Upcoming fights of interest?

[2centsworth]

Hard for me to keep up, so let me know.

Chuck vs Shogun is intriguing.
Sanchez vs Stevenson should be interesting too

what else is scheduled?

[LEONARD]

I'm not 100% sure if I've caught all the recent changes or not...

UFC Fight Night 17: February 7
Joe Lauzon vs. Jeremy Stephens
Mac Danzig vs. Josh Neer
Cain Velasquez vs. Denis Stojnic
Anthony Johnson vs. Luigi Fioravanti
Jake Rosholt vs. Dan Miller
Nick Catone vs Derek Downey
Rich Clementi vs. Gleison Tibau
Kurt Pellegrino vs. Rob Emerson
Matt Grice vs. George Sotiropoulos


MFC Feb 20
-Paul Daley vs Nick Thompson


UFC 95: Feb 21, 2009 London 02 Arena
-Diego Sanchez (#8 Welterweight in the World)* vs. Joe Stevenson in a lightweight bout
-Josh Koscheck (#4 Welterweight in the World)* vs. Paulo Thiago
-Nathan Marquardt (#5 Middleweight in the World)* vs. Wilson Gouveia
-Chael Sonnen vs. Damien Maia
-Junior dos Santos vs. Stefan Struve
-Dan Hardy vs. Rory Markham
-Shannon Gugerty vs. Jeff Lawson
-Justin Buchholz vs. Terry Etim
-Troy Mandaloniz vs. Paul Kelly
-Neil Grove vs. TBA


UFC 96: Mar 07, 2009 Columbus, Ohio at Nationwide Arena
-Quinton Jackson vs Keith Jardine
-Gabriel Gonzaga (#8 Heavyweight in the World)* vs. Shane Carwin
-Gray Maynard vs. Jim Miller
-Matt Hamill vs. Mark Munoz
-Ryan Madigan vs. Ben Saunders
-Pete Sell vs Matt Brown
-Kendall Grove vs. Jason Day
-Aaron Riley vs. Shane Nelson


March 8th - DREAM.7 - Saitama Super Arena


UFC Fight Night 18: April 1
-Tyson Griffin vs Rafael Dos Anjos
-Luis Cane vs Steve Cantwell
-Junie Browning vs Cole Miller
-Efrain Escudero vs. TBA
-Aaron Simpson vs Tim McKenzie
-Nate Loughran vs Nissen Osterneck
-Ryan Bader vs Carmelo Marrero
-Ryan Jensen vs Steve Steinbeiss
-Ronys Torres vs Melvin Guillard


* April 5th - DREAM.8 - Nippon Gaishi Hall


UFC 97: April 18 in Montreal
- Chuck Liddell vs. Mauricio "Shogun" Rua
- Anderson Silva vs. Thales Leites
- Luis Cane vs. TBA
- Matt Wiman vs Sam Stout
- Krzysztof Soszynski vs Brian Stann
- Ed Herman vs. David Loiseau
- Tamdan McCrory vs. Jonathan Goulet
- Heath Herring vs. TBA
- Denis Kang vs Xavier Foupa-Pokam


* May - DREAM.9 - Somewhere in Kanto


UFC 98: May 23 in Las Vegas
-Brock Lesnar vs. Frank Mir
-Matt Hughes (#6 WW) vs. Matt Serra (#7 WW)
-Sean Sherk vs. Frankie Edgar
-James Irvin vs. Drew McFedries
-Phillipe Nover vs. Kyle Bradley
-David Kaplan vs. George Roop
-Houston Alexander vs Andre Gusmao


* July - DREAM.10 - Somewhere in Kanto
* September - DREAM.11 - Somewhere in Kanto
* October - DREAM.12 - Not decided
* December 31st - Dynamite!! - Saitama Super Arena

[2centsworth]

I'm not 100% sure if I've caught all the recent changes or not...

