(photo courtesy of Zuffa/LCC via Getty Images)
News of a couple lightweight matchups surfaced on Tuesday for the upcoming UFC 129 event in Toronto. Matches between Jonathan Brookins (12-3) vs. John “The Bull” Makdessi (8-0) and Rory “The Waterboy” MacDonald (10-1) vs. James “Lightning” Wilks (7-4) were reported on Showdown.ca.
Brookins is the winner of last seasons “The Ultimate Fighter” having defeated fellow teammate Michael Johnson at the “TUF 12 Finale” in early December to win the reality show tournament. The win was Brookins fourth straight putting him at 5-1 in his last six. The loss was to the current UFC featherweight champ Jose Aldo back in November of 2008 at a WEC 36 event. Aldo won a third round TKO win over Brookins.
Makdessi made his UFC debut in the same month earning a unanimous decision win over Pat Audinwood on the preliminary card of UFC 124. It was the French-Canadians eight straight victory, keeping his record perfect so far. Six of his eight wins have come via TKO while the other two have come via unanimous decision.
MacDonald is 1-1 in the UFC having lost his last bout to Carlos Condit at UFC 115 in June, a bout which earned both the “Fight of the Night” bonus. The Canadian was to have returned in November at UFC 123 against Matt Brown but an injury forced him off the card. “The Waterboy” made his UFC debut in January of last year against Mike Guymon, earning a first round submission.
His opponent, British fighter and TUF 9 welterweight winner Wilks, is 2-2 in the UFC and is coming off a loss to another Canadian Claude Patrick in last October at UFC 120, losing by unanimous decision. Wilks defeated Peter Sobotta earlier in the year at UFC 115 in June, while dropping a bout to Matt Brown at UFC 105 in November of 2009.
UFC 129 is set to take place on April 30th at the Rogers Centre in Toronto, Ontario. The headliner for the event is expected to be a UFC welterweight title match between champ Georges St-Pierre and top challenger Jake Shields.