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The first UFC Light Heavyweight Title defense of 2014 takes place this weekend as champion Jon Jones defends the gold against Glover Texeira at UFC 172. The card may have taken a few hits from the injury bug, but this event will still be worth checking out in the end. The same can be said for the Fox Sports 1 portion of the preliminary card, with Takanori Gomi returning to action and a huge flyweight division bout taking place.
(Note: Following the cancellation of the Joe Ellenberger/Vagner Rocha bout, a fight between Charlie Brenneman and Danny Castillo was moved to the Fox Sports 1 portion of the preliminary card. I previewed the Brenneman/Castillo bout on Wednesday as part of the UFC 172 Fight Pass Preliminary Card Preview, so you can find that bouts preview there if you wish to.)
Kicking off the action is a women's bantamweight division attraction as Bethe “Pitbull†Correia (7-0-0) battles Jessamyn “The Gun†Duke (3-0-0-1NC). Correia made her promotional debut back at UFC Fight Night 33, defeating Julie Kedzie by split decision. Duke has also previously competed under the UFC banner, having defeated Peggy Morgan by decision at the UFC Ultimate Fighter 18 Finale. This is an interesting battle of the undefeated, but it will be Duke using her long reach to get the win over Correia.
Up next is a lightweight division battle as “The Fireball Kid†Takanori Gomi (34-9-0-1NC) takes on Isaac Vallie-Flagg (14-4-1). Gomi has won two of his last three under the UFC banner, but he is coming off of a controversial loss to Diego Sanchez at UFC On Fuel TV VIII. Vallie-Flagg will be looking to rebound from his first UFC loss, which came to Elias Silverio at UFC Fight Night 35. Gomi still has a lot in the tank at this stage of his UFC run and he will get back to his winning ways when he defeats Vallie-Flagg.
Headlining this portion of the card is a flyweight division fight as Joseph Benavidez (19-4-0) faces Tim Elliot (10-4-1). Benavidez will be competing for the first time since losing his flyweight title shot to Demetrious Johnson at UFC On Fox IX. Elliot has won two of his last three under the UFC banner, with a notable victory over Louis Gaudinot at UFC 164. Benavidez has a very long road to travel before getting another title shot, but he will start the travel with a win has he defeats Elliot.
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