Sean Pierson, Jake Hecht Meet at UFC on FX: Johnson vs. McCall

Jake Hecht (Nick Laham/UFC)

Welterweights booked for June 1 card in Las Vegas

Sean Pierson will try his luck on U.S. soil one more time.

The Canadian welterweight, who in December fought outside of his native Canada for the first time in more than 10 years, will meet Jake Hecht at UFC on FX: Johnson vs. McCall. UFC officials recently announced the fight for the card, which takes place June 8 at the BankAtlantic Center in Sunrise, Fla., a suburb of Fort Lauderdale.

Headlining the card, the location of which was chosen by fan voting in the Harley-Davidson Hometown Throwdown, is a flyweight rematch between Demetrious Johnson and Ian McCall. Those two now infamously fought to a draw last month in Sydney, Australia. Though Johnson was announced as a split decision winner, the scorecards were tabulated erroneously and the fight was a draw that should have gone to a sudden victory fourth round, per an agreement set up ahead of the fight since a winner needed to be determined in the UFC’s four-man 125-pound tournament.

Pierson (11-6, 1-2 UFC) has dropped back-to-back fights for the first time in his career. After winning his UFC debut against Matthew Riddle at UFC 124 in Montreal, Pierson ran into a red-hot Jake Ellenberger at UFC 129 in his home town of Toronto. Ellenberger stopped him with a first-round knockout. Pierson followed that fight up with a bout at UFC 141 in December in Las Vegas – his first fight outside of Canada since June 2000. But Dong Hyun Kim beat him by unanimous decision, making Pierson 0-2 outside of Canada.

Hecht, a student of former Matt Hughes trainer Marc Fiore in Illinois, won his UFC debut with a second-round TKO of Rich Attonito at UFC 140 in December. But he followed that up with a rough outing against TJ Waldburger last month in Sydney, tapping to an armbar just 55 seconds into the fight – the first time he had been finished in his career.