The resurgent ProElite has inked Nov. 5 for its next major event, and two ex-UFC heavyweight champions have taken co-headlining fights.
Five-time champ Tim Sylvia (29-7) meets Pedro Rizzo (19-9) in the main event while three-time champ Andrei Arlovski (16-9), who headlined the promotion's first event in August, meets journeyman Travis Fulton (247-48-10).
ProElite 2 takes place at the 12,000-seat iWireless Center in Moline, Ill., which is a stone's throw from part-time cop Sylvia's home.
Broadcast plans for the event have yet to be announced, though the promotion is in talks with HDNet to air the second event and additional ones, sources close to negotiations today told MMAjunkie.com (
www.mmajunkie.com).
An eight-man heavyweight tournament also is targeted for the fall event, as ProElite veteran and planned participant Mark Ellis (1-0) today told MMAjunkie.com Radio. It's unknown what position the tournament bouts would take on the card, a source said.
Additionally, ProElite veterans Reagan Penn and top-ranked women's flyweight fighter Tara LaRosa are expected to fight, according to MMAFighting.com.
Sylvia, who serves as an auxiliary officer on the police department in Milan, Ill., makes his promotional debut after recently getting back in the win column in August. In a super-heavyweight bout typical of the ex-champ's chosen weight class as of late, he knocked out Patrick Barrentine in regional competition. A highly publicized bout with "The Ultimate Fighter 10" veteran Abe Wagner, which he expected would put him closer to a his goal of returning to a major MMA promotion, ended in heartbreak when Wagner stopped him with strikes in the first round.
Rizzo, meanwhile, hasn't fought since July 2010, when he leg kicked the nearly expired Ken Shamrock into submission for a TKO win at "Impact FC 2: The Uprising" in Australia. It was his third consecutive victory with additional wins over Jeff Monson and Gary Goodridge.
Arlovski snapped the worst losing streak of his career in ProElite's inaugural event after stopping the unheralded Ray Lopez with strikes in the August event's third round. Four consecutive losses – which came against Fedor Emelianenko, Brett Rogers, Antonio Silva and Sergei Kharitonov – took his stock to new lows, and he was released from Strikeforce in the spring following the knockout loss to Kharitonov.
Arlovski has long coveted a fourth fight with Sylvia, who avenged a 2005 submission loss to the Belarusian by handing him a pair of losses that took his UFC belt and closed the door on another run at it.
Fulton, who's fought 305 professional bouts (and possibly more than don't appear on his official record), is currently on a two-fight win streak in regional competition. He's 31-3 since early 2008.
Source: Sylvia-Rizzo, Arlovski-Fulton headline ProElite 2, eight-man HW tourney on tap
