UFC Fight Night 12

Darth Mattitude · The Dark Admin

UFC Fight Night 12

David McKinney · 500 Club Member

Like I said in my post in the UFC news thread, it has been rumored that Corey Hill will be fighting on this card...

...this according to mmamania.com.

David McKinney · 500 Club Member

Here's your main event: Mike Swick makes his WW debut against contender Josh Burkman. (mmamania.com)

Here's an updated card:

Mike Swick vs. Josh Burkman (WW)
Cole Miller vs. Jeremy Stephens (LW)
Patrick Cote vs. Drew McFedries (MW)
Thiago Tavares vs. Michihiro Omigawa (LW)
Kurt Pellegrino vs. Alberto Crane (LW)
Nate Diaz vs. Alvin Robinson (LW)
Matt Wiman vs. Justin Buchholz (LW)

It looks as though the UFC is trying to again showcase the LW division. Hey, I have no problem with that. As long as they make the event 3 hours, because all of the LW events could go 3 rounds (that's about 30 minutes per fight with in-between rounds, the setup, and the announcement of the winner).

I am really interested in seeing Swick's debut in the WW divison. He has gotten a lot of flack for moving down to the stacked WW divison from the relatively weak MW divison, but I say that you fight where you feel comfortable. Cole Miller has been hot and I expect him to take care of Stephens. Cote vs. McF should be a good fight. If Cote can survive McF's power, then I think he'll win the later rounds. Omigawa is 4-5 after his loss to Matt Wiman, and he needs this win to stay in the UFC. But Tavares is a solid fighter with only one loss; I think that this is just a gatekeeper match for Tavares. Pellegrino lost against Joe Stevenson in his last fight, but he's a solid fighter and I think he'll beat Crane easily. This Nick Diaz-Alvin Robinson fight could be the prelim to the rematch of the TUF 5 final between Diaz and Gamburyan. But Robinson is a solid fighter (9-2, wins over Jorge Gurgel and Luke Caudillo), and Diaz had better not take him lightly. I am picking Buchholz in the upset over Wiman. He's 7-1 and is being overlooked in this match. Plus, I think that Wiman is overated.

David McKinney · 500 Club Member

Like I said, Corey Hill will be making his official MMA debut on this card. Two lightweight matches have been tentatively added, according to MMAPlayground.com:

Corey Hill (debut) vs. Joe Veres (4-2, loss to Gray Maynard)

Gray Maynard (3-0, No Contest vs. Rob Emerson) vs. Matt Grice (9-1, win vs. Jason Black, Lee King)

That Maynard/Grice fight should be awesome. Grice is fresh off of one of the fights of the year against Jason Black, and the winner of this fight will shoot up the rankings. I'm also excited to see Corey Hill's debut, and I think that they gave him an opponent he can handle. This is shaping up to be the best UFN ever.

Darth Mattitude · The Dark Admin

I still don't understand why Swick has dropped down. The middleweight division is really light at the moment. He could have done better there, while I don't think he'll beat Silva he would give everyone else a run for their money even Ace. I can't see Swick getting close to hughes, GSP, Kos or Serra. Weird choice if you ask me.

David McKinney · 500 Club Member

I agree, but you have to remember that Swick lost to Okami, and Okami lost to Silva. So Swick can't even beat the guy that lost to Silva. Plus, Swick lost to Leben. I know, I know...that was a long time ago, but it still counts. Swick can't even contend at 185. So he's seeing if dropping, and becoming the bigger guy in most of his fights, will do anything to light a fire under him. I still don't agree with that, but I respect him. Ace did the same thing when dropping from 205 to 85.

David McKinney · 500 Club Member

This event is Wednesday. Here is the final card:

Main Card:
Mike Swick vs. Josh Burkman (WW debut of Swick)
Patrick Cote vs. Drew McFedries (MW)
Alvin Robinson vs. Nate Diaz (LW)
Michihiro Omigawa vs. Thiago Tavares (LW)

Prelims:
Alberto Crane vs. Kurt Pellegrino (LW)
Dennis Siver vs. Gray Maynard (LW)
Jeremy Stephens vs. Cole Miller (LW)
Joe Veres vs. Corey Hill (LW)
Justin Buccholz vs. Matt Wiman (LW)

Source: UFC.com

As you can tell, they are really pushing some of the young guys in the LW division. All 5 prelim fights, as well as 2 of the 4 main card fights, are in the 155-pound division (a total of 7 out of 9).

The LW division is usually the division with the most exciting fights, as most of these fighters are high-energy fighters that can go forever. This should be a great card.

-- Edited by David McKinney at 20:41, 2008-01-21

Darth Mattitude · The Dark Admin

Swick was our first published interview on CPC Movies back in the day, so we support him.

David McKinney · 500 Club Member

Here is my complete breakdown of this event. I'll write a review after the event and then I'll post a link in here.

David McKinney · 500 Club Member

My review of the event. Let me know what you think.

Darth Mattitude · The Dark Admin

The fight I was looking forward to is now off the event...

A knee injury will remove Stephan Bonnar (Pictures) from April 2 clash with Matt Hamill, and sideline the TUF alum for at least six months.

The popular Bonnar sustained a complete tear of the lateral collateral ligament in his left knee while training in Las Vegas, Yahoo!'s Kevin Iole reported Monday. The injury will require surgery, and a timetable for Bonnar's return offers a six-month recovery time.

Bonnar, 30, returned to action in July from a nine-month suspension after testing positive for anabolic steroids following his Aug. 2006 rematch with Forrest Griffin (Pictures). Bonnar easily won his return bout against Mike Nickels (Pictures), before taking a second round stoppage over Eric Schafer (Pictures) in October.

No replacement opponent has yet been confirmed for Hamill. The Bonnar-Hamill bout was scheduled to be part of the live Spike TV telecast of the UFC's April 2 card from Broomfield, Colo.