UFN 21: Bang x Fisher, Marshall x Matyushenko

MMAWeekly has reported two match-ups for Ultimate Fight Night 21, which will debut on the Versus network March 21 in Denver: Duane "Bang" Ludwig versus Spencer Fisher, and Eliot Marshall versus Vladimir Matyushenko.  Marshall and Ludwig both hail from the Denver area.

It's not that I'm not excited for these match-ups, but the first thing that comes to mind in regard to this news is that Fisher is out of the running to fight Takanori Gomi, lending more emphasis towards Kenny Florian being the first opponent for "The Fireball Kid".

Regardless, the "Bang" x Fisher fight sounds awesome, and will be very fan-friendly.  Both are very feared and technical strikers who will have no intentions of taking the fight to the ground.  Spencer Fisher is 8-4 in the UFC, and against some fairly steep competition.  He'll be looking to rebound after facing a motivated and aggressive Joe Stevenson at UFC 104.  "Bang" Ludwig is 19-10 overall, and shares Fisher's penchant for fighting top competition. 

Former "Ultimate Fighter" participant Eliot Marshall has emerged as a formidable opponent since the show.  At 8-1, he destroyed Jules Bruchez in the finale, and used his BJJ savvy to negate the submissions of Vinny Magalhaes and win a decision.  He also bested Jason Brilz on the cards in his first big step-up in competition.  Vladimir "The Janitor" Matyushenko is an old-schooler who once tussled with Tito Ortiz for the light-heavyweight title back at UFC 33 in 2001.  Vladdy has hung around and chipped away at the holes in his game, slowly but surely evolving from a pure wrestler into a more complete fighter.  Since losing to Arlovski at UFC 44, "The Janitor" has put together an impressive 10-1 sequence that includes wins over Tim Boetsch, Alex Shoenauer, Jamal Patterson, and Jason Lambert.  His sole loss comes to top-ranked machine Antonio Rogerio Nogueira.