The UFC on FOX 9 card set to take place in Sacramento on Dec. 14 continues to take shake, as the UFC announced Sunday that Pat Healy and Jamie Varner will square off in a lightweight battle.
Varner has gone 2-2 since coming to the UFC in 2012, including a surprising upset victory over Edson Barboza at UFC 146 in a replacement role. Since then he has traded wins and losses, with his last two fights — against Melvin Guillard and Glieson Tibau — having gon to split decisions. He was on the wrong end of the scorecards in his outing against Tibau at UFC 164 in Milwaukee.
As for Healy, he has had a checkered run in the UFC since the Strikeforce buyout. He had a dominant victory over Jim Miller, in which he was awarded submission and fight of the night honors, converted into a “no contest” after he tested positive for marijuana at UFC 159. In his follow-up fight against upstart Dagestani fighter Khabib Nurmagomedov, Healy lost a one-sided unanimous decision.
UFC on FOX 9, which while be held at the Sleep Train Arena in Sacramento, resembles a stacked WEC card in that it brings together some of the lighter weight class elite. Headlined by lightweight champion Anthony Pettis in his first 155-pound title defense against Josh Thomson, the event features big fights at flyweight (two bouts), bantamweight (one bout), featherweight (one bout) and lightweight (five bouts). The welterweight battles between Carlos Condit–Matt Brown and Court McGee–Kelvin Gastelum represent the biggest weight classes on the card.
The card for UFC on FOX 9:
Anthony Pettis vs. Josh Thomson
Urijah Faber vs. Michael McDonald
Carlos Condit vs. Matt Brown
Chad Mendes vs. Nik Lentz
Joe Lauzon vs. Mac Danzig
Pat Healy vs. Jamie Varner
Scott Jorgensen vs. Ian McCall
Danny Castillo vs. Edson Barboza
Kelvin Gastelum vs. Court McGee
John Moraga vs. Darren Uyenoyama
Abel Trujillo vs. Roger Bowling
Sam Stout vs. Cody McKenzie