The 40-year old Villareal is a veteran of thirty-nine professional fights and has won three of his last four bouts. Twelve of his eighteen wins have come by way of TKO. Though he has never necessarily beaten an opponent of Rogers’ caliber, “Warpath” has been in the ring with a number of top competitors in the past and definitely brings the advantage of experience with him into the match-up.

Also slated for action is Ultimate Fighter 11 alumnus Jamie Yager who faces 6-0 Jeremiah Hamilton at the event. The bout will be Yager’s first since losing to Rich Attonito on the season finale this past June.

FiveOuncesOfPain.com learned of the matchup after speaking to a source close to one of the fighters Wednesday afternoon.

The PFC show on May 8 will mark the second career matchup between Rodriguez and Villareal. The two previously met in 2005 at an Extreme Wars X-1 event that saw Rodriguez submit Villareal with an armbar at 2:38 of round 1.

Rodriguez, the former Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew reality television star, holds notable wins in his career over Gary Goodridge, Paul Buentello, Andrei Arlovski, and Randy Couture. Once considered to be one of the top heavyweight fighters in the world until substance abuse and weight issues began to take a toll on his career.

Currently 34-10 in a pro MMA career that began in 1994, Rodriguez is 5-1 in his last six fights with notable wins over former IFO heavyweight champion Chris Guillen and Cage Rage veteran Rob Broughton. In recent years, Rodriguez has been featured on nationally televised events for EliteXC and the ill-fated YAMMA Pit Fighting.

Villareal, 14-14-3, is well-known for his propensity towards receiving and accepting offers for fights at the last minute. However, he will have three months to prepare for Rodriguez. The California native recently recently returned to active competition after being reinstated following a one-year suspension.

He was suspended by the California State Athletic Commission after testing positive for performance enhancing drugs following a first round TKO loss to Jimmy Ambriz during a WCO event November of 2007. Villareal’s return took place at a Fight Quest event on Jan. 31 where he was able to record a unanimous decision victory over EliteXC veteran Mike Cook.

Villareal might be best known for stepping in as a late replacement for Kimo as an opponent for Bas Rutten during a WFA pay-per-view event in June of 2006. Villareal was knocked out by the former UFC heavyweight champion with a kick at 3:24 of round 1.

We here are Five Ounces of Pain are dubbing it the “Aokiplata” (read more here)

UPDATE- some clarification on the move requested by readers – Aoki is in the mount position. Opponent on his back. Aoki wrapped his right leg UNDER the left shoulder of Nagata, then placed the top of his right foot on Nagata’s throat. He’s then pulling on the back of his opponents head, to force pressure on the throat into the foot.

Check out more DREAM 4 content on Five Ounces of Pain.

• Shinya Aoki def. Katsuhiko Nagata via submission (Aokiplata), Rd1

Aoki dominated taking Nagata down twice early. Moving into a dominant position and eventually mounting, Aoki used what looked to be a gogoplata from top position to get the tapout victory. Bas Rutten took the time to say he’d never seen that before. Adam Morgan and myself both believe this should now be called an Aokiplata. I don’t care if it already has some rare name, it’s now the Aokiplata.

• Alistair Overeem def. Tae Hyun Lee via KO (strikes), Rd1

Within a minute, Overeem tags Lee with a couple of shots and ends with a rough left/right combo and a knee to the chest for good measure to put Lee on his face and out of it. Ridiculous mismatch ends badly for the big man. Overeem yells, “I WANT CRO COP” in the post match and slams down the microphone.

• Ralek Gracie def. Alavutdin Gadzhiyev via submission (armbar), Rd1

Ralek Gracie is apparently Royce Gracie in 1993 and 94, apparent from his stance and style from the first five seconds. Approach, approach, front kick, grapple. Over and over until he was successful with the takedown. Once on the ground he got full mount and worked for a quick armbar. Gadzhiyev taps and then complains that he did not tap, class all the way. Nice ground work but Ralek’s standup needs to hit the new millennium.

