On Saturday, MMA fans in Calgary, Alberta will get their first visit from the UFC when the promotion presents UFC 149 from the Scotiabank Saddledome.
While injuries have caused the card to undergo some significant changes since it was first announced, fans will get to witness an interim bantamweight title bout between Urijah Faber and Renan Barao as the evening’s main event.
Faber had originally been booked to face current bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz on the UFC 148 fight card, but Cruz was forced from that fight when he tore his ACL during filming of The Ultimate Fighter.
The injury opened the door for Barao to move into the spot vacated by Cruz. The decision to have an interim title was based around the fact of the lengthy rehab and recovery time that Cruz is expected to face. The fight was moved to UFC 149 when the card lost its original main event when Jose Aldo was injured while training for his featherweight title defense against Erik Koch.
In the evening’s co-main event, two middleweight fighters will look to make a statement. Former Bellator champion Hector Lombard will make his UFC debut on Saturday when he faces Tim Boetsch.
There has been some talk that with a dominant win over Boetsch, Lombard may be in line for a shot at middleweight champion Anderson Silva. Boetsch will look to spoil Lombard’s debut, as well as show that he is a contender at 185 pounds.
In all UFC 149 will feature 11 bouts:
Urijah Faber vs. Renan Barao
Tim Boetsch vs. Hector Lombard
Shawn Jordan vs. Cheick Kongo
Brian Ebersole vs. James Head
Chris Clements vs. Matt Riddle
Court McGee vs. Nick Ring
Roland Delorme vs. Francisco Rivera
Ryan Jimmo vs. Anthony Perosh
Bryan Caraway vs. Mitch Gagnon
Antonio Carvalho vs. Daniel Pineda
Mitch Clarke vs. Anton Kuivanen
Before the fighters can step into the Octagon on Saturday they will have to step onto the scale on Friday. Bleacher Report will have live weigh-in results as they happen, beginning at 6 p.m. ET.
Kevin Russo Curtis Granderson Nick Johnson Javier Lopez Alex Hinshaw Ramon Ramirez
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