By TXMMA Staff | Photos by UFC.com via Getty Images
UFC Fight Night 44 card loaded with Texas fighters; Ryan Benoit latest to be added to the event
DALLAS, TX, May 6, 2014 – The UFC Fight Night 44 event (aka UFC Fight Night: Swanson vs. Stephens) scheduled for next month in San Antonio has been highly-anticipated by Texas fight fans. The event scheduled for June 28th at the AT&T Center will be the UFC’s first in a city long known for its passion for prize fighting. This card will feature Cub Swanson taking on Jeremy Stephens in the main event but there is much more to look forward to as well.
Most notable for Texas fight fans is the presence of several Texas-based fighters on the UFC Fight Night 44 card. At least 7 Texas MMA representatives will be competing in San Antonio.
Here’s a quick preview on the Texas fighters set to compete:
UFC Fight Night 44 Preview: The Texas Edition
First up, Team Tooke’s Andrew Craig takes on TUF: Brasil vet Cezar “Mutante” Ferreira. A former Legacy FC champion, Andrew has been fighting in the UFC since March 2012. He currently has a 3-2 record in the organization. Craig is coming a loss to UK’s Luke Barnatt in a bout that won ‘Fight of the Night’ honors at UFC Fight Night 30 last October. He was then scheduled to face Chris Camozzi just last month in the UAE before the bout fizzled at the last moment due to illness. Now he’ll be looking to rebound against the hard-hitting BJJ black belt and capoeira master in Ferreira, who is also coming off a loss to C.B. Dollaway after winning three straight to start his UFC career.
Next up for Texas is Fort Worth’s Johnny Bedford. He’s currently 2-1-1 in the UFC and was most recently seen taking on Rani Yahya last month at UFC Fight Night 39. Bedford thought he had the fight won in the opening moments only for it to ruled a no-contest due to an inadvertent headbutt. That was definitely a very emotional moment for Bedford with the mix of emotions. Not the way anybody wants to see a fight end so that was unfortunate. The good news is that the two will now face off in an immediate rematch to decide a true winner in San Antonio.
Two of Texas’ fast-rising prospects face off against each other in San Antonio when TUF winner Colton Smith takes on debuting BJJ black belt Carlos Diego Ferreira.Colton has dropped 2 straight and is 1-2 in the UFC while Ferreira debuts with 8 straight wins to start his MMA career including victories over UFC vets Carlo Prater and Jorge Macaco Patino. These two are not wholly unfamiliar with each other having grappled at an AGF event in Dallas not too long ago so it should be interesting to see how they match up in the UFC octagon.
Three more Texas MMA fighters are set to round out this card as well.
South Texas Muay Thai specialist Frank Trevino returns for the second time following his debut win over Renee Forte. Still undefeated at 12-0, Frank will face a notable opponent in Joe Ellenberger, twin brother of ranked welterweight contender Jake Ellenberger.
Also due to return is Dallas-based Sean Spencer. He’ll be going into UFC Fight Night 44 following a narrow split decision loss to tough prospect Alex Garcia at UFC 171. Spencer won his previous 2 bouts before that. He will be getting TUF: Brazil 2 veteran Luis “Besouro” Dutra Jr. this time around as he looks to get back to his winning ways.
Last but not least for this card was the recent addition of another Legacy vet in Ryan Benoit. He looked tough but succumbed to Josh Sampo in his debut albeit winning a $100K FOTN bonus in the process. He’ll be facing off against another exciting flyweight in UFC sophomore Ray Borg. He (Borg) lost to Dustin Ortiz just three weeks ago in his UFC debut after taking the fight on short notice so both he and Benoit will be looking for their first UFC wins in this one. Expect fireworks.
UFC Fight Night 44 takes place on June 28, 2014 at the AT&T Center in San Antonio, Texas. Check out the complete fight card below and stay tuned here at TXMMA.com for details as the card nears.
UFC Fight Night 44 – Current Fight Card for June 28, 2014
- 145 lbs.: Cub Swanson vs. Jeremy Stephens
- 170 lbs.: Kelvin Gastelum vs. Nicholas Musoke
- 155 lbs.: Myles Jury vs. Abel Trujillo
- 185 lbs.: Cezar Ferreira vs. Andrew Craig
- 145 lbs.: Ricardo Lamas vs. Hacran Dias
- 185 lbs.: Clint Hester vs. Antonio Braga Neto
- 135 lbs.: Rani Yahya vs. Johnny Bedford
- 155 lbs.: Colton Smith vs. Carlos Diego Ferreira
- 155 lbs.: Frank Trevino vs. Joe Ellenberger
- 185 lbs.: Marcelo Guimarães vs. Andy Enz
- 265 lbs.: Oleksiy Oliynyk vs. Anthony Hamilton
- 170 lbs.: Sean Spencer vs. Luiz Dutra
- 125 lbs.: Ryan Benoit vs. Ray Borg
