The Ultimate Fighter 3 contestant Jesse Forbes is returning to the UFC and will likely replace an injured Steve Steinbeiss and square off against fellow middleweight Nick Catone on the preliminary card of UFC Fight Night 20 on January 11 in Fairfax, Virginia.

Nick Catone and Steve Steinbeiss will square off in a middleweight matchup at UFC Fight Night 20 on January 11 in Fairfax, Virginia, with their immediate UFC futures likely on the line.

Both fighters have lost two-straight coming into the bout, with Catone (7-2) losing to Tim Credeur and Mark Munoz following a debut win over Derek Downey, while Steibeiss (4-3) dropped his lone WEC fight to Carmelo Marrero before falling to Ryan Jensen in his first UFC fight.

Nate Quarry’s $60,000 payday for his main card win over Tim Credeur at UFC Fight Night 19 on Wednesday in Oklahoma City topped the event’s $476,000 payroll, according to official fighter salary figures released on Monday by the Oklahoma State Athletic Commission.

Nate Diaz and Carlos Condit were also among the card’s top earners, pocketing $48,000 apiece for their main card victories.

Following an early knockdown at the hands of Melvin Guillard in the UFC Fight Night 19 headliner, Nate Diaz took advantage of his first opportunity on the ground, forcing Guillard to tap to a guillotine choke in the second-round of the main event.

The finish capped off the Spike TV-televised card, which took place at the Cox Convention Center in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

Tomorrow night Oklahoma City is UFC Ultimate Fight Night 19, headlined by Nate Diaz vs. Melvin Guillard. There are certainly some interesting match ups, and a few that on paper seem a bit one sided. I decided I would go on the record with my official predictions for the event, and so have some of the other staff here at MMAFrenzy.

Despite a hard weight cut, UFC Fight Night 19 headliner Nate Diaz successfully made weight at Tuesday’s official weigh-ins for the event, weighing in exactly at the 156-pound non-title lightweight limit, while his main event opponent, Melvin Guillard, tipped the scale one pound lighter at 155. The rest of the 11-bout card also successfully made weight on their first attempt.

Despite an 0-3 record inside the Octagon and just 2 wins in 6 bouts since mid-2007, middleweight Ryan Jensen has been booked to take on Steve Steinbeiss at UFC Fight Night 19 on September 16 in Oklahoma City, according to MMA Weekly.

Jensen and Steinbeiss were previously scheduled to fight at UFN 18 in April, but the bout was called off after Jensen failed to be medically cleared for the fight.

Middleweights Dan Miller and Aaron Simpson are likely to fight at UFC Fight Night 19 on September 16 in Oklahoma City, according to Simpson, who recently announced the matchup on Facebook (but later said nothing was official yet).

UFC Fight Night 19 is also set to feature Gray Maynard vs. Roger Huerta, with tickets for the Spike-televised event set to go on sale on July 9.

Middleweights Aaron Simpson and Steve Steinbeiss, who train together at Arizona Combat Sports, will compete in seperate bouts at UFC 103, according to Five Ounces of Pain, which is rumored to take place on September 26th in the UK. According to the report, Phoenix, Arizona is also under consideration to hold the September event.

Ryan Bader likely suffered a major knee injury in his UFN 18 victory and Tyson Griffin, Rafael dos Anjos, Aaron Simpson, and Rob Kimmons each received $30,000 bonuses for their performances on Wednesday at the Sommet Center in Nashville, Tennessee.

Former WEC welterweight champion Carlos Condit was defeated in his anticipated UFC debut, dropping a split decision to Martin Kampmann in the UFN 18 main event.

A scheduled middleweight bout between 185-pounders Ryan Jensen and Steve Steinbeiss has been scratched from UFC Fight Night 18 after Jensen failed to be medically cleared for the contest.

Twenty-two of the twenty-four fighters scheduled to be in action at UFC Fight Night 18 successfully weighed in for their bouts on Tuesday at the Sommet Center in Nashville, Tennessee.

Light heavyweights Matt Hamill and Mark Munoz will meet at UFC 96 on March 7th in Columbus, Ohio, according to MMAJunkie.com.
Hamill (5-2), a three-time NCAA Division III wrestling champion and cast member on the third season of The Ultimate Fighter, earned three-straight victories to begin his UFC career but has since gone 2-2, dropping bouts [...]

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