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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief
With news coming out last week that the UFC is putting together an event to go head to head against Strikeforce on CBS, the early word was that Kimbo Slice was expected to be a part of the show on Spike TV. However, the UFC has now officially announced Slice for a bout against fellow TUF 10 castmate Matt "Meathead" Mitrione for the May 8th UFC 113 event in Montreal.
The announcement means that Slice will not be the headliner for the April 17th show, leaving nothing but questions surrounding what fights might be put together for the card, or whether the event will be put together at all.
A middleweight bout between Wanderlei Silva and Yoshihiro Akiyama looked like a possibility for the card before word broke that Wanderlei was hoping to fight later this summer on the July card; and while Matt Serra and Mike Swick had been approached to face each other on the card, Swick had suffered an arm injury and was not going to be able to make the event.
UFC 113 airs live on pay-per-view on May 8th from the Bell Centre in Montreal, Quebec, CA, headlined by a Light Heavyweight Title rematch between Lyoto Machida and Mauricio "Shogun" Rua.
Penick's Analysis: There are a lot of things that could potentially be in play here. It's quite likely the UFC could be running into issues with potential bouts for the 17th, and it's possible the event does not end up taking place considering the last second nature of the proceedings. It's also possible that they just have other fights in the works and don't feel they need Kimbo on this particular event despite the ratings his appearance would bring to the Spike broadcast. It's too early to tell at this point until any more info comes out, but as of this point Strikeforce has got to be running under the assumption that something is likely coming, and they'll need to make a decision shortly whether they stay on the 17th or move to the head to head slot with the WEC 48 pay-per-view event on the 24th.
[Kimbo Slice art by Cory Gould (c) MMATorch.com]
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Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
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