“The Ultimate Fighter” Season 8 lightweight winner
Efrain Escudero will lock horns with fellow unbeaten
Evan Dunham in the co-featured bout at UFC Fight Night 20 on Jan. 11 at the Patriot Center in Fairfax, Va. Officials from Spike TV on Monday made the event official.
Perfect through 12 fights as a professional, Escudero last competed at UFC 103 in September, when he showcased his hands and stopped American Top Team standout
Cole Miller on first-round strikes. A state wrestling champion in high school and an All-American at Pima Community College, Escudero has used his ground skills to become a potent submission grappler. The Mexican-born 23-year-old defeated the favored
Phillipe Nover at “The Ultimate Fighter 8” Finale in December.
Anchored at Xtreme Couture Mixed Martial Arts in Las Vegas, Dunham has not appeared since he notched a split decision against
Marcus Aurelio at UFC 102 in August. The 28-year-old Oregonian has secured more than half (five) of his nine career wins by submission, though Escudero represents a significant step up in competition.
A lightweight matchup pairing the world-ranked
Gray Maynard with “The Ultimate Fighter” Season 5 winner
Nate Diaz will headline UFC Fight Night 20. The two lightweights know one another well. They met in the semi-finals on “The Ultimate Fighter” in 2007, as a bloodied Diaz tapped out an exhausted Maynard with a guillotine choke.
A Brazilian jiu-jitsu brown belt under
Cesar Gracie, Diaz halted a two-fight losing streak when he submitted
Melvin Guillard with a modified guillotine choke at UFC Fight Night 19 two months ago. The 24-year-old has not been finished in more than three years and holds notable victories against
Josh Neer and
Kurt Pellegrino. Eight of his 11 career victories have come by submission.
Believed to be on the precipice of title contention, Maynard last appeared in September, when he outpointed
Roger Huerta in Oklahoma City. The 30-year-old, based at Xtreme Couture, has won his last five fights by decision. A three-time All-American wrestler at Michigan State University, Maynard already owns wins against the world-ranked
Frankie Edgar and the highly regarded
Jim Miller.
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