Former middleweight title contender Demian Maia will lock horns with the surging Alan Belcher in the UFC Fight Night 22 headliner on Sept. 15 at the Frank Erwin Center in Austin, Texas. Four fights are now official for the event, which will air live on Spike TV as a precursor to “The Ultimate Fighter” Season 12 premiere.
Hot and cold throughout his career, Belcher will carry a two-fight winning streak into the match. The 26-year-old Jonesboro, Ark., native has not competed since he submitted one-time middleweight title contender Patrick Cote with a rear-naked choke at UFC 113 in May. Belcher, a protégé of former world kickboxing champion Duke Roufus, holds other notable wins against current Sengoku middleweight titleholder Jorge Santiago, 2006 Pride Fighting Championships welterweight grand prix finalist Denis Kang and American Top Team’s Wilson Gouveia. He has banked post-fight performance bonuses in each of his last four appearances inside the Octagon.
In the co-feature, “The Ultimate Fighter” Season 6 winner Mac Danzig will meet Matt Wiman in a rematch of their controversial UFC 115 bout. Wiman submitted Danzig with a first-round guillotine choke, though replays later revealed that Danzig never tapped out.
Lightweights will carry the load on the UFC Fight Night 22 main card, as “The Ultimate Fighter” Season 9 winner Ross Pearson collides with American Top Team’s Cole Miller and AMA Fight Club standout Jim Miller squares off with Miller’s ATT stablemate, Gleison Tibau.
UFC Fight Night 22
Wednesday, Sept. 15
Frank Erwin Center
Austin, Texas
Demian Maia vs. Alan Belcher
Mac Danzig vs. Matt Wiman
Cole Miller vs. Ross Pearson
Jim Miller vs. Gleison Tibau
* Efrain Escudero vs. John Gunderson
* Tomasz Drwal vs. Nick Catone
* Jared Hamman vs. Kyle Kingsbury
* Not Official