UFC Fight Night 17: February 7
Joe Lauzon vs. Jeremy Stephens
Mac Danzig vs. Josh Neer
Cain Velasquez vs. Denis Stojnic
Anthony Johnson vs. Luigi Fioravanti
Jake Rosholt vs. Alessio Sakara
Nick Catone vs Derek Downey
Rich Clementi vs. Gleison Tibau
Kurt Pellegrino vs. Rob Emerson
Matt Grice vs. George Sotiropoulos


MFC Feb 20
-Paul Daley vs Nick Thompson


UFC 95: Feb 21, 2009 London 02 Arena
-Diego Sanchez (#8 Welterweight in the World)* vs. Joe Stevenson in a lightweight bout
-Josh Koscheck (#4 Welterweight in the World)* vs. Paulo Thiago
-Nathan Marquardt (#5 Middleweight in the World)* vs. Wilson Gouveia
-Chael Sonnen vs. Damien Maia
-Junior dos Santos vs. Stefan Struve
-Dan Hardy vs. Rory Markham
-Shannon Gugerty vs. Jeff Lawson
-Justin Buchholz vs. Terry Etim
-Troy Mandaloniz vs. Paul Kelly
-Neil Grove vs. TBA


UFC 96: Mar 07, 2009 Columbus, Ohio at Nationwide Arena
-Quinton Jackson vs Keith Jardine
-Gabriel Gonzaga (#8 Heavyweight in the World)* vs. Shane Carwin
-Gray Maynard vs. Jim Miller
-Matt Hamill vs. Mark Munoz
-Ryan Madigan vs. Ben Saunders
-Pete Sell vs Matt Brown
-Kendall Grove vs. Jason Day
-Aaron Riley vs. Shane Nelson


March 8th - DREAM.7 - Saitama Super Arena


UFC Fight Night 18: April 1
-Tyson Griffin vs Rafael Dos Anjos
-Luis Cane vs Steve Cantwell
-Junie Browning vs Cole Miller
-Efrain Escudero vs. TBA
-Aaron Simpson vs Tim McKenzie
-Nate Loughran vs Nissen Osterneck
-Ryan Bader vs Carmelo Marrero
-Ryan Jensen vs Steve Steinbeiss
-Ronys Torres vs Melvin Guillard


* April 5th - DREAM.8 - Nippon Gaishi Hall


UFC 97: April 18 in Montreal
- Chuck Liddell vs. Mauricio "Shogun" Rua
- Anderson Silva vs. Thales Leites
- Luis Cane vs. TBA
- Matt Wiman vs Sam Stout
- Krzysztof Soszynski vs Brian Stann
- Ed Herman vs. David Loiseau
- Tamdan McCrory vs. Jonathan Goulet
- Heath Herring vs. TBA
- Denis Kang vs Xavier Foupa-Pokam


* May - DREAM.9 - Somewhere in Kanto


UFC 98: May 23 in Las Vegas
-Brock Lesnar vs. Frank Mir
-Matt Hughes (#6 WW) vs. Matt Serra (#7 WW)
-Sean Sherk vs. Frankie Edgar
-James Irvin vs. Drew McFedries
-Phillipe Nover vs. Kyle Bradley
-David Kaplan vs. George Roop
-Houston Alexander vs Andre Gusmao


* July - DREAM.10 - Somewhere in Kanto
* September - DREAM.11 - Somewhere in Kanto
* October - DREAM.12 - Not decided
* December 31st - Dynamite!! - Saitama Super Arena

out of all of those fights the only ones that stood out to me were
hughes vs serra, lesnar vs mir, chuck vs shogun, sanchez vs stevenson.

like a lot of the other fighters, but don't know enough to be intrigued by the matchups.

[LEONARD]

Some that stand out for me...

Jake Rosholt vs. Dan Miller - Rosholt's UFC debut against a tough Miller brother. Love this one.

Anthony Johnson vs. Luigi Fioravanti - expecting another big KO for AJ. I want to see him vs GSP at the end of '09.

Chael Sonnen vs. Damien Maia – can’t wait to see d-bag Sonnen get sub’d. Maia needs a le shot by the end of the year.

