‘Banha’ to take on ‘The Robot’ at UFC 97

Props: MMAMania

Surging light heavyweight contender Luis Cane (9-1) will likely get to sink his chops into the last man to hold the World Extreme Cagefighting (WEC) 205-pound title, Steve Cantwell (7-1), at UFC 97 from The Bell Centre in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, on April 18.

“Banha” was supposed to collide with Keith Jardine; however, “The Dean of Mean” now has bigger and better things to take care of, namely Quinton “Rampage” Jackson,” after division champion Rashad Evans revealed he would not be ready in time for UFC 96 in March.

I actually like this fight much better than the rumored Cane/Jardine fight.  I think Cantwell is an extremely talented fighter and I believe that when it comes to taking punishment, he’s more durable than “The Dean of Mean” is.  This will be a good test for both fighters, to see who’s ready to break through to the top level of the light heavyweight division  and who isn’t.  My gut is telling me that Cantwell is going to be highly overlooked by the fans in this fight…considering that Luiz Cane has made a big impact on the 205lb class by completely dominating Jason Lambert and ground-and-pounding the shit out of Sokoudjo, he’s getting a lot of hype throughout the MMA communities, and I personally think that with a few more decisive wins, we’ll see him up there right next to Forrest Griffin and Rampage.

Now, the whole “overlooking” Steve Cantwell thing needs to be further mentioned because he’s definitely one guy you don’t want to do that to….take in point what he did to Razak Al-Hassan in his UFC debut:

That’s not someone you want to take lightly, and if Cane does so (which I don’t think he will)….it might be a shocking result he didn’t intend on being a part of.  Cantwell is a little up-and-coming monster though, and although he showed very little class in his initial post-fight interview with the UFC (he later apologized), I think he’s got all the tools and potential to be something great.  He was the last 205lb light heavyweight champion in the WEC, and that simply goes to show the guy’s champion material with a long career in front of him…

This is going to be a great fight, I hope it’s confirmed, and although I do enjoy seeing both guys fight, I’d really love to see Cane come out on top with a big stoppage….he’s one of those fighters that I think comes along once in a great while and has the ability to throw entire weight division’s into shambles by destroying everyone in his path and forcing fighters to seriously think about accepting his challenges.

Here’s the current UFC 97 fight card, which takes place on April 18th:

Location: Montreal, Canada
Venue: Bell Centre
Broadcast: Pay per view

Main Event:

Chuck Liddell vs. Mauricio “Shogun” Rua

Co-Main Event:

Anderson Silva vs. Thales Leites - For UFC middleweight title

Undercard:

Luis Cane vs. Steve Cantwell - Not confirmed
Krzysztof Soszynski vs. Brian Stann
Ed Herman vs. David Loiseau
David Bielkheden vs. Mark Bocek