'TUF 5' Winner Nate Diaz

View full size photo »

From a Spike TV press release:

The first bout scheduled to air on Spike TV is a welterweight contest between Matt "The Immortal" Brown (13-7) and Ricardo Almeida (11-3).  Brown has become a fan favorite since his stint on Season 7 of "The Ultimate Fighter," as his relentless style and devastating striking ability has garnered him a 4-1 record in the UFC, with all wins coming via TKO or submission.  He is currently riding a string of three straight dominant performances against Ryan Thomas at UFC 91, Pete Sell at UFC 96 and, most recently, James Wilks at UFC 105.  The Cincinnati based fighter will now look to put himself in the title picture with a fourth consecutive victory.  Standing in his way will be a man fighting in his own backyard, Hamilton, NJ’s Ricardo "Big Dog" Almeida.  The winner of two straight bouts coming into his matchup with Brown, most recently against Kendall Grove at UFC 101 this past August, this Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt will look to use his strong ground game to make a successful debut in the UFC’s welterweight division after years of fighting at middleweight.

The evening’s second televised bout is also in the welterweight division, and pits Rory Markham (16-5) against Nate Diaz (11-5).  Markham, one of the game’s premier knockout artists, will look to use his immense punching power to stop his opponent, Diaz on March 27^th.  The winner of "The Ultimate Fighter 5," Stockton, CA based Diaz has amassed a 6-3 record in the UFC in less than three years, and his fight with Markham will see him transition from lightweight to welterweight, where he hopes his added power will augment his effective Cesar Gracie taught Jiu-Jitsu skills in stopping Markham and setting him on his way to welterweight gold.

These should be fairly entertaining fights and of course the UFC would like to get Nate Diaz some airtime after main eventing a UFN against Gray Maynard.  This will be Diaz's welterweight debut as he has spent his time thus far as a lightweight.  Markham comes to fight and will likely be trying to take Diaz's head off and Nate wouldn't have it any other way.  However, I'm very interested in the Brown/Almedia fight.  This will be Almeida's fight fight as a welterweight and his first fight since besting Kendall Grove last year.  Almeida has been battling injuries which have kept him on the shelf since then.  Brown is coming off a very exciting win over TUF winner James Wilks at UFC 105.  Almeida is a ground specialist and will be looking to take Brown out with a submission.  However, Brown was submission prone earlier in his career, but seems to have been working on that aspect of his game since appearing on The Ultimate Fighter.  These fights should do well in setting the tone for the live PPV broadcast.