MMA Junkie is reporting that a lightweight clash between Joe Lauzon (16-4) and Kyle Bradley (13-5) has been agreed to and will take place on September 17th at the Omaha Civic Auditorium in Omaha, Nebraska as a part of UFC Fight Night 15.

Both fighters will be coming off of losses with Lauzon losing to Kenny Florian back in April at UFN 13 and Kyle Bradley losing in a welterweight contest against the ever tough Chris Lytle.

This is a good match-up in my mind as both fighters were fairly hot prospects going into their last bouts. Lauzon looked to be holding his own in his match with a highly ranked lightweight in Florian while Bradley didn’t get to show much in the whirlwind of fists that was Hurricane Lytle back at UFC 81.

The current rumored card for UFN 15 looks like this:

• Mac Danzig vs. Clay Guida
• Nate Diaz vs. Josh Neer
• Houston Alexander vs. Eric Schafer
• Ed Herman vs. Alan Belcher
• Joe Lauzon vs. Kyle Bradley

Read more UFN 15 content on FiveOuncesOfPain.com.

For a guy that claims to loathe the tournament system, Dana White and the UFC put on an awesome facsimile of one last Wednesday during UFC Fight Night 13. Of the 12 fights scheduled, lightweight bouts rolled two-thirds deep and included arguably five of the top 10 fighters in the stacked division. The man second in line for a title shot, Kenny Florian, headlined yet another Fight Night, making it two of the last three. The UFC, almost begging to validate his place in line in the court of public opinion, finally got its wish and may have settled a lot more of the picture in the process.

Rankings are a difficult and much-contested black art, especially after the top five in most UFC weight divisions. Personal opinions (of the fans and of the men in charge), the pitfalls of MMAth and the incessant yammering from the business aspect of fighting are constant hurdles in sorting out the names on paper. It also doesn’t help that the man who holds the keys, UFC matchmaker Joe Silva, is as accessible and easy to read as a treatise on Indian tax law written in Sanskrit.

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All fighters make weight for tomorrow night’s event:

Preliminary Card

Tommy Speer (170) vs Anthony Johnson (169.5)
Roman Mitichyan (170.5) vs George Sotiropoulos (169.5)
Marcus Aurelio (154.5) vs Ryan Roberts (155.5)
Josh Neer (156) vs Din Thomas (155)
Clay Guida (156) vs Samy Schiavo (155)
Manvel Gamburyan (155.5) vs Jeff Cox (155)

Main Card

James Irvin (205) vs Houston Alexander (205)
Gray Maynard (155) vs Frankie Edgar (155.5)
Tim Boetsch (206) vs Matt Hamill (204)
Nate Diaz (156) vs Kurt Pellegrino (155)
Karo Parisyan (171) vs Thiago Alves (171)
Kenny Florian (155.5) vs Joe Lauzon (156)

Main card action will air live tomorrow night on Spike from 7pm-10pm, immediately followed by the season premiere of The Ultimate Fighter 7: Team Rampage vs Team Forrest.

Kenny Florian confirmed via his e-mail newsletter that he will be facing Joe Lauzon on April 2nd at UFC Fight Night 13:

In an announcement that is liable of starting a riot in the streets of all of New England, I will be fighting another Bostonian, Joe Lauzon, on Spike TV on April 2nd during Ultimate Fight Night 13.

KenFlo has respect for Lauzon’s game as well:

Joe has fought some of the toughest fighters in the game. He is a more experienced mma fighter than myself. Lauzon has a dynamic ground game, slick wrestling and dangerous stand up skills. Plus he has been training with one of the best in the game, B.J Penn.

This fight is now as close to official as it’s going to get before the UFC actually announces it themselves. This should be a pretty fantastic fight. It was believed at one point that Florian would take on the winner of Roger Huerta vs. Clay Guida but the lengthy layoff that Huerta has planned has thrown a wrench into the gears of those plans. Good matchmaking by the UFC in a pinch.

Check out more Kenny Florian, Joe Lauzon, and UFN 13 content on FiveOuncesofPain.com

According a report from Loretta Hunt of The Fight Network:

Ken Florian and Joe Lauzon have verbally agreed to meet in a headlining UFC lightweight bout on Spike TV, Florian’s camp confirmed Wednesday. The proposed match-up would see the pair of popular New England fighters meet in the main event for a UFC Fight Night tentatively scheduled for Wednesday, April 2.

