Kongo Replaces Herring, Will Fight Velasquez at UFC 99
Heavyweight Cheick Kongo has been tapped to replace an ill Heath Herring and take on undefeated up-and-comer Cain Velasquez in the co-headliner of UFC 99 on June 13th at the Lanxess Arena in Cologne, Germany.
Herring was forced to withdraw from the event yesterday after an extended illness prevented him from training.
Kongo (14-4-1), a native of France who trains at the Wolfslair MMA Academy in the UK alongside the likes of Quinton “Rampage” Jackson and Michael Bisping, has won five of his last six bouts, including three-straight over Dan Evensen, Mostapha Al-Turk, and Antoni Hardonk. His only loss since 2006 came against the man he’s replacing, as Herring picked up a close split decision victory over Kongo at UFC 82 last March. Kongo is 7-2 since first stepping into the Octagon in mid-2006.
A junior college national wrestling champion and two-time collegiate All-American wrestler at Arizona State, Velasquez (5-0) went 2-0 in bouts with Strikeforce and Bodog Fight in 2006 before debuting in the UFC in 2008. Fighting out of the American Kickboxing Academy in San Jose, California, Velasquez has won all three of his UFC bouts, defeating Brad Morris, Jake O’Brien, and Denis Stojnic.
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[Pictured: Cheick Kongo]
Tags: Cain Velasquez, Cheick Kongo, Heath Herring
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this is a tough test for cain, very tough. I thought kongo would get the next title shot. kongo cant gain anything from this IMO. kongo should destroy cain, but if he loses he will lose his shot at a title for at least another year. we will find out if cain is for real after this fight. I thought cain would get hardonik or dos santos.
I agree with you Kongo is up there in line for a title shot so this right here should just make it a little clearer to everyone that he desires it, but on the other hand if Cain was matched up against Dos Santos I’m not sure if that would be considered a easier match. Plus if you give Dos Santos this match up and he walks through Cain then the UFC is stuck between Kongo and Dos Santos as #1 contender … because Kongo would have a 7-2 record {with a big name win of Crocop} and Dos Santos with a record of 3-0 with Knock out victories in all {with a big name win of Fabricio Werdum} see the mess this would have made of the #1 contender spot and you say it doesn’t do anything for Kongo but it does. Just should show why Kongo desires the next title shot
This by far will b cains toughest fight yet. Kongo has great stand up and really good take down defense, but in this bout I c cain taking kongo down almost at will and ground and pounding his way to yet another tko victory midway through the 2nd
I am pretty confident that Kongo will win this one, but definitely a stern test for both fighters.
Another nice matchup to an already high quality card. Hopefully this might help boost sales, I still can’t believe the event is yet to sell out ?!?!
With all the attacks by politicians and media it’s not that surprising.
I’m sure Kongo is the favorite going into this one. I personaly think it’s too soon for someone like Valesquez to fight a top guy like Kongo, but he was going to fight Herring who defeated Kongo.
This will be the biggest fight for Valesquez so far, this is a huge opportunity for him to make a big statement. If he gets passed Kongo it’ll be a big deal, it would also send his career in to the stratusphere.
Kongo is the more experienced fighter and the bigger name, but i wouldn’t underestimate velasques. Cain is from aka where they have solid wrestling and can take kongo down where he is most vurnerable and work him just like herring did when he beat him. If anything, i think this is a better match up for cain because he’s a wrestler. Not to say that kongo hasn’t worked on his grappling and that kongo can’t knock him out with those brutal leg kicks and solid punches. Should be a good fight and i hope kongo comes out on top so he can possibly get a title shot. Lesnar vs Kongo!! That would be sick dude. That’s like king kong vs godzilla. That’s of course if lesnar wins AND if kongo wins and is granted a title shot.
“Wolf’s lair takin’ over!”
This is a much more appealing fight then against “The Texas Crazy Horse”. Ill bet that Velasquez is a bit more nervous about his fight now. Cain did win by KO(if im not mistaken) in his last fight but i wasnt too impressed with it. Ill have to disagree on your future bouts though… it will be Mir vs. Kongo… and I personally believe that if Junior Dos Santos wins impressively once again then he would be a likely candidate as well. Kongo vs. Dos Santos is a matchup i would love to see. But then again there is lots of rising talent in the heavyweight division so who knows?
i thought kongo should of fought carwin for contendership but i like watching kongo fight so its all good
That would be an awesome fight too..
yeah dude. i would have preffered kongo vs carwin. but since kongo is fighting cain, i think it should be junior dos santos vs shane carwin for the #1 contender slot. But i think if kongo beats cain, if he doesn’t get a shot, he should get the winner of dos santos vs carwin and then the winner of that one should fight brock lesnar.
