James Irvin vs Alessio Sakara planned for March 21 bout at UFC on Versus 1
by Jesse Holland on Jan 15, 2010 11:10 AM EST
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Long-lost UFC middleweight James Irvin (14-5) is finally ready to make his Octagon return this spring against fellow striker Alessio Sakara (14-7) at UFC on Versus 1 from the Odeum Colorado in Broomfield on March 21, according to MMAWeekly.
The injury-prone "Sandman" hasn't seen action since going to sleep against Anderson Silva at UFC Fight Night 14 way back in July 2008. Following a nine-month drug suspension (after testing positive for Methadone and Oxymorphone post-"Spider" fight) he was booked to throw hands against Drew McFedries at UFC 98 last May before hurting his knee and pulling out of the contest.
Irvin was given time to heal and re-booked for UFC 102 in what should have been his middleweight debut against Wilson Gouveia this past August. Unfortunately he re-aggravated his injured knee and has been on the shelf ever since.
Now he's back and ready to prove he can still hang with the Octagon elite -- though "Legionarius" is hoping to prove otherwise.
The former Italian boxer was penciled in for a bout against Rousimar Palhares at the Dec. 5 Ultimate Fighter 10 Finale; however; Sakara suffered an injury in training and was forced to withdraw from the event.
Hopefully that blip on the radar didn't hurt his momentum. His split decision win over Thales Leites made it two straight for "Legionarius" -- the first time he's been able to string together consecutive wins since his Octagon debut at UFC 55 all the way back in October 2005.
Prior to defeating Leites, he scored a brutal knockout of Joe Vedepo via head kick at UFC Fight Night 15 in September 2008. It was an eye-opening finish from the heavy-handed American Top Team product to say the least.
A big win over Irvin and it may be time to start talking about his place in the 185-pound division.
UFC on Versus 1 is set to feature a ridiculous main event between dynamic light heavyweight strikers Brandon "The Truth" Vera and Jon "Bones" Jones. Anthony "Rumble" Johnson, Clay "The Carpenter" Guida, John "Doomsday" Howard, Sean "The Muscle Shark" Sherk, Spencer "The King" Fisher and others are also expected to be in action on what is shaping up to be a great card for the promotion's debut on the Versus network.
To check out the latest fight card and rumors for UFC on Versus 1: "Vera vs. Jones" click here.
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Should be a pretty solid stand up fight. Toss up imo. to who takes it. I think Irvin might still have Andy in the back of his head so im leaning with Alessio
pwilson
Irvin's power will make the difference
He’s gonna turn alessio inside out with his MT worse than Houston did.
by NNR (formerly NameNotRequired) on Jan 15, 2010 12:54 PM EST up reply actions
I knew you would be leaning towards your countryman..Good choice too if he's gonna be the dog....
Whatever the fuck you do in life, echoes in eternity! <----slightly edited
-Maximus[Gladiator]
by The Negation on Jan 16, 2010 1:32 AM EST up reply actions
should actually be an easy one for Alessio. If he would have only stayed calm in all his fights and shortened up his combos his UFC record would look alot better, like if he ever fought Bisping he’d knock him the F out for sure!
fresh like uhh.
You would think...
that he has the tools to beat Bisping. And of course we all know that Bisping is succeptible to a hard-hitter.
Then again… I thought Kang was a lock on knocking Bisping the fuck out as well…. :(
Sakara has a lot of power but he fights too wild and that has made him inconsistent. He has the power to KO Bisping but I doubt that he would have the technique or gameplan to beat him.
I’ve got him beating Irvin by KO as that guy is just as wreckless and has had a very long lay-off but this one could go either way and is guaranteed to end in a KO.
"Wanderlei is focused and well trained...he will easily win this fight, by a large margin and with much better technique."
Anderson Silva on why Wand is going to smash Bisping. Get ready to lose your dignity frosnt.
Card is turning out pretty good
Definitely solid for a free one.
Ya I dig this fight
Sakara will prolly crumble like usual, but ihope he gets his shit together and KO Irvin
by dazzlebreath on Jan 16, 2010 3:57 AM EST up reply actions
LOL my pops said the same shit!
They barley took it off his Tv! at least U guys have HDnet! I have 2 drive 30-40 minutes to get to sum1 that has it
I presume it will be
This is a sick card and I’ll be gutted if we don’t get it, though I don’t see any reason why we won’t.
"Wanderlei is focused and well trained...he will easily win this fight, by a large margin and with much better technique."
Anderson Silva on why Wand is going to smash Bisping. Get ready to lose your dignity frosnt.
middleweight??
when did the sandman drop to middleweight? or is this a typo??
He decided to drop to MW after Andy smashed him, thinking that he'd get another crack at him but he's not fought since
"Wanderlei is focused and well trained...he will easily win this fight, by a large margin and with much better technique."
Anderson Silva on why Wand is going to smash Bisping. Get ready to lose your dignity frosnt.
How banged-up is this guy?
testing positive for methadone and oxymorphone makes me think this guy has a long-term pain management issue. you gotta wonder how banged-up he’s been and what level he’ll be fighting at when he comes back.
That's true
Between the loss to anderson and the long time away. Who knows what form he’ll be in..
by Jesse13 on Jan 15, 2010 4:01 PM EST via mobile up reply actions
james is a known pill addict, and yes it did show after the andy fight but he also fought with banged up knees in that one im not saying the outcome would have been any better but it could be why he took the pain killers..
huge irvin fan but how the f*ck does a guy who fought at HW for years and was a good size 205 make 185 now? i understand the layoff and whatknot but come on no way in hell does he make that cut easily and if he does make it he wont be in a good state i still think he beats sakara,probably would beat bisping,and most likely a date with leben shall happen
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