Efrain Escudero and Jeremy Stephens To Meet at UFC Fight Night 18
Efrain Escudero
“The Ultimate Fighter 8″ lightweight winner Efrain Escudero will return to the octagon on April 1st to take on Jeremy Stephens at UFC Fight Night 18.
Stephens recently announced the matchup on MySpace.
The 155-pound bout is the first fight unofficially confirmed for UFC Fight Night 18, which has not yet been officially announced by the UFC. A location for the event has not yet been revealed, though MMA Junkie reports that Nashville and Las Vegas are likely destinations for the event, which is likely to act as a lead-in for the debut of “The Ultimate Fighter 9″.
Prior to his appearance on “The Ultimate Fighter 8″, Escudero compiled a 10-0 professional record, primarily fighting in Rage in the Cage. On the reality series he defeated Ido Pariente, Shane Nelson, and Junie Browning to advance to the lightweight finals, where he topped highly-favored Phillipe Nover via unanimous decision in December.
Stephens (16-3) entered the UFC with an impressive 12-1 record, but suffered a second-round submission to Din Thomas in his UFC debut at UFC 71 in mid-2007. After rebounding with a victory outside the octagon, Stephens returned to the UFC and posted back-to-back victories over Diego Saraiva and Cole Miller. After dropping a unanimous decision to Spencer Fisher at The Ultimate Fighter 7 Finale in mid-2007, Stephens won “Knockout of the Night” honors for his third-round knockout of Rafael Dos Anjos at UFC 91 in November.
that should b good effrain wrestle is good striking needs work, jeremy has good striking & power jeremy should grab this1 member the uppercut from hell in has last fight!!! wow!!
Personally i think that this match is a big chance for Efrain to really make a name for him self especially after Stephens K.O.ed that last chump. I hope Efrain goes far in this sport he has a cool personality.
Will make for a good test for Stephens. I also called Swick vs. Johnson as good match up on another thread so… props to me!
swick vs johnson WOW wat a match up, im guessing big fireworks, i think swick will have a big to much for boom boom but u never no johnson can knock u out in a blink of an eye.
im guna go stephens by knock out, tough first fight for efrain imo
I don’t think Stephen’s last opponent was a chump. Dos Anjos dominated him for two rounds and then got caught with the uppercut from Hell.
Swick v Johnson…Nice. Swick it better, but, there is always that chance. Fun to watch for sure.
swick vs. rumble that is flippin fireworks!! 2early 2 make my pick on this1 i thought of this match up a while back this has making of fight of the night! or year!
atleast one of the new ultimate fighter winners wanna fight. He is gonna fight again before amir.
Amir got hurt. He was scheduled to fight at UFC 91 I believe. I forgot what his injury was.
leg infection
Thanks…
yeah, I guess he made that up, he just didn’t “wanna fight”
I think its gonna be Johnson vs Fioravanti next instead of Swick but i like either matchup. Escudero vs Stephens seems like a huge mismatch on paper but before Dos Anjos got KO’D he was dominating the fight agianst Stephens. Look for Escudero to control the first round and Stephens to not lose a round after that and give Efrain his first loss. And miggy24 Amir is gonna fight before Efrain because Amir is scheduled to fight at UFC FIGHT NIGHT 17 against Nick Catone.
LOL. Thanks for pointing out that Amir is scheduled for 17. I’m mobile right now so it’s harder fir me to verify my facts mid typing.
Verify then comment Justin, you need to get it down if your gonna be on the phone and post… O sent u a e~mail fyi
yeah no problem i am pretty sure he had a staph infection and thats why he was scratched from that card.
Yeah, good call, FR. Still getting used to the mobile thing, not a Veteran at it like you.
that is gay no other tuf winner got that hard of a first fight in the ufc
Matt Serra. Travis Lutter.
Matt serra was not a UFC newb going into his fight with Lutter so that is a bit of a bad parallel. That was the “comeback” seris with some great, already established but not THAT established, fighters.