The Ultimate Fighting Championship has officially confirmed five more bouts for the upcoming UFC Fight Night 24: “Ortiz vs Nogueira” event in Seattle, Washington on March 29th. Former Tachi Palace Fights Bantamweight Champion Michael “Mayday” McDonald will face rising star Nick Pace.
A pair of welterweight bouts will pit once-beaten British prospect John “The Hitman” Hathaway against Kris “Savage” McCray, while Dennis “Superman” Hallman takes on Anthony “T.J.” Waldburger. Elsewhere, Sean McCorkle faces Christian Morecraft and Aaron Simpson battles Mario Miranda.
McDonald (11-1-0), who just turned 20 years old on January 1st, has not lost in close to two years and has only been out of the first round twice; both times against ex-Tachi Palace champ Cole Escovedo. McDonald’s lone loss came in a May 2009 bout with Escovedo, where he was stopped by strikes in the second round, but McDonald avenged the defeat in devastating fashion last July. Backing Escovedo up to the cage, McDonald unleashed a flurry of punches in round two that sent Escovedo face-first to the canvas, unconscious. The win earned McDonald the TPF crown, but he moved on to bigger things by signing with the WEC. McDonald won his WEC debut in November and will now compete inside the UFC for the first time.
Pace (6-1-0) is another rising star in the rapidly-developing 135-pound division. He is coming off of an extremely impressive pillory choke submission – dubbed “The Pace Choke” – against Will Campuzano at The Ultimate Fighter 12 Finale on December 4th. Prior to that, Pace suffered his lone setback to date when he was defeated by Demetrious “Mighty Mouse” Johnson in a WEC 51 bout. Pace previously put together five straight wins that including a trio of stoppages, and he gained considerable attention from fans for his unique choke submission against Campuzano. He will now face the hard-hitting McDonald in a bout that could propel the winner in title contender status in the UFC’s bantamweight division.
In welterweight action, Hallman (66-13-2, 1 NC) will look to make the most of his newly-signed UFC contract extension when he faces Waldburger (13-5-0), who has won four straight fights. Aside from a last-second knockout loss to John “Doomsday” Howard in December of 2009, Hallman is otherwise unbeaten in his last eight fights and is coming off of a quick win over former title contender Karo “The Heat” Parisyan. Waldburger rebounded from back-to-back knockout losses to Pete Spratt and Ricardo Funch with his current winning streak and emerged victorious in his Octagon debut last September.
A second welterweight bout pits Hathaway (14-1-0) against TUF 11 finalist McCray (5-2-0). Hathaway most recently suffered the first defeat of his career when he dropped a Unanimous Decision to Mike “Quicksand” Pyle in October. Prior to that, he had scored big victories over Rick Story, Paul Taylor and former title challenger Diego “Nightmare” Sanchez. McCray, meanwhile, is on a two-fight losing streak and will likely need an impressive win in order to remain in the promotion.
UFC Fight Night 24 takes place on March 29th at the Key Arena in Seattle, Washington. The event is headlined by a light heavyweight bout between former champion “The Huntington Beach Bad Boy” Tito Ortiz and Antonio Rogerio “Minotoro” Nogueira.
UFC Fight Night 24 Fight Card (subject to change):
– “The Huntington Beach Bad Boy” Tito Ortiz vs Antonio Rogerio “Minotoro” Nogueira
– Dan “The Outlaw” Hardy vs Anthony “Rumble” Johnson
– Duane “Bang” Ludwig vs Amir Sadollah
– Nam Phan vs Leonard “Bad Boy” Garcia
– John “The Hitman” Hathaway vs Kris “Savage” McCray
– Michael “Mayday” McDonald vs Nick Pace
– Sean “Big Sexy” McCorkle vs Christian Morecraft
– Aaron “A-Train” Simpson vs Mario Miranda
– Dennis “Superman” Hallman vs Anthony “T.J.” Waldburger
– Mike Russow vs Jon Madsen [*]
– Mackens “Mack da Menace” Semerzier vs Alex “Bruce Leroy” Caceres [*]
*Not yet officially announced.
(Photo Credit: Sherdog.com)