The show is set for June 22 from Atlantic City, New Jersey and will mark the organization’s return to the fight-friendly town in more than five years.

Maynard was last in action against then-UFC lightweight champ Frankie Edgar with “The Answer” ending their trilogy with a knockout victory after weathering an early storm. The loss was the first of Maynard’s career who holds an earlier win over Edgar as well as success against Kenny Florian, Jim Miller, and Nate Diaz.

Comparably, “The Carpenter” had a four-fight winning streak snapped against current 155-pound king Benson Henderson last November. The loss dropped the popular Guida’s overall record to 29-12 with nine victories inside the Octagon.

PHOTO CREDIT – UFC

News of the bout was first reported by Yahoo Sports.

A former WEC lightweight champion, Henderson lost the WEC 155 lb title at last WEC event ever in a back and forth fight against Anthony Pettis. Henderson shook off the loss in his UFC debut though, defeating grappler Mark Bocek at UFC 129. “Smooth” followed that up with the best performance of his career at UFC on Versus 5, putting a beat down on top contender Jim Miller, snapping Miller’s seven fight win streak and dominating the New Jersey native like no one before. With the victory, Henderson immediately put himself into UFC title contention.

Guida is no stranger to ruining the title hopes of former WEC champions. In his last bout, Guida pressured and constantly took down the previously mentioned Pettis, picking a unanimous decision victory. Pettis was originally scheduled to get an immediate UFC lightweight title shot when the UFC and WEC merged, but took a fight with Guida instead so Edgar and Gray Maynard could square off again following their draw at UFC 125. With the victory over “Showtime” Guida upped his winning streak to four fights, adding to victories over Takanori Gomi, Rafael dos Anjos, and Shannon Gugerty.

UFC on FOX 1 is scheduled for November 12 at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California.

White confirmed Pettis vs. Guida during Thursday’s Q&A session preceding the UFC Fight for the Troops 2 weigh-ins. While no venue was given, it appears that Pettis and Guida will serve as The Ultimate Fighter 13 Finale main event, scheduled for June 4 at the Pearl in Las Vegas, Nevada.

The story was first reported by MMAJunkie.com.

Coming off a dramatic decision victory over Ben Henderson in the final fight in WEC’s history, Pettis will enter the ring with a lot of momentum behind him thanks to a highlight reel kick earning him mainstream recognition courtesy of a home on ESPN’s “Top 10″ plays of the week/year. 13-1 in his overall career, Pettis has won his last four fights and will look to keep things going with a victory over the ultra-popular Guida. Though the fight will mark Pettis’ UFC debut it is actually his seventh appearance under the Zuffa banner.

Winner of three straight, Guida will look to remain off of Pettis’ highlight reel and slow the promising lightweight’s rise to glory. Coming off a dominating submission victory over former PRIDE 155-pound champ Takanori Gomi, Guida will try to make it back-to-back wins over final champions in now defunct organizations. Guida is no stranger to headlining Ultimate Finale events having already headlined season-ending shows for TUF 6 and TUF 9 in his career.

While nothing is official, it’s widely speculated that the winner of this fight will challenge the winner of Edgar vs. Maynard after the two top lightweights meet for a third time at UFC 130 and settle their championship score.

PHOTO CREDIT – ZUFFA

While it would have been understandable to most if “Showtime” had opted to sit out until UFC 155-pound champion Frank Edgar and challenger Gray Maynard resolve their trilogy in hopes of capitalizing on the title-shot Pettis earned with a win over Ben Henderson at WEC 53, the soon-to-be 23-year old appears to instead be strapping up for action in May or June and won’t be looking for an easy road to the belt. In fact, it appears he’ll be facing one of the UFC’s toughest tests – Clay Guida.

News of the match-up and targeted dates was reported by ESPN. The events coordinating with the time-frame are UFC 130 and UFC 131.

Guida is coming off a submission win over Takanori Gomi at UFC 125, his third consecutive victory in the Octagon. Known for his granite-chin, grappling, and frenetic pace in the cage, “The Carpenter” is 28-11 in his career and has found success against a number of respected adversaries including Mac Danzig, Nate Diaz, and Josh Thomson. If the bout comes to fruition he will by far represent the most difficult draw of Pettis’ three-year journey in Mixed Martial Arts.

