Do you know the way to San Jose? Well, several of the Octagon’s light heavyweights will now. Shortly after announcing Stephan Bonnar would face Kyle Kingsbury inside the HP Pavilion in California, the world’s largest MMA promotion confirmed another 205-pounder affair for UFC 139 on Tuesday afternoon.
Ryan Bader will look to bounce back from a two-fight losing skid against Jason Brilz in the November 19th event. “Darth” was most recently seen getting submitted by Tito Ortiz at UFC 132. Prior to last month’s shocking defeat, he tapped out to Jon Jones at UFC 126 in February.
It’s possible the former “The Ultimate Fighter 8” winner could be battling for his job, as the reverse trifecta typically spells a trip to the unemployment line. However, that rule now only seems to apply on a case-by-case basis (Please see: Dan Hardy).
Speaking of hanging on by a thread, Brilz is also on the wrong end of a two-fight streak. The veteran lost a split decision to Antonio Rogerio Nogueira at UFC 114 this past May and followed it up with a knockout defeat to Vladimir Matyushenko at UFC 129 in April.
A heavyweight title bout between champion Cain Velasquez and Junior dos Santos will headline the pay-per-view broadcast.
Here are the athletes expected to perform in the show:
Josh Koscheck vs. TBD
Gleison Tibau vs. Rafael Dos Anjos
Zhang Tie Quan vs. Darren Elkins
Chris Weidman vs. Tom Lawlor
Stephan Bonnar vs. Kyle Kingsbury
Jason Brilz vs. Ryan Bader
Rick Story vs. Martin Kampmann
Urijah Faber vs. Brian Bowles
Junior dos Santos vs. Cain Velasquez (UFC Heavyweight Champion)
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