Assuming it all goes down that way!
Curt,
I’ll bet my avatar that Lesnar tko’s mir like he would have in the first fight if mazagatti didn’t have SUPER messed up by not only stopping them and standing them up, but also by taking that point away which brock lesnar admitted after the fight that the point taken off affected him. Either way, mir was starting to fall asleep while brock was hammer fisting the **** out of him.
yeah dude, as much as i like Mir’s “comeback”, he’s not going to score a bu on Brock this time. Brock has learned from that and knows what to expect from Mir this time around, Mir also knows what to expect from Brock but it will make no difference if he knows what Brock will do or not because Brock is a big son’ bi*ch that will have his way with Mir.
Perhaps Lesnar shouldn’t have hammerfisted the back of Mir’s head. Just saying.
Carwin is just now being allowed to train again so he’s on the shelf for another few months so Kongo just wanted to take a shot at a legit guy while he has the chance.
dbiz: in that fight, Mir was turning into Lesnar’s punches. There’s not much you can do once you throw a puch; if the dude you’re punching turns his head, you’ll hit that part he turns into. That MAYBE mertitted a warning, but not a stand up.
I hope that Kongo beats Valesquez anf Brock beats Mir. Who doesn’t want to watch Kongo vs. Brock? This would be the biggest Heavyweight fight in a while, even bigger than couture-Lesnar. That Couture-Lesnar fight was not as bg as it was made out to be because evryone knew that Brock was going to beat that old guy who should have retired a long time ago.
If Valesquez wins he should fight Junior Dos Santos and that winner should get a title shot.
The Heavyweight division is way better than before because now we can talk about all kinds of potential matchups rather than just talking Couture, Noguera and all the old guys. The younger Heavy’s are going to make this the best division again in the future. The good thing about this division is that most guys like to strike which is what most people like to see out of the Heavy’s.
Even if Kongo wins and gets a title shot, i wouldn’t see him holding the belt very long because now that there are more talented fighters coming into the division i don’t see anyone holding that belt for a while including Lesnar because Carwin,Kongo and possibly Dos Santos can finish him, but i also think that Lesnar can control anyone on the ground.
Now that Mirko Cro-cop is back i’m sure if he gets passed Al-turk he’ll get a bigger name for his next fight which could be Carwin,Dos Santos or even Herring if he heals up. Cro-cop coming back does put a lot of guy’s hopes for the top in danger because Cro-cop can ko anyone.
i’m just excited that the Heavyweight division is a lot deeper than it’s been in years.
Kongo by tko in the 2nd round..Valesquez is still green and hasn’t been in the spotlght which wil effect his mindset for this fight, and come on it’s Cheick fu*king Kongo, he looks like comic character!
Didn’t Kongo break his hand in his last fight???
Yeah i think he broke it on Antoni Hardonk’s jaw!
Kongo vs Brock sounds good to me.
Kongo vs. Brock….Biga$$ Gorilla vs Bigger Gorilla
King kong vs. The Hulk
Optimus vs Megatron
Flash Gordon vs. Ming the Merciless
freddy vs jason!
St. Slaughter vs Nemesis Enforcer
Popeye vs. Brutus? (how about Popeye vs. Bluto?)
To be honest i dont think kongo would pose much of a threat to brock. You either need to be someone like carwin, who could knock out a hippo. Or a realy good jits guy. anyone whos just a “good fighter” and not the elite will get crushed by Brock
Ya I see the best Match up for the UFC’s heavy weight division being Carwin vs Brock like you said as well as
Dos Santos vs Kongo
Carwin has the size power and wrestling to match up good vs Brock
advantages of both:: Carwin I’d give the striking to and Brock I’ll give the wrestling to.
Dos Santos and Cheick Kongo is the dream match up in the Heavy weight division every fans dream match up 2 explosive stand up heavy weights throwing leather .. doesn’t matter if you have been watchin MMA for year or just started watchin it you’ll be glued to the TV once this match up starts.
kongo all the way hes gonna destroy cain