This weekend the UFC heads to Foxwoods Resort & Casino in Ledyard, CT for UFC Fight Night: Jacare vs. Mousasi (also known as UFC Fight Night 50). This event will be the promotion’s fifth event to take place in the state but the first time they have been there since UFC 55 on October 7, 2005.
The scheduled event for August 2nd, 2014 was UFC 176 which was cancelled. This event originally was set to play host to a rematch between Gegard Mousasi and Ronaldo ‘Jacare’ Souza’ from their first bout at DREAM 6 on September 23, 2008. Mousasi defeated Souza via Knockout only 2 minutes and 15 seconds into Round 1 with an upkick. After the UFC 176 event cancellation, the rematch was then moved to serve as the headliner for UFC Fight Night 50 or also known as UFC Fight Night: Jacare vs. Mousasi.
Another interesting fact about this event is that it’s the first time the Ultimate Fighting Championship and rival competitor Bellator MMA have held live shows head to head. To add to the competition, these two events are being held in the same state just miles apart.
The card had planned for initial Bantamweight bouts with Dustin Kimura taking on Ian Entwistle and Chris Beal taking on Rob Font but both Entwistle and Font each suffered injuries. Briefly Kimura was slated to face Beal but then an injury to Kimura lead to a replacement of Tateki Matsuda to face Chris Beal on the undercard portion of the event.
Other initial changes included a planned bout between Andre Fili of Team Alpha Male vs. Sean Soriano of the Blackzilians camp. Fili was also injured prompting a replacement bout between Soriano and Chas Skelly.
Also on the UFC Fight Night 50 undercard, televised in the United States via FOX Sports 1, are bouts between UFC Middleweight Chris Camozzi and Rafael Natal. Al Iaquinta is a heavy favorite based on MMA betting odds taking on Brazilian native and Jiu Jitsu Black Belt Rodrigo Damm. Exciting Flyweights will lock up when John Moraga takes on Justin ‘Tank’ Scoggins of American Top Team. The final preliminary bout for the evening is a feature between Nik Lentz and Charles Oliveira. Oliveira is riding a two-fight win streak and will be looking for his third submission victory in a row and the third of this calendar year.
The FOX Sports 1 Main Card kicks off with a fight between former Ultimate Fighter winner Michael Chiesa and UFC all-time bonus leader Joe Lauzon. Lauzon has not competed since December of 2013.
Next up on the Main Card is the return of Matt Mitrione, a former NFL player for the Minnesota Vikings. Matt was slated to face fellow UFC Heavyweight Stefan Struve at UFC 175 on July 5, 2014 but Struve was removed from the bout just hours before leading to the cancellation. Mitrione takes on UFC Heavyweight The Black Best, Derrick Lewis who made his UFC debut in April of 2014 and has since secured a second KO victory. Both previous Derrick Lewis UFC Knockout wins were completed before the end of Round 1.
The Co-Main Event of the evening features another Heavyweight clash between Alistair Overeem, former Strikeforce Heavyweight Champion, DREAM Heavyweight Champion, K-1 World Grand Prix Champion and is the only fighter to hold world titles in both MMA and K-1 kickboxing at the same time. Alistair takes on ‘Big Ben’ Ben Rothwell, perhaps best known for competing for his IFL career where he went undefeated with a record of 9–0 record and also has competed for the Affliction, M-1 Global, and King of the Cage promotions. Both fighters are coming off UFC victories and will be looking for their heavy hands to finish the fight early.