Junior dos Santos vs. Stefan Struve – both are prospects with Santos obviously already making a big splash by KO'ing Werdum…Struve is VERY interesting. Young, tall, submission guy…he's got a tough test in his debut though.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WwCKky03iU8

Gabriel Gonzaga vs. Shane Carwin – finally a main card for Carwin…can’t wait to see Gonzaga get smashed

Gray Maynard vs. Jim Miller – love me some Jim Miller

Anderson Silva vs. Thales Leites – love Thales, but he’s in for a tough night...always into a fight when Silva is in it.

Krzysztof Soszynski vs Brian Stann – nice test for Stann in his UFC debut

[2centsworth]

Some that stand out for me...

Jake Rosholt vs. Dan Miller - Rosholt's UFC debut against a tough Miller brother. Love this one.

Anthony Johnson vs. Luigi Fioravanti - expecting another big KO for AJ. I want to see him vs GSP at the end of '09.

Chael Sonnen vs. Damien Maia – can’t wait to see d-bag Sonnen get sub’d. Maia needs a le shot by the end of the year.

Junior dos Santos vs. Stefan Struve – both are prospects with Santos obviously already making a big splash by KO'ing Werdum…Struve is VERY interesting. Young, tall, submission guy…

Gabriel Gonzaga vs. Shane Carwin – finally a main card for Carwin…can’t wait to see Gonzaga get smashed

Gray Maynard vs. Jim Miller – love me some Jim Miller

Anderson Silva vs. Thales Leites – love Thales, but he’s in for a tough night...always into a fight when Silva is in it.

Krzysztof Soszynski vs Brian Stann – nice test for Stann in his UFC debut

AJ sounds interesting and will keep in eye out for the Miller brothers.

[LEONARD]

AJ sounds interesting and will keep in eye out for the Miller brothers.

I think AJ has the size, strength, wrestling background, and striking ability to hang with GSP...his BJJ is untested from what I've seen though...

[TheTruth]

Krzysztof Soszynski vs Brian Stann - Should be a great boxing match.

Any fight with Johnson gets me pretty psyched.

Be nice to see if Carwin is the real deal against Gonzaga.

Denis Kang vs Xavier Foupa-Pokam should be an exciting fight. X is a very very exciting fighter.

UFC95 is a little light in the Main Event category, but it should be an exciting card otherwise.

[TheTruth]

Weird to see all of those former WEC guys fighting in the UFC now. So used to seeing them all for free!!!

[Evan]

Weird to see all of those former WEC guys fighting in the UFC now. So used to seeing them all for free!!!

Before too long WEC will be PPV for the most part.

[djohn14]

Yeah, I cant want for X to fight!....and also guys...Cain Velasquez...get in the game!

[robbie380]

Weird to see all of those former WEC guys fighting in the UFC now. So used to seeing them all for free!!!

i'm really interested to see how they will do in the ufc. it would be cool if some of these guys made it out of the minor leagues.

[dallaskd]

I think Anothny Johnson could be big in getting a african american following in the UFC.

[djohn14]

I think Anothny Johnson could be big in getting a african american following in the UFC.

And Jon Jones...Both are awesome with great futures...Johnsons future may be now though!

[Evan]

I think Anothny Johnson could be big in getting a african american following in the UFC.

Like I said in another thread...the more black guys in MMA the better. Its seriously lacking in that one aspect and I want MMA to be as international as possible. I know that black guys isn't international but you know what I mean.

Oddly...there is rarely any black guys in collegiate wrestling or any group photos I see where people post a pic from their JJ gym so I wonder how long the lag will be to MMA.

The UFC will have a tidal wave of Mexican fighters next methinks...especially at the 170lbs & below ranks. I doubt Mexico has much to offer the bottom line of the UFC but there is always the Texas & New Mexico market.

And I wonder why Dana is talking about going to Japan when he hasn't tried Seattle first to begin grabbing the Japanese crowd. When I see games in Seattle its the only time I recall seeing ads in Japanese...or any foreign language for that matter. I'm sure there is a good reason...I'm just curious what it is.

[Jmoney]

Already had a tidal wave in the last year of hispanics.

