UFC on Fox 5 gets Bendo-Diaz, Shogun-Gustafsson, Prodigy-Rory

Holy stacked batman

http://mmajunkie.com/news/30172/ufc-on-fox-5-gets-henderson-vs-diaz-gustafsson-vs-shogun-penn-vs-macdonald.mma

Wow it's about time! Finally a kick ass free card. Please no injuries

Ultimate Fighting Championship's lightweight title will be defended on network television.

USA TODAY Sports and MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) confirmed with UFC officials that current lightweight champion Benson Henderson (17-2 MMA, 5-0 UFC) will face Nate Diaz (16-7, 11-5) at UFC on FOX 5, which takes place Dec. 8 at a host site to be announced.

A light-heavyweight matchup between former champion Mauricio "Shogun" Rua (21-6, 5-4) and Alexander Gustafsson (14-1, 6-1) serves as the night's co-feature, and a B.J. Penn (16-8-2, 12-7-2) vs. Rory MacDonald (13-1, 4-1) fight also has been rebooked for the card.

A fourth main-card fight is expected to be added to the FOX broadcast in the coming weeks.

Henderson headlined this past weekend's UFC 150 event and scored the first successful defense of his title with a split-decision victory over Frankie Edgar, whom he also narrowly defeated in February to win the title. Despite the close nature of the rematch, UFC President Dana White immediately made it clear that Diaz, who was promised a title shot following a May win over Jim Miller, would get the next crack at the belt.

Rua returns to action following a victory over Brandon Vera earlier this month in UFC on FOX 4's headliner. The Brazilian had an opportunity to earn a title shot against the winner of next month's UFC 151 headliner of champ Jon Jones vs. Dan Henderson, but fellow ex-champ Lyoto Machida leapfrogged him with an impressive stoppage of Ryan Bader.

Rua now faces Gustafsson, who's been inactive since an April win over Thiago Silva in his native Sweden. "The Mauler," one of the light-heavyweight division's top prospects, currently boasts a five-fight win streak. A win over a former champ would serve as a signature victory and propel Gustafsson to serious title consideration.

MacDonald and Penn, meanwhile, initially were slated to co-headline next month's UFC 152 event in Toronto. However, MacDonald suffered a cut in training that required 38 stitches, and the bout was postponed.

Penn, a former two-division champ and future UFC Hall of Famer, hasn't fought since a loss this past October to Nick Diaz at UFC 137. The young MacDonald, meanwhile, recently posted a dominant second-round TKO of Che Mills in UFC 145's co-headliner in April, which marked his third consecutive victory.

UFC on FOX 5 is the fourth and final UFC event to air on network TV this year.

Wow, great card. Great test for Gustafsson. Winner gets Jones-Hendo winner.

freakzilla wrote:

Wow, great card. Great test for Gustafsson. Winner gets Jones-Hendo winner.

Er? Machida?

killerofchicken wrote:

freakzilla wrote:

Wow, great card. Great test for Gustafsson. Winner gets Jones-Hendo winner.

Er? Machida?

The Jones-Hendo winner will beat Machida

Awesome card. This is the kind of card that can get that # back up there. Probably still won't top the 1st FOX event but I bet it can come close to doubling the current average for the FOX shows. Especially if this card really is on a Saturday not featuring college football and if they take full advantage of advertising during NFL games. They said there where going big for this card and they are off to a great start. Hopefully they finally get 5 fights on the card like they intended in the past. Hopefully they add 2 other quality fights to show on FOX. I guess the Cowboy-Pettis fight will be on the JDS-Cain card. That would have been a great add to this card.

Ok then I guess Ninja's thread wasn't so accurate.

Extremely risky fight for Shogun, I wonder if he was forced into this.

Can't wait thats a badass card, I'm gonna go apeshit, 3 of my favorite fighters and BJ himself on a free card it don't get no better

Ali wrote:

Ok then I guess Ninja's thread wasn't so accurate.

Extremely risky fight for Shogun, I wonder if he was forced into this.

