John Alessio vs Shane Roller fight announced for UFC 148 in Las Vegas

Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) tonight (May 10, 2012) announced the latest addition to its blockbuster Fourth of July weekend pay-per-view (PPV) event from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Two Welterweight fighters, John Alessio and Shane Roller, will collide inside the Octagon on Sat., July 7, 2012, and look to get back in the win column in a fight that is being billed as "well-rounded striker vs. well-rounded grappler."

This is perhaps Alessio's last opportunity to get his hand raised inside the Octagon in a decade-long odyssey that dates way back to 2000, when he lost via submission to Pat Miletich at UFC 26. "The Natural" has made three more attempts since that time, including against fellow Canadian Mark Bocek just last month at UFC 145.

All have ended in defeat, but the good news is his opponent in "Sin City," Roller, has had an almost equally difficult time finding victory inside the eight-walled cage.

In fact, a knockout over Thiago Tavares in his promotional debut back in March 2011 remains his only UFC win. The Team Takedown-trained fighter has since dropped three consecutive bouts to Melvin Guillard, T.J. Grant and, most recently, Michael Johnson at UFC on Fox 2 earlier this year.

Don't be surprised to see the three-time All-American wrestler from Oklahoma State University (OSU) play to his biggest strength to stop the bleeding.

UFC 148 will feature the long-awaited mixed martial arts (MMA) rematch between Anderson Silva vs. Chael Sonnen in the main event of the evening, while Urijah Faber will battle TBA in the co-featured fight of the night for the interim Bantamweight belt with Dominick Cruz injured.

Rich Franklin vs. Cung Le, Forrest Griffin vs. Tito Ortiz and Dong Hyun Kim vs. Demian Maia round out the pay-per-view (PPV) main card for one of the promotion's most anticipated event's of the 2012.

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