Big show news roundup: Miocic, Palmer, Brown, Garbrandt, Holbrook

October 14, 2015 David McKinney News, UFC 0

Stipe Miocic
Stipe Miocic

We’re big on covering local MMA here at BluegrassMMA, but we also like to keep updaed with the fighters who have “graduated” to be known as national names. Recently, many of the top fighters hailing from the area have been in the news. Check out a recap below.

Can somebody help Stipe with his socks?

Cleveland-based heavyweight Stipe Miocic (13-2, 7-2 UFC) has been injured and was forced to pull out of his upcoming co-main event bout opposite Ben Rothwell at UFC Fight Night 76 in Ireland next weekend.

It’s an unfortunate injury for the surgining Miocic, who was told by UFC president Dana White that he needs to become more popular before he’ll get a title shot. The co-main event slot on a Fight Pass card isn’t exactly pay-per-view, but since it’s in Ireland it’s a card that’s bound to have a lot of eyes and would have been a great showcase for Miocic.

The injury doesn’t appear to be a big deal, as Stipe’s manager Greg Kalikas told MMAjunkie that the injury is “not serious, just bad timing.” Miocic hopes to be back in action before the end of the year.

The Party heads to Vegas

Cleveland native and former Ohio State wrestler Lance Palmer (10-1) is expected to defend his featherweight title at World Series of Fighting 26 on Dec. 18 at The Chelsea at the Cosmopolitan in Las Vegas.

Palmer, who trains at Team Alpha Male in Sacramento, is expected to face the winner of a WSOF 24 bout this weekend between Alexandre Almeida (16-5) and Saul Almeida (18-5).

Palmer successfully defended the WSOF title with a first round submission win over Chris Horodecki at WSOF 21 in June after defeating Rick Glenn to win the title at WSOF 16 last December.

Brown gets elevated

A lot of attention has been placed on UFC bantamweight champion T.J. Dillashaw moving from Team Alpha Male to Elevation Fight Team in Colorado, but Ohio native Matt Brown is also joining what appears to be a budding super camp.

Brown had spent time training with the team before, as he has been a part of the MusclePharm Performance Center in the past. But now the welterweight will make his full-time team in Denver, and he is there in preparation for his UFC Fight Night 78 main event outing, as he is set to take on former “Ultimate Fighter” winner Kelvin Gastelum next month in Mexico.

Brown joined The Great MMA Debate podcast and said: “This is going to be the next big team coming out of MMA. I’m glad to be a part of the beginnings of it. I’m so stoked.”

Showing “No Love” some love

It’s not a secret that Ohio native Cody Garbrandt (7-0, 2-0 UFC) is one of the hottest prospects in the UFC, but that case was made once again when he was included in FOX Sport’s list of the 25 best fighters under 25. Garbrandt came in at No. 15, ahead of the likes of Sage Northcutt (No. 21), Sergio Pettis (No. 17) and Tennessee native Justin Scoggins (No. 23).

Garbrandt’s former girlfriend Paige VanZant came in at No. 8 on the list that was topped by featherweight Max Holloway.

Helping out the kids

There’s no word on when Indianapolis-based lightweight Andrew Holbrook (11-0, 1-0 UFC) will get his second UFC fight, but the fighter he defeated in his debut, Ramsey Nijem, was cut from the promotion at the beginning of October during the monthly scrub of the UFC roster.

There’s not a ton of hype around Holbrook just yet, and he’s in one of the deepest divisions in the UFC, so it should be interesting to see who they give him the next time out.