Odds of a Joey Villasenor vs. Murilo Rua rematch on Sept. 20 “less than 50 percent”
August 5, 2008 by Sam Caplan
While EliteXC middleweight Joey Villasenor is considered a virtual-lock to appear on EliteXC’s Sept. 20 in his adopted-hometown of Albuquerque, N.M., a reported potential rematch between he and Murilo “Ninja” Rua does not appear in the cards at this time.
Villasenor and Rua last fought for the then-vacant EliteXC middleweight title in June of 2007 during the undercard of the EliteXC/Strikeforce co-promotion that featured Frank Shamrock vs. Phil Baroni. The 32-year old native of East Los Angeles lost the fight via second round TKO but has 3-0 in EliteXC since suffering the loss.
While speaking with FiveOuncesOfPain.com on Tuesday evening, EliteXC Vice President Jared Shaw categorized the chances of the possible rematch happening on Sept. 20 as as “highly doubtful.” Shaw added that “While it would be an exciting fight and a rematch that could happen down-the-line, I would give a ballpark estimate of that fight happening on Sept. 20 as less than 50 percent.”
Shaw did confirm that Villasenor is expected to appear on the card against a yet-to-be finalized opponent.
From what I’ve read it seems that ninja will likely be on the October 4 card instead.
They really need to set up Villasenor v. Lawler for the belt. Joey completely dominated Phil Baroni in their fight, and really, who else is there for Lawler to fight unless it’s Rua?
Smokin’ Joe has earned his way to a title shot, I mean they gave Scott Smith the shot when he had only had 1 win in EliteXC over some can.