UFC 139: Shogun VS Henderson

[Ben]

UFC 139 will be LIVE! from the HP Pavilion in San Jose, California on November 19th 2011 on PPV



Main Event:
Mauricio ‘Shogun’ Rua(20-5) VS Dan Henderson

Main Card:

185lbs: Cung Le (7-1) vs Vitor Belfort (19-9)
135lbs: Urijah Faber (25-5) vs Brian Bowles (10-1)
205lbs: Stephan Bonnar (13-7) vs Kyle Kingsbury (11-2-0-1)
205lbs: Jason Brilz (18-4-1) vs Ryan Bader (12-2)

Preliminary Card:

155lbs: Gleison Tibau (23-7) vs Rafael Dos Anjos (15-5)
170lbs: Martin Kampmann (17-5) vs Rick Story (13-4)
185lbs: Chris Weidman (6-0) vs Tom Lawlor (7-3-0-1)[/SIZE]

Shogun/Henderson takes top billing here after the Cain/JDS fight moves to Fox. Good main event and another top guy from Strike Force jumps over. Not much left over there besides Melendez.

​

 

[No More Sorrow]

I've got Shogun in this one, also it's gonna be good to see belfort fight again as well he looked beast in his last fight.

 

[Ben]

Belfort off the UFC 139 Card
Vitor Belfort is injured and has been pulled from his UFC 139 fight against Cung Le.
Sad? Don't be, because UFC President Dana White today tweeted that Wanderlei Silva will take his place against the San Shou striker in the co-main event of the "Henderson vs. Shogun" pay-per-view on Nov. 19 at the HP Pavilion in San Jose, California.
It will be the first appearance for "The Axe Murderer" since going stiff at the hands of Chris Leben, who "crippled" the PRIDE legend at UFC 132 earlier this year.
The defeat dropped Silva (33-11-1) to 2-4 since his Octagon debut, a three round unanimous decision loss against Chuck Liddell back in late 2007.

Wandy is pretty much done IMO, Leben showed his chin is gone, expect him to get knocked out again here and hopefully he walks away soon.

 

[No More Sorrow]

Damn. i wanted Belfort haha

DENVER – Following a first-round knockout loss to Chris Leben at July's UFC 132 loss, Wanderlei Silva's future with the UFC was uncertain.

Now he's back, co-headlining at this falls's UFC 139 event in a fan-friendly bout with Cung Le (7-1 MMA, 0-0 UFC).

But now more than ever, Silva (31-11-1 MMA, 3-5 UFC) needs a win to continue on the octagon, UFC president Dana White today proclaimed. The UFC boss said he has nothing but love for "The Axe Murderer," but another loss will likely end his run in the UFC.

"It's one of those things," White said. "There's this fine line between telling a guy you've got to hang it up and him actually wanting to hang it up. We'll give him this fight with Cung Le, and we'll go from there."

White shared the comments with a small group of reporters following Wednesday's UFC 135 pre-event press conference in Denver.

Silva had been sidelined since the July loss, but an injury to Le's original opponent, Vitor Belfort, opened the door for him to step in. And despite previously saying the loss to Leben was "probably the end of the road" for the Brazilian slugger, White elected to let Silva have one more chance.

"I'm sure you guys know what I said about Wanderlei after his last fight," White said. "Wanderlei was really bummed out about it, and he wants another opportunity. He wants to fight.

"The guy's been around for a long time. I respect him. He's healthy, so we'll give him the shot."

Silva is just 2-6 in his past eight fights, and four of the losses cam via knockout. As a once dominant PRIDE champion, Silva's place in MMA history is secure. However, White said his UFC roster spot is a bit less certain, and his fight with Le will determine where his future lies.

"He knew going into that last fight how I felt about it," White told Mwww.mmajunkie.com "The thing with me is, I love Wanderlei. Wanderlei has been awesome ever since he's come to the UFC. You couldn't ask for a nicer guy and a guy who goes in and gives it all. But listen, I don't want to see a guy go in and get hurt. You guys have heard me say it a million times: I don't want to make one dollar of that kind of money. I don't. Otherwise, if that was the case, Chuck Liddell would still be fighting.

"People get pissed off every time I say this – people are like, 'Who are you?' Unfortunately for people who don't like it, I am the one who makes those decisions. Whether you like it or not, too [expletive] bad."

 

[No More Sorrow]

DENVER – UFC light heavyweight Jon Jones puts his title on the line at Saturday's UFC 135 event, and the card marks the beginning of a stretch that sees six UFC titles defended in a seven-week stretch.

And while UFC president Dana White doesn't typically like to make future matchups before fight results have been determined, the boss believes Dan Henderson (28-8 MMA, 4-2 UFC), Mauricio "Shogun" Rua (20-5 MMA, 4-3 UFC) and Melvin Guillard (29-8-2 MMA, 10-4 UFC) have all positioned themselves within striking distance of UFC gold.

