James Wilks has a tough start to his post-TUF career with a proposed fight against Matt "The Immortal" Brown at UFC 105 in Manchester.
Paulo Thiago vs. Thiago Alves in works for 107 Do we think they think this highly of Paulo? Or do we think it's just coincidence this is his 3rd UFC fight and 3rd vs a top WW.
Some more UFC 105 news: Dan Hardy's opponent expected to be Dong Hyun Kim; Michael Bisping's opponent rumoured to be Denis Kang; BJ Penn vs. Diego Sanchez possible headliner. The Penn rumour seems unlikely because Penn doesn't want to fight overseas (because it cuts into the PPV revenue) but we'll see. Too bad Hardy vs. Baroni isn't happening. That would've been nice.
Penn/Sanchez @ 105? Doubt that pans out. I thought they were going to save that for the NYE event? If Lesnar is @ 106, Rampage/Rashad @ 107, and GSP might not be ready for the event, it only makes sense, right? Unless they're confident Machida or Shogun could be ready to defend @ the event and Rampage gets the winner of that if he beats Evans? I just confused myself.
Anderson Silva should compete at UFC 107 or 108. Dan Henderson is the default top contender at middleweight but a win by Demian Maia could change that.
Penn wants to fight ASAP. Sanchez is ready for whatever. So the timing is correct for Manchester, though it seems unlikely to me, too. You're right, Machida/Shogun will probably defend at NYE, though it is a bit of a quick turnaround. Might need to wait until February for that one. Seems likely that GSP will defend at NYE too, but they could push him back another month. I'm sure he will be cleared to fight but I don't know if he will want to rush it. Seems to be the kind of fighter to take his time--especially against an less threatening opponent (we remember what happened last time). Silva will be fighting again during this time frame as well.