Forget what you heard! Mac is NOT fighting at UFC 87, or in August at all! Mac will most likely fight in September, and the fight has not yet been signed.
It’s possible that Danzig’s reported matchup with Clay Guida at “Seek and Destroy” (August 9th, Minneapolis, MN) will simply be moved to a later event. We’ll update you when we know more. In the meantime, another compelling lightweight matchup may be added to the card that would take a bit of the sting off the Danzig/Guida loss.
NBC Sports is reporting that exiled former #1 contender Hermes Franca will return to the Octagon at UFC 87 against Frankie Edgar. Due to a positive steroid test, Franca was given a one-year suspension after his lightweight title fight against Sean Sherk at UFC 73; the suspension ends on July 5th. Franca resigned from the UFC in order to make money fighting outside of the U.S. — though decided against competing when he learned that doing so could jeopardize his chances of getting licensed here again — so it’s interesting that the UFC is welcoming him back with open arms. Could Dana White be planning a steroid-free rematch between Franca and Sean Sherk sometime in the future?
In other UFC 87 news, Karo Parisyan says he’s been booked to fight at the event. He was expected to face George Sotiropoulos, but the TUF 6 semi-finalist was forced to pull out of the match due to injury, and a replacement hasn’t been found yet. Parisyan was most recently defeated by Thiago Alves at UFC Fight Night 13 in April.
According to a report over the weekend by MMAjunkie.com, welterweight fighter Karo Parisyan has been added to the card for UFC 87 on August 9 at the Target Center in Minneapolis, MN.
The site did not report an opponent for Parisyan, but indicated that George Sotiropoulos was the original choice but that he was unable to [...]
(And boom goes the dynamite. Photo courtesy of UFC.com)
According to UFC welterweight Thiago Alves on Monday’s edition of TAGG Radio, Karo Parisyan has come to terms with his sort-of controversial TKO loss at UFC Fight Night 13, which Parisyan immediately protested as soon as he regained his faculties:
“You can look at the replay,” Alves said. “Even I looked at it after the fight. He was out. He fell. He had no reaction at all. I kept punching and punching, and sometimes when you’re out, when you get punched again you wake up. You don’t know what just happened.
“That was [Parisyan’s] concern. He thought that nothing happened. ‘Why’d you stop the fight?’ you know? When he saw the replay, even (Parisyan’s coach Randy) Couture was like, ‘You got knocked out.’ After a while, [Parisyan] texted my coach and apologized and everything. Karo’s a great guy.”
Sadly, Karo is probably still trying to wrap his head around the fact that he just lost his highly cherished title shot — which, to hear the guy talk in previous interviews, seemed to be his sole reason for fighting. To add insult to injury, UFC matchmaker Joe Silva all but promised Alves a future crack at the 170-pound belt:
“Right now I heard I’m right behind Jon Fitch,” Alves said. “That’s what Joe Silva told me.”
And I guess that makes sense, except for two things:
Last Thursday we posted an animated gif of Steve Mazzagatti’s stoppage in the Karo Parisyan/Thiago Alves bout from UFC Fight Night (UFN) 13. While the gif provided evidence against Karo, other fans are calling the stoppage unjustified based on Karo’s veteran status and ability to recover like he did in his unanimous decision win against Matt Serra at UFC 53.
Take a look:
Does this video give credibility to critics who call the UFN 13 stoppage premature? Once again (and hopefully for the last time), you be the judge.
If you’re going to leave comments and discuss the fights with all the other MMAmania.com readers be sure to do it on the main UFC Fight Night 13 results post and not this one.
“It’s not my call to say if Jon Fitch deserves a title shot or not. He beat (Chris) Wilson, who was his last opponent. Based on that performance, if St. Pierre beats (Matt) Serra, I don’t think he’s going to be able to touch St. Pierre. St. Pierre will just maul him, easy. As far as deserving the title, I would say give him a title shot. He has beaten everybody. He is undefeated in the UFC, but honestly, I thought Diego (Sanchez) kinda beat him.”
– “The Heat” tells Brawl Sports that he feels Jon Fitch will be outclassed if he ever fights Georges St. Pierre based on his most recent winning performance against Chris Wilson at UFC 82: “Pride of a Champion” last month. In addition, playing a little reverse psychology, Parisyan indicates that Fitch deserves a title shot even though he has lobbied for his chance ever since pulling out of a scheduled title fight against then-champion Matt Hughes in 2005. The only problem is St. Pierre has to beat Matt Serra at UFC 83 later this month to gain the 170-pound strap, making a possible match up between Fitch and St. Pierre very questionable. Not to mention Karo could get the nod over Fitch with a thrilling performance against Thiago Alves on national television later this evening at UFC Fight Night 13.
(Ken-Flo and J-Lau will face off in tomorrow’s main event.)
Here are the quick weigh-in results for tomorrow’s UFC Fight Night 13. For video of the scale tippers and Joe Rogan’s screaming, go here.
Main Card:
Kenny Florian (155.5) vs Joe Lauzon (156)
Karo Parisyan (171) vs Thiago Alves (171)
Nate Diaz (156) vs Kurt Pellegrino (155)
James Irvin (205) vs Houston Alexander (205)
Gray Maynard (155) vs Frankie Edgar (155.5)
Tim Boetsch (206) vs Matt Hamill (204)
Under Card:
Josh Neer (156) vs Din Thomas (155)
Roman Mitichyan (170.5) vs George Sotiropoulos (169.5)
Marcus Aurelio (154.5) vs Ryan Roberts (155.5)
Clay Guida (156) vs Samy Schiavo (155)
Manvel Gamburyan (155.5) vs Jeff Cox (155)
Tommy Speer (170) vs Anthony Johnson (169.5)
“I’m looking for ‘Knockout Of The Night’ and the ‘Fight Of The Night’ … both…. I’ll try to knock him out, like always. Pressure, I know he’s going to bring ‘The Heat,’ I’m going to be even hotter. So, it’s going to be really fun. I can’t wait. I’m really excited. The game plan is going to be to stay in his face the whole fight … and knock him out.”
An excited and pumped up Thiago Alves talks about his fight tomorrow night (April 2) against Karo Parisyan at UFC Fight Night 13 in Broomfield, Colo., at the Broomfield Event Center. The American Top Team (ATT)-trained product has an opportunity to vault himself to the top of the 170-pound division with a win over the “Heat” — widely considered the top 170-pound title contender.
