UFC 83 in London; Houston Alexander Accepts Fight with James Irvin

[twankydawg]

UFC 83 in London; Houston Alexander Accepts Fight with James Irvin Posted by MMA Junkie on January 10, 2008 at 6:32 pm ET

The UFC will likely return to England for an March 8 event in London, and one potential slugfest is already in the works.

A source close to Houston Alexander (8-2 MMA, 2-1 UFC) today told MMAjunkie.com (UFC News & Rumors - MMA News - UFC Fighters - UFC Event Recaps and Previews - MMAjunkie.com) that the UFC light heavyweight has accepted a fight with James Irvin (13-4 MMA, 3-3 UFC) and is simply awaiting word on whether Irvin’s camp will green-light the bout.

The upcoming event, UFC 83, will be the UFC’s second in London since September. The organization headed to the O2 Arena on Sept. 8 for an event that featured Quinton Jackson’s unanimous-decision victory over Dan Henderson. It was the organization’s first trip to London since July 2003’s “UFC 38: Brawl in the Hall.“

If the Alexander-Irvin fight pans out, it’ll be the second trip to London for Alexander. The Nebraska-based hip-hop DJ and single father of six splashed onto the UFC scene with a quick 48-second knockout of Keith Jardine at UFC 71. He followed up that knockout with an encore performance when he KO’d Alessio Sakara at UFC 75, defeating the Italian in just 61 seconds.

However, Alexander ran into a roadblock at UFC 78, where he suffered a TKO loss to Thiago Silva after his opponent secured the mount position and rained down a series of unanswered punches.

Alexander will look to rebound against hard-hitting Irvin, who most recently fought at UFC 79. There, opponent Luis Cane tagged Irvin with an illegal knee early in the first round. Irvin was knocked out cold and earned a victory via disqualification.

It was Irvin’s first fight since a May UFC 71 event, where the 29-year-old fighter suffered a significant injury when his knee buckled during a loss to Silva. The defeat snapped Irvin’s three-fight streak.

In addition to the possible Alexander-Irvin bout, a fight between the U.K.‘s Michael Bisping and “The Ultimate Fighter 4” cast member Charles McCarthy is also in the works for UFC 83, according to MMAWeekly.com.

I know Houstons ground game is suspect but you know when he's in a fight they are going to bang. I'd like to see the guy continue his success and maybe this time he will work to keep the fight standing.

[Jza]

Isn't there a boxin match at the O2 that day or something?
Regardless should be an interesting match up.
Nice to see Alexander bounce back

[mcptfc2007]

the haymaker is fighting so it wont be at the o2, i heard it was suppose 2 be in scotland, me being from scotland, would be amazing

[ArMnHC]

at least we know this will be an interesting slugfest. ill pick Houston if it happens.

[Warchief]

Houston via Knee.

[twankydawg]

I kinda feel sorry for Irvin, he keeps getting fed to the wolves, Houston should knock him out brutally in the 1st round.

[SumsNews]

What a matchup. More interesting than the Bisping fight imo.

[Kansas]

almost anything will be more interesting than the Bisping fight. If you need me during that one you will have to wake me up.

[ArMnHC]

Originally Posted by Kansas

almost anything will be more interesting than the Bisping fight. If you need me during that one you will have to wake me up.

yeah Bisping vs (place random douche bags name here) is getting very very old!

[Diegonightmare]

Is there any article that definitively (with reliable authority) has this as UFC 83 as opposed to an Ultimate Fight Night? A rumor arose a month or so back about an UFN in England right around this time which would feature Bisping.

However, that rumor was fairly vague and referred only to "a UFC event in London". Due to the spacing of cards that was known at that time, it was somewhat assumed that this "event" would be a UFN rather than a numbered PPV event and that the April Montreal event would be UFC 83 not 84.

Is it definitely known that there will be a UFC 83 in London on 3/8/08?