The third time will hopefully be the charm for Jon Fitch (19-3) now that up-and-coming welterweight Mike Pierce (10-1) has agreed to step up and face him at UFC 107 from the FedEx Forum in Memphis, Tenn., on Dec. 12.
Pierce was originally slated to meet Josh Koscheck at UFC Fight Night 20 until “Kos” was promoted to the UFC 106 co-main event opposite Anthony “Rumble” Johnson.
Like Pierce, Fitch was left without an opponent when Ricardo Almeida injured his knee and withdrew from their UFC 106 bout on Nov. 21. Zuffa worked a little magic and booked him in a rematch of former number one welterweight contenders opposite Thiago Alves on Dec. 12; however, “Pitbull” also went down with a knee injury and was forced to bow out.
Fitch returned to the Octagon at UFC 100 to exact revenge against submission specialist Paulo Thiago, taking the contest via unanimous decision. The Brazilian stunned his good friend and American Kickboxing Academy training partner, Josh Koscheck, with a fight-ending first round uppercut at UFC 95: “Sanchez vs. Stevenson” earlier this year.
The Purdue University wrestler now boasts 10 victories for the promotion in 11 attempts. The lone blemish on his record is to welterweight deity Georges “Rush” St. Pierre in their championship match from UFC 87: “Seek and Destroy” in Aug. 2008.
And the competition isn’t getting any easier.
Pierce recently stunned quite a few fans in his Octagon debut at UFC Fight Night 19, registering a convincing unanimous decision over the super tough Brock Larson. It was just the third loss in Larson’s impressive career. And it marked six straight wins for the surging Pierce.
Despite his recent success, Pierce will no doubt be a heavy underdog on fight night when he gets locked inside the cage opposite the 11-fight UFC veteran.
UFC 107 will feature a main event between lightweight division champion, BJ Penn, defending his title against number one division contender, Diego Sanchez. In the co-featured fight of the night, former two-time heavyweight champion Frank Mir will “begin his quest for a third title” when he takes on Cheick Kongo.
http://mmamania.com/2009/10/31/ufc-107- ... lves-hurt/
