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It appears that UFC welterweight title contender Josh Koscheck has been added to the card for UFC 95, which is set for February 21 at the O2 Arena in London, England. According to a report by the Brazilian MMA website Tatame, Koscheck is set to face the debuting Paulo Thiago in one of the show’s featured [...]

As MMAmania.com first reported over the weekend, top welterweight contender Josh Koscheck is expected to return to action at UFC 95 card, which is slated for The O2 Arena in London, England, on February 21.

We can now confirm that he is expected to welcome undefeated Brazilian up-and-comer, Paulo Thiago (7-0), to the Octagon for the first time ever. It’s important to note that bout agreements have been distributed but are still unsigned.

Koscheck most recently annihilated the very dangerous Japanese fighter, Yoshiyuki Yoshida, at UFC Fight Night 16: “Fight for the Troops” with a scary-looking two-punch knockout on December 10. He defeated “Zenko” just six weeks after losing to number one division contender Thiago Alves at UFC 90 via unanimous decision back on October 25.

He took the fight against the bruising Brazilian on less than 14 days notice to replace an injured Diego Sanchez. It didn’t go his way, but it’s hard to hold it against him.

The former contestant on The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) has won three of his last four fights — he knocked off Dustin Hazelett and Chris Lytle before the Alves loss — and appears that he is willing to do whatever it takes — and fight as often as possible — to get back in the 170-pound title chase.

But he’ll have to do it against an opponent who is not well-known in the United States.

Thiago has competed primarily in his native Brazil, posting a four-fight win streak for the Jungle Fight promotion last year. He most recently stopped Luis Dutra Jr. via technical knockout (strikes) in round one of their bout in September 2008.

He’ll be thrown right into the deepend against Koscheck. It also appears to be a fight for Koscheck without much upside … unless of course he scores another sensational knockout on cable television in front of millions watching across the nation at home.

We shall see soon enough.

UFC 95 features the highly anticipated lightweight debut of Diego Sanchez against Joe Stevenson in the main event of the evening. Middleweights Nate Marquardt and Wilson Gouveia, as well as Demian Maia and Chael Sonnen, are also expected to mix it up in two very important division clashes.

To check out the latest UFC 95 fight card and rumors click here.

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Perhaps the biggest gamer in the welterweight division today, Josh Koscheck (12-3), will likely compete for the third time in four months when he participates on the upcoming UFC 95 card, which is slated for The O2 Arena in London, England, on February 21.

MMAmania.com learned this weekend that the American Kickboxing Academy (AKA) member has been approached about beefing up an event that could need a little more of it. The promotion has done a nice job of filling up the card with solid match ups after the services of marquee attractions such as Chuck Liddell and Anderson Silva could not be secured, but the Spike TV special could use a little more star power.

And the addition of the collegiate national wrestling champion would do just that.

Koscheck most recently annihilated the very dangerous Japanese fighter, Yoshiyuki Yoshida, at UFC Fight Night 16: “Fight for the Troops” with a scary-looking two-punch knockout on December 10. He defeated “Zenko” just six weeks after losing to number one division contender Thiago Alves at UFC 90 via unanimous decision back on October 25.

He took the fight against the bruising Brazilian on less than 14 days notice to replace an injured Diego Sanchez. It didn’t go his way, but it’s hard to hold it against him.

The former contestant on The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) has won three of his last four fights — he knocked off Dustin Hazelett and Chris Lytle before the Alves loss — and appears that he is willing to do whatever it takes — and fight as often as possible — to get back in the 170-pound title chase.

No possible opponent is known at this time, but it may not matter — Koscheck appears down to fight anyone. Based on our previous interviews with Koscheck, it would appear that this is the last fight on his contract.

Let’s hope that changes before he steps inside the Octagon once again on Feb. 21.

UFC 95 currently features the highly anticipated lightweight debut of Diego Sanchez against Joe Stevenson in the main event of the evening. Middleweights Nate Marquardt and Wilson Gouveia, as well as Demian Maia and Chael Sonnen, are also expected to mix it up in two very important division clashes.

To check out the latest UFC 95 fight card and rumors click here. It’s looking pretty sweet.

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With less than 10 weeks until fight night, UFC 95, which is scheduled to take place from the O2 Arena on February 21, still remains without a main event, according to WrestlingObserver.com.

Perhaps more alarming is that the early candidate to headline at least one half of the pay-per-view (PPV) show, UFC Middleweight Champion Anderson Silva, has informed the promotion that he will not be ready to compete on that date.

Therefore, a possible match up between the “Spider” and Thales Leites has been scrapped.

UFC 95 — the fourth event of 2009 for the UFC and the second in as many months to be held in the United Kingom — will take place just two weeks after UFC Fight Night 17 (February 7), three after UFC 94: “St. Pierre vs. Penn 2” (January 31) and little more than two weeks before UFC 96 in Columbus, Ohio (March 7).

That’s a ton of programming in a short amount of time. And if the promotion can’t secure a solid draw atop the card it’s very likely that most fight fans might pass on the tape-delayed PPV purchase.

In addition, fans in the area who have already purchased tickets are more than likely expecting at least one marquee name to be added to the fight card sooner rather than later.

The good news is that if there’s anyone in the business who can pull it off it’s Dana White and the Ultimate fighting Championship.

For more on UFC 95 click here.

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A rumored welterweight matchup between Dan Hardy and Rory Markham that would place at UFC 95 at the O2 Arena in London on Feb. 17 has gained a lot of traction on various Internet news outlets over the course of the last week. Despite the high level of speculation surrounding the proposed matchup, FiveOuncesOfPain.com learned Friday [...]