• Hideo Tokoro def. Darren Uyenoyama via decision (unanimous)

A fight of the year candidate, so says Adam Morgan and myself. Excellent ground game, surprising standup, excellent back and forth action. This fight had everything you could want out of an MMA bout. At the very least this should be in the top 10 fights of the year come December and is a must see.

- They draw for LW Grand Prix Semis. It will be 1-A vs 1-B and 2-A vs 2-B. Aoki draws 2-A. Kawajiri draws 1-B. Uno draws 2-B vs Aoki and Eddie Alvarez draws 1-A (through a rep). It will be Eddie Alvarez vs Tatsuya Kawajiri and Shinya Aoki vs Caol Uno.

• Gegard Mousasi def. Dong Sik Yoon via decision (unanimous)

Mousasi completely controlled 13 of the 15 minutes. Yoon had the last two minutes of the first round looking for the submission but couldn’t get the job done. The entire second round was Mousasi holding Yoon’s back and beating him all over with punches for complete domination.

• Zelg Galesic def. Taiei Kin via TKO (injury), Rd1

Galesic goes for a takedown and Kin’s arm bends the opposite way it’s supposed to and the fight is stopped via injury. That was a disgusting looking injury but Kin takes it like a real man and deserves alot of credit.

• “Jacare” Souza def. “Mayhem” Miller via decision (unanimous)

Jacare controlled most of the action, got a majority of the takedowns and got the best of the fight. Mayhem did much better on the feet and did a great job avoiding submissions but was taken down far too many times and for whatever reason tried several simple submissions (guillotines) that would never work against Jacare.

• Melvin Manhoef def. Kazushi Sakuraba via TKO (strikes), Rd1

Absolute destruction from the opening bell. A kick from Manhoef and then huge shots on the ground and the ref stops the fight. Just a violent beatdown at the hands of Melvin Manhoef in just a few seconds.

Absolute fantastic show up and down. Can’t complain about staying up until 8am for this.

• Will Fedor and Syvlia fight for a title?
• The value of titles in MMA
• KJ Noons vs. Yves Edwards preview
• Who should get a lightweight title shot next: Eddie Alvarez or Nick Diaz?
• A look at DREAM 4
• HDNet’s coverage of DREAM and other MMA events
• What to expect from Adrenaline MMA

Listen to the interview HERE

“This kid is overhyped, you know what I mean?” Miller says. “He fought a bunch of chumps, and now he thinks he’s awesome. So that’s cool. Whatever. But I’ve fought the toughest names in the business and beat many of them. … Am I expecting an easy fight? No. But at the same time, I love the fact that [people] think I’m going to get murdered because he’s got a bunch of f—ing Internet Web clips of him submitting dudes.”

Like I said in my DREAM 4 Grand Prix preview, I feel Miller has the advantage in this fight due to his overall experience level, his better MMA skill set, and his toughness. He is unbelievably hard to finish and has beat some of the best guys in the fight game today. The fact that he is coming in as an underdog in the odds is actually a bit surprising to me. Sure, Jacare is a beast on the ground but he has never faced anyone in MMA that’s even close to Miller’s caliber. Out of all the fights this weekend, this one has to be the most intriguing matchup of them all but I feel pretty strongly that Miller will step up to the plate and deliver a victory to his Monkeys. Like Miller said himself in the same interview: “I’ve been fighting since Heavy D was skinny.” Advantage Mayhem.

Cacareco‘s departure has been blamed both on problems obtaining a visa (his team) and him simply pulling off of the card due to jet lag (DREAM). BloodyElbow has a blurb as I’m sure which side most of us will come down on this.

