In what is almost assuredly a No. 1 contender match for the UFC lightweight title, former WEC champ Ben ‘Smooth’ Henderson (14-2) will meet Clay ‘The Carpenter’ Guida (29-8) in November at the UFC on Fox: Velasquez vs. Dos Santos event in California.
The bout was made official at UFC.com on Tuesday, along with the addition of two more bouts, Norifumi ‘Kid’ Yamamoto vs. Darren Uyenoyama and Ricardo Lamas vs. Cub Swanson.
UFC on Fox: Velasquez vs. Dos Santos will feature a heavyweight title fight between Cain Velasquez and Junior dos Santos and is set to take place on November 12 at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California. The event marks the debut of the UFC on the FOX network, with a one hour special featuring the Velasquez vs. Dos Santos bout.
Henderson recently earned a solid victory over Jim Miller, who many believed was already the top 155 lb contender, last month at the UFC on Versus 5 event in Milwaukee. That win earned ‘Smooth’ his second straight victory as well as his twelfth win in thirteen pro-bouts. The only loss in that stretch was a WEC decision title defeat to Anthony Pettis last December at WEC 53.
Guida, an energetic fan favorite, has won four straight with his last victory coming over Pettis last June at the TUF 13 Finale event. ‘The Carpenter’ earned a unanimous decision over ‘Showtime’ as well as three straight submission wins against Takanori Gomi, Rafael dos Anjos and Shannon Gugerty. Over Guida’s fourteen appearances with the UFC, he’s earned six “Fight Night” bonuses including four “Fight of the Night” honors, two of which were voted “Fight of the Year”.