UFC 153 will take place on October 13 from the HSBC Arena in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The card is beginning to fill up.
Monday, it was reported that Jon Fitch would meet Erick Silva, while today Rick Story announced that he was set to face Demian Maia on the upcoming card:
I’m fighting Demian Maia in Rio!
— Rick (@Rick_Story) July 31, 2012
Story (14-5) is 1-2 in his last three UFC fights after opening his UFC career by going 6-1. The 27-year-old Story has seen his stock within the welterweight division take a tumble since his two recent losses. The fight against Maia, a former title contender in the middleweight division, provides Story an opportunity to gain some traction among the 170-pounders.
Maia (16-4) dropped to welterweight for his last contest, earning a 47-second TKO victory over Dong Hyun Kim at UFC 148. The stoppage was due to what Kim’s translator called “a freak accident.” Kim was unable to continue after suffering a muscle spasm, but a win’s a win and it goes down in the record books as a fast TKO for Maia.
The win was the first stoppage for Maia, a gifted grappler, since he stopped Chael Sonnen at UFC 95 in February 2009.
Lately Maia has been concentrating on showcasing his striking game more than his jiu-jitsu skills and it has not paid off. He had gone 4-4 between the Sonnen and Kim fights with seven of those fights going the distance. The only fight in that group that ended early was a 21- second knockout loss to Nate Marquardt.
UFC 153 will be headlined by a featherweight title bout between champion Jose Aldo and Erik Koch. In addition to the aforementioned bout between Fitch and Silva, Quinton “Rampage” Jackson will face Glover Teixeira.
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