The UFC has finally officially released the full fight card for next months UFC 82: Pride of a Champion. The event is currently scheduled to take place in Columbus, Ohio on March 2nd and will be headlined by a middleweight title fight between Anderson Silva and Dan Henderson.
Main Card
Anderson Silva vs Dan Henderson
Cheick Kongo vs Heath Herring
Evan Tanner vs Yushin Okami
Jon Fitch vs Chris Wilson
Diego Sanchez vs David Bielkheden
Undercard
Andrei Arlovski vs. Jake O’Brien
Luke Cummo vs. Luigi Fioravanti
Josh Koscheck vs. Dustin Hazelett
Jorge Gurgel vs. John Halverson
A very solid fight card filled with some big name fighters; when that happens, some guys get knocked to the non-televised portion of the Pay-Per-View event. In this case, both Josh Koscheck and Andrei Arlovski suffer this fate. Arlovski is on the last fight of his current contract and most likely is on his way out of the organization, so the reason for his demotion is obvious.
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Anyone else feel the UFC is making a huge mistake by not keeping Arlovski around. I mean the heavywieght division can always use more talent.
It’s not really a matter of the UFC not keeping Arlovski around. He is the one who is wanting to test the free agent market by letting his contract lapse. I’m sure the UFC would love to keep him (although probably not at the price AA is looking for).
Im still a big Arlovski fan, id love to see him fight crocop or kongo. I dunno why they been sleeping on Arlovski, its like those losses to Tim buried him.
well my boy Anderson is gonna get in there and mix it up again. most of us have known about this one coming for awhile and ive been thinking about it for awhile, you all know im a huge Anderson fan and this is the one fight so far this year that makes me nervous. i think if Silva loses the strap i might just shed a tear, i held back when GSP lost but this one will kill me.
whats with the ufc loosing arlovski will surely be a great loss for the ufc….tito will surely leave the ufc after his fight with machida..wherein i think would be a great loss for the Ufc and getting lesnar is still a question, surely he was a champion wrestler but clearly showed inexperience in the BigNog fight…On another note Randy Couture keeps on crying for the Fedor fight, to determine the number 1 HW , but I really think he should first face BigNog…Couture is one the finest fighters that ever lived but he never dominated a div. Unlike guys like Tito, Chuck, Hughes, Fedor who defended their titles 4 to 5 times in their own respected div. for me what cements a fighter place as being recognized as truly as one of the best is when you truly dominate your Div. and have multiple title defenses against worthy opponents.
that really pisses me off.. everyone knows how much i like aa…. well *** the ufc… i hope he leaves and gets more respect elsewhere.. go pitbull
I knew you wouldn’t be happy. It sucks the way the UFC is rolling Arlovski like that and hanging him out to dry.
I think they want Kongo to beat Herring and then be next in line to fight for the title, and that is why that fight is on the main card.
well heres hoping to see Arlovski in EliteXC and Tito too for that matter. guys like that could really beef up there roster if they have the money to pull it off.
yea i hope he leaves the ufc…. thats ********
its pretty much offical… arlovski didnt resign … thats why there not promoting him
Well… sucks about Arlovski… uhhh.. back to the BIG NEWS on this thread which is “The Spyder” is gonna ROCK Dan Henderson, I don’t think Dan is gonna get the deal done, I know his chin is rock solid, but at the end of the day, Anderson is a BJJ guy, had enough knowledge to get up and out of a situation, and has striking skills that exceed Henderson’s so I think in the end, it will be another disappointment for Pride FC fans and I think that Anderson will solidify his dominance, after this though… whats next? Well i guess we shouldn’t look ahead, Henderson has the BEST chance of ANY Middleweight of beating Anderson, so good luck to them both, most people probably think AA will do it, but are hoping for DH because he is American. One win over Wandy doesn’t constitute anything by the way, we can now see Wand rested, NOT SICK, is not easy to knockout, pretty much impossible after the last fight, so I think Henderson got lucky on Wands health in that fight, he wont find Anderson to be easy at all, Anderson has all the skills of Chuteboxe, but he also has the quickness, something I don’t think Hendo will do well with.
ya, i like Hendo in that matchup.. strongest hips in mma baby! hehe. I don think Andersons guard will be enough for him to submit Dan, eventually Dan will get a better position on the ground and work the GnP.
In the standup Andersons definately got the advantage, but Dan is one tough SOB, he used that Couture strategy of taking the hit in exchange for getting the takedown. I dont think the clinch will be a factor either, when you got a guy like Hendo trying to take you down during the clinch playing around with shifting weight etc… you dont want to be trying to throw knees and compromise your stance.
I do that with my buddy all the time when we spar, he loves throwing the knees in the clinch, but it becomes predictable and when your expecting it, shift all your weight to the opposite side of the knee in a jerking motion, and hes down.
AA has the reach, he can basically rotary jog out of take down range and take Hendo apart little by little.. I think Anderson has the momentum going into this fight while Hendo is coming of his debut loss to Jackson…
AA??? AA is Arlovski i think.. were talking about Anderson. I see your point, thats one thing to Silvas advantage for sure, octagon experience, its gonna be very interesting to see who comes out on top.
Sorry about AA.. that was a mistake.. I was indeed speaking of AS. lol… flip a coin, cause thats about how this fight being called is gonna go… 50/50