New matches set for UFC 76 and UFC 78 and the return of David Terrell
September 14, 2007 by Sam Caplan
MMAWeekly.com is on the ball with some new UFC match announcements.
First, UFC 76 will be a full nine-match card after all. Fresh off his IFO win earlier this month, Rich Clementi is back in the UFC and back in action against Anthony Johnson. The two will face off on the UFC 76 undercard on Sept. 22 in Anaheim, Calif.
That’s a pretty damn good last-minute addition match.
It also looks like another match has been added for UFC 78. While not official, it has appeared in the MMAWeekly.com rumors section and that rumors section is pretty damn good. According to the site, David Terrell will finally return to the UFC and will be taking on Ed Herman.
Hey, it’s no main event but it’s pretty damn interesting.
I’m really looking forward to UFC 78 on Nov. 17 in Newark because it’s not all that far from Philly (where I live) and having the UFC back in the Northeast has been a long time coming. The card itself isn’t all that bad, either.
Here’s what we could be looking at:
- Tito Ortiz vs. Rashad Evans (hasn’t been officially announced but a recent newspaper report indicated it’s going down)
- B.J. Penn vs. TBA (my money is on Joe Stevenson for the title)
- Karo Parisyan vs. TBA (could be Hayato Sakurai, could be Hector Lombard, could be someone else)
- Spencer Fisher vs. Frankie Edgar (Dana should give them the match of the night bonus right now)
- David Terrell vs. Ed Herman (rumored)
- Joe Lauzon vs. Jason Reinhardt (according to Reinhardt)
Tito, B.J. and Karo all on the same card offers a lot of star power to the Philly, New York, and Jersey fanbase. This part of the country loves recognizable stars. If you’re not a known quantity, you might not get much attention. If I go to a concert in Philly everyone marks out for the headliners. But the opening band could be the greatest in the world but if the people don’t know their name, the crowd seems pretty bored.
Hey, what does a guy have to do to get a Big Nog vs. Andrei Arlovski match added to this card?
Lauzon has confirmed his fight with Renhardt as well:
http://joelauzon.com/index.php?view=readMore&id=27
Ok, when does the David Terrell injury countdown begin? I say about the first week in October he pulls out. All jokes aside though I do hope he fights as him and Herman is an interesting fight. Ed definitely showed some development beating up on Scott Smith his last fight. I’d love to see the rumored match of Karo and Mach. I would think Mach would be a good draw in the NYC metropolitan area as well. Heck of a fight too!
Big Nog vs. Arlovski would be huge on that card as well and something I’ve wanted to see since Nog was signed. But it certainly seems like the UFC is going to wait out Arlovski’s contract until his demands come down from where they are. If we could get a 5 fight main event card of Penn/Stevenson, Ortiz/Evans, Arlovski/Nog, Parisyan/Sakurai, and Edgar/Fisher I’d be all for it.
Shouldn’t Randy’s next opponent be Nog, or do you think they need to build Nog up more? If so, fighting Arlovski might be a risky investment - Andrei is likely to be fighting with something to prove and for his future in the UFC - that could easily spell upset given the current MMA climate.
Hopefully I can attend this - probably be the closest one until PA ratifies their MMA rules.
Give me Big Nog..I want Big Nog!!!!!!!!!!!!
Zack, yeah I would think the UFC is thinking Big Nog vs. Randy, I just don’t think I would do that yet. I’d probably let the winner of a potential fight between Arlovski and Nog get a title shot. That way if Arlovski won at least signing him to a new deal for big money would certainly be worth it. If he lost to Nog then hey what are you gonna do, he lost to a really good fighter, and maybe you move him on to a Vera fight or something like that.
This still looks like a fight night card to me. I’m interested in Karo but all the top contenders just fought or already have scheduled fights.
Jeremy - that’s a pretty decent strategy, but assuming Vera takes it to Sylvia, who is just one loss from holding the belt, wouldn’t that put him closer to a title shot than Nog? Nog hasn’t held the PRIDE belt in 3 years and is coming off a shaky (but gutsy) decision win over Herring - who is basically a non-contender. It’s going to be a very interesting few months in the HW division.
It would probably go down to who had the most impressive win out of the two as to who would get the title shot against Couture. But again it’s all just a guessing game really.