Current lineup for late, late Saturday night’s show:

• Shinya Aoki vs Katsuhiko Nagata (LWGP)
  
• Alistair Overeem vs Tae Hyun Lee
• Ralek Gracie vs Alavutdin Gadzhiyev
• Hideo Tokoro vs Darren Uyenoyama
• Dong Sik Yoon vs Gegard Mousasi (MWGP)
• Zelg Galesic vs Taiei Kin (MWGP)
• “Mayhem” Miller vs “Jacare” Souza (MWGP)
• Kazushi Sakuraba vs Melvin Manhoef (MWGP)

Shinya Aoki vs. Katsuhiko Nagata (LW Grand Prix)

Aoki and his Zubaz taking on Nagata will most likely be the co-main event of this card because Aoki is a beloved figure in Japan, but not as beloved as Sakuraba, who is also on the card and will most likely be in the main event spot. Everyone is pretty much calling this fight a wash and has penciled Aoki into the third round of the Grand Prix and they’re likely right. However, Nagata is not to be taken lightly as he has trained with one of the best MMA camps at American Kickboxing Academy and won a silver medal in Greco-Roman wrestling at the Olympics in 2000. That being said, Aoki has an uncanny ability to shut down people’s games, make them play to his strength, and frustrate them with his wacky pants and killer jiu jitsu. I think it’s a tougher fight than most people are giving it credit, but I still see Aoki coming out on top here and moving onto the third round. Alvarez vs. Aoki anyone?

Jason “Mayhem” Miller vs. Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza (MW Grand Prix)

This is perhaps the most anticipated fight on the card and one that’s very hard to call as Jacare is one of the best pure grapplers in all of MMA and could be considered one of Mayhem’s toughest fights to date. As long as Mayhem doesn’t fool around like he did during his last fight, I think he takes this one. He has the better MMA toolbox. He can strike, he can wrestle, he can submit you, and he can defend submissions. He’s only been submitted once in his MMA career and he’s been in big time fights against the better competition. GSP couldn’t even finish this guy and Mayhem was fighting at a weight class below his normal fighting weight. He knows what it’s like to be in wars and has been in plenty of them. You can’t say the same for Jacare. While Jacare is a blue chip prospect at middleweight and has a scary submission game, he doesn’t have the experience or the total all-around game that Miller does. If it hits the ground for long periods of time I expect Jacare to have a chance but submitting Miller is a tall order.

Kazushi Sakuraba vs. Melvin Manhoef (MW Grand Prix)

Don’t get me wrong, I love Sakuraba. I think if you’re a hardcore fan of MMA you have to love what Sakuraba’s done for the sport in Japan and the way he’s carred himself inside the ring and out. That being said, I think he’s being fed to the wolves here against Manhoef. Sakuraba’s only chance in this fight is to get it to the ground and end up on top. Manhoef’s ground game is not where it needs to be at the current moment and this is where Sakuraba has the advantage. If it’s standing, it’s Manhoef’s game. If Manhoef ends up on top, he can inflict so much damage from that position that it will be hard to submit him. Everything the guy throws, from his leg kicks to his punches, is thrown with seriously bad intentions, on the ground and standing. During some of his fights you can hear his punches cutting the air with a “zing” sound. It’s that powerful. Sakuraba’s age and wear and tear combined with Manhoef’s devastating power are making me lean toward Manhoef here but don’t be surprised when Sakuraba puts up one hell of a valiant effort. Let’s just hope that if it gets out of hand, the ref stops it before anymore of Saku’s brain gets fried.

Gegard Mousasi vs. Dong Sik Yoon (MW Grand Prix)

Yet another intriguing matchup on the card. Sure, Yoon is 4-4 but he lost his first four fights against competition like Murilo Bustamante, Quinton Jackson, and Kazushi Sakuraba. Since that time he’s gone 4-0, submitting the likes of Melving Manhoef, Zelg Galesic, and Fabio Silva. He gets better every time out and gave Quinton Jackson all he could handle in Jackson’s last fight in the PRIDE organization. The guy is talented and he’s only getting better. That being said, Mousasi is a beast in his own right. He can knock you out or he can submit you. MMA Weekly has him ranked as the #9 middlweight in the world and he’s coming off a stunning victory over Denis Kang via triangle choke, a fight that he was probably losing until the turnaround. Mousasi has the edge in experience but Yoon has fought as many quality opponents as he has in a shorter period of time and holds a big advantage over Mousasi on the ground. It’s razor thin close between these two but I am going to go with Yoon here. He continues to improve and I think he takes his game to the next level here by beating Mousasi. This could be a sleeper bout on the card that steals the night away from the big boys.

