According to Mexican website La Aficion, UFC 172 will take place either April 19 or 26 in Mexico City, Mexico, and the main event of the evening will be a heavyweight title bout between champion Cain Velasquez and Fabricio Werdum. The UFC is expected to make the official announcement in the coming weeks, and according to the article Latin fighters like Gilbert Melendez and Diego Sanchez will also likely fight on the card. This fight between Velasquez and Werdum is obviously next in the heavyweight division, so the matchup doesn’t come as a surprise, and neither does the fact it will take place in Velasquez’ home country of Mexico. But either way, this is just a bad matchup for Werdum and there’s no doubt in my mind Velasquez is gong to be a big favorite, perhaps in the -500 to -700 range, when these two step in the cage next spring. Gustafsson vs. Manuwa Official For UFC London The UFC yesterday officially announced that their next trip to London will be headlined by a five-round light heavyweight bout between Alexander Gustafsson and Jimi Manuwa. Manuwa is taking the fight with Gustafsson after Antonio Rogerio Nogueira pulled out with an injury. I like this matchup between Gustafsson and Manuwa, two of the best strikers in the UFC light heavyweight division, but it just seems like a little bit too much, too soon for Manuwa. After all, Gustafsson just held his own against the P4P best fighter in the world, Jon Jones, while Manuwa’s best opponent to date has been Ryan Jimmo. Gustafsson will be a high favorite here and for good reason. Look for the Swede to open between -500 and -700, but don’t sleep on Manuwa because he has the tools to finish the fight. UFC Singapore Gets More Fights And finally, the UFC officially announced a few of the fights for the upcoming fight card in Singapore, which takes place Jan. 4, 2014. Here’s the five fights that the UFC confirmed:
- Tarec Saffiedine vs. Jake Ellenberger (five-round main event)
- Hacras Dias s. Tatsuya Kawajiri
- Quinn Mulhern vs. Katsunori Kikuno
- Hyun Gyu Lim vs. Kiichi Kunimoto
- Kyung Ho Kang vs. Shunichi Shimizu
UFC Singapore looks like it’s shaping up to be a solid card so far, and expect more Asian fighters to be booked for the event in the next few weeks.