There’s no rest for the wicked in July as there’s major MMA events on each and every weekend and three UFC events in total along with the welcome return of Strikeforce action as well.
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Saturday, July 7th: UFC 148 – Silva Vs Sonnen II
July wastes little time in getting right to the heart of the action with the biggest event of the month taking place in just under a week’s time in Las Vegas as Anderson Silva and Chael Sonnen get set to fight over the middleweight title for a second time.
That fight alone should guarantee plenty of interest, but it’s also notable for featuring Tito Ortiz retirement fight with Forrest Griffin and the return of Patrick Cote against Cung Le amongst other bouts.
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Wednesday, July 11th: UFC On Fuel TV 4 – Munoz Vs Weidman
Just a few days later the UFC switches to Fuel TV for their fourth event on the channel with middleweights Mark Munoz and Chris Weidman set to go five rounds in the main event.
In all there’s six fights on the main card from San Jose, including Joey Beltran’s light-heavyweight debut against James Te-Huna and an interesting lightweight clash of styles between Rafael Dos Anjos and Anthony Njokuani.
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Saturday, July 14th: Strikeforce: Rockhold Vs Kennedy
The following weekend Strikeforce return with their middleweight champion Luke Rockhold facing tough opposition in the shape of Tim Kennedy in the main event.
A strong co-feature sees Nate Marquardt finally make his 170lb debut against Tyron Woodley to decide who will claim the vacant welterweight title, while Roger Gracie goes down to middleweight for the first time to fight Keith Jardine.
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Friday, July 20th: Bellator 72
The second of Bellator’s 2012 ‘Summer Season’ events takes place on July 20th with the welterweight tournament final between Karl Amoussou and Bryan Baker headlining the show from Tampa.
There’s also light-heavyweight tournament semi-final action on tap along with a 170lb tilt between Waachiim Spiritwolf and Marius Zaromskis to look forward to.
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Saturday, July 21st: UFC 149: Faber Vs Barao
The following night it’s on to Calgary for the injury-ravaged UFC 149 event which now features an interim-bantamweight title fight between TUF: Live coach Urijah Faber and Renan Barao.
The main card has had to undergo numerous changes in the past few weeks, but Hector Lombard’s debut against Tim Boetsch is still a big fight for the middleweight division.
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Saturday, July 28th: Invictus FC 2
Finally it’s worth noting that all-female fight promotion Invictus returns on the last weekend of the month with another line-up stacked with notable fighters in the woman’s MMA scene.
Headlining will the experienced Shayna Bazler Vs the undefeated Sara Mcmann, while Liz Carmouche Vs Kaitlin Young is one of the other big fights to take note of here.
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Major MMA Events in July At A Glance:
- July 7th: UFC 148 – Silva Vs Sonnen II
- July 11th: UFC On Fuel TV 4 – Munoz Vs Weidman
- July 14th: Strikeforce: Rockhold Vs Kennedy
- July 20th: Bellator 72
- July 21st: UFC 149: Faber Vs Barao
- July 28th: Invictus FC 2
