More Bouts Added to UFC 82 - MMAUniverse.com

UFC 82 card is slowly coming together with three official bouts confirmed to take place in Ohio, Columbus on the 1st March.

Heath Herring returns after almost upsetting Main eventer Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira who faces Tim Sylvia for the division title on Sunday at UFC 81: Breaking Point.

Herring caught Noguiera seemingly Knocking him cold out, but The Texas Crazy Horse was unable to finish the job and allowing Noguiera to recover and stand to his feet and seeing out the round thus eventually earning a Unianimous decision victory.

His opponent Cheick Kongo has been training with the likes of Brandon Vera, Quinton Jackson and Michael Bisping to reach the top of his game along with stand out trainer Juanito Ibarra. Kongo has a 5-1 UFC record and seems to be improving with each fight mostly his stand up, but not much improvement seems to becoming from his floor game which could prove to be his down fall if he is to compete for the belt sometime this year as he seems to be in the rankings for that opportunity with wins over Assuerio Silva and Mirko Filipovic at UFC 75: Champion vs Champion.

AKA (American Kickboxing Academy) member & top welterweight Josh Koscheck takes to the main stage, but is a doubt to reach the televised fights will look to climb the ladder to face Dustin Hazlette.

Koscheck was man handled by current Interim champion of the division Georges St Pierre who upstaged him in all areas of the fight gaining his 2nd loss in the octagon, but still is regarded as a force in the division. His opponent Dustin Hazlette debuted in the UFC back in October 2006 and losing to veteran Tony DeSouza via submission from then on Hazelett has accumlated an 3 match win streak against Diego Saraieva, Steve Lynch & Jonathan Goulet.

Hazelett has been given the opportunity to make a big push up the ladder in division if he is able to take the scalp of Koscheck and make it 4 wins and with his submission skills it could be a possible upset for the books come March 1st.

Finally the anticipated return of Evan Tanner returns to take take on top counter fighter Yushin Okami, who seemingly looks to be top of the pile in the division as his loss to Rich Franklin put him on the back foot at UFC 72: Victory, but came through with a win against Canadian fighter Jason MacDonald. Since that win Okami was regarded as the only contender for the belt, but a lethal injection of talent scuppered his opportunity and now he faces a the retunring Tanner who will look to return to his old self and becoming a two time middleweight champion.

Tanner has been concerntrating on picking up the pieces and starting again to regain his old self and a complete athlete and model professional before his demons took him of the rails.