By Bryan Levick (BryanLevick@mmaratings.net)
MMA Junkie is reporting that Kenny Florian will indeed fight former Pride lightweight champion Takanori Gomi at UFC Fight Night 21 on March 31st.
Fight Night 21 will of course act as a pre-cursor for The Ultimate Fighter season 11 which will have Tito Ortiz and Chuck Liddell as opposing coaches.
Just ten days prior to this event, the UFC will make their debut on the Versus Network. That card is already stacked to the gills.
The main card will feature a light heavyweight bout between the UFC’s hottest prospect Jon Jones and the man who was once considered the future of the organization Brandon Vera.
Junior Dos Santos will look to continue his brutal assault on the heavyweight division as he goes up against fellow Brazilian Gabriel Gonzaga.
In another heavyweight showdown, two power punchers will look to trade bombs as both Cheick Kongo and Paul Buentello will look to rebound from their losses at UFC 107.
Rounding out the main card will be a welterweight clash between Anthony Johnson and John Howard who have no love lost between them and a lightweight tilt featuring Clay Guida and Shannon Gugerty.
Up until a few days ago Guida was scheduled to face Sean Sherk.
As if that wasn’t enough the fans will be treated to the Gomi-Florian showdown, Nate Quarry vs. Jorge Rivera, Lucio Linhares vs. Yushin Okami, Cole Miller vs. Andre Miller and Ross Pearson vs. Dennis Siver.
At the very least five of those bouts mentioned above would make it on to a main card of a UFC pay-per-view, yet here we are getting to view those fights for free.
Is it me or is the UFC maybe trying to make up for the lackluster UFC 109 maiin event? While many fans may enjoy watching Randy Couture and Mark Coleman go at it, those same fans will mostly agree that bout is not main event worthy.
Staying on a positive note, we all must be thankful for the bouts that are being presented on Spike and Versus respectively.
Florian has been vocal about wanting such a high profile bout being placed on a pay-per-view but thankfully it is not up to him.
Many American fans will be get to see Gomi fight in the United States for just the second time in his career.
It remains to be seen what he has left in his tank but it will be nothing if not exciting.
So put your feet up and grab a cold beverage because for two nights in March you will be treated to pay-per-view quality fights without having to dig deep into your pockets.
