UFC Fight Night 22 is now official after Spike TV made the announcement on Monday. The event will be headlined by middleweight fighters Demian Maia (12-2) and Alan Belcher (16-6). The co-main event has lightweights Mac Danzig (19-8-1) rematching Matt Wiman (12-5).
UFN 22 will be held at the Frank Erwin Center in Austin, Texas on Sept. 15 and will act as the lead-in for Season 12 of “The Ultimate Fighter” television series. Season 12 will feature welterweight coaches UFC champion Georges St-Pierre and top contender Josh Koscheck.
Maia is coming off a loss to middleweight champ Anderson Silva at UFC 112 in Abu Dhabi last April and is 6-2 in the UFC, having won four “Submission of the Night” awards. While his opponent Belcher is 7-4 in the UFC and riding a two fight win streak, with victories over a returning Patrick Côté at UFC 113 and Wilson Gouveia at UFC 107.
The rematch between Danzig and Wiman comes after the controversial stoppage in their last fight at UFC 115 in May. Wiman was on top and had Danzig in a guillotine choke when referee Yves Lavigne stopped the bout thinking that Danzig was unconscious. Danzig immediately jumped up and protested the call but to no avail. The UFC immediately booked the rematch and both men will now meet for a second time at UFN 22 in September.
The full rumored card for UFN 22 is as follows:
Middleweight bout: Alan Belcher vs. Demian Maia
Middleweight bout: Mac Danzig vs. Matt Wiman
Lightweight bout: Jim Miller vs. Gleison Tibau*
Lightweight bout: Cole Miller vs. Ross Pearson*
Lightweight bout: Efrain Escudero vs. John Gunderson*
Welterweight bout: Nick Catone vs. Tomsz Drwal*
Light-heavyweight bout: Jared Hamman vs. Kyle Kingsbury*
*-Not official