As expected UFC 125 will kick off the 2011 fight season when UFC lightweight champ Frankie Edgar (13-1 MMA, 8-1 UFC) rematches Gray Maynard (10-0 MMA, 8-0 UFC) in a championship main event on Jan 1.
Additionally, top-ranked heavyweights Shane Carwin (12-1 MMA, 4-1 UFC) and Roy Nelson (15-5 MMA, 2-1 UFC) meet in the co-main event of the New Year's Day show.
The event, which takes place at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, was formally announced during today's new "UFC Ultimate Insider" episode.
The pay-per-view event also features a recently reported lightweight bout between Clay Guida (27-11 MMA, 7-5 UFC) and Takanori Gomi (32-6 MMA, 1-1 UFC).
Tickets for the Sin City show go on sale Oct. 23. (Stay tuned to MMAjunkie.com for further details, including pre-sale dates.)
Edgar and Maynard, of course, met once before, and it was the current challenger who came out on top. In that fight at UFC Fight Night 13 in 2008, Maynard delivered Edgar his lone career defeat.
However, Edgar bounced back with a pair of decision wins over Hermes Franca and former champ Sean Sherk, as well as a submission win over Matt Veach, and was awarded a title shot against then-champion B.J. Penn. Despite seemingly insurmountable odds against him, Edgar defeated Penn in a hotly contested UFC 112 decision and then did it again in more dominant fashion in August during a rematch at UFC 118.
Maynard, meanwhile, followed up his win over Edgar with a five consecutive decision victories over a murderers row of opponents in Rich Clementi, Jim Miller, Roger Huerta, Nate Diaz and Kenny Florian. Despite his undefeated record, the Michigan State University wrestler was passed over in favor of Edgar for the first shot at Penn.
Carwin hasn't fought since UFC 116, when he suffered a second-round submission loss to heavyweight champ Brock Lesnar. Carwin nearly ended the fight in the first round with a vicious barrage of punches, but Lesnar survived and then capitalized on a quickly fading Carwin to secure an arm-triangle choke and defend his title. Prior to the loss, the former interim champ had posted 12 consecutive wins, all of which came via first-round stoppage.
Like Carwin, Nelson also looks to rebound from a recent high-profile loss. The former IFL champion won "The Ultimate Fighter 10," which he entered as a heavy favorite, by knocking out Brendan Schaub in the finale. He then posted a 39-second knockout of Stefan Struve. But in a fight that UFC president Dana White said would earn the winner a title shot, Nelson dropped a decision to fast-rising Junior Dos Santos at UFC 117.
Guida, meanwhile, recently rebounded from a pair of losses to Diego Sanchez and Florian with submission wins over Shannon Gugerty at UFC on Versus 1 and Rafael dos Anjos at UFC 117. He now looks for his first three-fight win streak since he swept Samy Schiavo, "TUF 6" winner Mac Danzig and "TUF 5" winner Diaz from 2008-2009.
Gomi, a former Shooto and PRIDE champion once considered the world's best lightweight fighter, recently rebounded from a submission loss to Florian in his UFC debut with a swift, 64-second knockout of Tyson Griffin at UFC on Versus 2. The Japanese fighter now has won three of his past four fights.
