The bout has recently been confirmed as being signed from sources close the negotiations through a report made by MMAJunkie.com.

WEC 42 is set to take place at The Joint at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino on August 9 in Las Vegas, Nevada, and will be headlined by a bantamweight championship match-up featuring the champion Miguel Torres facing off with the explosive and undefeated Brian Bowles.

Roller is a three time All-American wrestler that has compiled a record of 5-2 during his time spent in MMA. His last fight ended in the first round as he was knocked senseless at the hands of Benson Henderson.

Hicks is coming off of a two fight skid where he was knocked out by WEC lightweight champion Jamie Varner and subsequently lost a close decision to former champ Rob McCullough. “The Wrecking Ball” had put together an undefeated record of 8-0, with six submissions and two knockouts just prior to his recent losses.

A full list of the bout expected for WEC 42 are listed below:

Miguel Torres vs. Brian Bowles (WEC 135 pound championship bout)

Jeff Curran vs. Takeya Mizugaki

Joseph Benavidez vs. Dominick Cruz

Leonard Garcia vs. Jameel Massouh

Marcus Hicks vs. Shane Roller

Phil Cardella vs. Ed Ratcliff

Fredson Paixao vs. Cole Province

Danny Castillo vs. Ricardo Lamas

FiveOuncesOfPain.com was the first to report earlier this month that the reported WEC 38 bout between the two had been postponed due to wear and tear sustained by McCullough during a heated fight against Donald Cerrone at WEC 36 in November.

However, McCullough revealed during a Tuesday conference call to promote the upcoming airing of his bout against Cerrone on VERSUS that the fight vs. Hicks appears to be a go for WEC 39 in March.

McCullough’s unanimous decision loss to Cerrone at WEC 36 reportedly was a “Match of the Year” candidate and the fight will be shown in its entirety for the first time during VERSUS’ Dec. 28 premiere of “WEC Best of 2008.”

According to MMAjunkie.com, the unnanounced March event could take place in Florida and be headlined by WEC featherweight champion Mike Thomas Brown defending his title vs. Leonard Garcia.

Marcus Hicks interview after the jump.

According to the site, Carter Williams is scheduled to fight Pat Smith. Williams is under suspension by the California State Athletic Commission for testing positive for cocaine. Saturday’s KOTC event is at a reservation casino so it’s possible that the event might not be regulated and that Williams will defy the commission’s mandate. If that’s the case, he’s really going to be digging a big hole for himself.

Another KOTC event is scheduled for next Saturday with Charles “Krazy Horse” Bennett scheduled to be one of the headliners.

It also appears as though the July 27 debut of ShoXC will be a co-promotion between Pro Elite and KOTC.

http://cbs.sportsline.com/mmaboxing/story/10232977

According to Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer, both Shamrock and Baroni opened up at -115 ($115 needs to be wagered in order to win $100) but the line moved to -140 after heavy betting on Baroni.

For the record, I am picking Shamrock to win via decision but I wouldn’t bet the fight because it’s a match that could truly go either way.

Back when UFC couldn’t even get televised on PPV in the late ’90s, I would watch tapes of Shamrock. He was simply the man and was the first true dual-threat in MMA. However, a first round knockout in March ’06 against Cesar Gracie didn’t impress me. Gracie is a great MMA trainer with the likes of Jake Shields, Gilbert Melendez, Nate Diaz, and Nick Diaz in his camp but he was 40 and making his MMA debut.

I was even less impressed with Shamrock after Renzo Gracie took him down at will this past February. Renzo’s pure Jiu-Jitsu is great but is “MMA Jit-Jitsu” is questionable. He isn’t a good wrestler and isn’t a strong leg attacker but was able to clutch Shamrock and get him to the ground. That said to me that Shamrock may not have kept up with contemporary MMA. Maybe that’s why he went to Team Quest in Temecula, Calif. a few weeks before the Friday’s fight?

Baroni is going to have a huge size advantage on Frank and is a threat because of his punching power. Cardio is a question mark even though he usually catches a second win in the third round when his non-title fights go the distance. But I received word from inside Baroni’s camp at Xtreme Couture that he’s in amazing shape.

So while I am picking Shamrock to win, it wouldn’t surprise me in the least if Baroni won. Taking a decision in Shamrock’s backyard might be impossible so Baroni will need to take it via KO or TKO.

Another name to watch on the card is Cung Le. I can’t say enough about the guy. If you haven’t seen him fight before, do yourself a favor and order the pay-per-view.

I’m also eager to see Carter Williams. Are we going to see the same Williams who won the ’03 U.S. leg of the K-1 Grand Prix at the age of 23 or the guy who just never was able to live up to the hype after that?

Make sure you check out the CBS Sportsline MMA page at cbs.sportsline.com/mmaboxing because I have interviews up with Phil Baroni, Cung Le, B.J. Penn, Jens Pulver, and Manny Gamburyan along wiht my story on Sokoudjou.