ULTIMATE FIGHTING CHAMPIONSHIP® CONFIRMS REMAINING BOUTS FOR UFC 104
(PRESS RELEASE) -- With undefeated Lyoto “The Dragon” Machida
defending his Ultimate Fighting Championship® (UFC®) light
heavyweight belt against the always dangerous Mauricio “Shogun” Rua
and a showdown of heavyweight contenders Cain Velasquez and “Big”
Ben Rothwell already signed, the UFC is bringing even more star
power to Hollywood on Saturday, October 24th. Josh Neer vs. Gleison
Tibau, Joe Stevenson vs. Spencer Fisher, Anthony Johnson vs.
Yoshiyuki Yoshida, Antoni Hardonk vs. Pat Barry, Yushin Okami vs.
Chael Sonnen, Jorge Rivera vs. Rob Kimmons, Ryan Bader vs. Eric
Schafer, Kyle Kingsbury vs. Razak Al-Hassan and Stefan Struve vs.
Chase Gormley round out a great night of fights for UFC 104:
Machida vs. Shogun, presented by TapouT and live from STAPLES
Center in Los Angeles on Saturday, October 24th. Tickets for UFC
104 are still on sale and are available online at ticketmaster.com,
via Ticketmaster charge-by-phone lines at (800) 745-3000 and are
also available at the STAPLES Center box office. Prices do not
include service charges. Coming off a back-and-forth battle with
Kurt Pellegrino at UFC 101, Josh Neer (fighting out of Des Moines,
Iowa) is no stranger to the Octagonâ„¢. At only 26 years old, the
lightweight already has four UFC wins and 25 in his career. He will
need all that experience when he takes on Brazilian jiu-jitsu black
belt Gleison Tibau (fighting out of Coconut Creek, Fla.). Winner of
two of his last three fights, including a submission victory over
Rich Clementi and a unanimous decision win over the versatile
Jeremy Stephens, the 25-year-old Brazilian looks for his 30th
career win and sixth in the Octagonâ„¢. A veteran of 45
professional fights and a Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt under the
highly-respected Robert Drysdale, Joe Stevenson (fighting out of
Albuquerque, NM) has the experience and the skill to mix it up with
anyone at 155 lbs. Coming off a huge unanimous decision victory
over submission specialist Nate Diaz, the Torrance, Calif. native
will look for his eighth UFC win when he faces MMA veteran Spencer
Fisher (fighting out of Bettendorf, Iowa). The Cashiers, N.C. born
fighter is coming off three consecutive wins, including a unanimous
decision win against Japanese superstar Caol Uno. Always looking
for the finish, exciting welterweight Anthony Johnson (fighting out
of San Jose, Calif.) has four UFC wins – with all four coming via
knockout. The 25-year-old from Dublin, Ga. finished Kevin Burns
last December before stopping Luigi Fioravanti in February. Now
“Rumble” will have to face his toughest opponent to date in the
experienced Yoshiyuki Yoshida (fighting out of Albuquerque, N.M. by
way of Tokyo, Japan). The 35-year-old with an 11-3 record has won
two of his three UFC matches via submission. Another fighter always
looking for the knockout, Dutch kickboxer Antoni Hardonk (fighting
out of Los Angeles, Calif. by way of Amsterdam, Netherlands) has
knockouts in all four of his UFC wins. The 6-foot-4, 245-pound
heavyweight has won three of his last four fights and could be in
for one of the most exciting standup battles of the year when he
takes on another experienced kickboxer in Pat Barry (fighting out
of Milwaukee, Wisc.). The New Orleans, La. native looks to repeat
the performance he put on against Dan Evensen at UFC 92, which
spawned a 2:36 knockout in the first round. A fighter that has won
an amazing seven out of eight of his UFC matches against fighters
such as Mike Swick, Jason MacDonald and Alan Belcher, Yushin Okami
(fighting out of Kanagawa, Japan) improved his pro record to 24-4
when the middleweight contender earned a unanimous decision victory
against Dean Lister at UFC 92. Now the 28-year-old Japanese fighter
looks to get closer to a title shot against seasoned mixed martial
artist Chael Sonnen (fighting out of West Linn, Ore.). A two-time
NCAA national champion wrestler for the University of Oregon and an
Olympic-alternate, the 32-year-old Sonnen earned a unanimous
decision win against Dan Miller at UFC 98 in May and now stares
down one of the strongest fighters in the middleweight division
today. Jorge Rivera (fighting out of Milford, Mass.) made his
Ultimate Fighting Championship debut at UFC 44 and earned his fifth
win in the Octagon this past April with a split decision victory
over Nissen Osterneck. Now the experienced striker will be mixing
it up with a solid ground fighter in Rob Kimmons (fighting out of
Liberty, Mo.). The 28-year-old middleweight holds a third-degree
black belt in American jiu-jitsu and has won two of his last three
matches by submission. A two-time NCAA Division I All-American
wrestler at Arizona State University, Ryan Bader (fighting out of
Tempe, Ariz.) is 2-0 in the UFC and a perfect 10-0 in his mixed
martial arts career. The 26-year-old light heavyweight and winner
of the eighth’s season of The Ultimate Fighterâ„¢ earned a
unanimous decision win against veteran Carmelo Marrero in April and
now faces another experienced grappler in “Red” Schafer (fighting
out of Milwaukee, Wisc.). The Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt is on
a four fight win streak with two of his three UFC wins coming via
submission and his most recent coming via TKO against Antonio
Mendes at UFC 93. A former football player for Arizona State
University, 6-foot-4 Kyle Kingsbury (fighting out of San Jose,
Calif.) is an imposing fighter in the light heavyweight division.
The American Kickboxing Academy trained fighter looks for his first
UFC win when he faces Razak Al-Hassan (fighting out of Des Moines,
Iowa). A brown belt in Tae Kwon Do, The 27-year-old brings a 7-1
professional record back into the Octagon. Al-Hassan now trains in
Milwaukee with Duke Roufus and is in search of his first UFC win.
At 6-foot-11, it’s difficult to find a fighter that has a longer
reach than Stefan Struve (fighting out of Beverwijk, Netherlands).
The 21-year-old with a 21-3 pro record scored an impressive
submission victory against Denis Stojnic at UFC 99 in June and will
go for his second UFC win when he takes on newcomer Chase Gormley
(fighting out of Los Angeles, Calif.). At 6-foot-3, 265 lbs. the
26-year-old Red Bluff, Calif. native looks to make a quick and
lasting impression in the UFC heavyweight division. About The
Ultimate Fighting Championship® The Ultimate Fighting Championship®
is the world’s leading professional mixed martial arts organization
and offers the premier series of MMA sports events. Owned and
operated by Zuffaâ„¢, LLC, and headquartered in Las Vegas, Nev.,
UFC® produces over twelve live pay-per-view events annually that
are distributed residentially through North American cable and
satellite providers including iNDEMAND Networks, DIRECTV, DISH
Network, TVN Entertainment, BellTV, SaskTel Maxâ„¢, Shaw
Pay-Per-View, Viewers Choice, and WOWOW in Japan, and Premiere
Combate and SporTV in Brazil, and via the Internet worldwide on
Yahoo! Sports, and commercially through Joe Hand Promotions in the
U.S. and Canadastar in Canada. In addition to its North American
distribution, UFC programming is distributed in over 100 countries
and territories throughout the world. Ultimate Fighting
Championship®, Ultimate Fighting®, UFC®, The Ultimate Fighter®,
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the property of Zuffa, LLC, its affiliates or other respective
owners.


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