UFC 121 Shaping up: Tito Ortiz will fight Hamill, Napao Gonzaga will square off against Brendan Schaub
Posted on July 23, 2010, 09:14 AM by Anton GurevichIt looks like the Ultimate Fighting Championship's October 23rd event can already be labeled as the best fight card of the year. UFC 121 is expected to take place at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California just five days after the promotion's UFC 120 event in London, England.
According to MMAJunkie.com, former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Tito Ortiz will return to the Octagon against Matt "The Hammer" Hamill. Ortiz did not win a fight since his bout against Ken Shamrock back in 2006, unlike Hamill who is coming off an hard-fought victory over Keith Jardine. Ortiz made no secret about his desire to fight Chuck Liddell or Forrest Griffin, instead will have to test his skills against a very talented wrestler in Matt Hamill.
Also, Sportsnet.ca reports that the former UFC Heavyweight Title challenger Gabriel "Napao" Gonzaga will look to bounce back from a loss to Junior Dos Santos, against the TUF 10 finalist Brendan Schaub. Both fighters never went to Decision in their career, and are well known for their exceptional Knockout power. Gonzaga is Schaub's toughest test since fighting Roy Nelson at the TUF 10 Finale. Schaub's victory could solidify his place in the UFC Heavyweight division, after collecting two W's against Chris Tuscherer and Chase Gormley.
Those bouts are a hefty addition to the already-stacked UFC 121 event, which will be headlined by the UFC Heavyweight Title fight between Cain Velasquez and Brock Lesnar. Jake Shields will make his UFC debut against Martin Kampmann, as Diego Sanchez will fight Paulo Thiago. TUF 11 Winner Court McGee will also take part in the event.
Rumored UFC 121 bouts:
Heavyweight Championship bout: Brock Lesnar (c) vs Cain Velasquez
Welterweight bout: Jake Shields vs. Martin Kampmann
Light Heavyweight bout: Matt Hamill vs. Tito Ortiz
Heavyweight bout: Gabriel Gonzaga vs. Brendan Schaub
Welterweight bout: Diego Sanchez vs. Paulo Thiago
Middleweight bout: Court McGee vs. Ryan Jensen
Heavyweight bout: Todd Duffee vs. Jon Madsen
Middleweight bout: Patrick Côté vs. Tom Lawlor
Lightweight bout: Paul Taylor vs. Sam Stout
Comments
i still say 117 is the best card of the year...this one is looking serious too though
Goodness! 121 is like an all-star game. You could make two good cards off this one.
cards always look awesome when they put them together
but as time comes close to the event , fighters start dropping out
of the card , its the same thing every event.
UFC 118 is the best card so far, at least in paper.
Holy Shnit! this card looks impressive... cote & lawler, sanchez & thiago, gonzaga & schaub, ortiz & hamill, shields & kampmann, and then finally lesnar vs velasquez... god damn i am gonna soak my panties!
great card!!!
can't wait!
i posted this the other day, dont know why it says it was 3 months ago now but watever. Its gonna be a great card
Man, this card is just amazing. I really can't wait for the main event, I just want to see whether Cain can deal with Brock's strength and weight advantage, while Brock has to improve his stand up.
Glad to see Tito back just hope he is fighting injury free
how can you be glad to see tito back the only people hes beat since 2006 was Shamrock and Jenna Jamison real impressive. All he does is talk shit and make excuses.
That's why i hope he is injury free. here's a thought doe, for me Forrest is just about in the top 10 of LHW and he scrapped passed and an ''injured'' Tito. Rashad Evans would have lost to Tito if it weren't for that point deduction and Machida out pointed him but didn't hurt him. Bear in mind Machida went on to destroy T.Silva and Rashad Evans. You may not like Tito but every point i just made is actually a fact. yes he moans and whines BUT he didn't go through surgery for no reason. Yes he's talks shit and isn't afraid to list his injuries himself rather than let Joe Rogan do it for him but a healthy competitive Tito Ortiz means good fights for me to see and that all i want as a fan.
machida didnt hurt ortiz??? send some of those drugs my way
Give me a break! Yeah tito maby was injured in the forrest fight but so was forrest + forrest took the fight on short notice. if forrest would have more time to train against tito forrest would ate him up. and now back to the machida fight serious machida hurt tito BAD. To be honest you sound just like tito with all your excuses. Are you really tito ortiz?
Oh and huge card super pumped to see what court mcgee, velasquiz and sheilds are going to bring to the table also looking for dirty sanchaz to bounce back from BJ penns dominance
not impressed...some big names but a bunch of mismatches.
Out of curiosity, which fights do you see as the mismatches?
Yea, thats a bit perplexing.... I dont see a single fight that could be considered a mismatch.
I was actually thinking the exact opposite of mismatch with fighters like Thiago, Sanchez, Ortiz, Duffee, and Cote' all coming off pretty big losses. These are fighters who have their backs against the cage and need a win, making for some super competitive matches. Looks like an awesome card to me.
The raping of Schuab........hes not ready for Gabe yet.
i dont think so either, but in a few months we will get to see for ourselves!!!!!!
i have tickets for ufc120......why is it am all brit card as usual.......pissed off .....i want to see some top stars in the uk
I wonder what the Brits think when they come to the USA, there are no cobblestone streets and the houses are farther apart than 2 inches.
A friend of mine from the UK said some areas you have to live in the city because the land was set aside for farming....trippy
wtf are you talking about lol? that makes no sense at all.
Brock Lesnar vs Cain Velasquez
Jake Shields vs. Martin Kampmann
Matt Hamill vs. Tito Ortiz
Gabriel Gonzaga vs. Brendan Schaub
Diego Sanchez vs. Paulo Thiago
Court McGee vs. Ryan Jensen
Todd Duffee vs. Jon Madsen
Patrick Côté vs. Tom Lawlor
Paul Taylor vs. Sam Stout
Wow - good looking card. And this is going to be the first Ortiz fight, which I've looked forward to in years; Hamill is going to be a tough go for Tito.
Good card. Not amazing, but solid. The main and co-main events should be excellent and the rest of the card is decent. Some of those fights could end up being pretty one sided though. Why is Tito still fighting???
Good card