UFC Fight Night 57’s main event is official, and it is a good one. Electrifying featherweights Frankie Edgar and Cub Swanson will square off for five rounds on November 22 in Austin, Texas. The news was announced Wednesday night by the UFC on Twitter:
Just Announced: #UFCAustin: @CubSwanson vs @FrankieEdgar | Nov. 22 Austin, TX | 5-round main event pic.twitter.com/nwzpTKRW2O
— UFC (@ufc) September 25, 2014
The bout features two veteran fighters who are surging toward title contention.
Edgar, of course, is the former lightweight champion who is renowned for his toughness and epic fights with Gray Maynard and Benson Henderson. Since dropping to featherweight, Edgar has accrued a 2-1 record, dropping a decision to Jose Aldo in his 145-pound debut while notching wins over Charles Oliveira and BJ Penn.
Swanson owns a particularly strong six-fight winning streak in the UFC, defeating entrenched veterans like Dennis Siver, Ross Pearson, Dustin Poirier and Jeremy Stephens. While it seemed as though that may have earned him a shot at the title (Dana White previously hinted that Swanson’s next fight would be for the belt), he will apparently need to take on one more challenge before getting a shot at gold.
While this could easily be viewed as a top contender’s bout, the UFC has an abundance of talent near the top of the division at this time. Chad Mendes is slated to face Jose Aldo at UFC 179 in October. Past that, Conor McGregor’s skyrocketing popularity could easily be hurried into a title shot, while Dennis Bermudez is sitting on an impressive seven-fight winning streak.
Either way, this main event is the cherry on top of an already-strong Fight Night 57. In addition to Swanson vs. Edgar, the card features an exciting lightweight matchup between Bobby Green and Edson Barboza, a flyweight tilt between surging prospect Dustin Ortiz and former contender Joseph Benavidez and an intriguing heavyweight fight between Oleksiy Oliynyk and Jared Roshalt, among others.
Watch for more news on the card as the event approaches.
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