UFC 79 : Nemesis


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After weeks of heated speculation ? followed by months of dead-end rumors ? could the long-awaited announcement that former UFC heavyweight champion Tim Sylvia (23-3 MMA, 8-3 UFC) and former PRIDE heavyweight champion Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira (30-4-1 MMA, 1-0 UFC) will meet for the UFC?s vacant heavyweight title come at tonight?s UFC 79 broadcast?

It appears likely.

While visiting with ESPN 920?s Mr. Sunshine (Steve Cofield) in Las Vegas, which is home to tonight?s UFC 79 pay-per-view year-end event, Sylvia his next fight will be announced at tonight?s event and that it?ll take place at UFC 81 on Feb. 2. Nogueira?s the obvious choice for an opponent.

UFC hall-of-famer Randy Couture is the organization?s current heavyweight title-holder, but after a much-publicized disagreement with UFC officials over pay and respect issues, Couture has opted to sit out of competition until his UFC fight contract (July 2008) and employment contract (October 2008) expire.

That?s expected to open the door for a Sylvia-Nogueira fight at UFC 81. The event takes place at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas and also features a heavyweight clash between Frank Mir and UFC newcomer Brock Lesnar.

Sylvia, who won the heavyweight title at UFC 41 and regained it at UFC 59, bounced back from a UFC 68 title loss to Randy Couture with a unanimous-decision victory over Brandon Vera in October. In a post-UFC 77 press conference, UFC President Dana White said that the victory put Sylvia back in the title picture, but he wouldn?t go as far as saying that Sylvia would get an immediate title shot.

Nogueira made his UFC debut back in July at UFC 73. Facing Heath Herring, Nogueira suffered a head kick that floored the Brazilian fighter. Inexplicably, Herring allowed his opponent to return to his feet and regain his composure, and Nogueira rebounded for a unanimous-decision victory.

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Wow Chuck won but I wanted a KO it seems to me he dominated that fight! still tho it was cool!

i agree completely.. However i was cheering for chuck, i'm a huge fan, i can't understand for the life of me why wandy didn't jump on him one of the TWO times chuck actually went down.. makes no sense, it may have gone wandy's way if he had. I'm glad with the way it turned out, but i really thought chuck was gonna knock him out when he started wailing on him.

i think the announcement of anderson silva vs. Dan henderson is super exciting.. that is gonna be one hell of a fight. And it's a 2 belt title fight...which makes it even more exciting.

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i agree completely.. However i was cheering for chuck, i'm a huge fan, i can't understand for the life of me why wandy didn't jump on him one of the TWO times chuck actually went down.. makes no sense, it may have gone wandy's way if he had. I'm glad with the way it turned out, but i really thought chuck was gonna knock him out when he started wailing on him.

i think the announcement of anderson silva vs. Dan henderson is super exciting.. that is gonna be one hell of a fight. And it's a 2 belt title fight...which makes it even more exciting.

Yeah Silva vs Henderson is gonna be awesome because I think atm the most dangerous champion in UFC is Silva.

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i agree... silva is very dangerous, and the dude makes it look so fckn easy. But gotta give dan henderson credit, he's had his share of great fights.. it's gonna be an awesome one.

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I'm glad to see Chuck back in the mix. However, he did look a bit tired after that assult on Silva in the final round. May need to work on his conditioning a bit more if he wants to get back up to the title.

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yeah the question remains whether hughes will retire.. i dont feel that he will, i think he will stick around to get a match against serra. The ufc wants it, the fans want it.. it's a definite money grabber. I think GSP has things all sewed up with serra honestly, he will dominate him, then will come the hughes vs serra fight.

As for the comment about chuck looking fatigued after the silva fight.. i would have to agree, HOWEVER imo there is only so much conditioning you can have at his age for fighting. If you look at someone like randy couture, who is 44/45, although he's still a champ, he is way more fatigued after fights now then in his past. I still think chuck has a few more years left in him, but i wouldn't expect the same conditioning from him as i would someone like GSP.

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yeah the question remains whether hughes will retire.. i dont feel that he will, i think he will stick around to get a match against serra. The ufc wants it, the fans want it.. it's a definite money grabber. I think GSP has things all sewed up with serra honestly, he will dominate him, then will come the hughes vs serra fight.

As for the comment about chuck looking fatigued after the silva fight.. i would have to agree, HOWEVER imo there is only so much conditioning you can have at his age for fighting. If you look at someone like randy couture, who is 44/45, although he's still a champ, he is way more fatigued after fights now then in his past. I still think chuck has a few more years left in him, but i wouldn't expect the same conditioning from him as i would someone like GSP.

Hughes probably has 2 fights left in him, a fight with Serra and then the rubber match with BJ Penn. BJ had a stipulation in his contract that said if Hughes beat him in their 2nd match he would get a third so UFC will try to push Hughes to accept that fight... also at $100,000 to fight (plus $100,000 win bonus) and not to mention performance bonuses I don't see Hughes passing it up just yet.

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