Following a blockbuster summer, complete with three title fights—and four champions in total—competing in a two-month span, the Ultimate Fighting Championship will be shifting gears for the Fall 2009 season. Up first, UFC Fight Night: Diaz vs. Guillard from the Cox Convention Center in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma on Sept. 16.The event may not feature a title fight, or even a clear-cut top contender’s match, but it will be free on Spike TV as a lead-in to the promising tenth installment of the popular reality TV show The Ultimate Fighter. Depending on the outcome of the co-main event between Gray Maynard and Roger Huerta, it could shake up the lightweight division for the rest of the year.
While Diego Sanchez remains the favorite to take on UFC Lightweight Champion BJ Penn sometime this fall, the 19th UFN card boasts two fights that should answer some pressing questions about the future of the division. One of them may even establish the next contender to follow after Sanchez.
Some fans consider it a travesty for the UFC to feature a match between Nate Diaz and Melvin Guillard above Gray Maynard and Roger Huerta. However, Diaz’s marketability amongst casual fans--and the trash talk that he and his opponent will be sure to drum up heading into their main event tilt-- proved too strong an allure to the executives in the Spike offices.
Nevertheless, it should be noted that Diaz is on a two-fight losing streak, albeit to notable powerhouses Clay Guida and Joe Stevenson by decision. Meanwhile Guillard is coming off of a highly controversial Split Decision victory over Gleison Tibau, after knocking off Denis Siver in the first round back in July of 2008. Taken in those terms, the fight does lose some of its appeal next to the rousing battle between highly ranked contender Gray Maynard, and the always-exciting fan favorite Roger Huerta. Maynard is on a five-fight winning streak over some of the biggest names in the division, while Huerta is coming off a long layoff, following his August 2008 Unanimous Decision loss to former top lightweight contender Kenny Florian.
Aside from the main and co-main events, the UFN card will feature the return of WEC Welterweight Champion Carlos Condit as he looks to erase the specter of his April Split Decision loss to welterweight contender Martin Kampmann, by taking on UFC newcomer and IFL veteran Jake Ellenberger. The bout looks to be an attempt by the UFC to give Condit an easy win, in order to market him as a viable contender to the championship belt held by Georges St-Pierre. A closer look at Ellenberger’s impressive professional record and relative big-stage experience should put a damper on that sentiment.
Overall, the Sept. 16 UFN card is a solid opener to a big week for the UFC, as they build towards the debut of The Ultimate Fighter Season 10 and also the Sept. 19 Pay Per View broadcast of UFC 103 in a four-day span.
