Full line-up for UFC 92: The Ultimate 2008!
The UFC has finally disclosed its full line-up for next Saturday's huge MMA spectacular, UFC 92: The Ultimate 2008! The card boasts a Triple Main Event, featuring two title matches and a grudge match to cap off what has been an amazing 2008 for the company! There will be a three-part preview coming very soon to build hype for this highly anticipated bout, so keep an eye out for the previews!
Pay-Per-View Card:
* 205 lbs. | Forrest Griffin vs. Rashad Evans (Title)
* 265 lbs. | Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira vs. Frank Mir (Title)
* 185 lbs. | CB Dollaway vs. Mike Massenzio
* 205 lbs. | Quinton "Rampage" Jackson vs. Wanderlei Silva
* 265 lbs. | Cheick Kongo vs. Mustafa Al-Turk
Undercard:
* 185 lbs. | Yushin Okami vs. Dean Lister
* 265 lbs. | Antoni Hardonk vs. Mike Wessel
* 205 lbs. | Matt Hamill vs. Reese Andy
* 185 lbs. | Ryo Chonan vs. Brad Blackburn
* 265 lbs. | Dan Evensen vs. Pat Barry
Dana White invites Satoshi Ishii to UFC 92!
To add to the glamor and spectacle of the event, UFC President Dana White has decided to invite the 2008 Olympic Gold Medalist in Judo, Satoshi Ishii, to attend the event as a special guest! This was in light of Ishii's bold declaration that he has decided to head on to the UFC instead of DREAM where he believes that his status as Olympic Gold Medalist would bring him fame and fortune and in addition to that, help expand the UFC's Japanese market even further.
White released a statement through the Japanese PPV television network, WOWOW, which broadcasts UFC events from time to time. White believed that Ishii has a huge potential to become a great MMA fighter and applauded Ishii's decision of choosing the UFC over DREAM. It was through this statement that Ishii decided to extend his hand out to the talented judoka and invite him to Las Vegas to check out UFC 92 next Saturday.
Ishii has since accepted the invitation and will be jetting off to the United States in a few days time to attend UFC 92.
Georges St-Pierre nominated for Canadian Athlete of the Year!
Current UFC Welterweight Champion Georges St-Pierre has been nominated for Sportsnet.ca's award of Canadian Athlete of the Year! After what has been an amazing run in the UFC throughout 2008, including reclaiming the UFC Welterweight Title from rival Matt Serra in front of his hometown Montreal crowd and an amazing Match of the Year candidate bout between Jon Fitch and himself, it seems natural for the man known as Rush to be nominated for such an award.
GSP will be going up against some stiff competition as he will tackle the likes of Calgary Flames' Captain Jarome Iginla, Minnesota Twins' All-Star Justin Morneau, tennis player Daiel Nestor and paralympian Chantel Petitclerc.
To vote for GSP, visit http://www.sportsnet.ca/more/2008/12/11/2008_sportsnet_canadian_athlete_of_the_year/! Results will be announced this coming Monday, December 22nd (Tuesday, December 23rd for us Malaysians).
Cro Cop vs. Techno-Goliath at Dynamite!! 2008!
As it had been rumored for some time, Mirko Filipovic, known to Japanese fans as Mirko Cro Cop (Cro Cop being a term that derived from Filipovic's time as a police officer in his hometown of Croatia as a member of the most elite Croatian police's Anti-Terrorist Unit, ATJ Lucko) and Hong Man Choi (known as the Techno-Goliath due to his victory dance routine after his fights while he was a ssireum wrestler, not to mention standing 7'2" tall) will battle at FEG's New Year's Eve spectacular, Dynamite!! 2008 under DREAM Rules!
One of the most popular foreign fighters to ever grace the Japanese MMA world, Filipovic is known for his amazing stand-up, which consists of his trademark hard stiff kicks to the head. This showed as before his memorable run in PRIDE, Filipovic was an accomplished K-1 fighter, making it to the finals of the K-1 WORLD GP in 1999, losing to the four-time K-1 WORLD GP Champion Ernesto Hoost. Aside from PRIDE, Filipovic also dabbled in the UFC, but attained little success in the major company despite being pushed as a huge prospect, including his shocking knockout loss to Gabriel Gonzaga at UFC 70 and unanimous decision defeat to Cheick Kongo at UFC 75, both events taking place in England. Filipovic made his DREAM debut, easily defeating Tatsuya Mizuno at DREAM.1, before going to a controversial no contest against Alistair Overeem at DREAM.6 after two knees to the groin by Overeem. It had been rumored before that Filipovic and Overeem would get a rematch to settle the score at Dynamite!!, but unfortunately, as we see now, that will not be the case.
Hong Man Choi is the largest fighter in the world at 7'2" and weighing 330 lbs. Despite his towering size and improved stand-up game, Choi has not been doing very well since returning from his compulsory military service back in Korea. This was shown after being pummeled by the former K-1 WORLD GP Heavyweight Champion Badr Hari in Seoul back in September and losing to Ray Sefo in Tokyo early this month. Successive losses adding up to lackluster performances in his past fights led to FEG Producer Sadaharu Tanikawa to move him into DREAM where he can hopefully improve his game in MMA fights rather than K-1 fights. Choi has had very poor experience going into this fight as an MMA fighter. He was able to defeat popular Nigerian comedian Bobby Ologun at K-1 Premium 2006 Dynamite!! in a squash, then a year later lost to the unstoppable Fedor Emelianenko at Yarennoka! in 2007. Both men will be gunning for a huge win, but only one will be able to walk out the victor.
DREAM Rules Matches
Kazushi Sakuraba vs. Kiyoshi Tamura
Joachim Hansen vs. Gesias Calvancante
Jerome LeBanner vs. Mark Hunt
Shinya Aoki vs. Eddie Alvarez
Semmy Schilt vs. Mighty Mo
Hideo Tokoro vs. Daisuke Nakamura
Mirko Filipovic vs. Hong Man Choi
K-1 Rules Matches
Musashi vs. Gegard Mousasi
Kozo Takeda vs. Tatsuya Kawajiri
K-1 KOSHIEN Tournament Semi-Final: HIROYA vs. Shota Shimada
K-1 KOSHIEN Tournament Semi-Final: Ryuya Kusakabe vs. Koya Urabe
K-1 KOSHIEN Tournament Final: Winner of HIROYA/Shota Shimada vs. Winner of Ryuya Kusakabe/Koya Urabe
Yoshihiro Sato vs. Artur Kyshenko
Source: MMAFighting.com
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