A UFC flyweight tournament rematch between Demetrious “Mighty Mouse” Johnson and Ian “Uncle Creepy” McCall will take place at UFC on FX 3 on June 8th. UFC officials announced the planned matchup on Tuesday. Verbal agreements are in place and the winner moves on to the tournament final.
Johnson and McCall first faced off at UFC on FX 2 earlier this month in Sydney, Australia. After three action-packed rounds, Johnson was awarded a somewhat contentious Majority Decision victory, but the bout was ruled a Majority Draw when a scoring error was identified shortly after the event.
Johnson (14-2-1) made the move down to the newly-created UFC flyweight division to take part in the inaugural four-man title tournament after coming up short in a UFC Bantamweight Championship bout in October. He appeared to narrowly take the opening two rounds against McCall (11-2-1) in the first tournament semi-final matchup, but McCall rallied back in the final round. McCall was able to counter a flying knee from Johnson by taking him down and he battered Johnson for the remainder of the 10-8 round with punches and elbows.
Under tournament rules, the fight would go to a sudden-death fourth round in the event of a draw. Two judges indeed ruled the bout even after three rounds, but a scoring tabulation error incorrectly led to Johnson being announced as the winner. As the scoring error was not identified until after the event, a sudden-death round could not be utilised to determine a winner and plans for an immediate rematch were announced at the post-fight press conference.
Johnson and McCall will now face each other for a second time on June 8th, with the winner moving on to face Joseph Benavidez in the tournament final later this year. The winner of the inaugural tournament will be crowned the first UFC Flyweight Champion.
A location for the UFC on FX 3 card will be determined in the coming weeks via a fan vote.
(Photo Credit: Sherdog.com)