(Photo courtesy of Sherdog.)

From a recent blog post on MacDanzig.net:

Forget what you heard! Mac is NOT fighting at UFC 87, or in August at all! Mac will most likely fight in September, and the fight has not yet been signed.

It’s possible that Danzig’s reported matchup with Clay Guida at “Seek and Destroy” (August 9th, Minneapolis, MN) will simply be moved to a later event. We’ll update you when we know more. In the meantime, another compelling lightweight matchup may be added to the card that would take a bit of the sting off the Danzig/Guida loss.

NBC Sports is reporting that exiled former #1 contender Hermes Franca will return to the Octagon at UFC 87 against Frankie Edgar. Due to a positive steroid test, Franca was given a one-year suspension after his lightweight title fight against Sean Sherk at UFC 73; the suspension ends on July 5th. Franca resigned from the UFC in order to make money fighting outside of the U.S. — though decided against competing when he learned that doing so could jeopardize his chances of getting licensed here again — so it’s interesting that the UFC is welcoming him back with open arms. Could Dana White be planning a steroid-free rematch between Franca and Sean Sherk sometime in the future?

In other UFC 87 news, Karo Parisyan says he’s been booked to fight at the event. He was expected to face George Sotiropoulos, but the TUF 6 semi-finalist was forced to pull out of the match due to injury, and a replacement hasn’t been found yet. Parisyan was most recently defeated by Thiago Alves at UFC Fight Night 13 in April.

(Props: BloodyElbow)

(And boom goes the dynamite. Photo courtesy of UFC.com)

According to UFC welterweight Thiago Alves on Monday’s edition of TAGG Radio, Karo Parisyan has come to terms with his sort-of controversial TKO loss at UFC Fight Night 13, which Parisyan immediately protested as soon as he regained his faculties:

“You can look at the replay,” Alves said. “Even I looked at it after the fight. He was out. He fell. He had no reaction at all. I kept punching and punching, and sometimes when you’re out, when you get punched again you wake up. You don’t know what just happened.

“That was [Parisyan's] concern. He thought that nothing happened. ‘Why’d you stop the fight?’ you know? When he saw the replay, even (Parisyan’s coach Randy) Couture was like, ‘You got knocked out.’ After a while, [Parisyan] texted my coach and apologized and everything. Karo’s a great guy.”

Sadly, Karo is probably still trying to wrap his head around the fact that he just lost his highly cherished title shot — which, to hear the guy talk in previous interviews, seemed to be his sole reason for fighting. To add insult to injury, UFC matchmaker Joe Silva all but promised Alves a future crack at the 170-pound belt:

“Right now I heard I’m right behind Jon Fitch,” Alves said. “That’s what Joe Silva told me.”

And I guess that makes sense, except for two things:

(Ken-Flo and J-Lau will face off in tomorrow’s main event.)

Here are the quick weigh-in results for tomorrow’s UFC Fight Night 13. For video of the scale tippers and Joe Rogan’s screaming, go here.

Main Card:
Kenny Florian (155.5) vs Joe Lauzon (156)
Karo Parisyan (171) vs Thiago Alves (171)
Nate Diaz (156) vs Kurt Pellegrino (155)
James Irvin (205) vs Houston Alexander (205)
Gray Maynard (155) vs Frankie Edgar (155.5)
Tim Boetsch (206) vs Matt Hamill (204)

Under Card:
Josh Neer (156) vs Din Thomas (155)
Roman Mitichyan (170.5) vs George Sotiropoulos (169.5)
Marcus Aurelio (154.5) vs Ryan Roberts (155.5)
Clay Guida (156) vs Samy Schiavo (155)
Manvel Gamburyan (155.5) vs Jeff Cox (155)
Tommy Speer (170) vs Anthony Johnson (169.5)

On the card of the first event in Canada for the UFC, it looks like we could be seeing Karo “The Heat” Parisyan and Thiago Alves battling in a welterweight match. MMA Junkie is reporting that the fight is in talks and will very likely take place at the April 19th show in Montreal. The report claims sources close to both fighters have said signed agreements are forthcoming. It’d be another welterweight bout to go with the headlining fight between Matt Serra and Georges St. Pierre.

Karo is in the mix within the division and has stated he wants a shot at the title, something he lost out on when an injury caused him to drop out of a fight with Matt Hughes a couple of years ago. He is currently 18-4 – and will be when he fights Alves, unless he loses a sanctioned street fight between now and then – and has won eight of his last nine fights (seven by decision). He was on “Inside MMA” back in December and said that instead of fighting Jon Fitch, he wanted something else:

A “more-guaranteed win” and he said he needs “an easier fight than Jon Fitch so I can basically have a high percentage of beating (the opponent) and getting a title shot.” 

Thanks, pussy.

Karo Parisyan, who most recently bored us to tears at UFC 78, embarrassed himself again while appearing as a guest on Friday’s episode of Inside MMA. During a discussion of women’s MMA, Karo threw in his two drams:

“Look, I know all the women are going to hate Karo Parisyan now, but the cage is not for women…I mean, Gina Carano is a very beautiful girl. I don’t know why she wants to mess her face up to get in that cage. For me personally, I do not want to see any girl get in the cage and fight…Can’t they do one thing that guys do and they don’t? Just one? Give me a break. They do weight-lifting. They do wrestling. Not MMA, please. It’s too brutal for women.”

Parisyan went on to lament how, in glorious nation of Armenia, women are now allowed to ride in inside of bus.

For his blatant sexism, Karo’s punishment should be to watch this terrible commercial in a continuous loop for 24 hours straight. Parisyan also becomes the first recipient of CagePotato’s “Ortiz Award”, for his outstanding achievements in referring to himself in the third-person like a complete fucking jerkoff.

(Props: MMA Junkie)

You know a UFC card is dull when John McCarthy, Herb Dean, Steve Mazzagatti, and Mario Yamasaki all have better things to do. No knock on the reffing abilities of Dan Miragliotta and Kevin Mulhall — or the lovely state of New Jersey — but nearly everything about UFC 78 was substandard, and every fighter proved that they weren’t quite ready for the big show. Let’s get through it…