(via UFCNews)
Johny Hendricks will look to bounce back from his title fight loss to Robbie Lawler when he faces off against tough bastard Matt Brown at UFC 185: Pettis vs. Dos Anjos (March 14th, Dallas). The UFC announced the booking today, which comes as a bit of a surprise, considering that the original plan was to book Hendricks vs. Lawler III.
However, Brown recently found himself without an opponent when Tarec Saffiedine withdrew from their UFC Fight Night 60 bout due to a groin injury. Plus, some dudes on twitter told Dana White that they weren’t interested in seeing a Hendricks/Lawler rubber match so soon, and the idea was scrapped.
The UFC’s change of plans presents some good news and some bad news. The good news is, UFC 185 is getting stacked. Right now, it looks like this:
– Anthony Pettis vs. Rafael Dos Anjos (for UFC lightweight title)
– Johny Hendricks vs. Matt Brown (for intercontinental welterweight dip-spit king)
– Alistair Overeem vs. Roy Nelson (for PRIDE Neva Die freak-show heavyweight belt)
– Henry Cejudo vs. Chris Cariaso (for flyweight…ah screw it, you know Cejudo’s going to pull out of this one for “personal reasons“)
– Sergio Pettis’s return to flyweight against Ryan Benoit (possible FOX Sports 1 featured prelim??)
So yeah, pretty good so far. The bad news is, now that Matt Brown won’t be competing at UFC Fight Night 60, a welterweight bout between Stephen Thompson and Brandon Thatch will now serve as the main event (?!) of the February 14th card in Broomfield. Thompson is on a four-fight win streak, and most recently won a decision against Patrick Cote on the UFC 178 prelims in September. Thatch is 2-0 in the UFC, and is coming off his brutalization of Paulo Thiago back in November; all 11 of Thatch’s pro wins have come by first-round stoppage, with six of those wins coming in the first minute.
Make no mistake, Thompson vs. Thatch is a great matchup, and has the potential for beautiful, beautiful violence. But when Thompson vs. Thatch is the most high-profile fight on your card, blah blah something something oversaturation, you see where I’m going with this.