Rivera/Kimmons and Yoshida/Johnson rumored for UFC 104
A middleweight fight between Jorge Rivera and Rob Kimmons, as well as a welterweight showdown between Yoshiyuki Yoshida and Anthony Johnson, are rumored to be added to the card for UFC 104.
Rivera, fresh off a new deal from the UFC, will be gunning for his fifth win in his past seven fights. He last fought at UFC Fight Night 18, defeating Nissen Osterneck by split decision. The win brought his MMA record to 16-7, and evened up his UFC record to 5-5. Kimmons also fought at UFC Fight Night 18, submitting Joe Vedepo. His MMA record is 22-4, while his UFC record is 2-1. Rivera has taken his place as a gatekeeper in the middleweight division, and the UFC tends to send some of their prospects his way to see how they fare. Kimmons is a pretty good prospect in the middleweight division, and his only loss was to fellow prospect Dan Miller. Kimmons is a submission specialist, with 14 submissions in his 22 victories.
Yoshida is 10-1 in his past 11 fights, with the lone loss coming in brutal fashion to Josh Koscheck. He last fought at UFC 98, submitting Brandon Wolff. Johnson was rumored to be on the Ultimate Finale 9 card facing Matt Brown, but had to pull out due to a knee injury. He’ll be going for his third win in a row after knocking out Luigi Fioravanti and Kevin Burns in his past two fights. Overall, Johnson is 7-2 (4-2 UFC) while Yoshida brings a 11-3 (2-1 UFC) record to the octagon.
This will be Johnson’s first fight since being arrested in June on two felony charges and one misdemeanor charge. He is charged with domestic abuse and criminal threats, which his management claims are false accusations. Ken Pavia, a member of Johnson’s management team, had this to say last week:
“Mr. Johnson is completely and unequivocally innocent of all charges. These charges are completely outside the realm of Mr. Johnson’s character; he has no prior criminal record and has never been in trouble with the law. … Unfortunately, professional athletes are frequently made the victim of such false accusation. As this has been a stressful time for Mr. Johnson, we ask that judgment is withheld until all relevant facts have come to light.”
UFC 104 takes place at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California on October 24th. The card is headlined by a light heavyweight title fight between Lyoto Machida and Mauricio “Shogun” Rua. Here’s how the card looks so far:
Lyoto Machida vs. Mauricio “Shogun” Rua (for light-heavyweight title)
Shane Carwin vs. Cain Velasquez
Anthony Johnson vs. Yoshiyuki Yoshida
Ryan Bader vs. Eric Schafer
Rob Kimmons vs. Jorge Rivera
Patrick Barry vs. Antoni Hardonk
Razak Al-Hassan vs. Kyle Kingsbury
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Related posts:
- Anthony Johnson arrested for domestic violence June 27th
- Josh Koscheck vs. Anthony Johnson To Co-Headline UFC 106
- UFC 104 Preview and Predictions- Preliminary Card
- UFC 104 Preview and Predictions-Main Card
- Anthony Johnson’s Days as a Welterweight Need To End
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