Ultimate Fighting Championship officials added a bantamweight bout to the UFC on Versus 5 card late Tuesday evening featuring a couple of former WEC veterans. Team Alpha Male member Joseph Benavidez (14-2) and former WEC champ Eddie ‘Honey Badger’ Wineland (18-7-1) have verbally agreed to meet at the upcoming August event.
Two bantamweight powerhouses will go at it as Joseph Benavidez and Eddie Wineland have verbally agreed to face each other at the UFC on Versus show, confirmed Dana White today. Both WEC vets are coming off three-round battles at UFC 128 and recently sat next to one another at the UFC Fighter Summit.
UFC on Versus 5 will take place on Aug. 14 at the Bradley Center in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and will mark the promotions first visit to that state.
Benavidez has won two straight and is 4-1 in his last five fights. Like many of the WEC fighters who moved over in the New Year, he’s already made his UFC debut earning a unanimous decision over Ian Loveland at UFC 128 in March. Benavidez has bounced back from a bantamweight title loss to Dominick Cruz at WEC 50, by submitting Wagnney Fabiano at WEC 52 and earning the decision over Loveland.
Wineland looks to bounce back after a loss to Urijah Faber in his UFC debut, losing to the former WEC featherweight champ at UFC 128. The loss ended a four fight win streak, as well as back-to-back “Knockout of the Night” bonuses. The ‘Honey Badger’ became the very first WEC bantamweight champion back in May of 2006 with a first round knockout victory at WEC 20.