Lashley fights a larger man for the first time in MMA action when he steps into the cage against an imposing 6-4, 350-pound Sapp (10-3-1), who played in the NFL for four years before becoming an iconic combat fighter in Japan, where he starred in PRIDE and K-1.
"Most heavyweights (in MMA) weigh 230-240 and that's the size of guys I've fought," Lashley said. "But I'm fighting a huge opponent in this coming fight. This guy must have weighed 370 at the press conference. Even if he gets down to 340, he'll still outweighs me by around 85 pounds. Sapp's really aggressive and I know he's going to come out hard. He won't be able to go through me, though. He's strong but his weakness is in the gas tank, even though I know he's training hard for this fight. It's going to be a good fight."
"We liked this fight when it was first offered. When I fight there's always been a ‘but' after it. It was a good fight but ......fill in the blank. Well, I'm fighting a bigger guy who's popular overseas. I don't think this fight will go long. It certainly won't be a long, drawn-out fight. There will be a lot of heavy blows, lots of banging - ‘Battle of the Giants!' I'm training right now back home in Colorado. I like working in the altitude but I'll probably make a brief trip to train (with American Top Team) in Florida where there are a lot of big guys at our fight club. I may have to stack three guys up (to simulate Sapp, Bobby jokingly said). I have some big guys here I'm training with. They not be quite as big as Sapp, but they're big, very strong and have heavy hands like Bob."
Controversial Dutch heavyweight Gilbert "The Hurricane" Yvel (35-13-3) takes on 3-time UFC title challenger Pedro "The Rock" Rizzo (16-8-0) in an intriguing co-feature. Former King Of The Cage and Gladiator Challenge champion Javier "Showtime" Vasquez (12-2-0) meets dangerous lightweight Din "Dinyero" Thomas (24-8-0), star of The Ultimate Fighter 4; Canadian lightweight sensation Chris "The Polish Hammer" Horodecki (12-1-0) faces 4-time World Muay Thai champion William "The Bull" Sriyapai (12-4-0).
Also fighting on the card are welterweights
Brett Cooper (8-4-0) vs. Waachiim "Native Warrior" Spirit Wolf (5-4), Affliction vice president Tom Atencio (1-0) vs. pro debuting lightweight Randy Hedderick, middleweight James Orso (8-3-0) vs. Colby McMahan (3-1-0), The Ultimate Fighter 3 star
Danny Abbadi (3-4-0) vs. veteran middleweight Lance Thomson (4-2-0); welterweight Eric Bradley (2-1-0), 2-time All-America wrestler and 2003 NCAA boxing champion at Penn State, vs. Belfast, Northern Ireland brawler Colin McKee (3-2-0). All fights and fighters are subject to change.
