Jorge Rivera
Former featherweight champ Mike Brown on Jan. 20 card
More fights have been made official for the UFC’s debut on the FX cable channel, including one with a former champion.
Former WEC featherweight champ Mike Brown will take on Vagner Rocha in Rocha’s debut at 145 pounds. In addition, verbal agreements are in place for a middleweight bout between Jorge Rivera and Eric Schafer; and Rafaello Oliveira will take on the debuting Reza Madadi. The UFC announced the inclusion of the bouts Tuesday afternoon.
Brown (25-8, 1-3 UFC) rebounded in August after a two-fight skid that in January saw him lose twice in three weeks to Diego Nunes and Rani Yahya. Since defending his WEC featherweight title against Urijah Faber at WEC 41 in June 2009, Brown has gone 3-4, including a TKO loss to lose his title to current champ Jose Aldo. Rocha (7-2, 1-1 UFC) submitted Cody McKenzie in September for his first UFC win, but will drop from lightweight to featherweight to face Brown.
Rivera (18-9, 7-7 UFC) has lost two straight. At UFC 127 in February, he lost by second-round TKO to Michael Bisping. And at UFC 133 in August, he dropped a split decision to Constantinos Philippou. After the loss to Bisping, Rivera considered retirement but eventually decided against it. He will turn 40 in February. Schafer (12-6-2, 3-5 UFC) returned to the UFC in October after one fight away from the organization and lost a unanimous decision to Aaron Simpson. It was his third straight UFC loss, leaving him without a win in the promotion since January 2009.
Oliveira (14-5, 1-4 UFC) will try to snap a two-fight skid against Madadi (11-2), who makes his UFC debut. Oliveira returned to the UFC in May and was submitted by Gleison Tibau. In October, he suffered a TKO loss to Yves Edwards. Prior to that, a four-fight streak outside of the promotion got him the return invitation. Madadi has won six straight, including three straight wins against UFC and WEC veterans in Sweden’s Superior Challenge promotion. Those wins came against Junie Browning, Carlo Prater and Rich Clementi.
UFC on FX 1 will take place Jan. 20 at the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tenn. It will be the UFC’s first trip to Nashville since April 2009. The card will be headlined by a lightweight contenders fight between Melvin Guillard and Jim Miller.