A featherweight bout between TUF 12 alum Pablo “The Scarecrow” Garza and rising star Dustin “The Diamond” Poirier is the first addition to the UFC On FOX 1 card on November 12th in Anaheim, California. The fighters have verbally agreed to the fight, which was officially announced earlier today.
Garza is coming off of a pair of highlight-reel victories in the form of a flying knee knockout and a flying triangle choke submission. Poirier earned his biggest victory to date in January when he upset then-top contender Josh “The Fluke” Grispi and later defeated Jason “Shotgun” Young in June.
Garza (11-1-0) was defeated during the elimination rounds of The Ultimate Fighter 12, but earned a pair of wins in his native North Dakota and was invited to face Chinese prospect Tiequan Zhang at WEC 51 last September. He suffered his first and only pro defeat in the fight, but made an instant impact in his UFC debut two months later when he destroyed Fredson Paixao with a 51-second flying knee in the first featherweight bout in UFC history. He followed that up by submitting Yves “Tiger” Jabouin with a flying triangle choke at UFC 129 in April.
Poirier (10-1-0) also suffered a loss in his WEC debut at WEC 50 last August, but bounced back with a win at WEC 52 before joining the UFC ranks. Stepping in for an injured José Aldo, Poirier faced the number one contender at 145 pounds, Grispi, at UFC 125 and mauled the Massachusetts native en route to a dominant Unanimous Decision victory. He was again impressive in defeating England’s Young in a competitive bout at UFC 131 and, like Garza, will bring considerable momentum into the debut UFC card on the FOX network.
UFC On FOX 1 takes place on November 12th at a venue to be determined in Anaheim, California.