New fights added to UFC 94 undercard
December 2, 2008 by Staff
The Ultimate Fighting Championship announced four additional undercard matchups for UFC 94 to go with the event’s previously announced main event of Georges St. Pierre vs. B.J. Penn for the UFC welterweight title and a battle of undefeated light heavyweights featuring Lyoto Machida vs. Thiago Silva.
UFC 94 will take place on Saturday, January 31 and will emanate from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas and is now also scheduled to have fights take place between Stephan Bonnar vs. Jon Jones, Manny Gamburyan vs. Thiago Tavares, Jake O’Brien vs. Christian Wellisch, and Matt Arroyo vs. Dan Cramer.
Currently, St. Pierre vs. Penn, Machida vs. Silva, and Bonnar vs. Jones are scheduled to air during the pay-per-view broadcast.
FiveOuncesOfPain.com was the first outlet to report the Bonnar vs. Jones matchup on Oct. 13. Bonnar has not fought in over a year with his last bout having taken place at UFC 77, where he recorded a second round TKO over Eric Schafer. He’ll be facing Jones, who improved to 7-0 following his successful UFC debut at UFC 87 in August where he scored a mild upset following a unanimous decision victory over Andre Gusmao.
Gamburyan, 10-4, is the cousin of UFC welterweight Karo Parisyan. His most recent fight was a 12 second TKO loss at the hands of Robert Emerson during the undercard for UFC 87. His opponent, Tavares, is 13-3 following consecutive losses at UFC 85 and UFC 88 where he was defeated by Matt Wiman and Kurt Pellegrino, respectively.
Wellisch, 9-3, had been dropped from the UFC earlier this month following a dispute between his trainers at the American Kickboxing Academy and agents at Zinkin Entertainment with management officials at the UFC. However, Wellisch is still on the roster and the heavyweight will be facing O’Brien, a former standout wrestler in college. After beginning his pro MMA career with a 10-0 record, O’Brien is now 0-2 following back-to-back losses in the Octagon against Andrei Arlovski and Cain Velasquez.
Arroyo, 3-2, has not competed since being injured during a second round TKO loss against Matt Brown during the live season finale for “The Ultimate Fighter” 7. The Gracie Tampa instructor is set to square off with Cramer, a veteran from TUF 7 who has no pro bouts to his credit.
good to see dan cramer liked his heart
I don’t know which I’d rather see, Manny vs Tavares or Welch vs O’brien. I’m favoring Manny vs Tavares a little but I wouldn’t be dissapointed if it was the latter.
stephans back
at last
Bonner looked great in his last couple of fights. I hope that he can put his injuries and other issues behind them and keep showing off his great well rounded game.