...OH, ONE MORE THING - PLEASE BOOKMARK US & VISIT DAILY!
By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief
A lightweight bout between Ultimate Fighter 5 castmates Cole Miller and Matt Wiman, originally scheduled for UFC 125 on New Year's Day, will no longer take place on the January 1 card. But it's still coming in January.
UFC officials on Tuesday announced that the bout between the Ultimate Fighter alums will move from the UFC 125 preliminary card to the main card of the Fight for the Troops 2 event on Spike TV later in the month.
A preliminary card bout between Willamy "Chiquerim" Freire and Waylon Lowe was also confirmed for the Fight for the Troops 2 event.
Miller meets the fifth Ultimate Fighter veteran in his last six fights. He's gone 4-1 in that stretch, defeating Jorge Gurgel, Junie Browning and Ross Pearson by submission, with an additional submission win over Dan Lauzon to boot. The sole loss was by knockout to season eight winner Efrain Escudero.
Wiman has won two straight since dropping back to back decisions to Jim Miller and Sam Stout. However, his last victory was tainted by an early stoppage by referee Yves Lavigne in his bout with Mac Danzig in June. Wiman had Danzig in a neck crank, and Lavigne stopped the bout when he believed Danzig to be out, but Danzig was not unconscious and immediately protested the stoppage. The two were scheduled to meet in September before injuries took them both out of the bout, and they're now both taking on different opponents.
Fight for the Troops 2 comes to Spike TV on January 22 from Fort Hood in Texas, headlined by a lightweight bout between Kenny Florian and Evan Dunham.
Penick's Analysis: This is a good fight for the Spike TV card, and the two are deserving of a televised bout with the fights they've had recently. It leaves a fairly clear picture of which fights on 125 may be chosen for an hour long prelims broadcast on Spike if they choose to do one (and with the card they have, it's highly likely), and gives the Fight for the Troops event another really solid matchup.
DON'T GO YET... WE SUGGEST THESE MMATORCH ARTICLES, TOO!
Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
STAFF COLUMNISTS: Shawn Ennis - Jason Amadi
Frank Hyden - Rich Hansen
Chris Park - Matt Pelkey
Interested in joining MMATorch's writing team? Send idea for a theme to your column (for Specialist section) or area of interest (i.e. TV Reporter) along with a sample of writing to mmatorch@gmail.com.
