According to MMAJunkie, a thrilling lightweight shootout between Anthony Njokuani and Paul Taylor has been added to “UFC 138: Leben vs. Munoz.” The Octagon’s long-awaited return to the U.K. takes place November 5th inside the LG Arena in Birmingham.
Facing nearly a must-win situation against Andre Winner at UFC 132, Njokuani managed to recapture his mojo and unleash his best performance in quite some time. Prior to posting the lopsided unanimous decision victory, “The Assassin” had dropped three out of his last four contests.
Taylor was facing a similar fate entering his last bout. Prior to putting Gabe Ruediger to sleep with a vicious head kick at UFC 126, the Brit had dropped two consecutive scraps. As we all know far too well in the MMA business, running the reverse trifecta will typically get a fighter fired.
For North Americans, UFC 138 will be made available via same-day tape-delay on Spike TV (Rogers Sportsnet in Canada). The card will be headlined by a pivotal middleweight shootout between Chris Leben and Mark Munoz.
Here are the athletes expected to appear in the show:
John Hathaway vs. TBD
Brad Pickett vs. Renan Barao
Anthony Njokuani vs. Paul Taylor
Thiago Alves vs. Papy Abedi
Mark Munoz vs. Chris Leben