Kenny Florian vs. Joe Lauzon is great matchmaking. But is it what you expected? Definitely not. Kenny Florian looked like a guy who was on his way to a title shot and it seemed, from his appearance in the broadcast booth at the main event of the TUF 6 Finale, that he would fight the winner of Clay Guida vs. Roger Huerta, possibly for a title shot. If the above is true, then that clearly wasn’t the case. It makes you wonder what the UFC has in store for Kenny Florian. Now who will Roger Huerta face? Surely he doesn’t get a title shot after Sherk, does he?

As for Lauzon, this is a very high profile matchup for him, one where he clearly has everything to gain.

Over the last few weeks, the Five Ounces of Pain staff has been working hardcore landing numerous fighter interviews. These new interviews have been posted so often it has been easy to miss, so here is a list of the latest.

Click each name to read the interview:

• Josh Koscheck
• Mayhem Miller
• Chris Horodecki
• Frank Trigg
• Bas Rutten
• Joe Lauzon
• Chris Horodecki
  
• Frankie Edgar
  
• Cub Swanson
• Tim Kennedy
• Mac Danzig
  
• Kenny Florian
  
• Dan Barrera

Additionally, we have a new Interviews section, with a list of all 5 Oz interviews.

I had the opportunity to catch up with Joe Lauzon, fresh off his victory at UFC 78 against Jason Reinhardt. We discussed the fight, his status as a full time fighter, who he might like to fight next, his professional troll job of The Underground Forum before UFC 78, and a lot more.

Adam Morgan: When I contacted you for the interview, you said you’re currently in Boston, MA. Are you making trips back and forth to Hawaii?

Joe Lauzon: I’m going to be spending the majority of my time in Hawaii, but because of all the holidays and everything I’m back here for like a month or so.

Adam Morgan: Okay, so you’ve pretty much relocated to Hawaii on a permanent basis?

Joe Lauzon: Yeah, I’m going to be in Hawaii most of the time.

Adam Morgan: Did your fight at UFC 78 against Jason Reinhardt go as you expected it to?

Joe Lauzon: Yeah, pretty much. I felt going into the fight that I was bigger, I thought I had better standup, I thought I was better on the ground. It went pretty much how I figured it.

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The rumored card for UFC 78 on Nov. 17 in Newark, NJ has been posted several times on FiveOuncesOfPain.com and thus far the responses haven’t been all that positive. But I need to speak up because I beg to differ; while the rumored card currently lacks star power, it’s still a strong card nonetheless.

The match with the most appeal to me is Spencer Fisher vs. Frankie Edgar. Both have already participated in match of the year candidates (Edgar vs. Tyson Griffin at UFC 67 and Fisher vs. Sam Stout at UFC Fight Night 10) and because their styles could mesh well, you have the potential for another match of the year candidate for both fighters.

It appears talks between Hayato Sakurai and the UFC have broken down as Sakurai is scheduled to fight in Japan but the UFC has found a suitable opponent for Karo Parisyan in Hector Lombard. Lombard, who represented Cuba in the Olympics in Judo, is 11-2-1 in MMA and has competed for promotions such as PRIDE and DEEP.

By putting Parisyan vs. Lombard, UFC matchmaker Joe Silva is throwing two world class Judokas together in a match that will be extremely competitive. Parisyan, who is a tad small for welterweight will be facing a fighter in Lombard who has competed at times as a middleweight. Will Karo be able to rag doll Lombard like he has so many of his other opponents? It will be interesting to find out.

Thiago Alves vs. Ryo Chonan is yet another strong matchup that’s been rumored for the card. If the UFC welterweight division wasn’t so backlogged then the bout’s outcome would have greater implications. However, who really needs implications? Just sit back and watch what looks to be another potential strong match.

Lombard and Chonan aren’t the only former PRIDE fighters that will be making their UFC debuts, as Akihiro Gono vs. Tamdan McCrory is expected to take place. While the match might not be televised, fans attending live could be in store for a surprise. Gono, 27-12-7, will be a tough test for the undefeated 20-year old.