Zelg Galesic vs. Taiei Kin (MW Grand Prix)

This is perhaps the weakest matchup of all the Middlweight Grand Prix fights but still an interesting one to look out for. It’s a rematch of a previous bout between the two that was stopped only 36 seconds into the first round due to a cut caused from a high kick that grazed Kin’s eyelid and opened a pretty nice cut. Galesic is a great striker and primarily likes to keep it on the feet and has shown a weakness against good grapplers. He has a serviceable ground game but nothing stellar. If he can keep it on the feet here, and I think he will, he should be able to pick Kin apart. Galesic’s hands are unbelievably fast and I don’t think Kin will be able to see the strikes coming, therefore not allowing him to get into a comfort zone to work his own game.

The fallout from this Middleweight Grand Prix may be more interesting than the fights themselves. The potential matchups for the next round are extremely intriguing. Just think of the possible matchups for the next round depending on the outcome:

Mayhem vs. Sakuraba, a fight that Mayhem has called for.

Sakuraba vs. Jacare, a grappler’s dream fight.

Galesic vs. Manhoef, a fantastic display of striking.

Yoon vs. Manhoef, a rematch of a previous fight.

And the list goes on. Sunday morning is going to be a fun morning of mixed martial arts.

Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic has pulled out of his scheduled grappling match with Ralek Gracie at Dream 4 due to some nagging injuries.The news comes from MMA Weekly via a report on Croatian news site, Dnevnik.hr.

The report states that Cro Cop decided against the grappling match because he wanted to rehab some nagging injuries and focus on a July 21st MMA bout likely to be against former K-1 champion kickboxer, Jerome LeBanner at Dream 5.

Although the grappling match probably wouldn’t have been the most enthralling of contests I was still intrigued to see it and now I’m slightly disappointed that it has been cancelled. I knew I should have been suspicious when Mike Huckaby posted up a completed fight card for Dream 4 up more than two days out from the event. In retrospect that finished fight card now just looks like a deformed Minowaman taunting me.

Read more Mirko Cro Cop content on FiveOuncesOfPain.com.

• Alistair Overeem vs Tae Hyun Lee
• Alavutdin Gadzhiyev vs Cacareco
• Mirko Cro Cop vs Ralek Gracie (grappling match)
• Hideo Tokoro vs Darren Uyenoyama
• Shinya Aoki vs Katsuhiko Nagata (LWGP)
• Zelg Galesic vs Taiei Kin (MWGP)
• Jacare vs Jason “Mayhem” Miller (MWGP)
• Gegard Mousasi vs Dong Sik Yoon (MWGP)
• Kazushi Sakuraba vs Melvin Manhoef (MWGP)

Wait, did they just get a card done with more than a week to spare? What the hell is going on over there?

MMA-ID (www.mma-id.com), proud sponsor of Mirko Cro Cop, has learned in the last few hours that Cro Cop will be facing dynamic heavyweight striker Jerome LeBanner. The bout is scheduled to take place at DREAMS 4 on June 16 in Saitama, Tokyo. LeBanner is 3-1-1 in mixed martial arts, last competing in 2006.

This shouldn’t be an opponent that gives Cro Cop a lot of trouble but it’s much better than him facing Tomato Can A or Tomato Can B. LeBanner poses an interesting matchup for Cro Cop but nothing that I don’t think the devastating striker from Croatia can’t handle.