UFC Fight Night 45 in Atlantic City on July 16th is turning into something of a lightweight extravaganza with two more meaningful fights in the division added to the line-up.
First up, Edson Barboza will look to bounce back from a submission loss to Donald Cerrone last month when he takes on Evan Dunham. Prior to that Barboza had been on a three-fight winning streak and so he’ll be eager to get back on track and push himself into the top 10 rankings (currently at No.11).
Dunham is in a more precarious position at the moment after having lost his last two fights in the promotion and tasted victory in just one of his last four. Having said that, it should be noted that his losses all came to ranked contenders in the division like Cerrone, TJ Grant and Rafael Dos Anjos.
Meanwhile, Pat Healy may be fighting for his future in the UFC when he faces a tough opponent in Gleison Tibau at the same event.
Things started off so well for the former Strikeforce fighter in the UFC with a big win over Jim Miller in his promotional debut last year, but the win was later changed to a no-contest after he tested positive for marijuana post-fight, and it’s gone from bad to worse from there as he’s picked up three losses in a row since then.
In Tibau he faces a true veteran of the UFC with 21 fights in the Octagon to date which is no mean feat. Tibau is coming off a loss to the in-form Michael Johnson which snapped back-to-back victories, so he’ll be determined to get back in the win column on July 16th.
Barboza Vs Dunham and Healy Vs Tibau join the already announced lightweight headliner featuring Donald Cerrone Vs Jim Miller.
Other fights unveiled for the show so far include Rick Story Vs John Howard and John Lineker Vs Alptekin Ozkilic.
