CHICAGO, IL, January 23, 2012 – The Ultimate Fighting Championship makes its second appearance on the FOX network this Saturday night with UFC on FOX 2, also known as UFC on Fox: Evans vs. Davis. The main card features three bouts of action with Rashad Evans vs. Phil Davis, Michael Bisping vs. Chael Sonnen, and Demian Maia vs. Chris Weidman all set for broadcast from Chicago’s United Center.
As for the eight other bouts on the eleven fight card, they’ll be airing on FUEL beginning at 4PM Texas time and it will be one Texas MMA fight fans won’t want to miss despite its early start time as we have three representatives claiming Texas in this one with Houston sending Charles “do Bronx” Oliviera and both Johnny Bedford and Shane Roller fighting out of Dallas-Fort Worth.
Let’s take a look at these three fighters in further detail.
Johnny “Brutal” Bedford (Fitness Fight Factory)
A brown belt in BJJ and former NCAA Division I wrestler, Johnny Bedford was a semi-finalist on season 14 of The Ultimate Fighter before winning his official debut this past December with a dominating TKO performance over New York native Louis Gaudinot. Now 18-9-1, Johnny’s relentless fighting style and reach make him a force to be reckoned with in the UFC featherweight division.
As part of the UFC on FOX 2 undercard, Johnny was originaly scheduled to take on Eddie Wineland before an injury forced a replacement. Bedford is now set to take on 8-1 Canadian Mitch Gagnon who’ll be making his UFC debut.
Oklahoma native Shane Roller is a three-time All-American wrestler at Oklahoma State University that trains out of Team Takedown with Jake Rosholt and fellow UFC fighter and recent Jon Fitch conqueror Johny Hendricks.
A veteran of the WEC promotion, Shane made his UFC debut with a win over Thiago Tavares back in March of last year before going on a 2-fight slide against Melvin Guillard and TJ Grant. He’ll now look to bounce back this Saturday against former TUF contestant Michael Johnson, a 25 year old athletic specimen who’s also gone 1-2 in his own UFC career.
Consider this a high-stakes fight for both men as they look to rebound with a win.
A native of São Paulo, Brazil, 22 year old Charles Oliviera has been touted as a future start ever since dismantling Darren Elkins and Efrain Escudero with ‘submission of the night’ performances in his first two octagon appearances. A lightning-quick striker and deft submission artist, Charles was placed in high profile bouts against divisional contenders Donald Cerrone and Jim Miller in-between a no-contest against Nick Lentz.
This time around, he’ll be look to bounce back and start anew against Eric “Little Lee” Wisely, a 19-6 veteran with wins over opponents such as UFC vets Matt Veach and Hermes Franca. Eric’s also fought game opponents like Pat “Bam Bam” Healy and Erik Koch so he’s no stranger to tough competition but we’ll see if he can withstand the assault of “do Bronx” this Saturday.
We’ll go through our full preview and predictions for UFC on FOX 2 later in the week. For now, check out the full card below.
UFC on Fox 2 – Main Card (FOX)
Light Heavyweight bout: Rashad Evans vs. Phil Davis
Middleweight bout: Michael Bisping vs. Chael Sonnen
Middleweight bout: Demian Maia vs. Chris Weidman
UFC on Fox 2 – Preliminary Card (Fuel TV)
Lightweight bout: Evan Dunham vs. Nik Lentz
Heavyweight bout: Mike Russow vs. John-Olav Einemo
Bantamweight bout: Johnny Bedford vs. Mitch Gagnon
Featherweight bout: Cub Swanson vs. George Roop
Featherweight bout: Charles Oliveira vs. Eric Wisely
Lightweight bout: Michael Johnson vs. Shane Roller
Heavyweight bout: Joey Beltran vs. Lavar Johnson
Middleweight bout: Chris Camozzi vs. Dustin Jacoby
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