Black Belts, Contracts, And New Blood: UFC Lightweight Round Up

It's been a big week for UFC lightweights thus far. Over the weekend, Brooklyn's own and TUF finalist Phillipe Nover was given his black belt by Alexandre “Soca” Freitas. He had the following to say:

“My teacher Soca gave me my black belt today. It has been a long journey and I have finally arrived. I’ve been training Brazilian Jiu-jitsu for over 8 years. To me, obtaining a black belt brings the art to full circle. I will continue to train just as hard as I have been and will strive to the top.

"Thank you to all my training partners and teachers, especially Soca for believing in me! I only hope to make you all proud next week and bring home victory! I will keep this fire in me burning. My time is now!”

Nover gets this honor just days before he is presented with the biggest opportunity in his life, fighting in the finals of "The Ultimate Fighter". Everyone here in Brooklyn is pulling for you Phillipe, good luck.

Anyone remember Roger Huerta? Yea, the top ranked lightweight who was unhappy with his contract situation, then iced by the UFC for months until he re-signed with them. That day has come. Huerta inked a new five fight contract. His first opponent is rumored to be Joe "Daddy" Stevenson at UFC 95. Hopefully the UFC can put that one together. Both are ironically coming off of losses to the same person. That man of course is Kenny "I Finish Fights" Florian.

Diego Sanchez is leaving the welterweight ranks to join the 155 pounders. He had the following to say on his Myspace blog:

“So my account got hacked and it took a while to get it fixed, but I’m back. I’m training hard and will be dropping down to fight at 155. I will keep you all posted on the info of the fight! But I promise you all that I will do my best to win.”

Dana White confirmed the notion. Sean Sherk already has his eyes set on welcoming him to the lightweight division. Sherk commented:

“If he wants to drop to 155, I’d like to be the first guy that fights him. I think I match up great with him. I think his ground game is phenomenal, but so is mine. I know his conditioning is phenomenal. So is mine. His boxing…is okay. But I think it would be a great match-up. You get two guys that are really aggressive fighters who have great conditioning who are going to go and bang it out for 15 minutes.”

This just proves even further that the lightweight division is the most stacked in the UFC and we can expect nothing but good things from it in the near future.