Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) has been hammering out new fights for its upcoming FOX Sports 1 event, UFC Fight Night 35, which is slated for Jan. 15, 2014 at the Gwinnett Center in Duluth, Georgia.
Officials confirmed three new bouts on Sunday via Twitter, bringing the current number of fights on the schedule to seven.
The main event of the evening is a middleweight match-up between former Strikeforce champion Luke Rockhold and 185-pound stalwart Constantinos Philippou and will now be anchored by a welterweight contest featuring Jason High vs. Adlan Amagov, a middleweight bout pitting Brian Houston vs. Trevor Smith, and a lightweight scrap of Justin Edwards vs. Ramsey Nijem.
"The Kansas City Bandit" was in action as recently as UFC 167 when he outpointed Anthony Lapsley. Prior to that, he made James Head at UFC Fight Night 27 tap via guillotine choke and even further back was submitted himself, by Erick Silva.
At 18-4, High is in a position to get higher in the rankings.
Amagov -- like High -- made his way to the Octagon when it swallowed up Strikeforce. He will come into this fight on a three-fight win streak including his first two in UFC, victories over Chris Spang at UFC on FUEL TV 9 and against T.J. Waldburger at UFC 166.
His last loss came at the heavy hands of Robbie Lawler.
Both Brian Houston and his opponent Trevor Smith entered UFC and lost their Octagon debuts. With a crowded roster, one must assume from the match-up that the situation is similar to that of Frank Mir vs. Alistair Overeem. If either man loses too many in row, they could be given their pink slip.
This is also the case with both Edwards and Nijem, who are potentially in a tough spot within the promotion.
The last time Edwards was inside the cage was against a surging Brandon Thatch. The fight didn't last long, ending in a technical knockout (TKO) defeat for "Fast Eddy. The Ohio native has alternated between wins and losses, and currently has a 2-3 record inside the Octagon.
Nijem, who made his way to UFC via The Ultimate Fighter (TUF), is one of the more entertaining fighters in mixed martial arts (MMA); however, he's lost two straight. Once to James Vick at UFC Fight Night 26 via submission and another time via TKO to Myles Jury at UFC on FOX 7. He currently stands at 3-3 in the Octagon, 7-4 overall.
High stakes in "The Peach State."
Stay tuned to MMAmania.com for more news and notes on UFC Fight Night 35 as they become available.