A pair of featherweight contests has been added to December's UFC 141 event, as Manny Gamburyan (11-6 MMA, 2-2 UFC) meets Diego Nunes (16-2 MMA, 1-1 UFC) and Junior Assuncao (13-4 MMA, 1-0 UFC) faces Ross Pearson (12-5 MMA, 4-2 UFC).
UFC officials today announced the additions.
Featuring a heavyweight matchup between former UFC champ Brock Lesnar and former Strikeforce titleholder Alistair Overeem, UFC 141 takes place Dec. 30 at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.
Gamburyan and Nunes were originally expected to meet at September's UFC 135 event, but injuries forced both to withdraw from the card.
Onetime WEC featherweight title challenger Gamburyan finds himself in need of a win after suffering back-to-back losses. "The Ultimate Fighter 5" veteran fell via second-round TKO to then-WEC champ Jose Aldo in September 2010 before returning to the UFC's octagon for the first time in more than two years and dropping a majority decision to Tyson Griffin at "UFC on Versus 4: Kongo vs. Barry."
Nunes also hopes to return to winning ways after dropping a unanimous decision to Kenny Florian at UFC 131. The loss snapped a three-fight win streak for Nunes, who wrapped his WEC stint with victories over Tyler Toner and Raphael Assuncao before downing Mike Brown at UFC 125.
Assuncao made his octagon debut in September with a unanimous-decision win over Eddie Yagin at UFC 135. Although Assuncao was a bit tentative throughout the 15-minute affair he did enough to secure the victory and now boasts a seven-fight win streak.
Meanwhile, Pearson drops from the lightweight division for his first contest at 145 pounds. The British slugger and winner of "The Ultimate Fighter 9" makes the move after struggling through a 1-2 stretch that saw losses to Edson Barboza and Cole Miller bookending a decision win over Spencer Fisher.
Source: Gamburyan vs. Nunes, Assuncao vs. Pearson added to December's UFC 141 event