Last night Elite XC announced that its middleweight champion “Ruthless” Robbie Lawler (16-4) will defend his 185-pound title against Joey Villasenor (26-6) in the main event for the November 8 fight card that will air live on Showtime.
This bout will mark the third title defense for Lawler since he took it from “Ninja” Rua last September.
Lawler and Villasenor have locked horns once before in a mixed martial arts match at Pride FC 32: “The Real Deal” in October 2006. Lawler handed Villasenor a 22-second knockout loss with a perfectly placed flying knee right out of the gate.
Since then Villasenor has won four of five fights, including wins over Phil Baroni, Ryan Jensen, Riki Fikuda and David Loiseau. The only loss was to “Ninja” last June in a match that decided the first-ever Elite XC middleweight champion.
Villasenor had his chances in that fight, but fell victim to a late second round technical knockout. Since that loss, he’s worked tirelessly to climb back up the championship ladder, and now once again finds himself only one win away from becoming a world champion.
For Lawler, since winning the belt over “Ninja” last year, he’s been busy with back-to-back fights against Scott Smith. The first time the two met was Lawler’s first title defense, during the Elite XC network debut on CBS on May 31.
The fight turned into an all out war and stole the show as the fight of the night in Newark. The outcome, however, was disappointing to say the least. After getting an inadvertant thumb to the eye, a cageside doctor deemed Scott Smith unable to continue and the bout was ruled a no contest.
The rematch two months later was a much easier fight for Lawler and he put the stamp down on Smith with some nasty body shots, earning a second round stoppage.
Now he’s set to defend his belt for the third time. And if there’s anybody who deserves to challenge for it, it’s Joey Villasenor.
With the way these two have been fighting lately, it’s more likely we’re in store for a fight similar to Lawler vs. Smith I as opposed to Lawler vs. Villasenor I.
Rafael “Feijao” Cavalcante is also rumored to be facing Cyrille “Snake” Diabate for the first ever Elite XC light heavyweight championship on this card as well.
There is no venue confirmed at this time for the event. It will be the last event for the promotion in 2008.
14 Comments »
Cant wait to see this fight. Talk about a slug fest! Although Lawler won the first fight, I think Villasenor has a great chance to win this fight.
Nah, Robbie Lawler win again, but it will probably be a bit longer than last time, but thats not saying much.
Hey Mania, I heard Melvin Manhoef has retired after losing to Gregard Mousasi. Something about he wants to spend more time with his family. You should check that rumor out.
Yeah i heard that too. I sure hope he didnt retire i really like Manhoef.
i think he retired from mma, so i can see him coming back to k-1
I really liked Joey Villasenor in the ‘THE PROFESSIONAL’, with actors Gary Oldman and Natalie Portman.
He played Leon
lol i hope youre joking
Off topic: Did anyone see M-1 Challenge on HDNet last night. Wow! Some sick, sick fights from Europe. You should definitely check it out if you can. Good stuff!
was Kiril fighting? (fedor’s young protege)
I don’t think so. It was Holland vs. Germany. The Russians fought last week. I believe. I thought the production of it was sweet. Some of the best commentary I have ever heard for a fight. I was pretty loaded at the time so I’ll have to rewatch to make sure. You should definitely check it out.
thanks. I will check it out for sure
Interesting fight.
Either way it sets them up nicely for Ninja vs the Winner rematch, which is a nice storyline to hype for a CBS fight.
Unlike the “street certified” type hype that has produced some very forgetable match ups.
Villasenor or Lawler vs Ninja 2 could be the fight that Lawler vs Smith was supposed to be, but never quite lived up to.
Lawler/Smith was great what are you talking about
Lawler/smith was good but not great.
Had it not been for the eye poke in the first match it would have been great, and Smith did not look as good in the rematch which by then had some high expectations.
EliteXC need a war and they have yet to get that on the CBS broadcast. Something that will people will remember. All I’m saying is that Ninja vs the winner could be the fight they have been looking for.