First up MMA weekly reports that after Alessio Sakara’s father passed away forcing the cancellation of his UFC 116 bout with Nate Marquardt, Nate will take on Rousimar Palahres at either UFC 117 or 118 in August:
Alessio Sakara And Nathan Marquardt Given Replacement Opponents After UFC 116 Bout Canceled
Nate Marquardt didn’t have to wait too long for the UFC to find him a new opponent, but he will have to wait a little bit longer for the fight to happen. Brazilian fighter Rousimar Palhares is in talks to face Marquardt in August.
The fight is currently in the works, although no bout agreements have been issued or signed at this time. The possibility of the fight was confirmed to MMAWeekly.com by sources close to the bout on Tuesday. Joe Ferraro from Sportsnet first mentioned the possibility of the fight on Tuesday.
It appears that Sakara will also be getting a different challenge in August as MMA Junkie reports he will face Jorge Rivera:
UFC middleweight Jorge Rivera (18-7 MMA, 8-5 UFC) told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) in March that he shouldn’t even have to ask to fight at UFC 118, the promotion’s first trip to Boston.
Apparently, he didn’t.
MMAjunkie.com has learned from sources close to the promotion that the Massachusetts resident and Italian slugger Alessio Sakara (15-7 MMA, 6-4 UFC) have verbally agreed to meet at the event.
Both of these bouts are much more appealing than the originally planned bout between Sakara and Marquardt.
Sakara/Rivera is a clash of two skilled brawlers and is almost guaranteed to end in a highlight reel knockout while Palhares and Marquardt are both extremely talented grapplers which should make for a very interesting stylistic clash.
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