The Duke Roufus-trained product is 13-1 with his only loss being a split decision to Bart Palaszewski in December 2009. In addition to Henderson, Pettis also holds victories over Shane Roller, Danny Castillo, and Alex Karalexis.

PHOTO CREDIT – UFC

Clay Guida Talks About Visiting Amsterdam (MiddleEasy.com)

Mike Brown Wants One Last Bout in WEC (Versus.com)

Urijah Faber Talks About Fighting in the Octagon (MMAFighting.com)

“The Korean Zombie” Moving Away from Undead Style (MMAConvert.com)

Joseph Benavidez Speaks About his Past, Present, and Future (Heavy.com)

Ever Wanted to Check Out Antonio McKee’s Crib? (MMAScraps.com)

Thales Leites Back on the Winning Track (FIGHT! Magazine)

You Saw What Fighters Dressed Up Like for Halloween…Now It’s Time for MMA-Themed Costumes (WatchKalibRun.com)

MMA in New York Takes a Blow (CagePotato.com)

Lightweight champ Frank Edgar will defend his strap against the only individual to beat him, Gray Maynard, in the evening’s main event. Edgar lost a unanimous decision to Maynard in April 2008 before going on to win six straight bouts including two consecutive wins over former title-holder BJ Penn. Comparably, Maynard has won five fights in a row over a list of opponents featuring Nate Diaz, Roger Huerta, and most recently Ken Florian.

Also scheduled to see action on January 1st, 2011 in Las Vegas, Shane Carwin and Roy Nelson will settle their personal differences in the cage and help sort out the heavyweight contendership picture in the process. “Big Country” recently poked fun at Carwin’s alleged involvement in a steroid distribution ring with Carwin responding by taking verbal jabs at Nelson’s physique.

In addition to Edgar vs. Maynard II and Nelson vs. Carwin, the other “UFC 125 – Resolution” match-ups confirmed by the company are as follows:

Clay Guida vs. Takanori Gomi
Nate Diaz vs. Dong Hyun Kim
Thiago Silva vs. Brandon Vera
Chris Leben vs. Brian Stann

“Looks like I got my next fight lined up! I’m so pumped, I’m fighting in August! Just got the bout agreement!”

The UFC has two events currently scheduled for the month in question. UFC 117 is set to take place on August 7th in Oakland, while August 28th marks UFC 118 and the company’s historic debut in Boston. Guida (26-11) most recently submitted Shannon Gugerty this past March 21st at the ”UFC on Versus” event. The second-round win broke a two-fight losing streak for the seemingly tireless 155-pounder and was his sixth in the Octagon.

FiveOuncesofPain.com

Also appearing on this evening’s broadcast will be none other than Clay “The Carpenter” Guida, as he discusses his thoughts on this evening’s clash with Kenny Florian.

We will be covering a roundtable of MMA news from the week, primarily focusing on this evening’s UFC 107, of course.

Make sure to check out the show to help you get hyped for the live broadcast later this evening on 1360 AM, or you can catch it right here on the web at RearNakedRadio.

The show is set to kick off at 6 pm ET (5 pm CT, 3 pm PT), lasting until 8 pm ET (7 pm CT, 5 pm PT) .

You can listen HERE.

Although the match-up had previously been expected for UFC 106, MMA Live has recently confirmed the bouts shifting to UFC 107.

Florian had put together six consecutive victories in the Octagon before recently coming up short in his championship bid against B.J. Penn at UFC 101.

Guida is coming off of a hard fought decision loss at the hands of Diego Sanchez. Prior to the defeat he had strung together thee straight wins in the UFC.

UFC 107 is expected to take place on December 12 from Memphis, Tennessee. Also expected for the card is a lightweight title fight between B.J. Penn and Diego Sanchez, and a welterweight match-up of Thiago Alves vs. Paulo Thiago.

Although the deal has not been finalized, Florian has recently stated tom MMAFanhouse.com that he’s confident a deal will get done.

Kenny “Ken Flo” Florian (11-4) won six-straight fights in  the Octagonbefore being submitted by UFC lightweight champion B.J. Penn, at UFC 101.

Clay “The Carpenter” Guida (25-10) lost by a very close split decision, in his most-recent fight in June against Lightweight contender Diego Sanchez, prior to that he was on a three fight win streak.

