Canadian UFC veteran Jordan Mein coming out of retirement Yesterday I confirmed with UFC officials that 26-year old Jordan Mein has decided to come out of retirement and hopes to fight in October. Mein (29-10) hasn’t competed since a January 2015 TKO loss to Thiago Alves at UFC 183. The Strikeforce veteran has a 3-2 UFC with wins over Dan Miller, Hernani Perpétuo and Mike Pyle. For the full story, check out yesterday’s article on MMAOddsbreaker. Andre Fili now faces Hacran Dias at UFC Fight Night 96 Team Alpha Male product Andre Fili will replace Brian Ortega against Hacran Dias at UFC Portland on October 1st per the Oregonian (and later MMAJunke) Fili (15-4) is coming off a TKO loss to Yair Rodriguez at UFC 197 and has racked up a 3-3 UFC record. Dias (23-4-1) heads into his matchup off a unanimous decision loss to Cub Swanson back at UFC on FOX 19 in April. UFC Fight Night 96 takes place Oct. 1 at Moda Center in Portland. Here’s an updated look at the card: John Lineker vs. John Dodson Will Brooks vs. Alex Oliveira Sergio Pettis vs. Louis Smolka Josh Burkman vs. opponent TBA Joachim Christensen vs. Luis Henrique da Silva Kelly Faszholz vs. Ketlen Vieira Shamil Abdurakhimov vs. Walt Harris Nate Marquardt vs. Tamdan McCrory Hacran Dias vs. Andre Fili UFC Fight Night 97 adds Alvey vs. Nicholson, Zhikui vs. Lausa UFC officials announced today that Sam Alvey will face fellow middleweight Alex Nicholson and flyweight Yao Zhikui will battle Jenel Lausa at UFC Fight Night 97 Alvey (28-8) has already fought three times this year, losing a decision to Elias Theodorou and winning back-to-back fights against Eric Spicely and Kevin Casey. Nicholson (7-2) is coming off his first UFC victory as he knocked out Devin Clark at UFC Sioux Falls. Zhikui (2-3) was a semifinalist on “The Ultimate Fighter: China”and heads into this contest off a TKO loss due to an arm injury against Fredy Serrano 44 seconds. Lausa (6-2) makes his UFC debut and is currently riding a four-fight win streak. UFC Fight Night 97 takes place Oct. 15 at SM Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay, Manila, Philippines. Here’s an updated look at the card: Ricardo Lamas vs. B.J. Penn Derrick Lewis vs. Marcin Tybura Ali Bagautinov vs. Kyoji Horiguchi Mizuto Hirota vs. Cole Miller Seo Hee Ham vs. Danielle Taylor Mehdi Baghdad vs. Jon Tuck James Moontasri vs. Alex Morono Ryan Janes vs. Dongi Yang Damir Hadzovic vs. Yukawa Kazuya Sam Alvey vs. Alex Nicholson Jenel Lausa vs. Yao Zhikui Erik Perez vs. Felipe Arantes in the works for UFC Fight Night 98 in Mexico City La Afición reported on Tuesday that bantamweights Erik Perez and Felipe Arantes will clash at UFC Fight Night 98 on November 5th. Perez (16-6) heads into this matchup off two-straight wins, including a decision victory over Francisco Rivera at UFC 201. The 26-year old has gone 6-2 under the UFC bannter. Arantes (18-7-1) has gone 2-0 since dropping down to the 135-pound division last year, including a submission victory over Jarrod Sanders at UFC Fight Night 90 back in July. UFC Fight Night 98 takes place at Arena Ciudad de Mexico in Mexico City on November 5. Here’s an updated look at the card: Rafael dos Anjos (25-8) vs. Tony Ferguson (21-3) Alexa Grasso (8-0) vs. Heather Jo Clark (7-5) Beneil Dariush (13-2) vs. Rashid Magomedov (19-1) Diego Sanchez (26-9) vs. Marcin Held (22-4) Kelvin Gastelum (12-2) vs. Jorge Masvidal (30-11) Erik Perez (16-6) vs. Felipe Arantes (18-7-1, 2NC) WSOF 34 adds Josh Copeland vs. Smealinho Rama, Paul Bradley vs. Yushin Okami Monday evening on Twitter I announced in my interview with Ray Sefo (which will be out on MMAOddsbreaker later this week) that WSOF has re-signed former former heavyweight champion Smealinho Rama.
In that interview Sefo mentioned former WSOF champ & Canadian HW Smealinho Rama has re-signed with WSOF on a 4-fight deal.
— James Lynch (@LynchOnSports) September 12, 2016
Tuesday the promotion announced via press release that the Canadian will be taking on Josh Copeland at WSOF 34. In addition the promotion announced that a welterweight matchup between Paul Bradley and Yushin Okami has also been added to the card. Copeland (12-4) heads into this matchup off a loss to current WSOF heavyweight champion Blagoy Ivanov. Rama (9-2) competes for the first time since losing the WSOF championship to Ivanov at WSOF 21 in June 2015. The 24-year old is now living in the United States and training at Jackson/Winklejohn. Bradley (23-6, 2NC) makes his WSOF debut and is coming off a 40-second knockout win against Chris Honeycutt at Bellator 148 back in January. Okami (32-10) has heads into this matchup off a submission win against Shingo Suzuki at Pancrase 279 and has won two in a row. WSOF 34 takes place at the Budweiser Events Center in Loveland, Colorado. Here’s an updated look at the card: Jon Fitch (28-7-1, 1NC) vs. Jake Shields (31-8-1, 1NC) Josh Copeland (12-4) vs. Smealinho Rama (9-2) Paul Bradley (23-6, 2NC) vs. Yushin Okami (32-10)