Eric Spicely To Return Against Punahele Soriano on UFC on ESPN 8 Card

Punahele Soriano’s (7-0) second UFC fight will happen in March, against Eric Spicely (12-5) on the UFC on ESPN 8 card.

First reported by Farah Hannoun of MMAJunkie, it was reported on Sunday morning that the matchup was made.

Soriano made an explosive debut in the UFC at UFC 245 in December, stopping Oskar Piechota within a round. The fight extended his professional MMA record to an undefeated 7-0.

The Hawaiian fighter earned his UFC contract via TV series Dana White’s Contender Series, winning on the first episode of the third season.

Yorgan de Casto, who won on the same Dana White’s Contender Series episode of Soriano is fighting on the card as well, facing Greg Hardy.

Spicely’s last fight was a loss to Deron Winn via decision in June. The fight was his return fight to the UFC, having a two-fight stint in CES during 2019. Previously, Spicely had a 2-4 record in the UFC.

UFC on ESPN 8 is set to take place at the Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio, USA, on March 28th, with Francis Ngannou and Jairzinho Rozenstruick headlining the card.

Here’s how the full card looks so far:

Bout 1: Francis Ngannou (14-3) vs. Jairzinho Rozenstruick (10-0) (Heavyweight)

Bout 2: Raphael Assuncao (27-7) vs. Cody Garbrandt (11-3) (Bantamweight)

Bout 3: Greg Hardy (5-2) vs. Yorgan De Castro (6-0) (Heavyweight)

Bout 4: Khalil Rountree (8-4) vs. Sam Alvey (33-13) (Light Heavyweight)

Bout 5: Tecia Torres (10-5) vs. Mizuki (14-5) (Strawweight)

Bout 6: Aspen Ladd (9-1) vs. Julianna Pena (9-3) (Bantamweight)

Bout 7: Carlos Felipe (8-0) vs. Jeff Hughes (10-3) (Heavyweight)

Bout 8: Davey Grant (9-4) vs. Louis Smolka (16-6) (Bantamweight)

Bout 9: Randy Costa (5-1) vs. Martin Day (9-3) (Bantamweight)

Bout 10: Punahele Soriano (7-0) vs. Eric Spicely (12-5) (Middleweight)

Mizuki vs. Tecia Torres Added To UFC Fight Night Columbus

It was announced on Saturday that Tecia Torres and Mizuki Inoue have been booked for the main card of UFC on ESPN 8, which is on March 23rd, at the Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio, USA.

Torres is currently fighting the longest losing streak of her career, with a win illuding her for her last four fights. Apart from her ongoing losing streak, Torres only has one other defeat as a pro.

Most recently, Torres lost via unanimous decision to Marina Rodriguez. Previously, she lost to Weili Zhang, who is currently the UFC Strawweight Champion.

Mizuki made a successful debut in the UFC last August, winning in a split decision contest against Yanan Wu. Before her UFC career, Mizuki notably fought in all-women’s MMA promotions like Invicta FC and DEEP Jewels.

Currently set to headline the Ohio card is heavyweights Francis Ngannou and Jairzinho Rozenstruick. The co-main event will see ranked bantamweights Raphael Assuncao and Cody Garbrandt try to snap their losing streaks.

Smackdown Live 2/12/19 Results and Review

The show started with a rest in peace graphic for Pedro Morales, who passed away this week. After that we saw a recap of last night, where Vince McMahon announced that Becky Lynch would be replaced at Wrestlemania by Charlotte Flair. Charlotte came out right after and cut a promo. Nothing special happened. She isn’t the best in her division for promo work and it shows.

Carmella & Naomi vs Mandy Rose & Sonya Deville vs. The Iiconics (Peyton Royce & Billie Kay)

Similarly to what happened last night on RAW, three tag teams that will be in the Elimination Chamber Match for the Women’s Tag Team Championship faced off. Naomi won the match for her team by doing a Split Legged Moonsault on Mandy Rose. During the whole match Peyton Royce and Billie Kay didn’t get in the ring. They jumped Carmella and Naomi after the bell. Since Rose was pinned, her team will start the Elimination Chamber match against Bayley and Sasha Banks.

McMiz TV With The Usos

The next segment was Shane McMahon and The Miz’s talk show segment. Their guests on this episode were The Usos. The Usos did a “tag team test,” which is the questions of favourite food, colour and sports team. Shane and Miz got a pop when saying that their favourite minor league baseball team is the Toledo Mud Hens. The Usos started to act sour once Mandy Rose was brought up. It really struck a nerve. The segment ended with The Usos giving their opponents Superkicks.

Daniel Bryan vs. Kofi Kingston vs. Jeff Hardy vs. Samoa Joe vs. AJ Styles vs. Randy Orton (Gauntlet Match)

New Day have been given an opportunity to have the last Elimination Chamber slot after Mustafa Ali lost his due to injury. The group selected Kofi Kingston as the entrant into the match. Kingston faced Daniel Bryan as part of a gauntlet match including all Elimination Chamber members. The winner of the match gets to enter last in the Chamber match. This went for a very long time. Big E and Xavier Woods fought Erick Rowan at ringside late into it. They were kicked out from ringside, yet Rowan got to stay. Rowan threw Kofi into the timekeepers area when the referee wasn’t looking. Instead of the match ending in DQ, Rowan was thrown out from ringside. Kofi gave Bryan a Trouble in Paradise for the pinfall. Jeff Hardy came out next. Kofi eliminated Hardy with an SOS. Kofi escaped a Kokena Clutch and turned it into a roll-up to eliminated Joe. Joe attacked Kofi right after, putting him in a Rear Naked Choke. AJ Styles came out next and attacked Samoa Joe. Styles waited until Kofi Kingston recovered before they started. Kofi was working very hard in this match for what is a very small prize. Styles put in a Calf Crusher, which made Kofi Kingston tap out. The final entrant was Randy Orton, who of course came out of nowhere and did an RKO.

This match had some good wrestling but was half of the show. This just felt like a night off for the writers. NOTHING moved forward on this show. All we had was previews which gave us the same information we already knew.