When UFC announced the deal with Fox, fans were exciting about the idea of huge pay-per-view-worthy cards coming to national television. Then, UFC on Fox 1 rolled around and gave us…one fight.
One.
Granted, it was a heavyweight championship fight between Junior dos Santos and Cain Velasquez and featured dos Santos becoming the new champion with a first-round knockout. While it was a major step for the UFC, featuring one fight wasn’t quite the start fans wanted.
So, two months later UFC on Fox 2 featured three bouts on Fox including two title eliminators. All three fights were decisions that were fairly lackluster.
With the UFC wanting to guarantee the next Fox card more excitement, UFC on Fox 3 featured some of the UFC’s most exciting fighters Pat Barry, Rousimar Palhares, Alan Belcher, Lavar Johnson, Jim Miller and Nate Diaz.
It delivered with three of the four fights being finished, including Nate Diaz earning a lightweight title shot.
Earlier this month, UFC on Fox 4 came around and was hit hard by injuries that resulted in the main event being an odd pairing of Shogun Rua taking on Brandon Vera. Luckily for the UFC, the two men brought an exciting fight.
Although the card didn’t feature a lot of big names, all four fights on Fox were finished in what was one of the more exciting main cards the UFC has put on this year.
Now, we get to December’s UFC on Fox 5, and finally, it appears the UFC will give us a stacked-free card.
As it was announced by John Morgan of USA Today, UFC on Fox 5 will feature a lightweight championship bout between Benson Henderson and Nate Diaz, a light heavyweight bout between Shogun Rua and Alexander Gustafsson and the previously announced battle between returning B.J. Penn and Rory MacDonald.
If UFC on Fox hasn’t really clicked with viewers yet, this will be the card that does so. The main card only has three fights so far, but they include a title fight, a title contention fight and a “Big-Name” fight.
UFC on Fox 5 is still four months away, but if these men all stay healthy, we can expect the biggest UFC on Fox card yet.
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