New URDirt.com launches Monday August 25

We are down right now preparing our new fully featured website, sorry for the inconvenience as of Monday we plan on launching our new privately hosted website. We could not have done this with out you our fans so thank you for being patient and we will have new content for you and a new site to go with it Monday August 25.

Thank you,
Alberto "Narcisist" Martinez
Nelson "Nelo" Rodriguez

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We are updating on the new site click the link to check out the News, Rumors and announcements.

UFC 88 Breakthrough preview with Rashad Evans

Rashad Evans interview for UFC 88

Kenny Florian vs Frankie Edgar possible in the future

Yesterday we reported to you that Joe Stevenson and Kenny Florian would meet in the Octagon at UFC 91 in November at either in Portland Oregon or in Boston, Massachussets. As we know this fight would have a lot of potential to be another fight of the year candidate as both fighters are well rounded and dangerous in every part of their game. Now in a interview with Kenny Florian's co-host of MMA Live Franklin McNeil, Edgar discusses his thoughts on possibly fighting Kenny Florian as well. quoted from ESPN.com

"Like Kenny, I want to fight the best in my division and right now he might be the No. 1 contender. So, fighting him is kind of a no-brainer. I want to get one [fight] in before the year is out. I would prefer November, but I would wait around to fight Kenny in December."
As for having his name mentioned prominently by Florian? That's fine by Edgar.
"It kind of gives me some recognition," Edgar said. "For a guy like Kenny to consider me as a formidable opponent; he's fought for the title and he's on a lot of people's list for a possible future title shot. So, it's good for me.
"I don't think Kenny's really calling me out; he's just making a statement that he wants to fight tough opponents."
Florian and Edgar are friends. The dropping of Edgar's name was not a show of disrespect by Florian.
"As an athlete, I have a lot of respect for [Frankie Edgar] for what he's accomplished," Florian said. "I respect him as a fighter and a person.
"It was the same with Roger Huerta. I had nothing against Roger; I liked Roger. But he was the best opponent available at the time. … It's nothing personal.
"I want to fight Frankie because he's a great fighter. That's the most important thing. It's about respect, and beating someone like Frankie Edgar will get me more respect."

As we all know Florian is fresh off of a win at UFC 87 over highly touted UFC lightweight Roger Huerta ending his undefeated win streak in the Octagon. Edgar is coming off of a convincing win over former number 1 contender to the lightweight title Hermes Franca at Ultimate Fight Night 14 in July. As we know BJ Penn is going to hold out for a fight against Georges St.Pierre either in December or February and it seems Florian is set to eliminate any other possible contenders for his title. As it stands right now Florian is rumored to be fighting Stevenson, but if it does not happen and Edgar does not have a fight at the time he would be a very good opponent for Florian.

Swick wont return until late in the year

Yesterday Dana White announced at the UFC 90: Silva vs Cote Press conference we learned that Mike Swick would also get an opponent for the Chicago event. Well the announcement may have been premature as Swick told MMAWeekly.com that the injury is still not 100% and will keep him out of the UFC 90 card.

“As of right now it is still not 100%, mostly because I am training on it so much, but should be completely healed within the next few weeks. I have been doing cardio and some grappling, but haven't been able to spar for some time. I am trying to be ready by November, but it’s a safer bet to say I will be fighting in December.”

So it seems the UFC will have to look for other matches to fill the rest of the main and undercard from this point out. We will let you know when Swick does get an opponent for November or December.

UFC 90 bout between Sean Sherk and Tyson Griffin is now official

The Ultimate Fighting Championship has confirmed a lightweight bout between top contenders Tyson Griffin and Sean "The Muscle Shark" Sherk and the matchup will indeed take place at UFC 90 in Chicago, Illinois at the Allstate Arena on October 25. This fight would more than likely move the winner one step closer to a Lightweight title shot.

Sean Sherk who at this point last year was the UFC Lightweight Champion, but was stripped of the title because of a failed post fight urinalysis test back at UFC 73 that supposedly came up positive, which caused him to be suspended by the NSAC. Sherk did however, appeal his case and got his suspension reduced and was able to get his chance earlier this year to regain the title he never lost, but was defeated by the current Lightweight Champion BJ Penn at UFC 84, so now Sherk will look to get back on the winning track as he takes on Tyson Griffin who is on a four fight winning streak and just recently defeated Marcus Aurelio at UFC 86 in early July, but Sherk will certainly be the toughest test in Griffin's young career to date.

UFC 90 will feature Middleweight Champion Anderson "The Spider" Silva taking on Patrick "The Predator" Cote in the main event of the evening and the event will be also live on pay per view.

EliteXC trying to make Noons vs Diaz rematch for Oct.4 on CBS

There has been a lot of back and forth talk between EliteXC Lightweight Champion KJ Noons and Nick Diaz ever since their match back in November for the then vacant title. Noons has gained a huge amount of confidence since winning the gold and just recently succeeded in defending his championship by defeating another tough challenger in former UFC vet Yves Edwards back in June and as for Diaz he has reeled off three straight victories winning all of them by TKO.

