In an article published at Graciemag, not only does Matt Hughes confirm that he will, in fact, face Renzo Gracie in his UFC debut, but it has also been confirmed that the card will take place in Abu Dhabi at UFC 112.

"I didn’t know if I could say anything about my next fight, but I see that Dana has let the cat out of the bag. So I can tell you what I know, on April 10th I will be fighting Renzo Gracie in Abu Dhabi," wrote Hughes.

(Emphasis mine)

As for Renzo's take on the impending and highly anticipated bout between the two seasoned veterans;

At the top of his 42 years of age, Renzo, too, showed his excitement about his debut, voicing it in with his trademark philosophical aphorisms. "It’s the perfect matchup. The beat-down’s going to happen. And as Nietzchian as I can put it: better earlier than later," declared the black belt in an interview published on GRACIEMAG.com on November 12.

I, for one, have been looking forward to this fight. What is everyone's take on the outcome? And what are your feelings on a UFC card taking place in Abu Dhabi in April 2010?

The cancellation of Affliction: Trilogy may have been a heartbreaker for many MMA fans, but that doesn't mean the month of August is a slouch in the scheme of mixed martial arts. With two UFC's, a huge Strikeforce card on Showtime, Sengoku's Ninth Battle and WEC 42, the month of August is one of the best MMA fans have ever seen. 

August 2 & 7 - Sengoku's Ninth Battle

Featherweight Grand Prix Semifinal Bout: Hatsu Hioki vs. Masanoru Kanehara
Featherweight Grand Prix Semifinal Bout: Michihiro Omigawa vs. Marlon Sandro 
Sengoku Featherweight GP Finale 
Featherweight Grand Prix Reserve Bout: Matt Jaggers vs. Chan Sung Jung
Sengoku Lightweight Title Bout: Mizuto Hirota vs. Satoru Kitaoka 
Kazuo Misaki vs. Kazuhiko Nakamura 

August 8 - UFC 101: Declaration

UFC Lightweight Championship: BJ Penn vs. Kenny Florian
Anderson "The Spider" Silva vs. Forrest Griffin
Amir Saddolah vs. Johny Hendricks 
Kendall Grove vs. Ricardo "Cachorrao" Almeida
Josh "The Dentist" Neer vs. Kurt "Batman" Pellegrino

August 9 - WEC 42: Torres vs. Bowles

WEC Bantamweight Championship: Miguel Angel Torres vs. Brian Bowles
Joseph Benavidez vs. Dominick Cruz 
Danny Castillo vs. Ricardo Lamas
Jeff "The Big Frog" Curran vs. Takeya Mizugaki 

August 15 - Strikeforce: Carano vs. Cyborg

Gina Carano vs. Cristiane "Cyborg" Santos
Strikeforce Lightweight Championship: Josh "The Punk" Thompson vs. Gilbert "El Nino" Melendez

August 28 - M-1 Global: Breakthrough

Muhammed "King Mo" Lawal vs Don Frye
Nick "The Goat" Thompson vs Karl Amoussou

August 29 - UFC 102: Couture vs. Nogueria

Randy "The Natural Couture" vs. Antonio Rodrigo "Minotauro" Nogueria
Demian Maia vs. Nate "The Great" Marquardt
Keith Jardine vs. Thiago Silva 
Chris Leben vs. Jake Rosholt
Krzysztof "The Polish Experiment" Soszynski vs. Brandon "The Truth" Vera

While no video seems readily available, it's being reported at Sherdog that Yves Lavigne repeated his dubious stop-and-start refereeing performance last night at UFC 98 in the Kyle Bradley vs Phillipe Nover bout.

Kyle Bradley grasped his first Octagon victory in three outings with a controversial first-round TKO against debutante Phillipe Nover in their lightweight bout. Bradley shrugged off Nover’s first takedown attempt, then connected on "The Ultimate Fighter 8" runner-up with a stinging right hand. Reaching for a single leg, Nover slipped forward onto his face. Referee Yves Lavigne stepped in and halted the bout, but backed away when a cognizant Nover rolled onto his back.

With the fight still in play, Bradley landed some glancing blows on the 25-year-old Nover. Lavigne intervened a second time and waved off the bout just as Nover rose to his feet, much to the Brooklyn, N.Y., native’s and the rabid crowd’s disapproval. The official time was 1:03, while replays inside the arena did little to bolster referee Lavigne’s actions.

 

This is bad. I was a major detractor of Lavigne after his actions at UFC 96 in the Matt Brown vs Pete Sell fight, which took place only two short months ago; suggesting that if he makes a similar error in the future, he should be punished by the athletic commission. I'm interested to see if any video surfaces of this newest instance. If things went down as suggested, something needs to be done. We have to hold our referees accountable to mistakes of this gravity for our sport to grow and be given the credibility it deserves.

GIF by Chris Nelson