The much-anticipated Ultimate Fight Night will be followed by the equally anticipated TUF 10: Heavyweights on Wednesday night in all Sportsnet regions.
The anticipation ahead of the Ultimate Fight Night and debut of The Ultimate Fighter Season 10: Heavyweights is eating me alive. Couple that with the fact that UFC 103 goes down this Saturday in Dallas and I'm not sure I'm going to be able to survive the wait.
Wednesday night's Ultimate Fight Night show is going to be incredible. The main event between Nate Diaz and Melvin Guillard is completely old school. It's BJJ vs. Striking -- it takes me back to the old days of Royce Gracie, Ken Shamrock, Maurice Smith and Marco Ruas. Which style and fighter will win? Will it be Diaz's submission skills or Guillard's vicious punching speed?
The co-main event will be a barn burner as Gray Maynard will be looking to send Roger Huerta to Hollywood with a messed up face. It will likely be Huerta's last fight with the UFC unless he is offered a sweet deal by the UFC at the last minute. Don't be surprised if the UFC does; they could use the poster boy to help bring the MMA product to Mexico. Huerta would be a golden child for the organization, but it's a two-way street. If Huerta believes he is done with fighting ... then he's done; which may not bode well for his mental state against Maynard.
Canadian Sam Stout's fight against Phillipe Nover has been scratched after Nover had a seizure. I didn't like Nover's chances in the fight as it is. The same can be said for Tim Credeur versus Nate Quarry and Jake Ellenberger versus Carlos Condit. While anything can happen in an MMA fight, I believe Credeur and Ellenberger are in slightly over the heads.
After the Ultimate Fight Night, Season 10 of The Ultimate Fighter makes its debut. The lineup for this show is incredible. Three former UFC veterans, four former NFL players and Kevin (Kimbo Slice) Ferguson will join coaches Quintion (Rampage) Jackson and (Sugar) Rashad Evans for what will surely be an amazing season.
On numerous occasions, I've been asked who I believe will win the six-figure contract? I've stayed quiet and waited to air my thoughts on MMA Connected, which I did earlier this week. Be sure to catch a replay of the show as it will be airing across the country -- check your local listings for the times in your area or you can also check it out on Sportsnet.ca/mma this Friday.
While Jackson and Evans were supposed to duke it out after the show, it appears that fight is not gonna happen (anytime soon). With Rampage signing on to play B.A. Baracus in the upcoming "A-Team" movie, he basically stiffed the UFC for its 107 show, which was set aside specifically for Rampage's home town of Memphis. It appears to be an extremely strange situation, considering it was UFC president Dana White (and other members of the UFC) who rushed to Jackson's side after he lost the light-heavyweight title and had a falling out with his former manager.
On the surface, it appeared the organization helped Rampage get back to his feet, kept him busy, gave him another stint on the reality show, had a UFC Primetime Series ready for him and booked a main event in his hometown. With Rampage balking at the upcoming fight with Evans in favour of acting, White is no longer on speaking terms with Rampage and recently stated that only UFC majority owner Lorenzo Fertitta is speaking with the former champ.
So where does this leave Rashad Evans? Well, some of the upper-tier 205-pound talent currently looking for opponents are Forrest Griffin, Keith Jardine and Thiago Silva. While Griffin would make for a great match-up, the Jardine fight will not happen as both Rashad and Keith are training partners. That brings the Brazilian mercenary, Thiago Silva. I think it would be a great fight, but it's not at the top of my list.
If I had a say, I would match Evans with another Brazilian -- one who was rumoured to be undergoing elbow surgery but has recently stated he is perfectly fine and ready to rumble. I'm talking about Anderson (The Spider) Silva.
If the UFC wants a kick-ass main event (or co-main event) for an upcoming show, Sugar vs. The Spider would be an incredible fight.
