Coach: Fedor’s next fight will be announced soon Karim Zidan of BloodyElbow.com reports that heavyweight legend Fedor Emelianenko’s next opponent will be annouced very soon, according to the Russian’s coach, Vladimir Voronov. Emelianenko (35-4 1 NC) earned his 35th professional victory as he forced Jaideep Singh to tap due to strikes in the main event of RIZIN’s Day 2 event in Japan. Rizin Fighting Federation announced that their next show would take place on April 17 in Nagoya City. **Update** Zidan now reports Fedor will be competing on that April 17th event against an unnamed opponent. CES vet Joey Gomez signs with UFC, replaces Patrick Williams at UFC Fight Night 81 NESN.com reports an injury to Patrick Williams has paved the way for undefeated Joey Gomez who now takes on Rob Font at UFC Fight Night 81. Gomez (6-0) has won all of his fights by stoppage including a 89-second TKO over Kin Moy at CES 28 last March. Font (11-1) hasn’t competed since a July 2014 victory over George Roop at UFC 175 due to injury, but has won 10-straight fights. Gomez was slated to take on Kody Nordby next week at CES 32 on Jan 8th prior to getting the call up. For some background on the 29-year old, here’s my interview with Gomez discussing that now cancelled fight. Off the top of the interview he explains his backstory. With the addition of Gomez, here’s an updated UFC Fight Night 81 lineup MAIN CARD (FOX Sports 1, 10 p.m. ET) T.J. Dillashaw vs. Dominick Cruz Eddie Alvarez vs. Anthony Pettis Travis Browne vs. Matt Mitrione Ross Pearson vs. Francisco Trinaldo PRELIMINARY CARD Patrick Cote vs. Ben Saunders Mairbek Taisumov vs. Chris Wade Maximo Blanco vs. TBA Daron Cruickshank vs. Paul Felder Tim Boetsch vs. Ed Herman Jimy Hettes vs. Charles Rosa Ilir Latifi vs. Sean O’Connell Rob Font vs. Joey Gomez Francimar Barroso vs. Abdul-Kerim Edilov Bryan Barberena heads to welterweight, meets Jonavin Webb at UFC Fight Night 82 Another UFC fighter is moving up a weight class. UFC officials Thursday announced that Bryan Barberena steps up to 170lbs to take on Jonavin Webb. Barberena (10-3) is coming off a decision loss to Chad Laprise at UFC 186 last April which snapped his seven-fight win streak. Webb (8-1) is coming off a controversial split decision loss to Kyle Noke at UFC Fight Night 65 which snapped his eight-fight win streak. Here’s the latest UFC Fight Night 82 card Cody Garbrandt vs. John Lineker Sarah Moras vs. Lauren Murphy Derek Brunson vs. Roan Carneiro Chris Camozzi vs. Joe Riggs Siyar Bahadurzada vs. Brandon Thatch Shamil Abdurakhimov vs. Anthony Hamilton Shane Campbell vs. James Krause Alex Garcia vs. Sean Strickland Trevor Smith vs. Leonardo Augusto Guimaraes Daniel Sarafian vs. opponent TBA Bryan Barberena vs. Jonavin Webb