White shared his ideas following Wednesday's UFC 135 pre-event press conference in Denver.

First up was a UFC 139 matchup between Henderson and Rua. The recently announced headliner, which White said will be contested as a five-round affair, serves as a de facto No. 1 contender matchup on Nov. 19 at HP Pavilion in San Jose, Calif.

"It would be tough not to give the winner of that fight the next shot after Rashad (Evans)," White said. "Rashad's next."

Henderson, who recently signed an exclusive deal with the UFC, vacated his Strikeforce belt as part of his return to the UFC, where he posted a three-fight win streak (over Rousimar Palhares, Rich Franklin and Michael Bisping) before contract talks stalled in 2009. Henderson, a former two-division PRIDE champion, ultimately signed with Strikeforce, where he went 3-1, which included a title victory over then-champ Rafael Cavalcante and a recent TKO of Fedor Emelianenko.

With Strikeforce now operating under the same roof as the UFC, White said negotiations with the longtime veteran were quick and painless.

"They went smooth," White said. "He wanted to fight in the UFC."

Meanwhile, the UFC's lightweight title picture has been a mess for most of 2011. A draw between current champ Frankie Edgar and Gray Maynard – not to mention a pair of injuries that delayed the rematch – has kept the belt on hold for most of the year. The two will hopefully resolve the situation at October's UFC 136 event in Houston.

In a talent-rich division, it's difficult to determine who should get the next crack at the title. Top contenders like Ben Henderson and Clay Guida have each made a case, and the winner of a November bout between the two will certainly find himself in an enviable position.

But White believes Guillard, who faces Joe Lauzon at UFC 136, may truly be the one in the driver's seat.

"In my opinion, if he can keep his head together – because he's such a nutball – Melvin Guillard is very nasty at 155. (pounds)," White said. "But the problem with Melvin – the problem he's had for years, and hopefully he can keep that under control – season two of 'The Ultimate Fighter,' if you guys remember that, he ended up losing the fight and was out of the house. We sent people to another house then. He was out in Vegas acting like he was Anderson Silva, like he was the longest-reigning champ ever.

"He's always had this problem with getting ahead of himself. If he can control himself and focus and keep training and stay serious, I think Melvin Guillard is a force to be reckoned with."

MMAJunkie.com

 

[Ben]

Official Poster Released:

 

[No More Sorrow]

A bantamweight bout between Michael McDonald (13-1 MMA, 2-0 UFC) and Johnny Eduardo (25-9 MMA, 0-1 UFC) has been added to November's UFC 139 event.

Additionally, officials have confirmed a bout MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) previously reported: ex-WEC bantamweight champion Miguel Torres (38-4 MMA, 1-1 UFC) vs. Nick Pace (6-2 MMA, 1-1 UFC).

UFC 139 takes place Nov. 19 at the HP Pavilion in San Jose, Calif. The night's main card, including a Dan Henderson vs. Mauricio "Shogun" Rua headliner, airs on pay-per-view.

McDonald vs. Eduardo and Torres vs. Pace are expected to be part of the preliminary card.

The 20-year-old McDonald, a former Tachi Palace Fights champion, is 3-0 under the Zuffa LLC banner with a WEC victory over Clint Godfrey and UFC wins over Edwin Figueroa (which earned a "Fight of the Night" award) and Chris Cariaso. The Brazilian jiu-jitsu brown belt has now won six straight fights, which included the Tachi title win over Cole Escovedo to avenge his only career defeat.

Eduardo, a 15-year vet of the Brazilian fight circuit, made his UFC debut when the organization made its August return to the country back in August. At UFC 134, he suffered a decision loss to Raphael Assuncao. It snapped an 11-fight win streak for the Nova Uniao fighter.

Torres, meanwhile, looks to rebound from a recent loss. In May, he suffered a decision defeat to Demetrious Johnson at UFC 130. The former WEC champ, who lost his belt to Brian Bowles, had picked up a WEC 51 win over Charlie Valencia and a UFC 126 victory over Antonio Banuelos before the setback to Johnson. He's now 2-3 since a remarkable 36-1 start to his career.

Pace, who fought once under the WEC and Bellator banners, made his octagon debut back in December, when he tapped out Will Campuzano via rare pillory choke at The Ultimate Fighter 12 Finale. However, back in August, he suffered a unanimous-decision loss to Ivan Menjivar (a replacement for MacDonald) at UFC 133. He's now suffered losses in two of his past three fights, which included a decision loss to Johnson at WEC 51.

MMAJunkie.com

 

[Troy]

This should be a good PPV. Shogun vs Henderson is a great mainevent and I have to go with Shogun winning here. Henderson is coming off a famous first round TKO of Fedor but I think that Shogun is the better fighter at this time. A win here should get Shogun back into title contention.

Really looking forward to Cung Le's UFC debut. Should be a win first up for him as Wanderlei has lost 6 of his last 8 and I don't think that he will be able to keep up with Le.