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[Sakara=Excitement]

Lightweight Kurt Pellegrino in for UFC 111; opponent yet to be determined | MMAjunkie.com

UFC lightweight contender and New Jersey native Kurt Pellegrino (14-4 MMA, 6-3 UFC) will fight in hid home state for the first time in more than four years.

MMAjunkie.com (UFC blog for UFC news, UFC rumors, fighter interviews and event previews/recaps | MMAjunkie.com) has learned from sources close to the promotion that Pellegrino has committed to fight at UFC 111 at the Prudential Center in March.

An opponent for Pellegrino has yet to be determined.

The bout will be the 30-year-old's first since an August win over Josh Neer. Pellegrino was expected to face Frankie Edgar at The Ultimate Fighter 10 Finale in December, but herniated discs forced "Batman" off of the card.

After battling through a difficult 1-2 stretch, Pellegrino recently returned from Florida to train in his native New Jersey. Pellegrino credits the move with propelling him to his current three-fight win streak,

"In my eyes, Florida was a great place," Pellegrino recently told MMAjunkie.com Radio. "It was always beautiful, but it was a place for retirement.

"I just was at the top of the heap in my school, and nobody could really push me. It was just really a jiu-jitsu school, and I needed to embrace violence as much as possible. I needed to come back to New Jersey and wrestle with all the wrestlers and get punched in the face by boxers who don't give a crap who I am. That really changed my whole life."

While re-scheduling the matchup with Pellegrino and fellow New Jersey native Edgar is certainly an option for the UFC, many MMA observers believe "The Answer" is currently in line for a lightweight title shot.

UFC 111, which features a welterweight title fight between current champ Georges St-Pierre and British slugger Dan Hardy, as well as an interim heavyweight title match between former champ Frank Mir and top contender Shane Carwin, takes place March 27 and airs live on pay-per-view

[willpunisher]

nah.. not frankie... frankie gets bj now.
give him someone else..

[NAL987]

Hell yeah I love watching Kurt fight, he's another very underrated LW fighter IMO.
Just off the top of my head him vs Sam Stout would be nice but probably won't happen since Stout got cut on his forehead and needs to heal.. but besides that I can't really think of anyone else besides either Tyson Griffin, Frankie (For some reason I think he should get 1 more fight before the title shot since his last fight was against a no-name), oooor Takanori Gomi?...

[Fedorlei Gomipierre]

Pellegrino's always good for an entertaining LW bout. I'd be ridiculously stoked to see him go up against Spencer Fisher or maybe Tibau or Tyson Griffin if he's healthy.

I'd also be quite fine with Kurt getting the nod to be Gomi's debut opponent, since he's not only sincerely talented, but provides an entertainment value which nearly guarantees a exciting introduction for Gomi to the UFC audience....

[GL Jeff]

I want Edgar to get the title shot. If he can it will give Grey some time to improve, and maybe stand a chance against BJ. I would say if Maynard goes unscathed in his next fight, have him go against Kurt.

[ckauffman28]

give him veach