Court McGee Gets Second Shot at Nick Ring at UFC 149

Nick Ring (Josh Hedges/UFC)

Middleweights booked for July 21 card in Calgary

Though it’s not a loss that sits on Court McGee‘s official MMA record, it’s still one he probably wouldn’t mind avenging.

McGee will rematch with Nick Ring at UFC 149 in July. UFC officials recently confirmed the fight for the pay-per-view card, which will take place in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.

McGee and Ring first fought on Season 11 of “The Ultimate Fighter.” Ring won a majority decision in that fight in the opening round, knocking McGee out of the tournament. But McGee got another chance as an injury replacement and went on to win the show. Coincidentally, McGee and Ring were set to rematch in the TUF house, but an injury to Ring knocked him from the competition.

McGee (13-2, 3-1 UFC) now is coming off his first official loss in more than four years. Constantinos Philippou outpointed McGee earlier this month at UFC on FX: Alves vs. Kampmann in Sydney, Australia. That snapped McGee’s eight-fight winning streak – not counting the loss to Ring in the TUF house, which is an unofficial bout. After submitting Kris McCray to win the TUF 11 title, McGee picked up a submission win over Ryan Jensen, then won a unanimous decision against Dongi Yang at UFC Fight Night 25 in September.

Ring (12-1, 2-1 UFC) is coming off the first loss of his career, a unanimous decision setback against Tim Boetsch at UFC 135 last September in Denver. Ring started his career 10-0, including a win in Bellator, before getting a crack at the UFC on “The Ultimate Fighter.” Though he couldn’t compete on the TUF 11 Finale with his castmates due to his injury rehab, he made his official promotional debut eight months later at UFC 127 and picked up a unanimous decision win over Riki Fukuda. Ring followed that up with a third-round submission of James Head at UFC 131 before his fight with Boetsch.

UFC 149 will take place at the Scotiabank Saddledome in Calgary and will be the UFC’s first visit to that city. It will be a homecoming fight for Ring, from Alberta. The main event for the card is expected to be a featherweight title defense for Jose Aldo against an opponent still to be determined.