10 fights official for UFC Fight Night 39 in Abu Dhabi
The UFC has announced a big slate of fights for its spring return to the Middle East.
With just a pair of previously reported fights on the card for UFC Fight Night 39, the promotion on Tuesday made 10 fights official for the show, including the main and co-main events.
UFC Fight Night 39 takes place April 11 at Yas Island in Abu Dhabi. It will be the first visit to the region since UFC 112 in 2010. The card is expected to stream on UFC Fight Pass.
As previously reported, in the main event, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira (34-8-1 MMA, 5-4 UFC) meets “TUF 10″ winner Roy Nelson (19-9 MMA, 6-5 UFC) in a heavyweight bout. The co-main event features featherweights Clay Guida (30-14 MMA, 10-8 UFC) and Tatsuya Kawajiri (33-7-2 MMA, 1-0 UFC).
Daniel Omielanczuk (16-3-1 MMA, 1-0 UFC) takes on Jared Rosholt (9-1 MMA, 1-0 UFC) in a heavyweight bout. Both fighters are coming off wins in their UFC debuts. Andrew Craig (9-2 MMA, 3-2 UFC) and Chris Camozzi (19-7 MMA, 6-4 UFC) will meet in a middleweight matchup. And Brazilian jiu-jitsu wizard Rani Yahya (19-8 MMA, 4-2 UFC) will move down to bantamweight to take on Johnny Bedford (19-11-1 MMA, 2-1 UFC).
Also on the show, Turkey’s Alptekin Ozkilic (9-2 MMA, 1-1 UFC) meets up with Dustin Ortiz (12-3 MMA, 1-1 UFC) in a flyweight battle. “TUF 13″ runnerup Ramsey Nijem (9-4 MMA, 4-3 UFC) fights unbeaten Beneil Dariush (7-0 MMA, 1-0 UFC) in a lightweight battle. Ryan LaFlare (10-0 MMA, 3-0 UFC) put his perfect record on the line against John Howard (22-8 MMA, 6-3 UFC) at welterweight. Jim Alers (12-1 MMA, 0-0 UFC) meets Alan Omer (18-3 MMA, 0-0 UFC), of Iraq, in a featherweight bout between two promotional newcomers. And Trevor Smith (11-4 MMA, 1-1 UFC) meets former middleweight title challenger Thales Leites (22-4 MMA, 7-3 UFC).
Omielanczuk debuted for the UFC in September on an 11-fight winning streak that included eight submission wins. The Polish fighter outpointed Nandor Guelmino at UFC 165 to run his streak to 12 fights. Rosholt, brother of former UFC fighter Jake Rosholt, made his promotional debut at the TUF 18 Finale this past November and took a decision from Walt Harris.
Camozzi will be looking to get back on track after back-to-back losses to Ronaldo “Jacare†Souza and Lorenz Larkin. Those setbacks snapped a four-fight winning streak for the “TUF 11″ veteran. Craig this past October had a “Fight of the Night†battle against Luke Barnatt at UFC Fight Night 30, though the result was a submission loss.
Yahya, a former bantamweight who went 4-2 for the UFC as a featherweight, now will return to the weight class he fought in under the WEC banner. This past November at the TUF 18 Finale, he dropped a split decision to Tom Niinimaki to have a three-fight winning streak halted. Bedford also had a three-fight run snapped when he was submitted by Bryan Caraway at UFC 159 this past April. Prior to that, he had wins in his first two UFC fights against Louis Gaudinot and Marcos Vinicius, both by knockout.
Ortiz won his UFC debut in November when he stopped Jose Maria Tome at UFC Fight Night 32 in Brazil. But at UFC Fight Night 35 this past month, he dropped a split call to recent flyweight title challenger John Moraga. Ozkilic is on a similar pattern. He won his UFC debut with a split call over Darren Uyenoyama at UFC on FOX 9, but at UFC Fight Night 35, he dropped a decision to Louis Smolka to have a four-fight winning streak shut down.
Nijem got back on the winning track at UFC Fight Night 35 this past month in Georgia when he outpointed Justin Edwards to snap a two-fight skid of stoppage losses to Myles Jury and James Vick. Dariush stayed perfect at UFC Fight Night 35 when he submitted Charlie Brenneman in his UFC debut. It was his fourth career submission in seven wins, six of which have come by finish.
“Doomsday†Howard went 6-1 outside the UFC to earn his way back in, then took a split call against Uriah Hall at UFC Fight Night 26 in Boston this past August. In December, he beat Siyar Bahadurzada at UFC 168 by unanimous decision. LaFlare started his career 7-0 to get a call from the UFC, and the former Ring of Fire champ went 3-0 for the promotion in 2013 with decision wins over Ben Alloway, Santiago Ponzinibbio and Court McGee most recently at UFC on FOX 9 in December.
Leites, who lost a middleweight title fight to Anderson Silva in 2009, returned to the UFC in 2013 after going 6-1 outside the promotion. He picked up a unanimous decision win over Tom Watson at UFC 163, then decisioned Ed Herman at UFC 167 to run his winning streak to five fights. Smith, after a loss to Tim Kennedy at the Strikeforce finale in January 2013, came to the UFC and dropped a split decision to Herman at UFC on FOX 8. But he rebounded at UFC Fight Night 35 with a split-decision win over Brian Houston.
The Florida-based Alers signs with the UFC on the strength of an eight-fight winning streak, the most recent five of which have come under the Cage Warriors banner, where he was the featherweight champion. In December, he submitted Graham Turner at Cage Warriors 63 to defend his title. Alers recently told MMAjunkie Radio he could beat most of the UFC’s 145-pound division; now he’ll get his first chance. Omer has won four straight fights and nine of his past 10. He has 16 of his 18 career wins by stoppage, including 10 submissions.
With the additions, the UFC Fight Night 39 card now includes:
Roy Nelson vs. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira
Clay Guida vs. Tatsuya Kawajiri
Daniel Omielanczuk vs. Jared Rosholt
Chris Camozzi vs. Andrew Craig
Johnny Bedford vs. Rani Yahya
Dustin Ortiz vs. Alptekin Ozkilic
Beneil Dariush vs. Ramsey Nijem
John Howard vs. Ryan LaFlare
Jim Alers vs. Alan Omer
Thales Leites vs. Trevor Smith
