Matt Grice (Josh Hedges/UFC)
Featherweights booked for June 8 show
A couple of featherweights in bad need of a UFC victory have been added to the promotion’s next card on FX.
Leonard Garcia and Matt Grice have agreed to meet on the June 8 card. UFC officials announced the fight booking Thursday for UFC on FX 3, which has a date but no announced location or venue yet. The location is expected to be revealed soon and was chosen through fan voting in the Harley-Davidson Hometown Throwdown contest. According to the contest’s official site, the Pacific territory – California, Oregon and Washington – recently was leading the contest.
Garcia (15-8-1, 2-4 UFC) lost both his fights in 2011. In March, he was submitted by a twister from Chan Sung Jung, who won Submission of the Night honors for the rare move. And in October, he rematched Nam Phan at UFC 136. Despite a Fight of the Night performance, he came out on the short end of a unanimous decision.
Garcia last won at the TUF 12 Finale, a split decision win over Phan – a decision controversial enough to necessitate the eventual rematch. Four of Garcia’s last six fights have resulted in Fight of the Night bonuses for the Greg Jackson-trained fighter.
Grice (14-4, 1-4 UFC) returned for his second stint in the UFC last June, dropping to featherweight for the first time. But he was knocked out by Ricardo Lamas at UFC on Versus 4. In his first stint in the UFC, the Oklahoma-based elite-level wrestler went 1-3 with three first-round stoppage losses. His lone win was a split decision over Jason Black at UFC 77.
UFC on FX 3 will be headlined by a flyweight tournament rematch between Demetrious Johnson and Ian McCall. The two fought to a draw earlier this month at UFC on FX 2 in Australia – but an error by the commissioner in Sydney resulted in Johnson being announced as the split decision winner rather than the correct score. In the event of a draw, the UFC had implemented a sudden-victory fourth round to determine a winner since the bout was part of a four-man tournament. But since that didn’t happen due to the incorrect score tabulation, a rematch is necessary. The winner will face Joseph Benavidez for the first UFC flyweight title.