UFC Booking Alert: Nate Marquardt vs. Yoshihiro Akiyama, Stefan Struve vs. Travis Browne

(Not pictured: Stefan Struve’s cover for ‘Tall-Ass Honkey Weekly’.)
No, Yoshhiro Akiyama will not be taking on a convicted white-collar criminal in his next appearance. ESPN reports that Akiyama will instead face off against Nate Marquardt&…

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(Not pictured: Stefan Struve’s cover for ‘Tall-Ass Honkey Weekly’.)

No, Yoshhiro Akiyama will not be taking on a convicted white-collar criminal in his next appearance. ESPN reports that Akiyama will instead face off against Nate Marquardt at UFC 128: Shogun vs. Evans, March 19th in Newark. The Japanese middleweight star is coming off two consecutive losses against Chris Leben (humiliating!) and Michael Bisping (slightly less humiliating, but still!), and likely needs a victory to keep his contract. Marquardt is coming off his own underwhelming loss against Yushin Okami at UFC 122, but will certainly be the favorite in this matchup.

Speaking of notable bookings, heavyweight contender Stefan Struve — who has slugged his way to back-to-back wins over Christian Morecraft and Sean McCorkle — has drawn another rising prospect for his next outing. According to MMAJunkie, Struve will return at UFC 130 (May 28th, Las Vegas) against undefeated Travis Browne, who just suffered through a foul-filled draw against Cheick Kongo at UFC 120. The only other match reported for UFC 130 at this point is Thiago Alves vs. Rick Story.

Upcoming 2011 UFC Headlining Possibilities

As the rumors and confirmations swirl online, 2011 is shaping up for the UFC with about 3 or 4 fights expected in March. Today we were given the official fight card for UFC 125 which takes place on the very first day of the new year, headlined by Lightweight Champion, Frankie Edgar and Gray […]

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As the rumors and confirmations swirl online, 2011 is shaping up for the UFC with about 3 or 4 fights expected in March. Today we were given the official fight card for UFC 125 which takes place on the very first day of the new year, headlined by Lightweight Champion, Frankie Edgar and Gray Maynard. Moving on to February 5th, we will see another title on the line as Middleweight Champion, Anderson Silva goes head-to-head with contender, Vitor Belfort at UFC 126. We close out the month with UFC 127 headlined by Jon Fitch and BJ Penn’s Welterweight battle at the Acer Arena in Sydney, Australia. Then somewhere in March we start a little UFC traffic jam with UFC on Versus 3 expected to be held March 3rd and headlined by another Welterweight tilt, Martin Kampmann vs Diego Sanchez. Rumors are now circulating that Frank Mir and Brendan Schaub could face each other on this card or perhaps they will meet on the UFC 129 card taking place in Newark, New Jersey on March 19th and expected to be headlined by Mauricio “Shogun” Rua and Rashad Evans…Oh! But wait…What about UFC 128? That will have to happen somewhere in March, as well to keep sequence. And now we are hearing talks of UFC 131 going down in Toronto, Ontario which would be headlined by none other than “Canada’s Most Famous Athlete” Georges St. Pierre as he picks through another Welterweight titleshot contender, Jake Shields on April 30th… But before that, UFC 130 will have to take place; unfortunately, no rumors have begun for that one just yet…Anyone want to throw in Chael Sonnen vs Wanderlei Silva or Miguel Torres vs Urijah Faber or even bring the newly retired via social media outlets, Randy Couture to fill in those slots? To be continued….