd. After failing to put away a one-legged Vagner Rocha, Cerrone was visibly disappointed with his performance. Knowing Cowboy, though, no one is in a hurry to give him a hard time about it, including our boy Ariel Helwani.
Helwani caught up with Cerrone to ask him about the fight, his feuds with Mac Danzig and Cole Miller, and who he’d like to fight next. Pretty standard stuff that we’ve covered before, until they start talking matchups. Cerrone hasn’t forgotten about Danzig, whom Cowboy had previously insinuated faked an injury to get out of fighting him. “I’m just talking shit, that’s what I do.” Cerrone says of Danzig. “I hope he’s not injured, I hope he can fight.”
Ariel is *still* asking fighters about beefs. Some guys never learn. VidProps: Ariel Helwani
Donald Cerrone is one of those guys that will apologize for not kicking a guy’s ass thoroughly enough, even when no drunk frat guys are booing in the crowd. After failing to put away a one-legged Vagner Rocha, Cerrone was visibly disappointed with his performance. Knowing Cowboy, though, no one is in a hurry to give him a hard time about it, including our boy Ariel Helwani.
Helwani caught up with Cerrone to ask him about the fight, his feuds with Mac Danzig and Cole Miller, and who he’d like to fight next. Pretty standard stuff that we’ve covered before, until they start talking matchups. Cerrone hasn’t forgotten about Danzig, whom Cowboy had previously insinuated faked an injury to get out of fighting him. “I’m just talking shit, that’s what I do.” Cerrone says of Danzig. “I hope he’s not injured, I hope he can fight.”
If the vegan/shutterbug/fighter Danzig can’t accept a date for Muay Thai foreplay and a consummating chokehold, ol’ Cowboy here will be stoked to fight that Sam Stout fella. You can see how excited he gets talking about a possible Stout fight. While we fully believe that Cerrone enjoys a good scrap and is looking forward to the possibility of a crowd-pleasing stand-and-bang with the Hands of Stone, you gotta think that Cerrone is probably counting his FotN bonus in his head as he talks about it, and mentally calculating how many tractor tires and heavy bags he can buy for the ranch with 70 grand. (We’re guessing A LOT.)
What do you think, Nation? Who should Cowboy get next?
("Want a Baby Ruth?")
MMAJunkie is reporting that a heavyweight tilt between K-1 star Jerome LeBanner and DREAM light heavyweight champion Gegard Mousasi could be added to the K-1 Dynamite New Year’s Eve show December 31 at the Saitama Super…
("Want a Baby Ruth?")
MMAJunkie is reporting that a heavyweight tilt between K-1 star Jerome LeBanner and DREAM light heavyweight champion Gegard Mousasi could be added to the K-1 Dynamite New Year’s Eve show December 31 at the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan.
Mousasi says he has verbally agreed to the bout and is awaiting a contract to make the fight official.
"I don’t know if I’m fighting him yet," Mousasi said of Le Banner. "They haven’t confirmed. They asked me, and I said yes, so now if he said yes, the fight is on."
Although some question whether or not at 3-1 (1 NC) in MMA if LeBanner is experienced enough to pose a challenge for Mousasi, "The Dream Catcher" says he feels he will, especially standing.
"If I fight Jerome LeBanner in the U.S., [he] wouldn’t be considered a good MMA fighter," Mousasi said. "But in Europe because he’s a popular K-1 fighter, it’s fighting a big fight. It doesn’t matter if it’s MMA or K-1, so it’s good for me (and) my name in Europe if I could beat him. And he’s big and strong, so it’s a challenge for me to get him down. I know that once I can get him down, I can win. But that’s the challenge."
The fight will be only Mousasi’s second as a heavyweight. He defeated aging MMA veteran Gary Goodridge at last year’s year-end Dynamite! show.
He is currently walking around at 223 pounds and says he likely won’t go into the fight with his 260-pound opponent much bigger than he is now.
"It’s too short a time to put a lot of weight on, so maybe two or three kilos more, but that’s it," said Mousasi, who heard Satoshi Ishii also could be a potential opponent for the year-end DREAM event. "But I don’t consider weight to be that big of a deal. As long as my technique is better, it will make up for his strength."
As far as his next Strikeforce opponent, Mousasi revealed that Mike Kyle may be on tap for him in the New Year.
Check out some Lebanner and Mousasi highlights after the jump.
(Surefire prediction: Nobody is getting submitted in this one.)
According to several reports that we have since been able to substantiate with sources close to the bout, Scott Smith will likely make good on his proclamation that he is dropping down a w…
(Surefire prediction: Nobody is getting submitted in this one.)
According to several reports that we have since been able to substantiate with sources close to the bout, Scott Smith will likely make good on his proclamation that he is dropping down a weight class when he takes on newly-acquired welterweight Paul Daley in a December Strikeforce bout. The fight, which is sure to be a slugfest is said to have been verbally agreed to by both fighters.
Daley (25-9-2) has never been knocked out, but Smith (17-7 1NC), who is known for his somewhat reckless, go-for-broke style of fighting will be looking to change that statistic when the pair meet at the end of 2010. 7-3 in his last 10 outings, Daley’s last loss was the decision to Josh Koscheck that saw him tossed from the UFC for attacking the reviled American Kickboxing Academy fighter after the final bell. Since being released by the organization, he has gone 2-0 against Chute Boxe’s Daniel Acacio (21-10) at Impact FC 2: The Uprising in July and American Top Team’s Jorge Masvidal (20-6) at Shark Fights 13: Jardine vs. Prangley in September.
5-4 (1 NC) in his past 10 fights, Smith announced after his most recent loss to former Strikeforce middleweight champion Cung Le in June that he would likely be cutting to 170 pounds to compete as a welterweight, despite having beaten Le handily in his previous outing.
