Now another product of the South American hub has signed on to join UFC 142 in the form of Thiago Tavares, a 16-4-1 lightweight coming off a knockout win over Spencer Fisher last August at UFC 134 meaning he will fight in his proverbial backyard for the second straight time.

Tavares will face Sam Stout (17-6-1) at the January 14 event with the Canadian undoubtedly out to carry on the legacy of recently deceased friend/trainer/brother-in-law Shawn Tompkins. Stout hasn’t fought since June, pulling out of a fight with Dennis Siver for personal reasons in the wake of Tompkins’ untimely death, but is coming off a brutal knockout of Yves Edwards at UFC 131.

Their match-up was confirmed by the UFC via Twitter.

As mentioned earlier, Aldo and Belfort are also scheduled for action in Rio de Janeiro next year with the featherweight champion defending his title against undefeated grappler Chad Mendes and his heavier counterpart mixing it up with powerful youngster Anthony Johnson.

PHOTO CREDIT – UFC

According to an official statement on the UFC’s website, 11-3 Cane will look to build on the momentum from a first round TKO over Eliot Marshall in March against 11-0 Bulgarian Stanislav Nedkov at the event, while Tavares see action against grizzled veteran Spencer Fisher with both men hoping to avoid losses in back-to-back outings.

The 15-4-1 Tavares was last seen on the wrong end of a knockout against Shane Roller at UFC Live 3 a little more than a month ago after going 2-0-1 in three fights prior to the match-up. He holds past wins over Manny Gamburyan and Michihiro Omigawa though is undoubtedly facing one of the toughest tests of his career in the form of 24-7 Fisher.

Fisher, who is coming off a decision defeat to Ross Pearson, has been a staple of the UFC for the past five years and has emerged victorious against a number of game opponents including Josh Neer, Caol Uno, Sam Stout, and Thiago Alves. Nineteen of his twenty-four wins have been the result of a finishing performance.

On the larger end of the size scale, the collision between Cane and Nedkov should be ripe with entertainment given the fact they’ve combined for twenty TKOs/submissions in twenty-two total victories.

Nedkov will be making his promotional debut at UFC Rio after a successful run overseas including wins over Kevin Randleman and Travis Wiuff.

Other bouts expected for the show include Anderson Silva putting his middleweight title on the line against Yushin Okami and former 205-pound title-holders Forrest Griffin and Mauricio “Shogun” Rua dueling it out for a second time after Griffin submitted Rua late in their 2007 pairing.

PHOTO CREDIT – UFC

MMAWeekly.com was first to report news of the Tavares vs. Guillard matchup with the site going on record to state that bout agreements are expected to be finalized shortly.

The yet-to-be announced UFC 101 is expected to take place on August 8 in Portland, Ore. with matchups between Randy Couture vs. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira and Forrest Griffin vs. Thiago Silva reported in recent days.

Guillard, 21-7-2, has not fought since July of last year when he recorded a 36 second TKO over Dennis Siver during the undercard of UFC 86. The fight was Guillard’s first bout inside of the Octagon following a one-fight sabatical outside of the UFC that took place during a Rage in the Cage event in March of 2008.

Guillard, a veteran from the second season of The Ultimate Fighter, is 4-3 lifetime in the UFC but just 1-2 in his last three bouts under the organization’s banner. An explosive striker with suspect ground skills, Guillard holds notable victories over Marcus Davis and Kyle Bradley but also has sustained notable losses to Rich Clementi, Josh Neer, and Joe Stevenson.

Tavares, 14-3, trains out of American Top Team in Florida and recently ended a two-fight losing streak at UFC 94 in January. After sustaining losses to Matt Wiman at UFC 85 and Kurt Pellegrino at UFC 88, Tavares recorded a unanimous decision victory over Manny Gamburyan.

Tavares’ lifetime record in the UFC is 4-3 and includes wins over Naoyuki Kotani, Jason Black, and Michihiro Omigawa.

“(UFC CEO) Lorenzo (Fertitta), (UFC V.P. of Talent Relations) Joe (Silva) and I got together and thought yeah, he deserves the title shot,” MMA Junkie quotes White as saying. “How could you say, ‘No, he doesn’t deserve the shot’ after [that]?”

Despite the pronouncement that Evans will receive the next title shot at 205, White stopped short of say when and where the fight between he and Griffin would take place. Speculation had indicated that with a win over Evans, Liddell would receive a title shot vs. Griffin during the UFC’s annual New Year’s Eve weekend show in Las Vegas on Dec. 27. All signs point to Griffin vs. Evans taking place on that date, but nothing has been confirmed.

Both Griffin and Evans are former winners of Spike TV and the UFC’s hit reality television show “The Ultimate Fighter.” A matchup between season one and two winners could make for an intriguing storyline.

UFC awards $60,000 bonuses to Evans, MacDonald, Pellegrino, and Tavares

The UFC also announced during the post-show press conference for UFC 88 that four of its fighters had received $60,000 bonuses. Those fighters include Evans, Jason MacDonald, Kurt Pellegrino, and Thiago Tavares.

Evans was rewarded on top of his guaranteed salary and his win bonus with a third payoff in the form of a “Knockout of the Night” bonus thanks to a one-punch knockout of Liddell at 1:51 of round 2.

MacDonald was compensated for his rear naked choke victory over Jason Lambert at 1:20 of round 2 that garnered “Submission of the Night.” The bout was the second of the night and occurred live during the preliminary card but still was shown during last night’s telecast on a tape-delay basis.

Pellegrino and Tavares were awarded $60,000 each for their respective role in what the UFC determined was “The Fight of the Night.” Pellegrino won the fight via unanimous decision in the final live fight before the pay-per-view went live. Unfortunately, the Pellegrino vs. Tavares fight was only one of two fights last night that did not make it to air. However, the fight is now available free of charge on UFC.com.

UFC 88 attendance figures are strong

According to published reports, UFC 88 at the Phillips Arena in Atlanta drew 14,736 fans for a total gate of $2.6 million.

According to Cesar Gracie, there had been ”a lot of confusion about this event, whether or not it was happening, if Diaz was going to fight or not.”  Gracie said that Diaz wasn’t originally scheduled to fight Moreno, but  with Diaz hospitalized for a week with a nasty staph infection, the last thing on Gracie’s mind was telling Nick about his scheduled fight with Moreno, which is “why in subsequent interviews he (Diaz) knew nothing of fighting Moreno.”

Other reports, however, are naming veteran Dennis Hallman as Diaz’s replacement against Moreno.  Hallman, who holds two wins over Matt Hughes, had been training to fight on the now-defunct Cage Fury Fighting Championship’s October 12 card in Atlantic City, NJ, and should be ready to go (if, of course, the reports of him fighting in place of Diaz are correct). 

Also scheduled to appear on the “Brawl for it All” card are Jeff Monson, Charles “Krazy Horse” Bennett, Gabe Reudiger, Ruben Villareal, Brad Imes, IFBA light heavyweight female boxing champion Mia St. John, and Leland Chapman, son of Duane “Dog the Bounty Hunter” Chapman.  

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