The preliminary card of UFC 148 will likely be hosting at least one loser-leaves-town matchup. One guy is looking for his first UFC win in five tries, and the other is looking to break a three-fight losing streak. UFC.com brings the news:
It's well-rounded striker vs. well-rounded grappler as verbal agreements are in for a lightweight fight between John "The Natural" Alessio and Team Takedown’s Shane Roller at UFC 148.
Alessio (34-15) has had four different stints in the UFC dating all the way back to 2000. The most recent one began as a late replacement to face Mark Bocek at UFC 145, where he dropped a decision. He had won 10 of his last 11 bouts before that.
Roller was a long-time WEC vet that made a splash in his UFC debut by knocking out Thiago Tavares. He's hit a rough patch since then though, dropping bouts to Melvin Guillard (by KO), T.J. Grant (by submission) and most recently Michael Johnson (by decision).
The main event of UFC 148 is a UFC middleweight title rematch between champion Anderson Silva and challenger Chael Sonnen.
SBN coverage of UFC 148: Silva vs. Sonnen II