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UFC 128: Shogun vs. Jones is an upcoming mixed martial arts event to be held by the Ultimate Fighting Championship on March 19, 2011 at Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey.
Official Fight Card
Main card
* Light Heavyweight Championship bout: Brazil Maurício Rua (c) vs. United States Jon Jones
* Bantamweight bout: United States Urijah Faber vs. United States Eddie Wineland
* Lightweight bout: United States Jim Miller vs. Iran Kamal Shalorus
* Middleweight bout: United States Nate Marquardt vs. United States Dan Miller
* Heavyweight bout: Croatia Mirko Filipovic vs. United States Brendan Schaub
Preliminary card (Spike TV)
* Light Heavyweight bout: Brazil Luiz Cane vs. United States Eliot Marshall
* Lightweight bout: Brazil Edson Barboza vs. Nigeria Anthony Njokuani
Preliminary card (Facebook)
* Welterweight bout: Brazil Ricardo Almeida vs. United States Mike Pyle
* Lightweight bout: United States Kurt Pellegrino vs. Brazil Gleison Tibau
Preliminary card
* Bantamweight bout: United States Joseph Benavidez vs. United States Ian Loveland
* Featherweight bout: United States Erik Koch vs. Brazil Raphael Assunção
* Catchweight (195 lb) bout: United States Nick Catone vs. Cyprus Costantinos Phillipou
Background
This event was expected to take place in Abu Dhabi, returning to the United Arab Emirates for the second time after UFC 112. However, the organization scrapped the idea after a suitable location for the event could not be finalized in time, since the temporary venue that hosted UFC 112 had been dismantled.
A bout between Tito Ortiz vs Antônio Rogério Nogueira, was linked to this event, but is now expected for UFC Fight Night 24.
A bout between Brendan Schaub and Frank Mir was expected for this event. However, Schaub will now fight Mirko Filipovic.
A bout between Chael Sonnen and Yoshihiro Akiyama was briefly reported, until Sonnen's suspension in January 2011. Nate Marquardt will step in against Akiyama for Sonnen.
Following Jon Jones' victory over Ryan Bader at UFC 126, it was announced that Rashad Evans injured his knee during training. Jones was then told in his post-fight interview that the UFC wanted him to replace Evans in a fight against Mauricio Rua in the main event for the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship. Jones accepted, and the fight is now set for this event.
Quinton Jackson was originally offered the fight before Jon Jones. He declined the fight saying he would never take a fight with only a four week notice. He also stated that he currently weighed 250 pounds and would have to lose 45 pounds in that four week time period and would not have time to actually train.
Karlos Vemola was scheduled to face Luiz Cane on the card, but Vemola was forced out of the fight with an injury. Eliot Marshall will step in and replace Vemola.
Manny Gamburyan was scheduled to take on Raphael Assunção, but withdrew due to a back injury on February 25. Erik Koch is scheduled to step in and face Assunção, as Koch's original opponent for the UFC on Versus 3 event two weeks prior to UFC 128, Cub Swanson, pulled out due to injury around the same time as Gamburyan.
UFC 128 will feature two preliminary fights live on Spike TV, and on March 7, it was announced that the Almeida/Pyle and Pellegrino/Tibau fights will stream live on the UFC's official Facebook page.
On March 12th, it was announced that Yoshihiro Akiyama had to pull out of his fight with Nate Marquardt due to the tsunami in Japan. Dana White announced via twitter that Yoshihiro Akiyama will be on the card. Miller's opponent Nick Catone will now face UFC newcomer Costantinos Philippou in a 195 pound catchweight bout.