Former WEC light heavyweight champion Steve Cantwell will drop to middleweight to square off with Mike Massenzio at UFC 136, promotion officials announced recently.
Cantwell (Pictured), 24, has hit a rough patch since departing the WEC as its final 205-pound champion. After earning a submission victory over Razak Al-Hassan in his UFC debut in 2008, Cantwell has lost three-straight bouts while being plagued by injury and illness, dropping decisions to Luiz Cane, Brian Stann and Cyrille Diabate.
Known as “The Master of Disaster,” Massenzio has lost three of his last four. The onetime IFL competitor debuted successfully with the UFC in 2008, submitting Drew McFedries with a kimura. A pair of losses would follow, however, as the 28-year-old was finished by C.B. Dollaway and Stann. Most recently, Massenzio stepped up on short notice at UFC 131 in June, falling to the much larger Krzysztof Soszynski in a light heavyweight affair.