Jon FItch
Welterweight Jon Fitch (24-4-1) will test his skills against another Brazilian fighter following his exciting performance at UFC 153 when he takes on submission ace Demian Maia (17-4) this February as part of UFC 156.
Officials with the UFC Brazil office Tweeted (@ufc_brasil) the news on Thursday evening.
– Olha que lutão, @DemianMaia Vs. Jon Fitch no UFC 156 dia 2/2/13 em Las Vegas. Mandalay
UFC 156 is expected to take place on February 2, 2013 at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, Nevada with a featherweight title fight headlining between division champ Jose Aldo and former lightweight champ Frankie Edgar.
Fitch put in a solid performance last month at UFC 153 in Brazil by winning a unanimous decision over Erick Silva at the Rio event. The bout also earned both fighters the “Fight of the Night” award. The victory was Fitch’s first in three matches after a knockout loss to Johny Hendricks at UFC 141 and a majority draw versus BJ Penn at UFC 127.
Maia has earned two straight wins since dropping down to 170-lbs from the middleweight division. He was able to stop Rick Story at UFC 153 with a neck crank submission while beating Dong Hyun Kim via TKO at UFC 148. Previous to that, Maia had gone 1-2 in his last three middleweight bouts losing to both Chris Weidman (UFC on FOX 2) and Mark Munoz (UFC 131), while defeating Jorge Santiago (UFC 136).