Late Tuesday night, the Ultimate Fighting Championship announced a couple of bouts for the upcoming UFC on FOX 3 card including a lightweight matchup between recent winners Jim Miller (21-3) and Nate Diaz (15-7) against one another in what could be argued as a No. 1 contender bout.
Also confirmed is a flyweight bout between TUF 14 bantamweight tournament winner John ‘The Magician’ Dodson (12-5), who faces Darren ‘BC’ Uyenoyama (7-3).
Officials made both bouts official at UFC.com late Tuesday night.
East Rutherford, New Jersey could well be home to Fight of the Year this May 5 on FOX, as two of the best lightweights in the world collide to move closer to a title shot. New Jersey’s own Jim Miller, coming off of a Submission of the Night win over Melvin Guillard, will take on Nate Diaz, who is coming off a Fight of the Night-winning victory over Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone.
UFC president Dana White tweeted the news today, noting that both men are known bonus collectors. Miller has won a Fight of the Night award and three Submission of the Night awards; Diaz has won three Submission of the Night awards and five Fight of the Night awards.
Also at that event, verbal agreements are in for a meetup at 125 pounds between last season’s Ultimate Fighter bantamweight winner, John Dodson, and Darren Uyenoyama. Both men are moving down from 135 pounds to do battle in the UFC’s newest division, flyweight.
UFC on Fox 3 has yet to be made official but is expected to take place on May 5, 2012 at the IZOD Center in East Rutherford, New Jersey.
Miller is coming off a first round submission win over Melvin Guillard this past Friday night in the main event of the UFC on FX 1 card in Nashville. The win erased a decision loss to No. 1 contender Ben Henderson last summer at the UFC on Versus 5 card, which ended a seven fight win streak for the New Jersey native.
Stockton, California’s own Nate Diaz is on a two fight win streak since returning to the lightweight division, earning a Submission of the Night, and most recently, a Fight of the Night bonus. His last fight took place versus Donald Cerrone at UFC 141 and saw Diaz win a unanimous decision against the ‘Cowboy’.
Dodson was the bantamweight tournament winner for season fourteen of “The Ultimate Fighter”, stopping T.J. Dillashaw last December by TKO which also earned him the Knockout of the Night bonus. The win is Dodson’s third straight. He returns to the flyweight division to face Uyenoyama at the May show.
Uyenoyama debuted with the UFC at the first FOX event last November, defeating Norifumi Yamamoto via decision in a bantamweight matchup. ‘BC’ now drops down to flyweight for the first time in his career which includes participating in DREAM’s featherweight Grand Prix in 2008.