UFC 106 is scheduled to be headlined by Heavyweight Champion Brock Lesnar vs. Shane Carwin and also features the return of Tito Ortiz against Mark Coleman.

That isn’t accurate. I watched the fight. Clay Guida lost. Diego Sanchez landed more power shots, totally dominated the first round and won the fight.

My point is let’s not sit here and pretend that Diego Sanchez didn’t win that fight because it takes away from his impressive performance in a tremendous fight. Sanchez should be applauded for winning a war but instead the articles I’m reading are giving Guida more props for fighting hard and losing.

And I’m certainly taking nothing away from Guida. Not many fighters could weather that first round storm, come back the way he did and almost steal the decision away from Sanchez. That was an impressive display of heart.

Guida proved he has a chin of granite and the desire I wish some of the more talented fighters in the UFC fought with every time they stepped into the Octagon. He’s a true asset to the organization.

Having said that, am I the only one who is tiring a little of his “The kid trying hard in gym class” act? The way he was bouncing up and down after the fight kind of bothered me. Don’t try and hide the fact that you are tired. Sanchez kicked your butt all over that cage.

The second the cameras were off I guarantee Guida stopped jumping up and down like the “Energizer Bunny” reputation he’s built up for himself and dropped to the floor, so spare us all the drama.

Getting back to all these ridiculous columns I have been reading, though. They are so predictable. Every time I watch a great football game the same type of stories surface about how there were no losers out on the field.

The reason I hate these so much because I believe it takes away something from the winner. One team found a way to gut out a win in a great game. Don’t they deserve some credit for that?

The tougher the opponent, shouldn’t the victor receive even more praise for finding a way to get by their opponent on that day? I think so. To say that there is no loser is also saying there is no winner and that is diminishing a great accomplishment in my book.

On Saturday night, Diego Sanchez was at his very best. He came out strong but he met an opponent in Clay Guida who was up to the challenge and refused to go away. Guida probably could have been knocked out in the first round but his heart and determination made him fight on.

Guida deserves a lot of credit for that but Sanchez deserves even more because he was the one who proved to be the better man in a great fight. At the end of the night it was Sanchez who got his hand raised.

Besides, for all the talk of how tough Guida is, didn’t Sanchez prove he’s even tougher? He won. Read the recent Yahoo! story on the fight. A majority of it talks about how tough a fighter Guida is but you know what? Sanchez showed that he’s a pretty tough fighter in his own right, so give the guy who actually won the fight his due.

Despite what you may read at other sites, there was a winner on Saturday night. His name is Diego Sanchez and he deserves more respect for winning than the guy who fought hard and lost.

It’s a shame that more people don’t see it that way because after his performance last night Sanchez deserves all the headlines, not Guida.

News of the bout was first reported by Loretta Hunt of Sherdog.com.

Sanchez improved to 20-2 following last month’s unanimous decision victory over Joe Stevenson at UFC 95 in London, England. The win marked Sanchez’s debut at lightweight after having competed at middleweight and welterweight.

The middleweight winner of the first season of The Ultimate Fighter, Sanchez is 9-2 in an 11-bout UFC career that includes notable victories over Joe Riggs, Nick Diaz, and Karo Parisyan.

Guida, 25-9, last competed in January at UFC 94. Facing Nate Diaz, Guida handed the TUF 5 veteran his first-ever loss inside of the Octagon after recording a split decision victory.

A veteran of both Strikeforce and King of the Cage, Guida’s lifetime record in the UFC is 5-3 and includes notable victories over Mac Danzig, Marcus Aurelio, and Samy Schiavo.

In addition to Sanchez vs. Guida, a welterweight matchup between Anthony Johnson and John Howard is also reportedly set for the TUF 9 finale. The Spike TV telecast will also include the finals for the welterweight and lightweight divisions that will be featured on this season’s show, which will premiere on April 1 at 10 p.m. ET.

“Sherk is a monster,” Guida said. “Let’s see if he can stop my takedowns.”

Since losing the lightweight title to B.J. Penn, Sherk rebounded with a victory over Tyson Griffin. Sherk is next slated to square off with Frankie Edgar at UFC 98 on May 23.

