Benson Henderson vs. Patricio “Pitbull” Freire set for Bellator 160 LATimes.com reported over the weekend that former UFC champion Benson Henderson will move back down to lightweight to take on former Bellator featherweight champion Patricio “Pitbull” Freire. Henderson (23-6) came up short in his Bellator debut back in April losing a unanimous decision to welterweight champion Andrey Koreshkov. Prior to the loss, “Bendo” earned back-to-back victories over Brandon Thatch and Jorge Masvidal. Freire (25-3) heads into this matchup off a submission victory over Henry Corrales in April. He’s 8-1 in his past nine bouts. Bellator 160 will be part of a combat-sports doubleheader according to the report. The next night, the same venue hosts a Premier Boxing Champions boxing event headlined by welterweights Robert Guerrero (33-4-1) and David Peralta (25-2-1), which also airs on Spike TV. Mirko ‘Cro Cop,’ Wanderlei Silva announced for RIZIN FF open-weight grand prix RIZIN FF boss Nobuyuki Sakakibara announced over the weekend that Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic and Wanderlei Silva are among the confirmed participants for an upcoming RIZIN FF open-weight grand prix. Filipovic and Silva join four other tournament participants who will receive a bye in the opening round, with a total of 16 fighters competing in the tournament. Filipovic (31-11-2) retired this past November and was slapped with a two-year suspension from USADA after he admitted to using human growth hormone. Silva (35-12-1) hasn’t competed since a February 2013 victory over Brian Stann. The tournament starts on December 29th and will finish on December 31st. Other tournament participants include Kazuyuki Fujita (15-11) and Kaido Hoovelson (1-0). Horacio Gutierrez vs. Teruto Ishihara scheduled for UFC Fight Night 92 in Utah UFC officials announced that a featherweight matchup pitting Mexico’s Horacio Gutierrez and Japan’s Teruto Ishihara has been added to next month’s UFC Fight Night 92 event Ishihara (8-2-2) was a featherweight finalist on “Road to UFC: Japan,” and ended up earning an entertaining split draw with Mizuto Hirota, with both fighters earning co-winner honors. Following his debut, he earned a second round submission victory over Julian Erosa at UFC 196 back in March. Gutierrez (2-2) was a lightweight finalist on “The Ultimate Fighter: Latin America 2,” came up short in a hard-fought decision loss to Enrique Barzola at UFC Fight Night 78. He will be making the drop to featherweight for this bout. UFC Fight Night 92 takes place Aug. 6 at Vivint Smart Home Arena in Salt Lake City. Here’s an updated look at the card. Alex Caceres vs. Yair Rodriguez Tatsuya Kawajiri vs. Cub Swanson Court McGee vs. Dominique Steele Zak Cummings vs. Santiago Ponzinibbio Viktor Pesta vs. Marcin Tybura Chris Camozzi vs. Thales Leites Dennis Bermudez vs. Rony Jason Joseph Gigliotti vs. Trevor Smith Justin Ledet vs. Chase Sherman Jason Novelli vs. David Teymur Horacio Gutierrez vs. Teruto Ishihara
