MMAjunkie is reporting that Josh Burkman vs. Pete Sell is set for UFC 90 in Chicago for the card’s untelevised preliminary bouts.

Burkman has lost 3 of 4 bouts since cracking some journalists’ top 10 lists and a loss here could very well send him out of the UFC. Sell, 0-4 in his last UFC appearances, will be dropping down to welterweight to take the challenge. This seems to be a do or die bout for both fighters as the UFC has recently shown no problems in cutting fighters they don’t find exciting (Burkman) or fighters that don’t win (Sell). While on the undercard, this could be a major fight in the UFC’s welterweight division.

UFC 90, on October 25th, is set to be headlined by a middleweight title bout between Anderson Silva and Patrick Cote. Also on the main card is reported to be Diego Sanchez vs. Thiago Alves, Sean Sherk vs. Tyson Griffin and Melvin Guillard vs. Spencer Fisher.

I came across a couple of interesting links on FightOpinion.com (a site I recommend everyone check out if you don’t already) today.

First, there are strong signals that Rickson Gracie intends to fight MMA again on New Year’s Eve. Gracie doesn’t specify for who or for where, but K-1 is the only major MMA promotion left in Japan and I don’t see Gracie fighting in the States.

Also, it appears a life has been spared. Sherdog.com is reporting that Kazushi Sakuraba’s next fight will be on Sept. 17 for K-1 Hero’s in Yokohama, Japan against former pro wrestler Katsuyori Shibata. There had been rumors that a bout between Sakuraba and Denis Kang was going to take place but Kang apparently is not formally signed to K-1 (the UFC has no idea how bad its middleweight division needs Denis Kang). Kang would have wrecked him.

I also noticed in the Sherdog.com report that former Pride and Cage Rage fighter Zelg Galesic will be fighting Dong Sik Yoon on 9/17. Galesic is a strong prospect who would have been perfect for the WEC’s 185 lbs. division.