Yesterday afternoon, word surfaced that Thales Leites had to withdraw from his scheduled UFC 81 fight with Nathan Marquardt due to a broken hand he suffered in training.
Today, Thomas Gerbasi is reporting that Jeremy Horn will be returning to the UFC to replace Leites and face Marquardt at UFC 81.
Horn, an MMA veteran with over 100 fights to his name, last fought in the UFC in 2006 at UFC 60 when he defeated Chael Sonnen by armbar in the second round. There was little fanfare when Horn parted ways with the UFC in June of 2006. Jeremy had stated the fact that he had no desire to fight then middleweight champion Rich Franklin, and the UFC let Horn depart.
Horn moved on to the International Fight League where he fought twice and even stated a temporary “retirement” from MMA competition after a loss to Matt Lindland in September of ’06. While not the flashiest of fighters, Horn helped build the sport and, to a large extent, displayed and perfected many of the submission skills used in MMA today.
“Gumby” fought three times in 2007 going 2-1 with the loss coming via submission against Jorge Santiago. We welcome Horn back to the UFC as he adds some much needed depth to the UFC middleweight landscape.
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Ken Shamrock has alleged that the UFC wouldn’t resign him (Ken) as punishment for participating in the IFL. This latest signing of Jeremy Horn, who also participated in the IFL, casts doubt on Ken’s allegation.
Could be, although Ken was still active with the UFC when he decided to join the IFL as well. Horn was already out of the UFC when he started fighting for the IFL and the UFC had no intentions of keeping Horn around at that time.
cool imma horn fan..
BOOOOOOORRRRIIIINNNNNGGGGGG!!!
huh?
oh no, no, no please no! i can watch Anderson vs. Jeremy. please Mr. Horn go back up to light heavy. Horn and A.Silva a like two of my all time favorite fighters and it would kill me if Horn ripped through the UFC middle weight division and got murdered by Anderson.
I’m a Horn fan and will be glad to see him in the octagon again. I doubt Silva is very threatened by this his skills seem beyond Horn’s anyway but in MMA we know anything can happen. He belongs in the UFC if only a gatekeeper.
yea thats my fear i like Horn to much to see him live on the midcard
holy ***** **** did yall know that horn faught 17 times in 1999… what a warrior… shows most fighters now a days are pussies …tito
and people wonder why im such a big Gumby fan.
Well if Horn can get his “Cabbage” body in shape I would say GREAT! But if he goes into the cage like this picture insinuates that he looks, oh my gosh, he wont last 1 round with the likes of Anderson Silva….
kansas
newsflash,not many people can last a round with silva.But gumby vs marquardt i predict decision and a very boring fight
wont be too exciting both are very good and underated fighters. on the feet horn isnt better than marquardt and on the ground there about even. Marquardt is stronger and prolly one of the most underated fighters in the world right now. I expect either a u.d or a tko by nathan marquardt. Marquardt will then keep fighting contenders till hes back to a title shot. And with some more expierience and big fights in the ufc for marquardt and he could be a very dangerouse challenger for silva or henderson in the future.
i dont think experience is really a factor for Marquardt with a record like 27-7 (im not 100% on this one) and hes fought some big names like Salaverry, Misaki, Shonie Carter, Genki Sudo, and on and on. he has only fought a third of the fights Horn has but that could be said about just about everyone, Marquardt has more fights then Anderson does but its like this: is Nate a better fighter then it seemed in the Silva fight? yes. is Marquardt a better fighter than Anderson? no. and untill Anderson no longer holds the belt i dont see Nate winning it. just my thoughts.
Jeremy Horn is a really good fighter! Nice to have him back.. He is probably one of few today living fighters that has over 100 pro mma fights. Thanks for a good blog by the way!