9 Bouts Greenlit for UFC Fight Night 24

Only a day after it was officially announced that UFC Fight Night 24 would go down as expected on March 26 at the Key Arena in Seattle, the promotion has added five more contests to the bill.

In the welterweight division, John Hathaway (Pictured) will meet Kris McCray and Dennis Hallman will lock horns with Anthony Waldburger. Meanwhile, middleweights Aaron Simpson and Mario Miranda will toe the line, while heavyweights Sean McCorkle and Christian Morecraft look to rebound from respective losses to Stefan Struve. Additionally, Nick Pace will meet Michael McDonald in a bantamweight duel between two of the sport’s top prospects at 135 pounds.

The event will be headlined by a light heavyweight showdown between former UFC champion Tito Ortiz and Pride Fighting Championships veteran Antonio Rogerio Nogueira. The main card -- which also features a featherweight rematch pairing Nam Phan with Leonard Garcia and welterweight battles pitting former title contender Dan Hardy against Anthony Johnson and “The Ultimate Fighter” Season 7 winner Amir Sadollah against Duane Ludwig -- will be broadcast on Spike TV.

One of England’s brightest prospects, Hathaway had his hype train derailed by Mike Pyle at UFC 120, losing by unanimous decision to his more experienced opponent. An athletic ground-and-pound specialist, Hathaway’s loss to Pyle was the first of his four-year career. In McCray, he faces an opponent reeling from back-to-back losses. Once a contestant on Season 11 of “The Ultimate Fighter,” McCray advanced to the final of the competition, only to fall to season winner Court McGee. McCray’s next outing ended similarly, as he was submitted with a kneebar by Carlos Eduardo Rocha.

A 13-year veteran of the sport, Hallman has won six of his last seven fights, most recently recording a first-round stoppage over Karo Parisyan at UFC 123. Waldburger has won four straight bouts, including his promotional debut at UFC Fight Night 22 against David Mitchell.

Simpson is another fighter coming off back-to-back defeats, dropping contests to Chris Leben and fellow collegiate wrestler Mark Munoz, respectively. Miranda, on the other hand, has lost two of his last three, with a victory over David Loiseau sandwiched between losses to Gerald Harris and former middleweight title contender Demian Maia.

McCorkle burst onto the main stage last year when he submitted Pride veteran Mark Hunt with a straight armbar at UFC 119. In his sophomore effort, however, he faltered against Struve in the co-main event of UFC 124. Morecraft also tasted defeat at Struve’s hands in his last outing, dominating the first round, only to be knocked out early in the second.

A brown belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu, McDonald has finished his last four opponents. Most recently, he submitted Clint Godfrey with an armbar in the first round of their WEC 52 contest. A protégé of Tiger Schulmann in New York, Pace fell in his WEC debut to AMC Pankration product Demetrious Johnson. He rebounded in his first fight for the UFC, however, as the bantamweight locked up an innovative submission from his back -- now dubbed “The Pace Choke” -- to defeat Will Campuzano.

UFC Fight Night 24
Saturday, March 26
Key Arena
Seattle

Tito Ortiz vs. Antonio Rogerio Nogueira
Dan Hardy vs. Anthony Johnson
Amir Sadollah vs. Duane Ludwig
Leonard Garcia vs. Nam Phan
John Hathaway vs. Kris McCray
Michael McDonald vs. Nick Pace
Sean McCorkle vs. Christian Morecraft
Mario Miranda vs. Aaron Simpson
Dennis Hallman vs. Anthony Waldburger
* Mike Russow vs. Jon Madsen
* Mackens Semerzier vs. Alex Caceres

* Not Official