MMAmania.com can confirm that the fight card for The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) 9 Finale has at least one bout on paper with the addition of welterweights Anthony Johnson (7-2) and John Howard (11-4), set to do battle at a yet-to-be-named location on June 20.
"Rumble" avenged his controversial loss to Kevin Burns at UFC Fight Night 14 last December, knocking the Iowan senseless with a brutal head kick in the opening seconds of round three. He followed that up with a first round destruction of Luigi Fioravanti at UFC Fight Night 17 back in February.
The 24-year-old Atlanta, Georgia, native has a ton of buzz because of his size, power and fight-finishing ability. He appears to get better each time out, training with Strikeforce champions Cung Le and Josh Thomson.
His road to the upper echelon of 170-pound fighters continues with the surging John Howard.
"Doomsday" earned his shot in the big show courtesy of a solid record fighting in smaller shows throughout the Northeast such as Ring of Combat and Cage Fury Fighting Championships. In his first trip to the Octagon he outpointed the venerable Chris Wilson at UFC 94 on January 31.
It’s going to be a tough test for Howard, but as he will soon find out, there don’t appear to be an easy assignments in the loaded UFC welterweight division.
The SpikeTV event will debut on April 1 and feature the lightweight and welterweight finales for the upcoming ninth season of TUF with coach Dan Henderson leading a US team against coach Michael Bisping and his British squad.
For more on TUF 9 click here.
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