Assuncao vs. Caraway, VanZant vs. Curran Added to UFC Fight Night 54

[Swinny]

Assuncao vs. Caraway, VanZant vs. Curran added to UFC Fight Night 54

October’s UFC Fight Night 54 lineup in Canada has two new additions.

Raphael Assuncao (22-4 MMA, 6-1 UFC), who’s ranked No. 5 in the USA TODAY Sports/MMAjunkie MMA bantamweight rankings, takes on No. 15-ranked Bryan Caraway (19-6 MMA, 4-1 UFC).

Additionally, UFC strawweight newcomers Kailin Curran (3-0 MMA, 0-0 UFC) and Paige VanZant (3-1 MMA, 0-0 UFC) are slated to debut against each other.

UFC officials today announced the bouts.

UFC Fight Night 54 takes place Oct. 4 at Halifax Metro Centre in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. No broadcast plans for the card have been announced, though a combination of FOX Sports 1 and UFC Fight Pass is expected.

Assuncao, a former WEC fighter who suffered a knockout loss to Erik Koch in his UFC debut, has since rattled off six consecutive victories to move into title contention. The 32-year-old Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt most recently earned a unanimous-decision win over Pedro Munhoz, but in his previous performance, he earned a split-decision victory over T.J. Dillashaw, who went on to win the bantamweight belt from Renan Barao.

He now takes on Caraway, who’s also slowly moving into title contention. The 30-year-old, who was a semifinalist on “The Ultimate Fighter 14,â€￾ has won two straight and five of his past six. All of the wins, including a recent one over Erik Perez, came via submission and led to a pair of fight-night bonuses.

Meanwhile, Curran, a 23-year-old Hawaiian who trains with Reign MMA, turned pro in early 2013 and has posted a trio of decision wins with the Guam-based Pacific Xtreme Combat promotion. She takes on VanZant, a 20-year-old who was too young for a planned spot on the upcoming 20th season of “The Ultimate Fighter.â€￾ The onetime Invicta FC fighter most recently earned a submission win over Courtney Himes (0-2).

The latest UFC Fight Night 54 card includes:

Rory MacDonald vs. Tarec Saffiedine
Raphael Assuncao vs. Bryan Caraway
Kailin Curran vs. Paige VanZant

MMAJunkie

Yay more fights for Halifax!

 

[The Great Cochrane]

Paige VanZant is my new found love :love-struck:

 

[Swinny]

Paige VanZant is my new found love :love-struck:

Yeah she's a super babe that could easily just have a job as a model but still chooses to fight.

 

[The Great Cochrane]

Yeah she's a super babe that could easily just have a job as a model but still chooses to fight.

Same with Felice Herrig, but realistically speaking if I was to have a chance with either it'd probably be Paige because she's significantly younger than me and I'd probably have a better shot at her. Ultimately realistically speaking I wouldn't have a chance with either of 'em... unless I make it to the big time

On another note, I'm seriously hoping that next year finally the UFC comes to London. Maybe this experience tour coming up will do us some justice.

 

[Swinny]

Same with Felice Herrig, but realistically speaking if I was to have a chance with either it'd probably be Paige because she's significantly younger than me and I'd probably have a better shot at her. Ultimately realistically speaking I wouldn't have a chance with either of 'em... unless I make it to the big time

On another note, I'm seriously hoping that next year finally the UFC comes to London. Maybe this experience tour coming up will do us some justice.

Felice is hot for MMA standards, but Paige is definitely more naturally gorgeous and would succeed more at modeling and stuff I'm pretty sure.

But looking forward to seeing how she does in the UFC and looking forward to hopefully seeing her first fight live.

 

[The Great Cochrane]

@PAIGEVANZANT Please pay your Canadian fans some love before your fight and drop by the UFC EXPERIENCE DAY in London!

Here's for hoping for the best :

100 bucks says she won't even see it.