UFC 130 is set to take place on Saturday, May 28 from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. The main event on the card will feature a light heavyweight battle between former UFC champion Quinton “Rampage” Jackson and Matt Hamill. The co-main event will be a heavyweight showdown between two highly ranked fighters, former UFC champion Frank Mir and Roy “Big Country” Nelson.
Michael McDonald (12-1) will meet Chris Cariaso (11-2) in a bantamweight bout on the undercard of UFC 130.
The 21-year-old McDonald made his UFC debut on the UFC Fight Night Nogueira vs. Davis card in March of this year, capturing Fight of the Night honors while defeating Edwin Figueroa via unanimous decision. It was the first time in his career that he ever went to decision
McDonald’s only loss came to Cole Escovedo in 2009, a TKO loss he later avenged with a KO of his own, capturing the Tachi Palace Fights Bantamweight title in the process.
Despite being lauded as a rising star in the UFC’s bantamweight division, McDonald is happy to take the slow road toward the top, “I’m very real about realizing my age and I have a long way to go until I’m at my best. I think I’m definitely good enough to hang with the top level of competition in the world, but still in all reality, I’m 20 years old and I’ve got a long ways to go,” McDonald told MMAWeekly Radio following his win over Figueroa.
Cariaso, is coming off a unanimous decision win over Will Campuzano on the Fight for the Troops 2 card. Prior to that fight, Cariaso told MMAWeekly that in the past, “I just wasn’t as focused as I should have been. I just had a new baby, my life was everywhere. I kind of changed some things up in my personal life that will allow me to be more focused during fights and make the UFC my number one priority.”
Cariaso continued, “My goal this year is to hopefully get in three fights and get myself into the top 10 of the bantamweight division.”
The fight with McDonald will be his second fight in 2011 and while a win over McDonald will most likely not launch him into the top 10, it should allow for a fairly healthy jump within the division.
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