Other rumored matches that could take place during the non-televised portion are Ed Herman vs. David Terrell and Joe Lauzon vs. Jason Reinhardt. Lauzon is originally from Massachusetts so expect strong crowd support for him while Terrell vs. Herman is a match I can’t wait to see. The middleweight division in the UFC could use a shot to the arm and Terrell could be what the doctor ordered.

One of only two people to ever be promoted as a black belt in Jiu-Jitsu by Cesar Gracie, Terrell looked like a future star following his 24 second first round knockout over Matt Lindland at UFC 49 in 2004. Unfortunately, he’s been besieged by injuries and has fought just twice in the last three years. I’m looking forward to attending the show live and seeing first hand if Terrell is someone who can make an impact under the UFC’s current middleweight landscape.

If you’re one of the people who has chosen to use “sucks” as a way to describe the rumored lineup then I suggest you go to Netflix and start renting old PRIDE DVDs so that you can become more familiar with Lombard, Chonan, and Gono as well as some old UFC DVDs (i.e. UFC 49) to either introduce or re-introduce yourself to Terrell.

In regard to the lack of star power, have a little faith in Dana White and Silva. Tickets for UFC 78 go on sale to the general public this Saturday at 10 a.m. ET. The UFC wants to do well from a business perspective and it behooves them to deliver a solid main event. Rumors persist that we could see a rematch between Tito Ortiz and Rashad Evans but if Ortiz is playing hardball or his back is still not ready, then the UFC will come up with something else. Rumors about a match between Ortiz and Dan Henderson have been debunked but it appears as though the idea was at least explored. If Ortiz can’t be secured and Henderson is ready to go, then why not a match between Henderson and Evans?

On paper, UFC 78 might end up not having a lot of sex appeal but didn’t we learned from UFC 73 and UFC Fight Night 10 this year? It’s all about matchups and UFC 73 taught us that just because you have a bunch of big names all on a card, it doesn’t mean you’re going to see good matches if the fighters’ respective styles don’t mesh well. Meanwhile, UFN 10 showed us not to underestimate a card just because it doesn’t have a big name.

So please, leave UFC 78 alone!

Lots of stuff and little time. You know the drill:

– In case you missed it, MMAjunkie.com (formerly UFCjunkie.com) reported the other day that Jason Reinhardt is claiming his next match will be at UFC 78 in Newark against Joe Lauzon. It looks like Joe and Karo Parisyan will be on the same card after all.

– The guys at Junkie also broke the news the other day that the match between Pete Sell vs. Nate Quarry scheduled for UFC Fight Night 11 on Sept. 19 has been bumped up to the televised portion of the card. The match replaces the bout that was to have taken place between Jonathan Goulet and Mike Swick. Goulet is still expected to appear on the preliminary portion of the card against Dustin Hazelett.

– Junkie is also reporting that Corey Hill has opt of a joining Matt Hughes’ new gym in Illinois. Man, when is that guy going to finally make his UFC debut and get his career rolling?

– Spencer Fisher has left a message on his MySpace page that his next UFC fight could be in November. Fisher was scratched from the UFN 11 card after contracted staph infection.

There’s a really good article on InsideFighting.com that manages to do what the TUF cameras couldn’t: capture Joe Lauzon’s unique story and tell it to an audience.

Lauzon will be fighting on the undercard of Saturday’s TUF 5 finale. When it’s all said and done, he’ll need to get back home in time to be at his IT job by Monday.

However, Lauzon is being recruited to live his job and move to Hawaii and train… with B.J. Penn:

“BJ has talked to me a couple of times about coming to Hawaii where he is to train. He said he has a fighters’ house and that I could stay there for one to two years and just train. But my student loans are $800 a month. I went to kind of an expensive school and was kind of setting the path for working full time and not to be scraping by. And when you are a full time fighter you kind of are scraping by. Chuck Liddell and Randy Couture are doing well but most full time fighters are not at that level.”

Lauzon goes on to say that he’s been looking into IT jobs in Hawaii.

To read the entire article, check out:

http://www.insidefighting.com/betweenRoundsDisp.aspx?uid=3705