UFC 138 Confirmed for Spike TV in England

UFC132 Leben Silva-9Leben vs. Munoz headed to free television

Spike TV officially announced on Monday morning that they will serve as the live broadcast partner for “UFC 138: Leben vs. Munoz.”

The event takes place Saturday, Nov. 5 from Birmingham, England. The main event middleweight bout between Mark Munoz and Chris Leben will serve as the UFC’s first five-round non-title fight.

Leben is coming off a 27-second knockout win over Wanderlei Silva at UFC 132.

“I’m really looking forward to this fight against Munoz and fighting in England again. They have some great fans there and the noise they make is loud,” Leben said. “It is cool to make a little piece of history fighting in the first ever non-title five round fight, but I guarantee I won’t even need three rounds in this fight.”

Munoz defeated Demian Maia by decision at UFC 131 in Vancouver. Both fighters are considered title contenders at this point, but Munoz says he’s going to beat Leben.

“Chris Leben is a great fighter. I’ve got a lot of respect for him. He’s got a powerful left hand and he comes forward the whole time. He’s very well-rounded; he has a great chin and he’s shown a lot of wrestling skills and jiu-jitsu technique. He’s a gritty fighter and I’m looking forward to this fight. I think it will go five rounds and I’ll control the entire fight,” Munoz said. “We’re both resilient so I think we’re going to throw bombs for five rounds. We’re making history so it’s a good trivia question and I’ll always know the answer to it! With a win over Chris I’m definitely going to be knocking at the door of title contention.”

Also featured on the card is a bantamweight bout between Brad Pickett and deadly Brazilian striker Renan Barao, a fighter who has won 26 fights in a row. Barao, a teammate of Jose Aldo, says he’s ready to put on a show and doesn’t care that he has to do it against a native Englishman.

“This is a very exciting fight and one we wanted. A win over Pickett will take me one step closer to the title,” Barao said. “As far as fighting Pickett in his home country, I’m not worried about that. We are going to work for the knockout or submission over Pickett.”

The third confirmed bout for UFC 138 is a lightweight match between Anthony Njokuani and Paul Taylor. Other rumored main-card bouts include Thiago Alves vs. Papy Abedi and John Hathaway vs. Pascal Krauss.