"Babalu" to HCF for May 10 Event

Originally posted by John Morgan [john-morgan] on MMA Junkie on Mar 19, 2008 at 7:35 pm in

- News -

UFC cast-off Renato "Babalu" Sobral (29-7) will return to action on May 10 for a Hardcore Championship Fighting show to be held in Vancouver, B.C., Canada. There, 32-year-old will take on fellow Brazilian Mauricio Alonso (4-1).

Ken Pavia, an MMAjunkie.com columnist, broke news of the bout on today's edition of TAGG Radio (www.taggradio.com), a content partner of MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com).

Sobral will be in Quebec on March 29 for the HCF's "Crow's Nest" event, featuring UFC veterans David Loiseau, Hector "Sick Dog" Ramirez and Gideon Ray, where a formal announcement of the fight card will be made.

Sobral, once regarded among the world's elite in the light heavyweight division, dropped out of the top 10 in most rankings after back-to-back UFC losses to Chuck Liddell and Jason Lambert. The Gracie Barra black belt then returned to winning ways with a hard fought, bloody victory over David Heath at UFC 74. A controversial ending, in which Sobral admitted to holding an anaconda choke on Heath longer than necessary, cost "Babalu" both a $25,000 fine as well as his UFC contract.

The HCF fight will be Sobral's second outside the UFC since the incident.

During the interview, Pavia was unable to confirm, but did little to deny, a rumored match-up between Sobral and UFC veteran Mike Whitehead. It is believed the bout will be contested at the debut event of the new Affliction/Golden Boy co-promotion.

In other interview highlights:

Pavia also mentioned a forthcoming "big announcement" by the UFC regarding welterweight Chris "Lights Out" Lytle. The UFC is expected to soon release information regarding Lytle facing a "very big name" at UFC 86 in July. Pavia felt confident that the match-up would be the co-main event of the card.

According to Pavia, "Razor" Rob McCullough will return to action in the WEC on the as-yet-unannounced June 1 WEC event in Sacramento, Calif. Although McCullough's opponent has not yet been determined, that card is believed to be headlined by Urijah Faber vs. Jens Pulver. Miguel Torres vs. Manny Tapia is also expected at the event, and Jeff Curran will also likely compete.
Lastly, Pavia said Joe "Diesel" Riggs was recovering quickly from back surgery after suffering an injury in his latest fight, and should return to action with Strikeforce in late May, when the organization looks to return to Tacoma, Wash.
To hear the full interview, download Wednesday's edition of TAGG Radio, available for free in the TAGG Radio Network archives.

This story, written by John Morgan, was produced by TAGG Radio (www.taggradio.com) specially for MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com). The show -- which is hosted by fighter/broadcaster Frank Trigg, Gorgeous George and Goze -- books some of the biggest names in MMA. Download all the former episodes at www.taggradio.com, or tune into TAGG Radio's live shows Monday-Friday at noon ET/9 a.m. PT.