Spike TV on Monday announced plans to air two live preliminary matches at UFC 111 “St. Pierre vs. Hardy” on March 27 at the Prudential Center in Newark, N.J.
A welterweight matchup pairing former middleweight King of Pancrase
Ricardo Almeida with
Matt Brown will highlight the Spike TV menu, along with a showdown between “The Ultimate Fighter” Season 5 winner
Nate Diaz and International Fight League veteran
Rory Markham.
Almeida, a Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt under
Renzo Gracie and New Jersey resident, has earned unanimous decision nods against former IFL middleweight champion
Matt Horwich and “The Ultimate Fighter” Season 3 winner
Kendall Grove in his last two appearances. A knee injury has sidelined the 33-year-old since August. UFC 111 will serve as Almeida’s debut at 170 pounds.
The resilient 29-year-old Brown has quietly worked his way up the welterweight ranks, winning four of his five bouts in the Octagon. Brown, a product of
Jorge Gurgel’s Ohio academy, picked up a third-round technical knockout against “The Ultimate Fighter” Season 9 winner
James Wilks at UFC 105 three months ago in Manchester, England.
Meanwhile, Diaz has dropped three of his last four fights, including a split decision defeat to the unbeaten
Gray Maynard at UFC Fight Night 20 last month. A Brazilian jiu-jitsu brown belt under
Cesar Gracie, the 24-year-old Stockton, Calif., native owns noteworthy victories against
Melvin Guillard,
Kurt Pellegrino and former Ring of Fire lightweight champion
Alvin Robinson. Diaz has secured eight of his 11 career wins by submission.
A potent stand-up fighter who has knocked out UFC veterans
Brad Blackburn,
Mike Pyle and
Pat Healy, the oft-injured Markham has not competed in more than a year. He last appeared in February 2009, when he was leveled by
Dan Hardy in just 69 seconds. Spawned by the famed Miletich Fighting Systems camp, the 27-year-old Markham has never gone the distance as a professional -- a span of 21 bouts.
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