The big news here is that Nathan Marquardt is calling for a rematch with Thales Leites.

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The Ultimate Fighting Championship has signed welterweight competitor Mike Swick to a new contract, according to a report in the April 10 print edition of the Wrestling Observer.

Neither Swick or the UFC has issued an official comment.

The first fight of Swick’s new deal is scheduled to take place on June 7 at UFC 85 in London, where he will face fellow welterweight Marcus Davis, who is on the heels of an 11 fight win streak.

Swick entered the UFC after appearing on the first season of “The Ultimate Fighter” reality television series on Spike TV. During the show, Swick competed as a light heavyweight but moved back to his natural weight class of 185 pounds after knocking out Alex Schoenauer in 20 seconds of round 1 during the live season finale.

In seven career fights in the UFC, Swick boasts an impressive record of 6-1 with notable victories over Joe Riggs, David Loiseau, and Gideon Ray.

He made his debut as a welterweight at UFC Fight Night 12 this past January in response to his first UFC loss to Yushin Okami in his native Houston at UFC 69. At UFN 12, Swick’s welterweight debut was met with mixed results. While he was victorious in recording a split decision victory over Josh Burkman, his performance during the bout was panned by various pundits.

Swick trains out of the American Kickboxing Academy in San Jose, Calif., and his reported decision to re-sign with the UFC comes on the heels of training partner and fellow welterweight competitor Josh Koscheck’s decision to re-sign with the promotion. Koscheck’s new contract with the UFC was first reported by this website several weeks ago.

MMAMania.com has learned that UFC Welterweight contenders Mike Swick and Marcus Davis will more than likely be squaring off at UFC 85 on June 7 at the O2 Arena in London, England.

Davis has strung together an impressive win-streak, finding victory in all of his last 11 bouts. His last loss came at the hands of Melvin Guillard at The Ultimate Finale 2 in November of 2005. In recent interviews, “The Irish Hand Grenade” has made mention of his desire to take some fights against more well-known opponents. Mike Swick should be a formidable opponent for Davis, both in high-status and a higher skill level than Davis is used to facing.

Mike Swick recently made the drop in weight from Middleweight after falling short against Yushin Okami at UFC 69: “Shootout”. He made a less-than-stellar Welterweight debut against Josh Burkman at Ultimate Fight Night 12 in January, but still found victory after a controversial split-decision. He must perform impressively against Marcus Davis to cement himself as a major contender in the UFC Welterweight division.

There is plenty of motivation for both of these fighters heading into this bout. Look for a possible “Fight of the Night” candidate, even amidst the main event between Chuck Liddell and Mauricio “Shogun” Rua.

What: UFC Fight Night 12
When: Jan. 23 ‘08;
Where: Las Vegas @ The Palms
Watch: Spike TV

Here’s the latest on the UFC Fight Night 12 card:

Main Card
• Josh Burkman vs. Mike Swick
• Drew McFedries vs. Patrick Cote
• Nate Diaz vs. Alvin Robinson
• Thiago Tavares vs. Michihiro Omigawa

Undercard

• Kurt Pellegrino vs. Alberto Crane
• Gray Maynard vs. Dennis Siver
• Cole Miller vs. Jeremy Stephens
• Corey Hill vs. Joe Veres
• Matt Wiman vs. Justin Buchholz

Check out more UFN 12 content on 5 Oz. of Pain.

According to MMAMania.com, Mike Swick is going to be making his welterweight debut against Josh Burkman at UFC’s Ultimate Fight Night 12 on January 23.

MMAMania is reporting:

No official bout agreements have been signed; however, the match up is more or less a “done deal” from what we hear.

Also, it looks like the venue for this card will be held at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, Florida. Now that a venue has been locked, an official card will start to materialize very soon.

More details to come.

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.

MMAOnTap.com reported last night that Mike Swick has pulled out of his upcoming fight against Jonathan Goulet scheduled for UFC Fight Night 11 on Sept. 19 at the Palms Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas.

MMAWeekly.com was able to confirm the report with American Kickboxing Academy instructor “Crazy” Bob Cook. According to the site, Swick injured his ribs during training.

The injury to Swick leaves the main portion of the card sans one fight. Still scheduled for the main card are bouts between Din Thomas vs. Kenny Florian, Chris Leben vs. Terry Martin, and Nate Diaz vs. Junior Assuncao.

If the UFC feels it needs a fourth match for the show, they can choose from a preliminary card that’s slated to include fights between Cole Miller vs. Leonard Garcia, Kuniyoshi Hironaka vs. Thiago Alves, Nate Quarry vs. Pete Sell, Luke Cummo vs. Edilberto de Oliveira, Gray Maynard vs. Joe Veres, and Goulet vs. TBA.

