Chris Weidman
Middleweights clash July 11 in San Jose
Tickets for the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s return to San Jose, Calif., go on sale this week.
UFC on Fuel TV: Munoz vs. Weidman takes place July 11 at the HP Pavilion in San Jose and will be the promotion’s fourth fight card on the Fuel TV cable network under its broadcast deal with Fox.
The card will be headlined by a middleweight contenders fight between Mark Munoz and Chris Weidman. In addition, longtime San Jose-based welterweight Jon Fitch will return for the first time since a 12-second knockout loss in December when he meets Aaron Simpson, who drops to 170 pounds from middleweight for the fight. And in a light heavyweight battle, James Te Huna will take on Brandon Vera.
Tickets are available Tuesday at 1 p.m. Eastern for members of the UFC Fight Club. On Wednesday, subscribers to the UFC’s e-mail newsletter can purchase tickets starting at 1 p.m. Eastern. And the general public gets its first purchasing opportunity on Thursday at 1 p.m.. Tickets are available to the public through Ticketmaster and at the HP Pavilion box office. Fight Club members can purchase tickets at ufcfightclub.com. Tickets range in price from $35 to $175, plus fees.
Munoz (12-2, 7-2 UFC) will return for the first time since a November win over Chris Leben at UFC 138. He was scheduled to get back to work right away in January at UFC on Fox: Evans vs. Davis. But an injury forced him off the card the week before his fight against Chael Sonnen. He has won four straight since a split decision loss to Yushin Okami in August 2010.
Weidman (8-0, 4-0) stepped up to fight Demian Maia in January on the aforementioned Fox card when Michael Bisping was called on to replace Munoz against Sonnen. He had to cut more than 30 pounds to make the middleweight limit on 10 days notice. He made it, but the big cut may have taken its toll in the fight. Weidman had to grind out a unanimous decision win.
The Munoz-Weidman fight could wind up determining the next contender for the middleweight title, which Silva puts on the line July 7 against Sonnen at UFC 148 in Las Vegas.
Be sure to check out the complete UFC on FUEL TV 4 Fight Card