Josh Barnett vs. Siala "Mighty Mo" Siliga is now official. The bout had been heavily rumored to be taking place at DREAM 13 for a couple of weeks now and Mighty Mo has officially signed on for the bout that is just over a week away.<br><br>
Somewhat of a disappointing opponent for the top ranked Barnett. Although he has held a top spot in rankings for quite a while he has fought less than stellar opponents and hasn't fought a top tier opponent in some time.<br><br>
Mighty Mo has faired better in the K-1 Kickboxing world and has only fought 4 times in MMA. His last appearance was on NYE 2008 in which he lost via submission to Semmy Schilt.<br><br>
The card, which is taking place in Yokohama, Japan on March 22nd is as follows:<br><br>
Champ Bibiano Fernandes vs. Joachim Hansen (for DREAM featherweight title)<br>
Josh Barnett vs. Siala "Mighty Mo" Siligia<br>
Cole Escovedo vs. Yoshiro Maeda <br>
Kuniyoshi Hironaka vs. Katsunori Kikuno<br>
Andre "Dida" Amade vs. K.J. Noons<br>
Ryo Chonan vs. Andrews Nakahara<br>
Jimmy Ambriz vs. Ikuhisa Minowa <br>
Expected additions and possible changes this week.
According to a report on <a href=http:www.mmajunkie.com>MMAJunkie.com</a>, Roger "El Matador" Huerta is expected to sign with Bellator FC this week to take part in their season 2 lightweight tourney.<br><br>
Huerta was formally released from the UFC this week and Bellator is holding a press conference via their website on Monday at 3pm to likely announce the signing of the popular lightweight.<br><br>
The lightweight pool for the tournament right now includes: Toby Imada (23-13), Jorge Masvidal (19-5), Chad Hinton (6-0), Mike Ricci (5-0), Ferrid Kheder (16-5), Janne Tulirinta (12-3), and Carey Vanier (7-2). With a tournament victory Huerta, or any of the tournament entries will earn a crack at Bellator Lightweight Champion Eddie Alvarez.
Former TUF winner Ross Pearson talks to UFC.com about his upcoming match up with Dennis Siver at UFC Fight Night 21:<br><br>
"I’d seen Dennis fight before quite a few times and most recently at the UFC 105 card in Manchester. His name got the heart racing a bit. He’s a good fighter and dangerous. He’s got one-punch power, fast hands, and he’s powerful and explosive. He’s a very skilful fighter. A lot of other fighters at this stage in their career might try and avoid a fighter like Siver. I’m just excited to prepare for a guy like him. It doesn’t scare me."<br><br>
"I’m really confident of beating Siver, but I just feel he’s got a bit more of a danger factor than [Aaron] Riley did," admits Pearson.<br><br>
"Siver is ranked number two in Europe and I’m at number three. I’m a little bit younger than him, but we’re both at a stage now where we want to step up in competition and start mixing it with the big names in big fights. We’re meeting at a great stage in our careers and this fight will ultimately prove which of us is ready to break into the big time first."
Number one ranked heavyweight Fedor Emelianenkos manager, Vadim Finkelstein, recently spoke regarding the potential of Fedor signing in the UFC and their thoughts on Dana Whites attitude:<br><br>
It depends on UFC. We would like to cooperate with them. Everything depends on them, their diplomacy. It would be possible if they are flexible... I don't want to compete with UFC, I want to co-operate with them. I think it could be a winning solution for everybody - for us, for them, and for MMA fans.<br><br>
That's his character, [Dana White] just loves to call names. He didn't say bad things about M-1 only, there were a lot of situations where he was harsh. It makes me glad when Dana White talks about us. I respect the UFC, they've done a lot for the development of MMA, so I can pardon them such attacks. We respect him and let him grumble.<br><br>
Props: <a href=http://www.fiveknuckles.com>Five Knuckles</a>
Although reports had surfaced this week that Tio Ortiz would be pulling out of his UFC 115 rematch with Chuck Liddell and that Liddell would now fight Rich Franklin, it appears those rumors were false.<br><br>
Straight from the horses mouth, UFC President Dana White cleared things up via his twitter account, telling fans that they are planning on doing Rich Franklin vs. Randy Couture at UFC 115.<br><br>
The event will mark the companies first trip to Vancouver, BC and is also expected to see Chuck Liddell fighting Tito Ortiz though it appears that match up may be in jeopardy.