Efrain Escudero vs Jeremy Stephens UFC Fight Night 18 bout in the works

by MMAmania.com on Jan 2, 2009 9:50 PM EST

Jeremy Stephens (14-3) today revealed that he will likely collide with The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) 8 lightweight winner, Efrain Escudero (11-0), at UFC Fight Night 18 on April 1.

No location or venue for the Spike TV special is known at this time.

Escudero bested season favorite, Phillipe Nover, via unanimous decision at TUF 8 Finale to capture the 155-pound crown at The Pearl at the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas, Nevada, on December 13. He was supposed to lose, but he didn’t, relying on his strong wrestling background to frustrate the Filipino for three rounds.

Prior to the win, the collegiate wrestling standout choked out Ido Pariente, Shane Nelson and Junie Browning to punch his ticket to the finals. Browning called for a rematch after he stopped Dave Kaplan, but it appears that the Kentucky native will have to get in line behind "Little Heathen."

Stephens earned "Knockout of the Night" at UFC 91: "Couture vs. Lesnar" after sending Rafael dos Anjos back to Brazil with a thundering upper cut that he threw from what appeared to be the center of the cage.

It was among the most devastating finishes of 2008.

The Iowa product has five career fights inside the Octagon, winning three (Dos Anjos, Cole Miller and Diego Saraiva) contests and losing (Spencer Fisher and Din Thomas) the others.

He'd get a nice bump with a win over a name like Escudero, but he'll need to do his best to stay upright for that to happen.

Stay tuned to MMAmania.com for more details on UFC Fight Night 18.

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Comments

stephens by brutal ko.

by jonsey on Jan 2, 2009 9:52 PM EST reply actions

That punch was like Popeye after a fresh can of spinach.

by PW on Jan 2, 2009 11:57 PM EST up reply actions

OUt of all the TUF winners of the past, Efrain is having to face the toughest 1st fight opponent of them all!

The funny thing is I think he is going to beat the crap out of lil Heathen (who I am a fan of)

by john on Jan 3, 2009 8:40 AM EST up reply actions

Not unless you count Season 4, which I wouldn’t either. Joe Daddy had a tough fight against Josh Neer in his first time out.

Anyways, I’ve been a fan of Stephens since his first UFC fight against Thomas, and I hope he beats up Efrain. Not that I don’t like Efrain, but he needs a loss or two.

WAR LIL HEATHEN

by Synystr [[2009 Year of Gegard Mousasi]] on Jan 3, 2009 8:46 PM EST up reply actions

Actually, I’d rather see Junie fight Jeremy Stephens. I would absolutely LOVE to see Jeremy knock his face off.

by Synystr [[2009 Year of Gegard Mousasi]] on Jan 4, 2009 11:52 AM EST up reply actions

is it just me or do all the lightweights whose names arent kenny florian, sean sherk, or BJ Penn fight on the fight night cards?

by brendan on Jan 2, 2009 9:55 PM EST reply actions

Dont forget tyson griffin. but a very good observation the lighter division seem to always get short changed. just like the wec is considered the minors to the ufc mostly b/c of the lighter weight classes. Pretty sad since some of the best fights come out of this division.

by Hughes sux on Jan 2, 2009 10:04 PM EST up reply actions

depends on what you mean by “short change.” In some ways, they can be exposed to a whole different group of people who don’t buy the PPV’s. Granite, they don’t make nearly as much money, but a guy gets a big enough following from being on UFN’s, it could make him go straight to the televised PPV and not the undercard.

by midwestbred on Jan 2, 2009 10:55 PM EST up reply actions

Look at Nate. He headlines a couple FNs and now he’s on the main card of the biggest cards ever.

by R/p on Jan 3, 2009 5:07 AM EST up reply actions

what are u talking about brendan, florian has more fights in FN then in ppv events

by N-Cryptic on Jan 2, 2009 10:24 PM EST up reply actions

I think its because the lightweight cards are generally faster paced fights and tend to be more exciting. That’s just my opinion though. Note I did say generally, not that all lightweight fights are exciting and all heavier weight-class fights are boring, just look at the last PPV – a couple of exciting LHW and HW fights there.

