There's a fantastic lightweight match-up brewing between former Ultimate Fighter (TUF) champions Joe Stevenson and Mac Danzig, as the veteran 155'ers are currently in talks to throw down at the upcoming UFC 124 pay-per-view on Dec. 11 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
MMAmania.com confirmed the bout was in the works earlier today.
Stevenson is coming off a loss to fast-rising prospect George Sotiropoulos at UFC 110: "Nogueira vs. Velasquez" back in February. Known for his high-quality grappling skills, Joe was dominated by the Australian in every capacity, including on the ground en route to dropping a one-sided unanimous decision.
Prior to that bout, "Daddy" looked to have righted the ship by reeling off two consecutive wins over Nate Diaz at the TUF 9 Finale and Spencer Fisher at UFC 104: "Machida vs. Shogun" after dropping back-to-back contests to Kenny Florian at UFC 91: "Couture vs. Lesnar" and Diego Sanchez in the main event of UFC 95.
His August showdown with Takanori Gomi was scrapped when the TUF 2 champ suffered a knee injury in training camp. "The Fireball Kid" went on to knock out Tyson Griffin at UFC on Versus 2 in his absence.
Like Stevenson, Danzig was forced to bow out of a recent appearance after a bite from the injury bug. The vegan warrior was all set to collide with Matt Wiman in a rematch booked for UFC Fight Night 22 until a bum pectoral and pinched nerve gave him pause.
Wiman and Danzig first met on the undercard portion of UFC 115: "Liddell vs. Franklin" that aired on Spike TV on June 12 from the GM Place in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
It had all the ingredients to be an exciting contest; however, it ended in controversy as "Handsome" was awarded the submission (guillotine) victory in the first round even though Mac didn't, well, submit.
There was a miscommunication between the referee, Yves Lavigne, as well the fighters, which caused the early stoppage. Wiman thought Danzig was choked unconscious, Danzig apparently didn't respond effectively enough when questioned about his condition, and the rest is history.
Now perhaps the TUF 6 champ, who's 1-4 in his last five fights, gets to move on to bigger and better things -- if he can get past the venerable Stevenson.
UFC 124 will be headlined by Welterweight Champion Georges St. Pierre taking on fellow TUF 12 coach Josh Koscheck. Thiago Alves and John Howard as well as Dustin Hazelett and Mark Bocek are also expected to hook 'em up.
For the latest UFC 124 fight card and rumors click here.
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