A lightweight fight between Gray Maynard and Ross Pearson is now official for UFC Fight Night 47 after Pearson’s originally opponent Abel Trujillo pulled out due to an injury.
Pearson had himself originally been a replacement for Bobby Green against Trujillo at the event in Maine on August 16th, while Maynard was supposed to be fighting Fabricio Camoes on the card.
What we’ve ended up with is potentially a better match-up thany any of the aforementioned ones, but it’s far from an ideal situation when the two fighters have less than two weeks to adjust their respective gameplans to meet this new challenge.
Maynard is returning to the Octagon for the first time since a first round TKO loss to Nate Diaz back in November of last year. That was the second defeat in a row for ‘The Bully’ after also being TKO’d by TJ Grant prior to that.
In fact the former two-time title challenger has only won once in his last five bouts, leaving him placed No.12 on the rankings, so this is a pivotal moment in the 35 year-old’s career.
Pearson is coming off a split decision loss to Diego Sanchez back in June despite that pretty much everyone who watched it felt he had been robbed off a comfortable victory. Nevertheless, coming off a no-contest ruling against Melvin Guillard who was deemed to have landed an illegal knee against him, Pearson’s recent record is blemished and he too will be eager to chalk up a win.
So, UFC Fight Night 47 now proceeds with a nine-fight card with a light-heavyweight bout between Ryan Bader and Ovince St.Preux headlining the show which will air live on FOX Sports 1, while Maynard Vs Pearson serves as the new co-main event.