ProElite officials are trying their hardest to put together this rematch between the two hated rivals, but VP Jared Shaw tells MMAWeekly.com that he hasn't been able to get in contact with Noons camp and management, but he did have this to say on the potential matchup, “Nick Diaz is the No. 1 contender. K.J. Noons should step up and be the champion that we think he is and take this fight. Nick Diaz will take this fight any place, anywhere,” Shaw told MMAWeekly.com. “(Noons’ management) won’t even return our calls. Shaw would however, say that Noons is his champion and that he supports him, “We believe in K.J. as our champion. For some reason (his camp) is not coming straight out and saying no, but they are making it very difficult to make it happen.

“His manager doesn’t want us talking to him directly. Who knows what K.J. even knows about the situation, but his management is holding us hostage.” EliteXC does not have enough time to, so they must find a way to get in touch with KJ's management and finally get this fight to happen. Shaw says they just need Noons and his camp to agree on the bout. Shaw would go on to comment, “Hopefully K.J. wants the fight and hopefully he will instruct his management to take the fight,” commented Shaw. “K.J. signed a contract. All we want is for him to honor that contract, fight on Oct. 4 on CBS, and prove that he’s the champion we think he is. Right now, he’s not representing us as the EliteXC champion.” Keep in touch as we bring you any new info on this story.

Josh Thomson will fight on Sept.20 in a non title bout; Terry Martin to face Cory Devela on the same card

We all know that new Strikeforce Lightweight Champion Josh "The Punk" Thomson will be headlining the "Strikeforce at the Mansion 2" event at the famed estate in Beverly Hills, California, but the champ does not have a set opponent at this moment. Earlier this evening according to MMAJunkie.com says that a source has told them that Jay Estrada (21-9) could be facing Thomson in the featured bout of the night However; Strikeforce VP Mike Afromowitz says that the bout has not been signed yet, but should the fight be signed by the organization Afromowitz says the match will be a non title affair.

Another matchup that was announced by the California based promotion was middleweight contender Cory Devela (9-2) taking on Terry Martin (17-5) who is formerly of the UFC. Devela who is trained under the tutelage of Dennis Hallman is currently riding a 7 fight wins streak will go for an 8th straight victory when he faces Martin who was recently knocked out by Vitor Belfort at the inaugural Affliction event on July 19. The Strikeforce at the mansion card will also have Renato "Babalu" Sobral taking on Bobby Southworth for the Light Heavyweight title and Joe Riggs will be taking on former PRIDE and K-1 vet Kazuo Misaki. We will keep you informed when confirmation comes for the opponent for Josh Thomson.

Jason Day out for UFC 88 matchup with Jason Lambert (UPDATE)

Update - According to Sherdog.com it appears the UFC has found a suitable opponent to replace Jason Day in his UFC 88 matchup against Jason Lambert with fellow Canadian countryman Jason "The Athlete" MacDonald who recently just competed at UFC 87 in a loss to Brazilian jiu - jitsu technician Demian Maia. Nothing has been set in stone at the moment, but we will let you know as soon as the bout gets confirmed. Also MMAWeekly.com reports James Lee pulls out of his UFC 88 matchup with Tim "The Barbarian" Boetsch due to an unspecified injury and a newcomer by the name of Mike Patt will step in to face Boetsch at the September event in Atlanta, Ga.

Canadian middleweight fighter Jason "Dooms" Day will not be able to compete in his UFC 88 bout with Jason "The Punisher" Lambert (who is making his 185 pound debut) due to an elbow and bicep injury. According to MMAWeekly.com Day will have an MRI to specify the extent of the injuries.

Day was to face Lambert as a part of the UFC 88 undercard portion of the event which is headlined by "The Iceman" Chuck Liddell taking on "Sugar" Rashad Evans as the main event. No opponent has been named as a replacement for Jason Day, but we will let you know as always when the UFC gets someone to step in and face Lambert.


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Rumor - Florian vs Stevenson at UFC 91 with Cain Velasquez also to compete

As reported earlier by us at URDirt.com UFC lightweight contenders Kenny Florian and Joe Stevenson are in talks to have a match take place at UFC 91 in either Boston, MA or Portland, OR on November 15. Also in the works to compete at the upcoming event is Cain Velasquez who at this point does not have an opponent for UFC 90.

Several sources close to us have rumored this bout since Florian defeated Roger Huerta at UFC 87. There is that and also Florian does not want to wait for a match for the title with BJ Penn. Florian says he wants to fight one more time this year which is smart on his behalf. Because the last thing Florian needs to do is wait for his shot at the title like what UFC welterweight Karo Parisyan did and have it come back to bite him. These are only rumors, but they are strong rumors and we will let you know when this bit of news come gets any confirmation.

EliteXC looking to set up big show for November

With EliteXC to broadcast it's third installment of CBS "Saturday Night Fights" featuring Kimbo Slice and Gina Carano set to compete on the card ProElite Manager of fighter operations JD Penn (who is the brother of UFC Lightweight Champion BJ Penn) tells MMANews.com that EliteXC is planning on putting together a huge show on Showtime in the month of November.

No location or venue has been announced at this time, but fighters who could be appearing on the card are Lightweight Champion KJ Noons, Nick Diaz and Middleweight Champion Robbie Lawler. We will let you know when we get confirmation for the upcoming event.


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