Two additional fights were added to the UFC 148 fight card today. Middleweights Michael Bisping and Tim Boetsch will face off as well as bantamweight contender Renan Barao and Jeff Hougland. UFC 148 is scheduled to take place on July 7th and will be held at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. Both fights were announced on the UFC’s website today.
Bisping, 33, and Boetsch, 31, enter this bout from different positions.
The UK’s Bisping will return to action after dropping a controversial split decision to now number-one contender Chael Sonnen at UFC on Fox 2 in January of this year. Boetsch, by contrast, has won three straight and had the win of his career when he stopped former top contender Yushin Okami in the third round of their bout last month at UFC 144.
Barao, 25, looks to continue his unbeaten streak alive this July with what would be his sixth straight win under the Zuffa banner. He most recently won a unanimous decision victory over Scott Jorgensen at UFC 143 last month.
Hougland is looking for his second win inside the Octagon since defeating Donny Walker in his UFC debut at UFC 132 in July of 2011. Hougland was originally scheduled to face fellow UFC bantamweight Mike Easton at UFC on Versus 6, but was replaced by Byron Bloodworth after Hougland pulled out of the bout due to injury.
UFC 148 will also play host to a middleweight bout between former UFC middleweight champion Rich Franklin and former Strikeforce middleweight champion Cung Le. UFC bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz is also expected to defend his title in a rematch with former WEC featherweight champion Urijah Faber.