Not sure what is options would be at this point? Maybe Rashad since he wants 1 more fight at LHW? Lil Nog would have been a great option. Not sure why that fight couldn't get done? But outside of those 2 there isn't much for Shogun to pick from.

OU wrote:

Ali wrote:

Ok then I guess Ninja's thread wasn't so accurate.

Extremely risky fight for Shogun, I wonder if he was forced into this.

Not sure what is options would be at this point? Maybe Rashad since he wants 1 more fight at LHW? Lil Nog would have been a great option. Not sure why that fight couldn't get done? But outside of those 2 there isn't much for Shogun to pick from.

Considering how Rua's looked lately and his reluctance to face Glover I am a little surprised he accepted this, another tall awkward opponent like Gusta is going to mean paying more hospital bills.

Doing tuf with Lil Nog would have been a wiser choice.

Ali wrote:

OU wrote:

Ali wrote:

Ok then I guess Ninja's thread wasn't so accurate.

Extremely risky fight for Shogun, I wonder if he was forced into this.

Not sure what is options would be at this point? Maybe Rashad since he wants 1 more fight at LHW? Lil Nog would have been a great option. Not sure why that fight couldn't get done? But outside of those 2 there isn't much for Shogun to pick from.

Considering how Rua's looked lately and his reluctance to face Glover I am a little surprised he accepted this, another tall awkward opponent like Gusta is going to mean paying more hospital bills.

Doing tuf with Lil Nog would have been a wiser choice.

Well to be fair Gus is much closer to a title shot then Glover. Gus has more fights in the UFC(7) and even headlined a FUEL show. So he is a bigger name that is higher ranked.

Those tv producers will need to be swift at catching out Nate flipping Bendo the bird

This is exactly what I was saying they should do with the FOX show. No more fucking around. This will go well. They will be glad they listened.

killerofchicken wrote:

Wow it's about time! Finally a kick ass free card. Please no injuries

Ugh shogun v Vera and machida v badar. Or Evans v Davis, sonnen v bisping, and weidman v maia.

2 stacked Fox cards.

Really?

There has only been one UFX on Fox fight as big or bigger than these three announced fights. It was Cain vs JDS.

Here is a couple fights I think they should consider to add to the card. Hopefully they make it a 5 fight card, that was always the plan for FOX events.

They should put 2 of these three against eachother. Lauzon-Maynard-Miller. Pick 2 and match them up.
Werdum vs Nog rematch.
Hunt vs Struve-Stipe winner.
Miguel Torres vs Faber
MTB vs Lamas or Zombie.

I think they'll add a fight involving the little guys.

I'd say a Korean Zombie bout for the curtain jerker would be money.

KingsOwn19 wrote:

I'd say a Korean Zombie bout for the curtain jerker would be money.

that sounds rude to me.

http://mmajunkie.com/news/30214/ufc-on-fox-5-odds-champ-henderson-opens-as-heavy-favorite-over-diaz.mma

Quote :

Noted and influential MMA oddsmaker Joey Oddessa has set an opening "Odessa line" with Henderson at -340 and Diaz at +260, which makes the champ an approximate 3-to-1 favorite.

Light-heavyweight contender Alexander Gustafsson (-145) is a small favorite over former champ Mauricio "Shogun" Rua (+115), who recently headlined UFC on FOX 4 but didn't put away underdog Brandon Vera until the fourth round.

Additionally, after their bout was scratched from UFC 152 and rebooked for UFC on FOX 5, fast-rising welterweight prospect Rory MacDonald (-285) is a nearly 3-to-1 favorite over former two-division champ B.J. Penn (+225)

I understand BJ being the underdog in this fight with Rory but I don't think he should be THAT big of an underdog.

MMAEYES wrote:

I understand BJ being the underdog in this fight with Rory but I don't think he should be THAT big of an underdog.

I don't think either BJ or Nate should be 3 to 1 dogs. Also think the Shogun-Gus fight should be a push.

Holy shit I completely missed that one, Bendo will be a tough fight for Nate just like Rory for BJ but 3 to 1 is BS.

How the hell is Rua the underdog?