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In a fight that could be a big step forward for two light heavyweights who are drifting along right now, Forrest Griffin and Mauricio “Shogun” Rua will have a rematch at UFC Rio in August, which will carry the label of UFC 134.

Mike Chiappetta of MMAFighting.com was first to report the bout.

These two originally met at UFC 76 back in September of 2007. Rua was making his UFC debut and largely considered as the top light heavyweight in the world. In an underwhelming performance, Rua gassed early and was controlled by Griffin before being choked out in the final minute of the third round.

That win propelled Griffin to a title shot, which he won, while Rua slowly made his road back and also went on to win the light heavyweight title.

Rua is coming off a title loss to Jon Jones at UFC 128 in which he was dominated by the 23-year-old phenom.

Griffin is coming off a decision win over Rich Franklin at UFC 126. He has won two straight since his embarrassing loss to Anderson Silva back in August of 2009.

This fight will be big for both men as a loss could put an end to any future title considerations. Griffin hasn’t been considered a top 5 light heavyweight for a while now and Rua has been very inconsistent in the octagon.

The UFC is clearly building up UFC 134 in Brazil to be a mega show. Anderson Silva will take on Yushin Okami at the same event and other Brazilian-born fighters are expected to take part.

Really?

That is about all that comes to mind when I read Steven Marrocco’s report that Nick Diaz is eying a boxing bout in the near future.

I respect Diaz and his skills. He has an iron chin, a lot of heart, and some decent boxing ability. But, stepping into the cage and having boxing ability is a lot different than stepping into a boxing ring and being a “good boxer.”

It is no different than thinking that James Toney can step in the UFC and just knock people out. That idea worked for all of about two seconds.

If Diaz fights a legit boxer and isn’t fed a jobber, I don’t expect things to end very well. He doesn’t have a tremendous amount of punching power and that power will be limited even more by the bigger gloves. I know Diaz has a pretty good reach, but an experienced boxer will know how to get inside that.

I really do like Nick Diaz as a fighter and hope he changes his tune on this idea to box. If he is embarrassed in the ring, it will only hurt his status in MMA.

Diaz is a rising start right now as the Strikeforce welterweight champion, let’s hope he doesn’t set himself up for a crash landing.

In this day and age, MMA fans are always looking for the next big thing.

Currently that title belongs to new UFC Light Heavyweight Champion, Jon Jones. Jones has been dominant throughout his UFC career, destroying all of his opponents on his way to the championship.

While Jones rise to the top has been nothing short of amazing, his jump up the UFC ladder has made it tough for other rising stars to make a big impression on fight fans.

Enter light heavyweight contender Phil Davis.

Davis spoke to MMAFighting.com’s Ariel Helwani and talked about the criticism he has faced of his recent decision win over Antonio Rogerio Nogueira last month.

“You’ll have (criticism), no matter what you do, you’ll still have a little bit of that. It just comes with the territory of being in the UFC with other great talent where guys beat the crap out of guys. You’ve got your Rampage, your Shogun’s and Jon Jones and all these great guys that finish people and if you’re a really tough guy that can’t finish people then you seem like your less of a person, and for the most part, yeah. Those guys are up here and I’m not there yet. … The fact that I took the (Nogueira) fight on short notice against a guy who’s a really good boxer and was able to stay out of most of his dangerous strikes and do some effective striking of my own, that’s pretty good. He stopped some takedowns but wrestling is what I do and he couldn’t stop all of them. So it’s kind of like, who won and who lost? You know what I mean? I get confused like … what did you expect to happen?”

MMA lives on highlight-reel knockouts and submissions and everyone is always expecting something flashy. That is why Jones has become such a rising star. But, has the passion for finishes caused fans to under appreciate some of the world’s best fighters?

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