("Well personally, I kind of want to slay the dragon" via socawarrior)

Saturday's goldmine of matchmaking news added a new level of intrigue to the rumored fight card for UFC 113, which takes place in Montreal, Canada on May 1st.

First let's examine the rumored card

  - Champ Lyoto Machida vs. Mauricio "Shogun" Rua for light heavyweight title
  - Quinton "Rampage" Jackson vs. Rashad Evans*
  - Paul Daley vs. Josh Koscheck*
  - Kimbo Slice vs. Matt Mitrione*
  - Jeremy Stephens vs. Sam Stout
  - Marcus Davis vs. Jonathan Goulet
  - Patrick Cote vs. Alan Belcher
  - T.J. Grant vs. Johny Hendricks

The three stared fights all have lingering questions, which could change the status of the UFC's Montreal offering.

First, there are issues with the Mitrione-Slice fight, which was first reported by FiveOuncesofPain. Matt Mitrione denied the initial reporting by writing on his Facebook page that he wasn't offered the fight. This could be the normal pre-fight song-and-dance of trying to keep things under wrapped while negotiations are ongoing but there are also rumors that Kimbo could be used on a March Fight Night card. So, who knows what will end up happening.

Next there are doubts about Koscheck vs. Daley at UFC 113. The Junkie's report stated that the fight was health dependent. Koscheck recently withdrew from a fight against Paulo Thiago at UFC 109 due to an undisclosed injury thus it is quite probable that Josh would be unable to go by May 1st and the fight with Daley could be moved to the co-main event for UFC 114 in Las Vegas or UFC 115 in Vancouver.

Finally there is the fight that in WKR's opinion would elevate UFC 113 from a champion pay-per view card to MEGA pay-per view card: Rampage vs. Rashad.

The only reason why this fight is rumored to be occurring at UFC 113 is due to Dana White's comments after UFC 108; where he stated that this fight would take place in May and would occur "up there" referencing Montreal. But the long awaited Evans-Jackson bout could easily be a main event fight and one could argue that it should be a main event. With no obvious fight candidates for the main event of UFC 114 on Memorial Day weekend, could we see Rampage vs. Rasahd moved back three weeks to Vegas? UFC 114 also coincides with the UFC Fan Expo.One would think that Zuffa would want to deliver a good card for their second Fan Expo.

Basically, WKR believes we are facing a fluid situation with UFC 113.

Update: The news that Floyd Mayweather Jr. will fight Shane Mosley on May 1st --the same date as UFC 113-- makes it far more likely that the UFC's Montreal offering will be a "mega" card.

Update #2: Lyoto Machida tweeted that his fight with Shogun may be moved off of May 1st.