Yesterday, MMA Junkie confirmed that a featherweight bout between Manvel "The Anvil" Gamburyan and Raphael Assuncao would take place along with a Middleweight battle between Yoshihiro Akiyama and Nate "The Great" Marquardt at UFC 128.
The odd thing about the confirmation of Gamburyan vs. Assuncao?
Nobody knew that that was ever in the works until just yesterday.
In contrast, Fanhouse MMA has confirmed that the long-awaited "tiebreaker" between UFC Lightweight Champion Frankie "The Answer" Edgar and Gray "The Bully" Maynard will in fact go down at UFC 130—exactly two pay-per-view events after the equally-anticipated "Shogun vs. Evans" card in New Jersey.
It's unknown whether the bout will be the headliner of the UFC 130 card slated for Las Vegas or not, but it's a move that Dana White is trying to make in order to settle the debate over who the undisputed UFC lightweight champion is.
It's also a move that has led the WEC's last lightweight titleholder, Anthony "Showtime" Pettis, to contemplate other challenges in the division while waiting, and it's a move which many writers—myself included—have applauded for a variety of reasons.
For those unfamiliar with the "move" White is trying to make, the move concerns a split draw which is the recorded result of a five-round title fight between the TUF 5 alumnus and the New Jersey fireball—the prematurely-planned headliner of the UFC 125 card hosted in Vegas a little more than two weeks ago.
Maynard dropped Edgar and came within a hair of a first-round stoppage, but Edgar's Wolverine-like recovery kept him in the fight for the remainder of the fight.
The end of the fight had one score of 48-46 for the champ, 48-46 for the challenger and a 46-46 deadlock, resulting in the split draw result of 2011's first MMA lightweight title fight.
Since the title can't change hands on a draw, Edgar retained the belt, which prompted White to make the immediate rematch.
At first hearing, you'd think Maynard's performance seriously overshadowed The Showtime Kick in Dana's mind, but anyone can see why he really asked how you don't give Maynard the immediate rematch.
Edgar retained the belt, but while Maynard didn't go 2-0 against him, he didn't beat Maynard either.
Pettis can't face Edgar for the belt because the dispute remains as to whether Edgar really won or not.
Hopefully when the two face off one more time on UFC 130, we'll finally have an end to this dispute.
Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com
Source: http://bleacherreport.com/articles/573218-ufc-130-frankie-edgar-vs-gray-maynard-3-confirmed
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