Tuesday Talebearings...

CARDS
UFC 98 will feature Mir-Lesnar II. The event will be May 23 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena. Also on the card* is Josh Koscheck v Chris Wilson, Sean Sherk v Frankie Edgar, James Irvin v Drew McFedries, Andre Gusmao v Houston Alexander, Phillipe Nover v Kyle Bradley, George Roop v David "do it, just f***ing do it!" Kaplan, Yoshiyuki Yoshida v Brandon Wolff, Tim Hague v Patrick Barry. Also on the card, and should be co-headliner- will finally be Matt Hughes v Matt Serra
Here's a little somethin'-somethin' for those of you that don't watch T.U.F.::


UFC 99 Has been announced for Cologne, Germany June 13 at the Lanxess Arena. The headliner will be Rich Franklin v Wanderlei Silva at a catch weight of 195 pounds. During the announcement UFC Co-owner, Lorenzo Fertitta, said, "Our vision for the UFC has always been global. Following our success in the United Kingdom and Ireland, our first card in mainland Europe is another significant step towards making the UFC's brand of mixed martial arts the biggest sport in the world." There have been rumors or events to take place in Dubai, France and other European areas in the future.
This card will also feature Mike Swick v Ben Saunders, Spencer Fisher welcoming Caol Uno, Mostapha Al Turk v Tod Duffee and Paul Taylor & Stefan Struve against two yet-to-be-announced opponents.
After being called out by the British boy, Marcus Davis has requested to fight Dan Hardy at the German event as well.

From the horse's mouth
In a recent interview with Britain's Setanta network, Dana White brought light to speculations surrounding who is to be Anderson Silva's next challenger. "If [Bisping] beats Dan Henderson, not only will he break into the top five, I think if he wins that fight his next fight will be a title shot against Anderson Silva -- which hopefully will be here in the UK."

BOOTED
"Baby Fedor" Kirill Sidelnikov has been suspended for on year by the California State Athletic Commission for a failed drug test following the last Affliction. He was also fined $2,500 (USD) for traces of the banned substance stanozolol, a synthetic anabolic steroid, being found.

INKED
LHW Title holder, "Suga'" Rashad Evans has signed a new deal with the UFC. While terms & financial details were not released, it is expected he will be getting a pay bump. Right now Evans is waiting for UFC 96 to determine who he will face next. If Rampage beats Jardine he will- likely- face Evans for a title shot next. However, if Jackson fails, the title shot will -likely- go to Brazilian stand-out Lyoto Machida. Machida is still undefeated and has been tearing through the division with no mercy.

Din Thomas has signed a three fight deal with Affliction to fight in their featherweight division. The UFC veteran will be joining IFL vets Deividas Taurosivecius and Savant Young, among others.

Bobby Lashley and Ken Shamrock have signed to fight each other on Ray Jones Jr's March 21st "March Badness" card in Pensacola, FL. The event will be a hybrid of boxing and MMA.

RUMOR MILL
There's a rumor floating that Joe Silva wants to pit Joe Stevenson versus Mac Danzig. I do think this would be a great fight, one catch, the rumor also says it will be one of the two's last fight with the mega-organization. That's the part I don't like. I would think Mac is still under his TUF contract, and Joe has put on some good fights as of late, even if he has lost.

Fabricio Werdum has signed with Strikeforce and has dropped the name of Kimbo Slice for his debut. Nothing is in ink, and nothing has been confirmed by anyone else, it's all on Fabricio right now. Of course, he stated, if he were to fight the brawler, he'd plan a strictly ground assault. If, if Kimbo were to face the Brazilian it would go against what Scott Coker has previously stated is his plan for bringing Kimbo back. On his recent media tour, Coker explained that he would like to bring Kimbo back nice-and-easy. Let him work his way up and build back his reputation. He had one??

More to come for the mid-week roll around.
Miss something? Questions? Comments? E-mail me: samantha.lynn.johnson@gmail.com