The Ultimate Fighting Championship made a couple of bouts official for two of their upcoming events, with the addition of a lightweight bout between John ‘The Bull’ Makdessi (9-0) vs. ‘Relentless’ Paul Taylor (11-6-1) for the UFC on Versus 5 event, and a featherweight match featuring Jonathan Brookins (12-3) vs. Erik ‘New Breed’ Koch (12-1) slated for the UFC Fight Night: Battle on the Bayou event.
The Makdessi vs. Taylor bout was added to the events official fight card, while the Brookins vs. Koch bout was announced by UFC President Dana White.
“Verbal agreements are in place for a featherweight showdown between Erik Koch and Jonathan Brookins, September 17 at UFC Fight Night in New Orleans,” said UFC President Dana White. “Koch is one of the division’s fastest rising stars and this will be Brookins’ first fight since winning The Ultimate Fighter, season 12.”
UFC on Versus 5 (aka UFC Live: Hardy vs. Lytle) is scheduled to take place on Aug. 14 at the Bradley Center in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The event will air live on the Versus network in the U.S., and live on Rogers Sportsnet in Canada.
While the UFC Fight Night: Battle on the Bayou (aka UFC Fight Night 25) is expected to take place on Sept. 17 at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center in New Orleans, Louisiana. The main card will air live on Spike TV in the U.S., while Canadians have the choice of tuning into Spike TV or Rogers Sportsnet for the live event.
Canadian fighter, Makdessi, is a perfect 2-0 in the UFC and undefeated in his career. He stopped Kyle Watson with a spinning backfist in Toronto last April at the UFC 129 event. His opponent, Taylor, a 4-5 vet with the UFC, bounced back from two losses to defeat Gabe Ruediger at UFC 126 in his last fight. ‘Relentless’ used a head kick in the second round to earn his fourth win and his first as a lightweight in the UFC.
Brookins is the “TUF 12″ season winner, defeating teammate Michael Johnson at the finale last December by unanimous decision. He had been scheduled to face Jeremy Stephens next but an eye injury forced him out of the TUF 13 Finale event. Koch made his UFC debut in March, stopping Raphael Assunção at UFC 128 to win his third straight, as well as back-to-back “Knockout of the Night” bonuses.