Wow! What a roller coaster ride that one was. Really amazing last two fights, classics. The card was in desperate need too as we see from Dana White’s tweet right before the Struve-Hunt fight (@danawhite):
“Next to fights hopefully save the night. BRUTAL”
The “Holy &^%^” tweet count from Dana up until that point was 0. Needless to say, we heard a few during the next two fights.
Weigh-ins for ‘UFC on FUEL TV 8: Silva vs Stann’ took place today at the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan, which also hosts the event. All 22 fighters made weight except for Diego Sanchez who forfeited 20 percent of his fight purse for missing weight.
Wanderlei Silva vs. Brian Stann
The pre-event press conference for ‘UFC on FUEL TV 8: Silva vs Stann’ took place today in Saitama, Japan. Participants included UFCÂ Executive Vice President & Managing Director, UFC Asia Mark Fischer and fighters Wanderlei Silva, Brian Stann, Stefan Struve, Mark Hunt, Takanori Gomi, Diego Sanchez, Yushin Okami, and Hector Lombard.
Rousimar Palhares and Joey Beltran Busted!
Two more questionably-intelligent fighters busted for using banned substances. Following UFC on FX 6: Sotiropoulos vs Pearson, Rousimar Palhares tested positive for elevated testosterone levels, and Joey Beltran tested positive for nandrolone, a banned steroid.
Perhaps they thought nobody would test them since most UFC international shows don’t have a regulatory body looking after such matters? Well, they were wrong. The UFC performed the testing, busted them, and now they are suspended with their reputations tarnished forever. Nice job guys.
Yushin Okami vs. Hector Lombard
Top middleweight contenders Yushin Okami (28-7) and Hector Lombard (32-3-1-1) have been matched up and added to the ‘UFC on FUEL TV 8: Silva vs Stann’ card which takes place March 2, 2013 in Saitama, Japan. An epic matchup for sure which was announced over Twitter today by the UFC (@ufc):
“@YushinOkamiMMA vs. @HectorLombard on tap for Japan”