by pistol_pete on Jan 3, 2009 2:47 AM EST up reply actions

This should be a good match up for Efrain. I like to see that they aren’t trying to protect him. Also Stephens knockout of the night was sweet and lets see if he can do it again.

by Bluepit360 on Jan 2, 2009 9:57 PM EST reply actions

should be a good fight. If Efrain can avoiding stephens striking I see a decision in his favor.

by Hughes sux on Jan 2, 2009 9:58 PM EST reply actions

As much as I would love to see stephens run into the cage like a maniac

Gotta go with

hecho en mexico by choke

by phenomenal angel on Jan 2, 2009 9:59 PM EST reply actions

i will go with stephens by ko

by bryant on Jan 2, 2009 10:04 PM EST reply actions

…Thinking Efrain is the real deal. sub. or a boring dec.

by rawbert on Jan 2, 2009 10:10 PM EST reply actions

I don’t see any aspect that Efrain has the advantage over Stephens. The wrestling prolly goes to Efrain but Jeremy has damn good takedown AND submission defense, Jeremy will get the KO or UD.

by midwestbred on Jan 2, 2009 10:58 PM EST reply actions

I’d like to see Efrain vs Edgar instead.

by the_mexicutioner on Jan 2, 2009 11:05 PM EST reply actions

Pillipe Nover vs Junie Browning I would also like to see Elliot Marshall fight soon rather than later.

by hk on Jan 3, 2009 12:31 AM EST reply actions

war hecho en mexico!

by trikz on Jan 3, 2009 12:32 AM EST reply actions

I’m not sure if I heard right on the show
But I think
Efrain said he got 6th place in worlds
That’s pretty impressive especially the weight he wrestled at

He doesn’t look like a dynamic wrestler like maynard or edgar
I don’t think they qualified to world tournament but I dunno

by phenomenal angel on Jan 3, 2009 12:45 AM EST reply actions

stephens got him fo sho he is too powerfull and has too good of submission defense you would know this just by lookin at his fight against diego saraiva or any of his fights at that

by heathan fan 666 on Jan 19, 2009 5:02 PM EST up reply actions

Bye bye efrain

by Lester the Pimp on Jan 3, 2009 7:48 AM EST reply actions

Efrain is a great fighter, on the show he was quite and unassuming but in the Cage he just handled business. I was really impressed with Efrain. Jeremy is tough kid that doesnt quite or get hurt very easily so I think this will be a good fight to see what Efrain is really made of.

by the spyder on Jan 3, 2009 12:23 PM EST reply actions

why are they giving the tuf winners such hard fights so quick? they also fed mac danzig to clay guida in just his second fight after winning. i remember forrest and rashad getting a chance to hone their skill in the octogon before fighting guys in the top 10 or 20.

by COR on Jan 3, 2009 2:03 PM EST reply actions

Danzig was a seasoned veteran with tons of experience going into TUF, I do believe he was a KOTC champion as well that need tougher opponents. I honestly thought he would beat Guida, man was I wrong Guida just dominated him from start to finish. Im not surprized he won I am however surprized at how easily he took Danzig out, maybe he doesnt deserve to be there.

by Spyder on Jan 3, 2009 6:59 PM EST up reply actions

Man i don’t know about this one. Escudero is dangerous with submission but now we know that Stephens can pull a KO from no where.

by Daddy Lupo on Jan 3, 2009 2:27 PM EST reply actions

http://www.kyte.tv/channels/browse.html?mode=SEARCHALL&search=knonam&x=9&y=3#uri=channels/183395/294648

Great walk out song.

by jackson on Jan 3, 2009 6:14 PM EST reply actions

well…efrain for a fact has wrestling and jiu jitsu superior to jeremy..the only thing that jeremy is superior at is the stand up…but then again nover was too!!!and he got thrown all over the place by my dogg efrain…so if he can do the same thing he did with nover..its in the pocket

by el pandeezy soma!!! on Jan 15, 2009 3:50 PM EST reply actions