(Stayin’ positive. / Photo via @chicanojohn)
You know a card is stacked when a guy who just fought for a world title is relegated to the prelims. (This and this come to mind.) But it looks like that will be the case for UFC flyweight contender John Moraga, who will return from his fifth-round armbar loss to Demetrious Johnson in a fight against Darren Uyenoyama at UFC on FOX 9: Pettis vs. Thomson (December 14th, Sacramento). The UFC recently confirmed the booking.
Moraga’s loss to Johnson snapped a seven-fight win streak and dropped his UFC record to 2-1 — the same promotional record as Uyenoyama, who was most recently TKO’d by Joseph Benavidez at UFC on FOX 7. Though we normally wouldn’t call a fight like this a “must win” (especially in the relatively shallow flyweight division), it’s becoming harder and harder to predict which fighters will be considered expendable by the UFC.
Moraga vs. Uyenoyama becomes the ninth matchup added to the action-packed UFC on FOX 9 lineup, which currently lacks any fights above 170 pounds. Check out the current fight card after the jump…
Anthony Pettis vs. Josh Thomson (for UFC lightweight title)
Urijah Faber vs. Michael McDonald (BW)
Carlos Condit vs. Matt Brown (WW)
Chad Mendes vs. Nik Lentz (FW)
Joe Lauzon vs. Mac Danzig (LW)
Kelvin Gastelum vs. Court McGee (WW)
Scott Jorgensen vs. Ian McCall (FlyW)
Edson Barboza vs. Danny Castillo (LW)
John Moraga vs. Darren Uyenoyama (FlyW)