Huerta
Valesquez *this dude is a freaking monster give him a little bit more time and a few more wins and it's gonna be him fighting for the le vs Mir or Lesner or whoever holds it at that time*

Leonard people might not remember his fight with Huerta a few years ago. The kid had to come in on less than 2 weeks notice and while beaten by Huerta he would give not up and started coming back in the latter rounds

Efrain the newest tuf winner.

Diego Sanchez.

Just a few that have come up within the 2 or 3 years.

As for black men I will be serious and say Rampage while an entertaining fighter and a comedian when not in the ring when he starts in with the thug for life crap. NO FREAKING ROOM for that crap in the UFC please. Rashad has been a pleasent suprise very humble and so Anthony Johnson. Some of the other guys that come in with that freaking thug at ude just need to shut up and take the approach of somebody like Anderson Silva or GSP who have been very humble and very down to earth when talking in the public. 20% of the reason boxing got ruined was idiots like Mike Tyson/Lennox Lewis etc running the mouth non stop and talking street nonsense that has no place in professional sports.

More international how do you figure that black men makes it more international? I mean last I checked between Affliction and the UFC we had one champ from brasil another from russia one from canada 1 from Hawaii *I know this is the US but if you are from the Island 9/10 you don't even think of yourself as american first you think of yourself as an Islander. Plus you have a HUGE following from the UK with Bisping and CO. A very large following from Brasil and south america in general. Europe you have a decent following although I think this is where the UFC can improve the most by going more global getting an event here. I could see ROME being a great site to host a fight if they could make it work.

As for Japan remember they were Pride dominated for so long and UFC bought and broke down Pride. So Dana want's to restablish probally his old pride fighters first to test the market with cards with Hendo/Shogun/Wanderlei/Rampage

[Evan]

Already had a tidal wave in the last year of hispanics...........Just a few that have come up within the 2 or 3 years.

Not even close to the potential of whats out there. Especially when you consider fan base.

More international how do you figure that black men makes it

I couldn't think of the word at the time but I meant multi cultural.

I mean last I checked between Affliction and the UFC we had one champ from brasil another from russia one from canada 1 from Hawaii *I know this is the US but if you are from the Island 9/10 you don't even think of yourself as american first you think of yourself as an Islander. Plus you have a HUGE following from the UK with Bisping and CO. A very large following from Brasil and south america in general. Europe you have a decent following although I think this is where the UFC can improve the most by going more global getting an event here. I could see ROME being a great site to host a fight if they could make it work.

So? It could be even more international. I would love every card to be a mini Olympics.

Less tattooed flat brimmed hat wearing bags from California, please.

Getting into Germany and getting Asian fighters to come to the US is a huge hurdle with massive rewards.

As for Japan remember they were Pride dominated for so long and UFC bought and broke down Pride.

That is some serious revisionist history. Is that how you think it happened? The UFC bough PRIDE and tore it down?

So Dana want's to restablish probally his old pride fighters first to test the market with cards with Hendo/Shogun/Wanderlei/Rampage

Maybe...I don't think he cares for doing that as much as he wants to infuse other talent like Ishii.

[dallaskd]

Technically theres a different between being black and african american. There's black people all through South America. So saying "black" is misleading. But this is totally irrelevant. Sorry.

[Evan]

My ex is black and she hates "African American" and told me she finds it offensive.

One of those terms where you can't win with everyone?

[dallaskd]

Idk I just think it's wierd people don't consider Afro-Brazilians like Anderson Silva "black"

but whatever.

[Evan]

The PC world is full of hypocrisy, idiocy, confusion and a general a 'no win' situation.

[djohn14]

The PC world is full of hypocrisy, idiocy, confusion and a general a 'no win' situation.

And racism...which is probably the most stupid "ism" ever...I just dont get it.

[djohn14]

A little off topic there...sorry.

[Evan]

And racism...which is probably the most stupid "ism" ever...I just dont get it.

the whole subject is a doggy chasing its tale!

so it falls under the "no win"

[BlackSwordsMan]

dunno when does fedor fight

[Evan]

dunno when does fedor fight

Well there is a massive chance Fedor broke his hand as usual...

So with

surgery
rehab
pondering for a ufc contract


July?