Ricardo Almeida vs. Mike Pyle Targeted For "Shogun vs. Evans" Card

Mike "Quicksand" Pyle's last UFC fight saw him do something that very few people gave him a chance to do in his UFC 120 outing against then-undefeated John "The Hitman" Hathaway.

He didn't just get a Unanimous Decision win over the young prospect, he earned a score of 30-27 on all three judges' scorecards against his favored, more hyped foe.

Now he gets his step up iin competition come UFC 128 in Newark, New Jersey when he faces Renzo Gracie Jiu-Jitsu ace Ricardo "Big Dog" Almeida.

Fanhouse MMA reports that the fight is targeted, although unconfirmed for the March 19th card at the time of this publishing.

Headlining this card is the long awaited UFC Light Heavyweight title bout between former champion "Suga" Rashad Evans and current UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Mauricio "Shogun" Rua.

A veteran fighter whose career spans three weight divisions, including recent outings in the Middleweight division and the Welterweight division, Almeida rebounded from a tough loss to UFC Hall of Famer Matt Hughes at UFC 117 at the Oracle in Oakland, California.

His rebound came via Unanimous Decision, and the victory came at the expense of fast-rising UFC Welterweight star TJ Grant.

The Big Dog will find himself in a war against Pyle, who has seventeen submission wins and one TKO win to his credit.

Meanwhile, Almeida's career sees five wins by submission, with eight decision wins, and no wins by either KO or TKO.

In a bout against a submission ace who can deliver a few hard shots -- even if only to set up his victim for a grappling war -- to shoot for a knockout or technical knockout in this fight would not be a bad idea for the Renzo Gracie grappling sensation and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu coach of UFC Lightweight Champion Frankie "The Answer" Edgar.

All in all, the unannounced-yet-promising Spring event is shaping up to be one of the UFC's most anticipated events of this upcoming Spring.

While the Shogun-Evans bout has its own potential to be "Fight of the Night", this battle of ground-gamers may prove itself to be a worthy candidate for the bonus as well.