A 145-pound fight between UFC lightweight veterans turned WEC featherweights, Leonard "Bad Boy" Garcia (13-4) and Manny "Pitbull" Gamburyan (9-4), is currently under consideration for WEC 44 in Las Vegas, Nevada, on Nov.18, according to Sherdog.com.
The report indicates that both fighters have verbally agreed to throw down in "Sin City."
"The Pitbull" was the runner-up on season five of The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) after injuring his shoulder in the beginning of the second round of the championship fight with Nate Diaz. After six months on the sidelines nursing the injury, Gamburyan returned to the Octagon and ran through is first two opponents, Nate Mohr and Jeff Cox.
However, the Armenian fighter then went on to lose his next two contests under the UFC banner to Rob Emerson and Thiago Tavares, respectively. That's when he decided to make the move to the WEC where he could compete in his more natural weight class of 145 pounds.
Gamburyan made his debut for the organization back in June on the WEC 41 card, earning a hard-fought unanimous decision over John Franchi.
"Bad Boy" took a similar route to get to where he's at now. He wasn't on the reality show, but he made a name for himself as a lightweight in the UFC, too, before dropping down to featherweight. In fact, his fight against highly regarded 155-pound fighter Roger Huerta at UFC 69 was widely considered to be one of the best fights of 2007.
The Greg Jackson product has put together a solid record (3-1) since joining the WEC, with the lone loss coming to the champ Mike Brown in the championship main event of WEC 39. Garcia's coming off a win in his most recent outing -- a split decision over Jameel Massouh last month at WEC 42.
The main event for WEC 44 is expected to be a featherweight title bout between defending champion Mike Thomas Brown and Brazilian challenger Jose "Junior" Aldo. "Razor" Rob McCullough, L.C. Davis, Diego Nunes, Cub Swanson and others have also been rumored to be competing.
Stay tuned to MMAmania.com for more on the developing WEC 44 fight card.