Tony Ferguson (James Law/HeavyMMA)
Lightweights meet at May 5 event on Fox
On the heels of the UFC’s second event on Fox, another lightweight bout has been added to its third broadcast on the network.
Dennis Hallman and Tony Ferguson will meet on May 5 when the UFC returns to New Jersey for UFC on Fox 3, which will take place at the Izod Center in East Rutherford. The UFC announced the fight late Monday, saying verbal agreements are in place for the fight.
Hallman (51-14-2, 1 NC, 4-5 UFC) has won three of his last four fights, including a first-round rear naked choke of John Makdessi at UFC 140 in Toronto last month. Before that, his two-fight UFC winning streak was snapped by Brian Ebersole, who beat Hallman with a first-round TKO at UFC 133 in a welterweight bout. Hallman’s fight against Makdessi was to take place at lightweight in his return to the division, but he did not successfully make weight and the bout was contested at a catch weight of 158.5 pounds.
Hallman is one of the most veteran fighters in the UFC with nearly 70 career fights. The Washington native famously has two wins over UFC Hall of Famer Matt Hughes – both submissions in a combined 37 seconds, including an armbar win at UFC 29, which snapped Hughes’ 18-fight winning streak. Hughes’ first two losses of his career came to Hallman. Hallman fought in the UFC on four separate one-fight occasions before returning to the promotion in 2009 for his current extended run.
Ferguson (13-2, 3-0 UFC) was the Season 13 welterweight winner of “The Ultimate Fighter,” stopping Ramsey Nijem with a Knockout of the Night performance in his official UFC debut to win the title. He immediately returned to the lightweight division, where he has been just as impressive. At UFC 135, he got a doctor’s stoppage of Aaron Riley after one round for a TKO victory, and at the TUF 14 Finale in December, he made relatively easy work of veteran Yves Edwards to take a unanimous decision.
Only two other fights have been announced for UFC on Fox 3 – Nate Diaz and Jim Miller will meet in a lightweight bout on the televised main card. And John Dodson and Darren Uyenoyama meet in the UFC’s new flyweight division. Last week, UFC president Dana White said he did not have a main event yet for the card, but that Diaz-Miller would not be it.