Eddie Alvarez vs Donald Cerrone rumoured for UFC 178

by Ben Heather @benheather

Could Eddie Alvarez finally be set to join the UFC and end a 2 year saga between Bellator, UFC and himself? If this is true it looks like the UFC want to get him straight in to action with a match up against Donald "Cowboy" Cerrone rumoured for UFC 178.

According to an unnamed source close to the bout the matchup has not yet been finalised but the source informed Sherdog.com that negotiations are ongoing. As of last night though, Eddie Alvarez still remains under contract with Bellator.

It is no secret that Alvarez only has one fight left on his Bellator contract and if he was to take a fight, say against current interim champ Will Brooks and win he will be walking away as the undisputed champion leaving behind an organistaion he has cleaned out. However, if Bellator and the UFC can come to an agreement and he leaves now it would mean that Bellator still have the ability to push Brooks as its new champion and even set up the Chandler rematch for the title.

A fight between Cerrone and Alvarez certainly appeals to me and if Alvarez does indeed join the UFC it sets up so many other interesting match ups in the UFC lightweight division, which is already stacked. The one disappointing point, if this does indeed happen would be that we may not see Alvarez vs Chandler 3. After seeing the first two fights, which could arguably be called some of the best fights in MMA history I had hoped to see the trilogy fight.

UFC 178 is already shaping up to be one of the biggest PPV's of the year with Jones vs Cormier, Cruz vs Mizugaki, McGregor vs Poirier and Kennedy vs Romero already announced. If you add Alvarez vs Cerrone to that card it will certainly prove to be an event not to be missed.

Conor McGregor vs Dustin Poirier Added to UFC 178

Conor McGregor vs Dustin Poirier Added to UFC 178

by Chris Houten - @mrhouts 

 
Dustin Poirier (16-3) took to twitter after Conor McGregor's victory over Brandao to lay down the challenge, and he will now get his wish facing McGregor at UFC 178. UFC officials confirmed the bout earlier today.

UFC 178 takes place on September 27th at an as-yet-unannounced venue in Las Vegas. The card is headlined by Jon Jones vs Alexander Gustafsson 2, and will air on live on pay-per-view in the US, and BT Sports in the UK.

Currently riding an 11 fight win streak, McGregor (15-2) took his UFC record to 3-0 on Saturday when he defeated Diego Brandao by first round TKO in front of a sold out crowd in his hometown of Dublin. In the lead up to the bout with Brandao, McGregor, who moves to 10th in the UFC's featherweight rankings following his win over Brandao, has called out the majority of the top ten in the division including Poirier for several months, and after his win this weekend Poirier accepted McGregor's challenge saying he isn't impressed with McGregor's body of work.

A 10-fight UFC vet, Dustin Poirier (16-3) is currently ranked 6th in the UFC featherweight rankings, and is currently ridding a 3 fight win streak. A member of American Top Team, Poirier is 8-2 in his UFC career with 2 TKO victories and 3 submission. Poirier has a common opponent in Diego Brandao, who he knockout in the first round at UFC 168.

With the addition of McGregor vs Poirier, UFC 178 now includes:

Jon Jones vs. Alexander Gustafsson
Dominick Cruz vs. Takeya Mizugaki
Tim Kennedy vs. Yoel Romero
Conor McGregor vs. Dustin Poirier
Amanda Nunes vs. Cat Zingano
Brian Ebersole vs. John Howard
Patrick Cote vs. Stephen Thompson