Kenny Florian vs. Evan Dunham set to headline UFC Fight for the Troops 2
On 22 January 2011, the Ultimate Fighting Championship will present “UFC Fight for the Troops 2” at Fort Hood in Texas. As the fight card fills for the event, it appears that Kenny Florian
vs. Evan Dunham will be the headlining bout.
Florian and Dunham were originally slated to meet on 5 February 2011 at UFC 126. The two were scheduled to fight on the main card of that event, which will showcase a title fight between
UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva and challenger Vitor Belfort as its main event.
Both Florian and Dunham suffered losses in their last fights and will look to use this fight to climb their way up the lightweight rankings. Florian is ranked as the number seven lightweight
in the USA Today/SB Nation consensus rankings while Dunham stands at number 12.
Florian’s most recent bout was against Gray Maynard, the fight was to determine the number one contender for the UFC lightweight title. Maynard won the fight by unanimous decision and
will face champion Frankie Edgar at UFC 125 on 1 January 2011. Dunham’s last bout was a split decision loss to Sean Sherk at UFC 119 in September of this year. The bout was awarded “Fight of the Night” honours and both fighters received $70,000 bonuses for
their efforts.
There is an interesting subtext to this lightweight fight. The UFC and World Extreme Cagefighting have recently announced that they would merge as of 1 January. Both organizations have
a lightweight division and the merger could impact the ranking of the loser of this fight in a negative manner.
Other fights booked or rumoured to be booked for “Fight for the Troops 2” are Matt Mitrione vs. Tim Hague, DeMarques Johnson vs. Mike Guymon, Melvin Guillard vs. Yves Edwards, as well
as the return of Mike Swick who will face David Mitchell.
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