BJ Penn and Georges St. Pierre talk about strategies and legacy in a recent interview to hype their fight at UFC 94.

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An explosive match up between heavy-handed welterweights Dan Hardy (20–6) and Rory Markham (16-4) is in the works for UFC 95 from the O2 Arena in London, England, on February 21, according to MMAWeekly.com.

Hardy lived up to his billing as the top British 170-pound prospect in his Octagon debut with a hard-fought split decision win over the crafty Akihiro Gono at UFC 89: “Bisping vs. Leben” last month.

With the win, “The Outlaw” kept his red hot win streak intact, taking nine of his last 10 fights. And the lone loss during that span was because of a disqualification. It won’t get any easier for the former Cage Warriors welterweight champion … he has essentially been thrown into the deep end over a very deep division right off the bat.

Markham is a super tough competitor who has also been on a tear of his own of late. The former International Fight League (IFL) welterweight standout continued that success within the eight-sided cage, kicking off his UFC career with a bang … literally.

He nearly decapitated Brodie Farber at UFC Fight Night 14 back in July, earning “Knockout of the Night” honors for the scary finish. It has to rank among the best knockouts of the 2008 fight campaign.

But that’s Markham’s MO — the Miletich-trained fighter has never gone the distance in 20 professional fights — win or lose — since his pro debut back in 2003. He comes to scrap and leaves it all on the table … just ask notable opponents such as Mike Pyle, Brad Blackburn and, of course, Mr. Farber.

For more on UFC 95, which could feature middleweight champion Anderson Silva in a light heavyweight main event special attraction, click here.

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There’s no rest for the weary in the mixed martial arts (MMA) land of milk and honey.

Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is coming out of the gates like a bat out of hell in 2009, scheduling five events in less than 70 days to start the New Year.

That’s, of course, on the heels of a December that features three events, including the year-end blockbuster pay-per-view (PPV) event, UFC 92: “The Ultimate 2008,” on December 27.

Here is the early jam-packed schedule for 2009:

• UFC 93: “Franklin vs. Henderson” from The O2 in Dublin, Ireland, on January 17
• UFC 94: “St. Pierre vs. Penn 2” from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, on January 31
• UFC Fight Night 17 [Location TBD] on February 7
• UFC 95 from the O2 Arena in London, England, on February 21
• UFC 96 from the Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio, on March 7

The only bad news, according to MMARated.com, is that the promotion is unable to hammer out a deal with its cable television provider, Spike TV, to air any of the European-based events for free so early in the year.

That means four of the first five UFC shows in 2009 (UFC 93, UFC 94, UFC 95 and UFC 96) will be broadcast on PPV, which could price out fans who may be unable to afford to watch all the shows because of the current state of the economy.

And that doesn’t even include the Affliction: “Day of Reckoning” PPV on January 24, which features a sick main event fight between WAMMA Heavyweight Champion Fedor Emelianenko and former UFC heavyweight champion Andrei Arlovski.

Talk about bitter sweet.

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A report in the UK-based tabloid newspaper The Sun confirms that UFC 95 is scheduled to take place on Saturday, February 21 in London, England at the 02 Arena. No matches have been made official, however, the paper reports that a superfight between former UFC light heavyweight champion Chuck Liddell and current UFC middleweight champion Anderson [...]

UFC Middleweight Champion Anderson Silva (23-4) could take another break from the 185-pound division and trade leather with former light heavyweight champion Chuck Liddell (21-6) in a special 205-pound match up in the works for the UFC 95 main event, according to The Sun.

UFC 95 was actually just made official today for the O2 Arena in London, England, on February 21.

Liddell was supposed to collide with Mauricio “Shogun” Rua at UFC 85: “Bedlam” earlier this year at the venue but injuries to both fighters forced them off the card, leaving British fans feeling a bit empty after shelling out their hard-earned Euros to see the “Iceman” headline a show.

Perhaps this is the promotion’s way of making up for that unfortunate situation.

The match up, if it happens, will more than likely be a little bitter sweet, considering Liddell has lost three of his last four fights — he’s no longer the same fighter who dominated the division for two years up until 2007. Nonetheless, he is still a huge draw and a very popular fighter who is very capable of putting on a great show.

Liddell was most recently on the wrong end of a vicious knockout at UFC 88: “Breakthrough” courtesy of Rashad Evans. Before the loss, he had his sights on getting back in the title hunt after a thrilling unanimous decision win over Wanderlei Silva at UFC 79: “Nemesis” on December 27, 2007.

By the time he next steps inside the Octagon Liddell will be 40 years old.

Silva has been unstoppable ever since he made his UFC debut in 2006, rattling off a ridiculous eight-fight win streak. He has not gone the distance, or beyond the third round for that matter, in any of those fights. “The Spider” essentially cleaned out the division and has now begun considering and taking fights 20 pounds north of his middleweight division limit to keep himself challenged.

In fact, he thrashed James Irvin in his 205-pound debut via first round technical knockout at UFC Fight Night 14 this past July.

Silva most recently defended his 185 title against Patrick Cote in a bizarre bout at UFC 90 last month, which ended when “The Predator” went down with a freak knee injury and could not continue. Before the collapse of the Canadian, Silva was bouncing, dancing and perhaps showboating, resulting in a negative reaction from several fans and critics.

He’s eager to get back in the cage to remind everyone what he’s capable of … and Liddell could be the man that Silva takes out his frustration on if the bout comes together, which is not the most envious position to be in for Liddell.

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