Heath Herring Offered UFC 82 Fight with Cheick Kongo

Rising heavyweight contender Cheick Kongo (11-3-1 MMA, 4-1 UFC) may meet veteran fighter Heath Herring (27-13 MMA, 1-2 UFC) at UFC 82 — an event that takes place March 1 at Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio.

A source close to Herring told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) that the fighter had been offered the rumored bout, plans to accept it, but hasn’t yet signed to make it official.

Neither Herring nor Kongo could immediately be reached for comment.
For Kongo, a victory could thrust the French fighter into immediate title contention. Aside from a close split-decision loss to Carmelo Marrero at UFC 64, Kongo has posted a spotless record in the UFC. The success peaked with an upset unanimous-decision victory over Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic at UFC 75 in September.

Kongo had been a rumored opponent for former UFC heavyweight champion Tim Sylvia. Sylvia himself even campaigned for the fight in a post-UFC 77 press conference. However, the former champ was instead tapped to fight Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira at UFC 81 next month for the UFC’s interim heavyweight title.

As for Herring, he’ll return to the octagon for the first time since his July loss to Nogueira. After flooring the former PRIDE heavyweight champion with a first-round head kick, Herring backed off from his opponent and allowed him time to recover. Nogueira stormed back for the unanimous-decision victory, and Herring opted to take a short break from competition after the loss.

Herring originally signed on with the UFC a year ago after the UFC purchased — and disbanded — the World Fighting Alliance promotion. He made his UFC debut with an upset loss to Jake O’Brien in January but rebounded for an entertaining unanimous-decision victory over Brad Imes in April.

UFC 82 is headlined by a title fight between UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva and former PRIDE standout Dan Henderson. For the latest UFC 82 fight card, check out the UFC Rumors section of MMAjunkie.com.

i'm with you jdiddy. i just like herring as a fighter. nothing but class and has all the tools to be a legit heavyweight contender.

I like Herring as a person, he is a hell of a nice guy and has treated MMA BOSTON well in the past,...I try to speak nothing but positive things about him so I will hold my tongue when speaking on the outcome of this fight-

Andy wrote:

I like Herring as a person, he is a hell of a nice guy and has treated MMA BOSTON well in the past,...I try to speak nothing but positive things about him so I will hold my tongue when speaking on the outcome of this fight-

I hear ya barking, dog! Cough cough, cheick, cough cough.

HAHAHAHA!!! I'm glad we understand each other Diamond D!!

DennisN wrote:

Andy wrote:

I like Herring as a person, he is a hell of a nice guy and has treated MMA BOSTON well in the past,...I try to speak nothing but positive things about him so I will hold my tongue when speaking on the outcome of this fight-

I hear ya barking, dog! Cough cough, cheick, cough cough.

heath hears you guys.

I WANT you to win Heath,..you are a damn good guy- Don't mind Sammy he is a trouble maker! LOL!