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
The UFC's debut event in Australia is continuing to fill out this week with reports on two additional bouts for the February 21st event.
The first is a middleweight bout with implications for the Title picture, as Joe Ferraro at Sportsnet.ca reports that Nate Marquardt will face off against Chael Sonnen on the event at the Acer Arena in Sydney, Australia.
The other bout is a light heavyweight match up between Stephen Bonnar and Krzysztof Soszynski; that according to a report from MMAJunkie.com.
Marquardt was awaiting a likely clash with Dan Henderson before contract talks broke down between Hendo and the UFC. He is coming off a spectacular 21 second knockout of Demian Maia this August, and another win likely gets him a second crack at UFC Middleweight Champion Anderson Silva.
Sonnen solidified his standing as a top ten middleweight with a dominant three round decision victory against Yushin Okami at UFC 104 last month, and a win over Marquardt would be a gigantic leap up the standings.
Bonnar and Soszynski will both be looking to rebound from losses. Soszynski lost for the first official time inside the Octagon this August, by decision to Saturday's UFC 105 headliner Brandon Vera. Bonnar dropped his second straight bout, this one to Mark Coleman, at UFC 100 in July.
UFC 110 is set to take place from Sydney, Australia on February 21st, and is expected to feature a bout between Wanderlei Silva and Yoshihiro Akiyama as well as a heavyweight bout between Mirko Cro Cop and Ben Rothwell.
Penick's Analysis: Well, it's highly disappointing that the UFC and Henderson couldn't get something figured out to get him into that fight with Marquardt, as it could have been an absolutely excellent middleweight bout. That said, Sonnen's going to be a formidable opponent and another victory for Marquardt should solidify his deserving of another shot at the Middleweight Title. For Soszynski and Bonnar, it's a good match up for both against a tough opponent. Bonnar needs a win more than Krzysztof, but Soszynski's been a game fighter thus far in the UFC and will be a very tough guy for Bonnar to get past. This 110 event is shaping into a very nice card for the Australian fans.
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...
PART OF THE USA TODAY UFC GROUP