Four Fighters With Hollywood Setting Tonight. Only One Title Shot.
For the fourth installment in the UFC on Fox series, tonight’s tale of the tape features the ‘Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu’ expert Maurício ‘Shogun’ Rua and ‘Muay Thai’ fighter Brandon Vera. Shogun makes his return to the octagon from a 9 month layoff after his fight of the year last November against Dan ‘Hendo’ Henderson at UFC 139. In 2011, Shogon lost the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship to current champion Jon Jones who will face Henderson next month at UFC 151. With Shogon being the odds-on-favorite to pull away tonight with the victory, a lot is at stake Brandon Vera who could possibly never see another title shot in UFC with a loss to Rua.
In the co-main event, Lyoto ‘The Dragon’ Machida faces Ryan ‘Darth’ Bader. Machida, who’s won only one of his last four fights, makes his return to the octagon for the fist time since losing to UFC champion Jon Jones back in December. Like Brandon Vera, who’s on the hot seat as well, The Dragon is also in must win situation tonight as he could possibly not see a title shot for a while with another loss tonight.
So with the main event and co-main event set, Dana White announced “who puts forth the best performance” not the winner, will presumably face the winner of UFC 151. Jon Jones is obviously expected to win next months PPV match against Dan Henderson but has also destroyed all four fighters in tonight’s main events. Whether fans want to see Jones fight Shogun, Vera, Machida or Bader again remains to be seen. The only possible way to garner attention in UFC would be Jon Jones losing, which most likely isn’t going to happen anytime soon. Good luck UFC fans.
Be sure to tune in tonight as UFC on Fox 4 emanates live from the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California.
Check the jump for a special video preview along with the complete match card listings.
Main Card
Watch Live On FOX at 8:00pm ET (5:00pm PT)
Maurício Rua vs. Brandon Vera
Lyoto Machida vs. Ryan Bader
Joe Lauzon vs. Jamie Varner
Mike Swick vs. DaMarques Johnson
Preliminary Card
Watch Live On FUEL TV at 5:00pm ET (2:00pm PT)
Cole Miller vs. Nam Phan
Phil Davis vs. Wagner Prado
Josh Grispi vs. Rani Yahya
Phil De Fries vs. Oli Thompson
Manvel Gamburyan vs. Michihiro Omigawa
John Moraga vs. Ulysses Gomez