A win over Sherk would certainly help Guida move up the UFC lightweight rankings. Even though Sherk had his share of problems outside of the Octagon, Guida is still a fan of the former champ.

“Sean’s always someone that I’ve looked up to in his performances,” Guida said. “What happens out of the cage is his business.”

For Guida to get the fight with Sherk, he would likely have to win one more match-up. If both Sherk and Guida are successful in their next matches, a fight between the two skilled wrestlers is very possible.

Main Card -

• Nate Diaz def. Josh Neer via split decision
• Clay Guida def. Mac Danzig via unanimous decision
• Alan Belcher def. Ed Herman via split decision
• Eric Schafer def. Houston Alexander via submission (arm triangle) at 4:53 of round one

Preliminary Card:

• Alessio Sakara def. Joe Vedepo via TKO at 1:27 of round one
• Wilson Gouveia def. Ryan Jensen via submission (armbar) at 2:04 of round two
• Joe Lauzon def. Kyle Bradley via TKO at 1:34 of round two
• Jason Brilz def. Brad Morris via TKO at 2:54 of round two
• Mike Massenzio def. Drew McFedries via submission (Kimura) at 1:28 of round one
• Dan Miller def. Rob Kimmons via submission (rear naked choke) at 1:27 of round one

Danzig was a known commodity in the MMA world before going on TUF and now he’s a household name. With a strong grappling background, serviceable standup, and a tenacity that is often unrivaled, he is looking to climb the lightweight ranks by defeating Clay Guida. Danzig is coming off back-to-back wins over Tommy Speer and Mark Bocek. What’s impressive about these two victories is the fact that Danzig was able to take on a much larger opponent than him in Tommy Speer and choke him out in a single round and that Danzig was able to choke out a BJJ black belt in his fight against Bocek.

There’s a lot to like about Danzig. His ground game is obviously a strength as most of his victories come via submission. His wrestling is solid, his standup is more than serviceable, and he’s an extremely tough kid. All of those things combined make for a pretty nasty competitor at 155 lbs. in the UFC. One of the biggest areas where Danzig could improve, however, is his standup. Hayato Sakurai ate Danzig up on the feet during their fight at PRIDE 33. Even though Danzig lasted a long time in the fight, Sakurai was never in trouble and took his time taking Danzig apart with leg kicks and eventually dropped him with a huge right hand. Danzig’s chin is also questionable as well as he took several shots from Sakurai that dropped him during their fight. However, I don’t think the standup will be an issue during the fight with Guida as I feel that the two are roughly equal on the feet.

Clay Guida, on the other hand, lives and breathes wrestling, ground and pound, and a high motor. It’s his trademark. His standup is good but his wrestling and conditioning is where Guida makes his money. This often can be a blessing and a curse. When Guida can’t take someone down and pound away at them then he is often left without a backup plan to attack. And when he does get people on the ground, in a position to finish them, he is often unable to do so. Case in point: Roger Huerta. Guida had Roger Huerta on the edge of defeat with a huge shot but was unable to finish him with strong ground and pound. Instead Guida just put together a flurry of useless punches that scored points but didn’t do enough damage to stop Huerta. And what happened after that? Huerta submitted him with a rear naked choke at the beginning of round three. Same thing happend in his loss to Tyson Griffin. Many believed that Guida had won the fight but he left it up to the judges. The judges ruled in favor of Griffin. Guida has not been able to finish high caliber lightweights.

I think this is where Danzig’s main advantage will be. I expect Danzig to be on his back at some points during the fight. I expect him to eat some punishment from Guida. But I also expect him to weather the storm, hang around, and eventually submit Guida. There are holes in both guys’ game. No one’s a perfect fighter. But I believe Guida’s proven time and time again that he has an inability to finish higher caliber fighters. He’s proven he can finish the Sammy Schiavo’s of the world but he hasn’t yet been able to finish the high level of opponent that he needs to take the next step.

This should be one hell of a scrap. Both guys are very tough, both like to scrap, scramble, and claw their way to victories. Guida’s conditioning should be very good, as it always is, and this will be one of Danzig’s toughest tests to date. Outside of Sakurai I don’t think he’s faced a tougher opponent. Guida is a very, very good opponent and it won’t surprise me if he’s able to win. But if I had to choose, and I do, I think he lets Danzig hang around way too long and gets submitted sometime in the third round.