(Former UFC light-heavyweight champion. Undefeated in Bellator. High-score on the Pop-a-Shot. / Photo via Getty)
It’s official: UFC 186 (April 25th, Montreal) will be headlined by a rematch between bantamweight champion TJ Dillashaw and ex-champ Renan Barao, and will also feature the UFC return of Quinton “Rampage” Jackson against “The Iron Hillbilly” (actual nickname!) Fabio Maldonado. Both matchups were previously rumored last week, but UFC president Dana White confirmed them yesterday during an appearance on TSN’s SportsCenter.
But that’s not all, folks. White confirmed five more matchups for the card, which are as follows…
Rory MacDonald vs. Hector Lombard: Yeah, we already knew about this one. The winner gets the next welterweight title shot. Or maybe the Hendricks/Brown winner gets it. Or maybe Kelvin Gastelum gets it? Cripes, who knows.
Michael Bisping vs. CB Dollaway: Bisping is coming off his guillotine-choke loss to Luke Rockhold at that nutso Sydney card, while Dollaway was recently blown up by Lyoto Machida. Fun fact: Bisping hasn’t won two fights in a row since 2011.
Patrick Cote vs. Joe Riggs: Cote hasn’t competed since a unanimous decision loss to Stephen Thompson snapped his three-fight win streak back in September. Riggs will try to rebound from his unsuccessful UFC return at UFC on FOX 13 in December, when his neck immediately gave out on him during a fight against Ben Saunders.
Olivier Aubin-Mercier vs. David Michaud: This is not an MMA fight, but the finals of Top Chef Montreal. Can Aubin-Mercier’s innovative molecular gastronomy defeat the impeccable French traditionalism of Michaud? (Ed. note: Okay fine, this is a lightweight fight between two guys without Wikipedia pages. Both are 1-1 in the UFC. Thanks, Sherdog.)
Jessica Rakoczy vs. Valerie Letourneau: Rakoczy was TKO’d by Julianna Pena at the TUF 18 Finale in November, and currently holds the worst professional record of any UFC fighter (1-4 with one no-contest). Letourneau was choked out by Roxanne Modafferi during her elimination fight to get into the TUF 18 house, but was given a UFC contract anyway and won a tough split-decision against Elizabeth Phillips last June.