As a result of an injury, Matt “The Real One” Grice has withdrawn from his bout with Nam Phan at UFC 136 on October 8th in Houston, Texas. Phan will now have an opportunity to avenge a highly controversial loss from last year when he rematches Leonard “Bad Boy” Garcia on the Texas card.
The UFC announced today that verbal agreements are now in place for the rematch. Garcia defeated Phan via Split Decision in a 2010 Robbery of the Year candidate in December. Both fighters are coming off of losses and need to win in order to ensure that they will remain on the UFC roster.
Phan (16-9-0) and Garcia (15-7-1) engaged in an action-packed battle at The Ultimate Fighter 12 Finale on December 4th, with Phan picking a fatigued Garcia apart with strikes as the fight wore on. Despite appearing to win a minimum of two rounds, and seemingly all three, Phan came out on the losing end of a Split Decision that met with outcry from fans, media and fighters. Garcia, who was also awarded a number of controversial decision victories during his tenure in the WEC, believed that he had done enough to win the first fight.
Last month, Phan faced off with former WEC Featherweight Champion Mike Brown at UFC 133 and dropped a close but Unanimous Decision. With back-to-back losses, Phan needs to pick up a big victory in the rematch with Garcia or he may be forced to fight his way back into the UFC. Garcia most recently engaged in a rematch from another controversial Split Decision and was submitted by a Chan Sung Jung twister in March. He has not fought since then.
UFC 136 takes place on October 8th at the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas. The main event features a UFC Lightweight Championship trilogy bout between 155-pound rivals Frankie “The Answer” Edgar and Gray “The Bully” Maynard.
UFC 136 Fight Card (subject to change):
– Frankie “The Answer” Edgar vs Gray “The Bully” Maynard [UFC Lightweight Championship]
– José “Scarface” Aldo vs Kenny “KenFlo” Florian [UFC Featherweight Championship]
– Chael Sonnen vs “All American” Brian Stann
– Dave “Pee-Wee” Herman vs Mike Russow
– Joe “J-Lau” Lauzon vs Melvin “The Young Assassin” Guillard
– Demian Maia vs Jorge “The Sandman” Santiago
– Anthony “Showtime” Pettis vs Jeremy “Lil’ Heathen” Stephens
– Stipe Miocic vs Joey “The Mexicutioner” Beltran
– Tiequan “The Mongolian Wolf” Zhang vs Darren Elkins
– Nam Phan vs Leonard “Bad Boy” Garcia
– Aaron “A-Train” Simpson vs Nick “The Jersey Devil” Catone
– Steve “The Robot” Cantwell vs Mike Massenzio
(Photo Credit: Sherdog.com)