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MANILA, Philippines – The bantamweight return of Filipino-American fighter John Dodson has a date as he is slated to square off with Manny Gamburyan on the undercard of UFC on FOX 19 on April 17 (April 16 in US).
Dodson (17-7) revealed his decision to move back to the 135-pound weight class this past October following another points loss to UFC flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson a month prior.
It was reported that Dodson can still make the flyweight division’s 125-pound limit, but it is a grueling task since IV rehydration is banned under the new USADA-mandated rules.
The 31-year-old native of Albuquerque, New Mexico fought as a bantamweight in the 14th season of “The Ultimate Fighter” reality television series, where he defeated TJ Dillashaw via first-round stoppage in the show’s finale to get a 6-figure contract with the UFC.
After his stellar victory over Dillashaw, Dodson transferred to flyweight and scored wins against the division’s distinguished names such as Tim Elliott, Jussier da Silva, Darrell Montague, John Moraga and Zach Makovsky.
Dodson’s two losses as a flyweight came at the hands of Johnson, who easily carved out another convincing unanimous decision win over him in their rematch at UFC 191.
Answering questions from their first meeting in 2013 with a performance that left no doubt of his superiority, Johnson swept the scorecards with 49-46, 49-46 and 50-45 marks from the judges.
On the other hand, Gamburyan is riding high on a two-fight winning skid and has only competed once in 2015 by taking a 3-round verdict against Scott Jorgensen in July.
UFC on FOX 19, which takes place at the Amalie Arena in Tampa, Florida, is headlined by a lightweight clash between Khabib Nurmagomedov and Tony Ferguson. – Rappler.com
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