Koppenhaver Returns as Two Welterweight Bouts are added to UFC 84

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By Thomas Gerbasi

His third round stoppage of Jared Rollins last December capped off one of the most action-packed bouts of 2007, and on Saturday, May 24th, at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, 170-pound prospect Jon Koppenhaver will kick off his 2008 campaign when he faces UFC newcomer Yoshiyuki Yoshida in a UFC 84 preliminary bout.

Also added to the undercard is a welterweight contest between England’s Jason Tan and Korea’s Dong Hyun Kim.

UFC 84: Ill Will is headlined by the UFC Lightweight Championship bout between BJ Penn and Sean Sherk, as well as light heavyweight bouts between Wanderlei Silva and Keith Jardine, and Lyoto Machida and Tito Ortiz.

A member of The Ultimate Fighter’s sixth season cast, San Diego’s Jon Koppenhaver (6-1) may have been eliminated in his first TUF6 bout by Tommy Speer, but his stirring victory over Rollins on the season finale card – a win which saw him rise from certain defeat seconds earlier to stop ‘J-Roc’ at the 2:01 mark of the final round – made him an instant fan favorite and insured a return to the Octagon. In Yoshiyuki Yoshida (9-2), Koppenhaver will be facing a SHOOTO and Cage Force veteran who has rebounded from a 1-2 start to his career to win eight fights in a row, mainly behind his ferocious ground and pound attack.

6-2 as a pro, Liverpool, England’s Jason Tan is looking to rebound from his UFC debut loss to Marcus Davis last June at the expense of Dong Hyun Kim. Since his defeat at UFC 72, Tan has gotten back in the win column with a decision victory over Alexandre Izidro last August, and he hopes to carry that momentum into his United States debut on May 24th. He won’t have an easy road though, as he will be facing one of Korea’s top prospects in Kim (9-1-1), a DEEP organization standout who has knocked out and drawn with highly-regarded contender Hidehiko Hasegawa in his last two fights. And up until the October 2007 draw with Hasegawa, Kim had won his previous five bouts by knockout or TKO.