The highly anticipated rematch between UFC light heavyweight champion Lyoto Machida and Mauricio “Shogun” Rua is set for UFC 113 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, and the UFC has made the supporting cast of the May event official today.
Featured alongside the evening’s main event is a welterweight match up between Josh Koscheck and Paul Daley. Koscheck is one of the most notable wrestlers in the division with ever-improving striking, and a big mouth to hype a fight. Daley has some of the heaviest hands in the entire division and, like Koscheck, knows how to play the trash-talk game quite well.
Much speculation surrounds the fight, as the two are at the top of the welterweight contenders list. The winner will likely receive the next title shot against welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre, making this match up an intriguing and important one.
In another interesting match up, “Ultimate Fighter” season 10 contestants Matt Mitrione and Kimbo Slice will face off in a heavyweight war. Slice, of YouTube fame, defeated Houston Alexander at the end of 2009, while Mitrione knocked out Marcus “Big Baby” Jones silly the same night. Each man seems to prefer the stand up, especially Mr. Slice, and a striking battle could be in the cards for May 8.
In another battle of strikers, Sam Stout, coming off his dominant performance against Joe Lauzon at UFC 108, will look to continue his roll against hard-hitting Jeremy Stephens, who devastated Justin Buchholz earlier this year. Like the aforementioned heavyweights, these two do one thing really well, and that is stand and bang. “Fight of the Night” honors are written all over this one.
Yet the potential slugfest match ups do not end there, as Patrick Cote and Alan Belcher will meet in Montreal in a middleweight bout. The last time anybody saw Cote in the Octagon, he suffered a detrimental knee injury in his middleweight title fight against Anderson Silva. Belcher’s last time in the cage went a little better, as he decimated Wilson Gouveia in the first round of his undercard bout at UFC 107.
Also announced today by the UFC are the evening’s undercard match ups. Included in the impressive prelims are bouts such as Marcus Davis vs. Jonathon Goulet, Yoshiyuki Yoshida vs. Mike Guymon, and Tim Credeur vs. Tom Lawlor.
UFC 113 is set for Montreal, Quebec, Canada’s Bell Center on May 8, where “The Dragon” will look to prove his victory over “Shogun” Rua at UFC 104 was legitimate. Alongside the main event are the intriguing match ups announced today. Continue reading for the list of announced fights and the entire card for UFC 113.
Main Card
Lyoto Machida vs. Mauricio Rua
Josh Koscheck vs. Paul Daley
Sam Stout vs. Jeremy Stephens
Kimbo Slice vs. Matt Mitrione
Alan Belcher vs. Patrick Cote
Preliminary Card:
Tim Credeur vs. Tom Lawlor
Marcus Davis vs. Jonathon Goulet
Yoshiyuki Yoshida vs. Mike Guymon
Joey Beltran vs. Chad Corvin
TJ Grant vs. Johny Hendricks
Nick Catone vs. John Salter