Up-and-coming middleweights Mark Munoz (6-1) and Ryan Jensen (14-5) have agreed to hook 'em up in a 185-pound affair at UFC 108 from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, on Jan. 2, MMAmania.com can confirm.
Munoz first turned some heads with two strong showings under the WEC banner in 2008. The collegiate wrestling champion from Oklahoma State University debuted for the promotion at WEC 34: "Sacramento," scoring an impressive first round technical knockout win over Chuck Grigsby.
Six months later he was back in action on the WEC 37: "Torres vs. Tapia" card. And, again, he was impressive with a first round technical knockout, this time over WEC newcomer Ricardo Barros.
Munoz looked to carry that momentum into his UFC debut against Matt Hamill on March 7, unfortunately "The Hammer" used a brutal head kick to send "The Philippine Wrecking Machine" to his first career loss — and a date with a ringside stretcher.
After shaking the cobwebs out, Munoz returned to UFC 102: Couture vs. Nogueira to outpoint a game Nick Catone to steal the split decision win and hopes to take that momentum into his Jan. 2 affair.
Jensen had a rough start inside the Octagon. After debuting with back-to-back losses to submission specialists Thales Leites and Demian Maia, the Elite Performance fighter went 2-1 outside of the promotion only to return and get submitted by Wilson Gouveia at UFC Fight Night 15.
In what was unquestionably a do-or-die situation, he submitted Steve Steinbeiss via guillotine choke back in September at Fight Night 19 to record his first UFC win.
UFC 108 is expected to feature a main event between 185-pound division deity Anderson "The Spider" Silva defending his division title against former light heavyweight champion Vitor "The Phenom" Belfort. Another former 205-pound champion, Rashad Evans, will also likely return to action against another Brazilian, Thiago Silva, in the co-featured fight of the night.
How the recent dissolution of the UFC 106 main event between Brock Lesnar and Shane Carwin -- now rumored to be heading for Jan. 2 -- affects this tentative line up, remains to be seen.
In the meantime, check out the latest UFC 108 fight card and rumors click here.
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