THE TORCH: THE #1 WORLDWIDE BRAND IN COMBAT ENTERTAINMENT COVERAGE - OVER 250 MILLION VIEWS & LISTENS PER YEAR REREACHING MORE FANS EVERY WEEK THAN ANY OTHER INDEPENDENT SOURCE • VIA THE WEB, MOBILE, PRINT NEWSLETTER, AND ITUNES
Jun 25, 2009 - 5:56:08 PM By Matt Pelkey, MMATorch Columnist MMAJunkie.com is reporting that bout agreements have been signed between Marcus Hicks and Shane Roller to square off at WEC 42. Both lightweight fighters will be coming in off losses, two in a row for Hicks, and looking to get back in the win column and into title contention in the razor thin WEC lightweight division.
Hicks last fought at WEC 39, losing a close decision to Rob McCullough. It was his first fight since losing his bid for the lightweight title, getting TKO'd in the first round by Jamie Varner.
Roller, a highly decorated collegiate wrestler from Oklahoma State University, won his first two fights in the WEC before running into freight train Ben Henderson in his last fight.
WEC 42 will take place on August 9th at The Rogue Joint at the Hard Rock in Las Vegas, and will be headlined by Miguel Torres defending his bantamweight title against Brian Bowles.
Pelkey's Analysis: This fight will be on the preliminary card, but you're always just one impressive performance away from getting noticed in the thin WEC lightweight division. Hicks is a bowling ball, but Roller is the better prospect. Its really time to send some UFC lightweights who'll never sniff a title shot to the WEC. You know, kinda like Jamie Varner.
ALERT: Every Tuesday night, listen to the MMATorch Livecast from 9-10:30 p.m. ET or listen now to the most recent shows by clicking here. Listen live this coming Tuesday as Jamie Penick, Rich Hansen, and Matt Pelkey discuss the latest MMA happenings. Online listen at http://www.blogtalkradio.com/mmatorch or call into the show at 646-716-8090 to either just listen or participate.
"There's still a large contingent of people, that they just want to see these guys almost die, or the other guy almost die and come back, and sometimes fights are like that. Certainly they are. But sometimes you get technical masterpieces too, and to hate a beautiful, technical fight - you're not really a fight fan...
Diaz has a granite chin, possesses perhaps the best recovery in the sport, his pace and conditioning are second to none and he sets records with the volume of his punches almost every time he steps into the cage. Nick Diaz is simply designed to fight the way he fights, and not many other fighters are...
"There was a lot of poison going on around there and I'm really disappointed because we had a good thing going. It was a good thing and I think people's egos got in the way. Well, not people just Javier, his ego got in the way, and too many cameras in the gym and him trying to build himself up and his brand, his AKA brand...