Jeff Monson vs Ricco Rodriguez fight to headline MFA show Dec. 13

A heavyweight battle between Jeff "The Snowman" Monson (26-8) and former UFC champion Ricco "Suave" Rodriguez (33-9) is in the works for the Mixed Fight Alliance: "There Will Be Blood" debut event, which is set to take place at the American Airlines Arena in Miami, Fla., on December 13.

We first mentioned news of this event last month when we announced former WWE superstar Bobby Lashley would make his highly anticipated mixed martial arts debut on the card.

This will be a rematch from a fight that happened almost seven years ago at UFC 35, during which Rodriguez was victorious with a third round technical knockout.

Ricco has battled drug, alcohol and weight issues throughout his career, but he's been very active in the professional fight game over the past year and a half or so. Since last July he's competed in 10 different matches, producing a record of (7-3) during that time, including a current five-fight win streak.

His last high profile fight was a split decision loss to Antonio "Bigfoot" Silva at Elite XC: "Street Certified" back in February. Most of his other fights since then have been for smaller promotions.

Monson also has put together a few wins recently on the smaller circuit. He competed in a "Beatdown" event last month in North Dakota, recording his second victory of 2008 with a first round submission over Jimmy Ambriz. His only loss of the calender year came at a Sengoku event in May where he was beaten on the scorecards by world ranked Josh Barnett.

At one point in his career "The Snowman" had recorded 16 straight wins, including three inside the UFC's Octagon. His only losses since the turn of the century have come to Chuck Liddell, Forrest Griffin, Pedro Rizzo, Tim Sylvia, Ricco and Barnett.

This fight, along with the debut of Lashley, should make for a solid event for the first show in Mixed Fight Alliance's young history.