A pair of featherweight bouts have joined UFC 162 in July, which caps off International Fight Week that includes a UFC Fan Expo and activities all over Las Vegas, which hosts the event.
Former UFC Lightweight Champion Frankie Edgar (15-4-1, 9-4-1 UFC) will meet Charles Oliveira (16-3 1 NC, 4-3 1 NC UFC) while Cub Swanson (19-5, 4-1 UFC) will finally square off with Dennis Siver (21-8, 10-5 UFC) in a fight that has title shot implications riding on it.
UFC officials announced the fights on Thursday evening.
Edgar competes in his first non-title fight in the UFC since December 2009 as his last seven fights have come in championship bouts. He has lost three straight fights, which included a pair of losses to Benson Henderson in UFC Lightweight Championship bouts and a loss to Jose Aldo in a UFC Featherweight Championship bout at UFC 156 in February. Edgar will be looking for his first win since moving to 145 pounds.
Oliveira looks to get back into the win column in his fourth fight since making the drop down to featherweight. He suffered a knockout loss to Swanson at UFC 152 in September. He had gone 2-0 in his first two fights at 145 pounds, scoring submission wins over Eric Wisely and Jonathan Brookins.
Swanson has seen a resurgence in his career having won his last four fights. He spent some time on the injury list prior to his UFC debut, which was a loss to another featherweight top contender, Ricardo Lamas. Swanson has since scored wins over George Roop, Ross Pearson, Oliveira and Dustin Poirier to get himself into the title picture.
Siver, meanwhile, looks to remain undefeated as a featherweight as he has scored decision wins in his first two 145-pound fights. Siver defeated Diego Nunes last April and Nam Phan in December. He was set to fight Swanson at UFC On FUEL TV 7 in February before an injury forced him out of the fight. Swanson went on to defeat Poirier.
UFC 162 takes place on July 6 from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. The main card airs on pay-per-view and prelims take place on FX and Facebook. Anderson Silva vs. Chris Weidman headlines the event in a UFC Middleweight Championship bout.
The current UFC 162 card includes:
- Anderson Silva(c) vs. Chris Weidman (UFC Middleweight Championship)
- Ricardo Lamas vs. Chan Sung Jung
- Frankie Edgar vs. Charles Oliveira
- Cub Swanson vs. Dennis Siver
- Mark Munoz vs. Tim Boetsch
- Tim Kennedy vs. Roger Gracie
- Chris Leben vs. Andrew Craig
- Seth Baczynski vs. Brian Melancon
