Pat Healy-Jorge Masvidal, Yoel Romero-Brad Tavares booked for UFC on FOX 11
The UFC’s first trip to Florida in nearly two years continues to fill up with the addition of two more bouts to the card.
Pat Healy (31-17 MMA, 0-3 UFC) and Jorge Masvidal (25-8 MMA, 2-1 UFC) will meet in a lightweight contest, while Yoel Romero (7-1 MMA, 3-0 UFC) takes on Brad Tavares (12-1 MMA, 7-1 UFC) at middleweight. UFC officials announced the new bouts overnight.
UFC on FOX 11 is set for April 19 at Amway Center in Orlando. It will be the UFC’s first visit to the city. The main card will air on FOX following prelims on FOX Sports 1 and UFC Fight Pass.
Healy is badly in need of a victory. His most recent one came in his final Strikeforce fight, a decision win over Kurt Holobaugh a little more than a year ago. After returning to the UFC for the first time since 2006, he picked up a big submission win over Jim Miller that got him a pair of bonuses. But when he tested positive for marijuana, the win and $130,000 in bonus money went away. In September, he dropped a decision to Khabib Nurmagomedov at uFC 165, and in December he fell to Bobby Green at UFC on FOX 9.
Masvidal will be looking to get back on track after a decision loss to Rustam Khabilov this past November at the UFC’s third “Fight for the Troops†show – though the loss still earned him a “Fight of the Night†bonus. That loss snapped a three-fight winning streak, including a decision win over Tim Means in his UFC debut and a submission win over Michael Chiesa in July.
Romero will try to keep his perfect UFC mark intact. In January, after being outwrestled and outstruck by Derek Brunson at UFC Fight Night 35, Brunson mounted a comeback midway through the final frame to get a TKO stoppage and a “Fight of the Night†bonus. All seven wins for the Olympic silver medal-winning wrestler from Cuba have come by knockout, including a “Knockout of the Night†win in his UFC debut over Clifford Starks.
Tavares kept his solid run going at UFC Fight Night 35 when he outpointed Lorenz Larkin in the co-main event. That moved his streak to five straight wins, all by decision, over Dongi Yang, Tom Watson, Riki Fukuda, Robert McDaniel and Larkin. Tavares is ranked No. 14 in the latest USA TODAY Sports/MMAjunkie MMA middleweight rankings.
With the additions, the latest UFC on FOX 11 card now includes:
Travis Browne vs. Fabricio Werdum
Liz Carmouche vs. Miesha Tate
Edson Barboza vs. Donald Cerrone
Rafael dos Anjos vs. Khabib Nurmagomedov
Pat Healy vs. Jorge Masvidal
Yoel Romero vs. Brad Tavares
