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.

Kimbo's next opponent to be announced this week

No other fighter in history of Mixed Martial Arts has faced more scrutiny, criticism and popularity at once than Kimbo Slice. The EliteXC poster boy after only 3 fights has always been criticized for his lack of experience and being the main event attraction at the first Saturday Night Fights on CBS. The card was the first to air on national TV on a prime time network and hour, the IFL was first to air on the UPN/MY network but there is nothing major about either of those two companies. Now word is coming out that Slice's next opponent for the October EliteXC's third event on CBS will be announced this week. So far rumors have surfaced of Ken Shamrock, Don Frye and of course the man who called him out at the first CBS card Brett Rogers. The confirmation of EliteXC's announcement was by MMANews.com.

"MMANews.com had a chance to speak with a Representative earlier today from EliteXC and they informed us that the plan at this time is to announce Kimbo Slice's opponent for his October 4th main event bout on CBS either by the end of this week or early next week."

As we all know Slice has not faced the best of competition and fans have used to back claims of him being overhyped. A lot of ProElite's (EliteXC's parent company) is riding on this event being a hit in the ratings department. ProElite this weekend canceled two events from their promotions including a September 20 EliteXC card and a Cage Rage Contenders card as well. Many have speculated that this is a sign of the companies future being the same as the IFL's who recently folded and sold its remaining assets to Zuffa the UFC's parent company. No one knows for sure but EliteXC will need to show CBS that it can put fans to watch its card at home or risk a rocky future.

Rumor- Affliction looking to sign Ricardo Arona

Ricardo Arona (13-5) has not fought since a devastating knockout loss to Sokoudjou at Pride 34: Kamikaze. Shortly after that fight Zuffa (the UFC's parent company) bought out Pride FC and Bushido from DSE.
Fighters who Arona had competed against and beaten began to sign with organizations soon after. Arona for some strange reason was not one of the fighters who the UFC decided to sign. With all of Arona's ground and pound skills his style seemed tailor made for fighting in the Octagon. Even in a recent interview with Sherdog.com he said "The UFC rules were made for me."

Arona may now be a step closer to returning to the ring instead of the cage as a source close to URDirt.com are telling us Affliction is looking into signing Arona for their October 11 "Day of Reckoning" card at the Thomas and Mack center in Las Vegas. Our source told us the signing of Arona would not only improve the division's depth, but also make sure it would have plenty of top notch fighters and make it as deep as the heavyweight division. Arona's signing is a move to bolster the roster for a potential Tito Ortiz signing. To ensure they would have top contenders for him if and when they made a belt for 205 pound fighters.

"They (Affliction) want the best (fighters) in the world they can get right now and Arona is one of the best unsigned fighters around. He has wins over Wanderlei Silva and Dan Henderson and he held his own against Fedor, that says a lot about the guys skill."

We were also told that Arona has not been contacted yet, but will be soon and offered a three fight non-exclusive deal. As we are beginning to see Affliction add quality fighters such as Vladimir Matyushenko and Roy Nelson this comes as little surprise as the company continues to add depth and spare no expense to do so. As usual we will let you know if and when anything becomes official.

UFC 90- 3 Rumored fights.

Today the Ultimate Fighting Championship has set up a lightweight bout for their first ever event in Chicago with Spencer Fisher taking on Melvin Guillard at UFC 90. The two combatants have agreed on the bout and are on the verge of finalizing it as we speak.


There is also a rumored bout at UFC 90 between lightweight contenders Sean Sherk and Tyson Griffin. Should this fight come to fruition than it would appear that the winner would get a title opportunity in the future and face current title holder BJ Penn. The fight should be evenly matched as both fighters have a strong wrestling base and also have decent stand up skills.

UPDATE- Another rumor we are hearing while making our rounds is that Jason Lambert will be slimming down to middleweight to fight Alessio Sakara at Middleweight. The rumor is the fight will either be on the UFC 89 or 90 card. This should prove to be interesting as this can be both fighters last chance to prove they belong in the UFC. Lambert is coming off of back to back knockout losses in a row after beating Babalu Sobral last year. Sakara was a very highly touted prospect who never lived up to his promise at 205 pounds either.

Keep in mind all three of these fights are just rumors and are not confirmed and are just an attempt to keep you as updated as possible.

Rumor- Affliction asking fighters to take a 50% pay cut for October show.

There is a rumor going around that Affliction VP Tom Atencio allegedly asked fighters to take up a 50% cut in their contracted salaries for the upcoming October Affliction show in Las Vegas.

Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer was first to report the rumor from the information we are gathering. Josh Barnett was asked by Fight opinion.com about taking a possible pay cut he had this to say,

"He was not going to take a pay cut to fight."

Also when asked about a possible fight for the October show with Fedor also added,

"It’s not up to him as far as whether or not the fight gets booked. He wants to fight Fedor, but can’t worry about the politics surrounding why the fight hasn’t been booked."

We have all already heard the rumor of a possible Fedor vs Arlovski fight being a very strong candidate for the show. We also know that Barnett is considered by many to be the biggest threat to Fedor right now even more so than Arlovski. If the rumor about the pay cut is true then Affliction really needs to start considering raising talent, no organization unless 100% backed with a very patient investor can last losing $3 to $4 Million a show (Estimated). There are many up and coming fighters who will become available when the IFL closes its doors on Friday.

There are also many fighters from Japan that do not have exclusive contracts. For the next card Tito Ortiz is being mentioned as a possible new fighter and he will not come cheap along with paying Arlovski and Fedor. We will let you know if any new information comes our way as usual.

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Rumor - Fedor really made $1.6 Million at Affliction Banned

As we all know last week there was a report that Fedor made $300,000 from his fight against Tim Sylvia at Affliction: Banned, it seemed peculiar that the worlds number one Heavyweight in the world would make half a million less then someone he beat in under a minute. Especially when Fedor was a heavy favorite to beat Sylvia and numerous reports from the UFC and Pride were Fedor only fought for the best money possible. Now a new report out of Fightline.com states the the Russian Sambo machine made almost twice what Sylvia made taking in $1.6 Million.

This as the report says is actually a bonus on top of the fact that Fedor also owns the rights to his footage in Europe. This actually seems a bit more logical when you think back and remember rumors that Fedor was offered a bigger deal by the UFC then $300,000. Part of the reason why Dana White said they were not able to sign Fedor was that his managers were looking out for themselves and not Fedor's best interest. What White was referring to was the promotion of his manager Vladim Finkelstein's M-1 promotion with the UFC. Dana White referred to this many times in interviews as something the UFC was not interested in doing as they were not ready to promote in Russia. Fedor did get this deal with Affliction and for his fight against Matt Lindland in the now debunked Bodog Fight. We will keep you up to date and let you know if this becomes official but we wouldn't hold our breath on it.

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