A lightweight bout between Joe Lauzon (22-7 MMA, 9-4 UFC) and Gray Maynard (11-1-1 MMA, 9-1-1 UFC) is slotted for UFC 155, which is the UFC's traditional year-end event.
UFC officials today announced the fight.
Although not officially announced, UFC 155 takes place Dec. 29 in Las Vegas at a venue to be announced.
UFC 155's main card airs on pay-per-view following prelims on FX. Lauzon vs. Maynard likely will be part of the main-card lineup.
Lauzon recently scored "Fight of the Night" and "Submission of the Night" bonuses for his UFC on FOX 4 win over Jamie Varner earlier this month. Lauzon now has won three of his past four fights, all via submission. "The Ultimate Fighter 5" cast member's defeat came to top contender Anthony Pettis while the other victories came over Melvin Guillard and Curt Warburton. In 22 career wins, the Massachusetts-based Lauzon, who's racked up 11 total UFC fight-night bonuses, has 18 submissions.
Maynard, meanwhile, looks to build off a June split-decision win over Clay Guida. Prior to the victory, Maynard challenged for the UFC's lightweight title, though he fought to a split draw and then suffered a knockout loss to then-champ Frankie Edgar in back-to-back fights. The former Xtreme Couture fighter and current American Kickboxing Academy member hasn't registered a stoppage win since his fourth pro fight nearly five years ago, though he's faced a who's who of the lightweight division (Kenny Florian, Nate Diaz and Jim Miller, for example) in the past couple years.
The latest UFC 155 card includes:
Champ Junior Dos Santos vs. Cain Velasquez - for heavyweight title*
Forrest Griffin vs. Chael Sonnen*
Joe Lauzon vs. Gray Maynard
* - Not officially announced
Source: Joe Lauzon vs. Gray Maynard slated for UFC 155 in Las Vegas