Bobby Lashley will make his long-awaited MMA debut on December 13, according to MMA Mania.

He’ll be fighting for the Mixed Fight Alliance promotion at the American Airlines Arena in Miami, Florida. No opponent has been announced, but I’d imagine it will be someone Lashley should handle pretty easily.

Lashley is signed to a contract with the American Fight League, but that promotion has put off it’s first show until early 2009.

The MFA show sounds like the type of the smaller MMA show that might end up on HD Net Fights, so if you’ve got that channel on your HD package, stay tuned.
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FYI, I’ve decided to move all MMA coverage back to this blog and scrap MMA Shoot. I simply don’t have the time to maintain two blogs and a podcast right now, so I think this will work out better. Of course, the bulk of our coverage will still focus on pro wrestling, but I think there are enough of you guys that still like talking about MMA that I can get away with writing the occasional MMA post.

Of course, tonight’s UFC PPV, UFC 90, features Anderson Silva. That means, unfortunately, that this PPV is not worth purchasing.

Why, you ask? Simple: because the outcome of the main event is not in question. Côté actually looked horrendous in his last fight against Ricardo Almeida, so I see no reason for him to even get this shot, regardless of what they were trying to set up with that fight. It would be the upset of the century, in my opinion, if Côté somehow beat Silva. I doubt he’ll even get out of the second round. But then again, this is MMA, so anything could happen.

If you drop your money on this show, you’ll probably get some good matches on the undercard. Alves v. Koscheck and Sherk v. Griffin figure to be good bouts. Still, in my opinion, there’s not enough here to warrant a purchase, especially after we saw UFC 89 for free last weekend.

Here’s tonight’s card:

• Middleweight championship bout: Flag of Brazil Anderson Silva vs. Flag of Canada Patrick Côté
• Welterweight bout: Thiago Alves vs. Josh Koscheck
• Heavyweight bout: Fabricio Werdum vs. Junior dos Santos
• Lightweight bout: Sean Sherk vs. Tyson Griffin
• Lightweight bout: Gray Maynard vs. Rich Clementi
• Middleweight bout: Thales Leites vs. Drew McFedries (may not be televised)
• Lightweight bout: Spencer Fisher vs. Shannon Gugerty (may not be televised)
• Middleweight bout: Matt Horwich vs. Dan Miller (may not be televised)
• Lightweight bout: Hermes Franca vs. Marcus Aurelio (may not be televised)
• Welterweight bout: Josh Burkman vs. Pete Sell (may not be televised)

Discuss UFC 90 here, and remember to stop by tomorrow night to discuss WWE Cyber Sunday.

Just a reminder that if you’re interested in discussing tonight’s FREE UFC show on Spike TV (9e, 8c), or Affliction’s debut PPV, you can do so at MMA Shoot.

While you’re there, check out my thoughts on Quinton “Rampage” Jackson’s bad week.

V.

The next two weeks are stellar times for MMA fans, and it all starts tonight with the UFC and upstart promotion Affliction going head-to-head.

The big question is, which one will you watch? For me, it’s a simple answer: UFC. It’s free, it’s got Anderson Silva, and I prefer the lower weight classes to the heavyweights–Affliction is going big on the heavyweights, tonight.

Discuss UFC Fight Night: Silva v. Irvin and Affliction: Banned here.

For full fight cards, check out UFC.com and Affliction’s web site.

In today’s edition of the shoot, I’ve got all the MMA news fit to print, including tons of fallout from the UFC 86 PPV, news on Cro Cop and EliteXC’s July 26 mega-card.

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If you missed this week’s edition of the PWB Podcast Hotline, you missed a good interview. Ian and I had UFC superstar Travis Lutter on the show. He had some interesting things to say about his upcoming fight with Rich Franklin at UFC 83 in Montreal, as well as a potential rematch with Anderson Silva:

On his fight at UFC 83 against Rich Franklin:

“You know it’s basically just like every other fight like mine, I’m gonna take him down and I’m gonna beat him up and do what I do man.”

On a potential rematch with UFC middleweight champion, Anderson Silva:

“I’d kick his ass, you know, that’s the way I look at it. I think Anderson’s a great fighter and he does what he does, and I think he’s probably the best stand-up fighter out there. But I think I have the unique ability to be able to take him down and beat him up and I was showing that in the fight right up until the time I got caught…”

On potential contenders for Anderson Silva’s middleweight title:

“In the UFC, I don’t really see anybody else that’s gonna beat him, you know at 185 pounds. You know, I mean there might be a dark horse out there, you know, that’s kind of flying under the radar. Demian Maia, he’s looked good, but he hasn’t faced really tough competition yet…it’ll be interesting to see how he does as he faces tougher and tougher competition…other than that, I really don’t see anybody that the UFC has that’s gonna beat Anderson.”

I think Lutter’s got a point when it comes to Silva. He was dominating the match before he got caught. If he can get past Rich Franklin this month, he definitely deserves another title shot. I’m sure he learned a lesson by not making weight last time, and will be ready to go if it does come about.

Check out the full interview over at the Podcast Hotline site.

Episode 137 of Pro Wrestling Blog’s Official Podcast is now online, featuring:

• Lex and Ian’s interview with MMA and UFC star Travis Lutter (3:49)…
• PWBTV: Wrestlemania 24: You Gonna Order It? and Lex’s ‘Mania predictions (17:46)…
• sideshowRaheem’s Rant: Wrestlemania 24 Predictions (49:10)…
• Listener Feedback (58:38)

Don’t forget to check out Lex and Ian’s new MMA blog, MMA Shoot. If you’re just interested in wrestling and MMA interviews, check out the PWB Podcast Hotline Site.