“The Ultimate Fighter” Season 5 lightweight winner
Nate Diaz will square off with the unbeaten
Gray Maynard in the
UFC Fight Night 20 headliner on Jan. 11 at the Patriot Center in Fairfax, Va. The Diaz camp announced the matchup Tuesday on Graciefighter.com.
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 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 last month. 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, anchored at Xtreme Couture Mixed Martial Arts in Las Vegas, 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.