The UFC's return to the Indiana state capital appears to have its first fight booking.
Featherweights Bart Palaszewski (36-15 MMA, 1-1 UFC) and Diego Nunes (17-3 MMA, 2-2 UFC) are being targeted for a bout at UFC on FX 5 in Indianapolis. Sources with knowledge of the booking on Thursday confirmed the plans with MMAjunkie.com (
UFC blog for UFC news, UFC rumors, fighter interviews and event previews/recaps | MMAjunkie.com).
UFC on FX 5 takes place Sept. 7 at Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. Main-card fights will air on FX. Preliminary-card fights are likely to air on a combination of Facebook and FUEL TV.
Palaszewski in February dropped a unanimous decision to Hatsu Hioki at UFC 144 in Japan. The Midwest-based veteran of more than 50 professional fights won his UFC debut in October 2010 at UFC 137, knocking out Tyson Griffin in the first round. That fight was the first for "Bartimus" in more than 10 months after moving over from the WEC.
Nunes has been up and down so far in his UFC career after moving over from the WEC. In April, he dropped a unanimous decision to Dennis Siver at UFC on FUEL TV 2 in Sweden. A loss to Kenny Florian at UFC 131 was sandwiched in between his two UFC wins – split decisions over Mike Brown and Manny Gamburyan.
The UFC first visited Indianapolis in September 2010 for the UFC 119 pay-per-view, which featured a main event heavyweight bout between Frank Mir and Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic, which Mir won by third-round knockout.
Bankers Life Fieldhouse is home to the NBA's Indiana Pacers, the WNBA's Indiana Fever and the Big Ten Conference basketball tournaments.