My vote for a fourth TV bout would go to Hironaka vs. Alves but I’d also be real curious to see Quarry vs. Sell.

Mike Swick has gotten on his blog and given his side of the story as to why a rematch against Chris Leben on September 19 at UFN 11 won’t be taking place. In the process, Swick also shifts his attention from Leben to Jonathan Goulet.

Here’s what Swick had to say:

Hey Guys,

Ok, so here is the deal…

Chris Leben said something about moving down to 170 and the UFC thought it would be a great time to have us fight. I was offered the fight and we accepted it immediately. We even told the UFC that we can do it at whatever weight class; I will give up weight if I have to get it done. So they were going to make our fight the Main Event of Ultimate Fight Night 11 on Spike TV on September 19th. Spike was excited about the fight, the UFC was excited about the fight, the fans were excited about the fight, and most of all, we were excited about the fight. Apparently Leben and his camp wasn’t. After almost a week of waiting for an answer he declined the fight at any weight class. This absolutely baffled me. We figured he was pondering what weight he wanted to fight me at and he was really pondering taking the fight at all. Is this the same guy who says he will fight anyone, anywhere, anytime? The same guy that promised me a rematch on the second episode of the first season of the Ultimate Fighter? Why would he pass up a main event fight considering he is coming off 2 losses? Who gets opportunities like that then passes them up?

I don’t mean to rant on but I am so upset at the situation. He has a win over me from a long time ago and holds it over my head any chance he gets. I think it’s absolutely cowardly to not give me a chance to avenge my loss. It’s not like I am asking for an instant rematch, it’s been over 3 years. If he’s better than me then why not take the fight and show the world in a main event on Spike TV?

Bottom line is, I am sorry to all the fans who wanted to see this fight. I was so excited over this last week and couldn’t wait to come to an agreement so I could post that after 3 years, you guys will finally see the rematch you msg me about every day in my inbox.

Ok, so even though the cat smashing crippler backed out, I am still staying on the Spike card on September 19th. This brings me to a whole new story for you guys….

Ok, so after hearing about the above mentioned backing out, Jonathan Goulet started trash talking me on the internet saying I chickened out of a fight with him as my next opponent. This caught me completely off guard since I never even knew he was in the equation. Or the UFC for that matter. Apparently he had been trying to get the fight from the UFC. I guess I can’t blame him, he is a very talented fighter who really wants to revamp his UFC career and a solid fight with me on Spike could do that, but what shocked me most was his blatant lie that I chickened out. Of course he followed that up with something along the lines about I don’t want what he’s got for me and that he is going to beat my ass, etc, etc, etc….

Since the other opponents we were trying to get an agreement with fell through, why not fight Goulet? I mean he is a good fighter and at least has some juevos. So Jonathan Goulet, let’s see if you can back up all that tough talk. Contract is in the mail, just sign the dotted line and let’s give these fans what they…well, get for free on Spike TV!

-Swick

I wonder if the contract is really in the mail. Swick wants the fight and Goulet wants the fight. But why would the UFC want this fight?

I’d much rather see Terry Martin vs. Swick. The UFC needs to start grooming some contenders for the middleweight title — and fast!

UFCJunkie.com has gotten exclusive word from Mike Swick that Chris Leben has refused to sign for a match against him that would have made the two the main event of Ultimate Fight Night 11 on September 19.

According to Junkie, here’s what Swick said:

“He backed out. He didn’t take it. It kind of sucks with how tough he talks about fighting anyone, anywhere. He kept saying we could rematch anytime.”

What’s Leben doing? Anything short of injury is going to make the UFC very unhappy with Leben’s decision. He’s not really in a position to be choosy when it comes to who the UFC would like him to face.

One of his biggest selling points was his willingness to fight just about anybody. This is going to hurt his stock. I have to wonder though if this might be an injury situation of some sort, though.

If Leben doesn’t want the match then they should book Terry Martin vs. Swick. I think that would be a pretty good matchup. Just to clarify, I don’t have any info on that. Martin vs. Swick is just pure conjecture on my part.

Mike Swick’s name has surfaced in the rumors section for UFC 76 at MMAWeekly.com. Right now Swick is listed against an unnamed opponent. UFC 76 is expected to take place in September.

If you recall, many weeks back Mike Swick informed us that he was thinking about dropping from middleweight to welterweight. Now, in a new interview with MMANews.com, Swick confirms that he will be dropping to 170 pounds and his first bout at the new weight could take place in September.