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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief
The first two fights for the UFC's Nov. 22 trip to Austin, Texas, are set, as former UFC Flyweight Title challenger will take on Dustin Ortiz, while the women's strawweight bout between Paige VanZant and Kailin Curran has been shifted to that card as well.
Benavidez remains a top contender at 125 lbs. in the UFC, but he's lost twice to Champ Demetrious "Mighty Mouse" Johnson, keeping him out of the title picture for now. Still, he sits in a similar spot as his teammate Urijah Faber, where he's capable of stopping just about anyone else in his division outside of being in a title fight.
The 25-year-old Ortiz has been mostly successful in the UFC thus far, competing in several close fights after a TKO win in his debut against Jose Maria Tome. Ortiz lost a questionable split decision to John Moraga in his next outing, but has edged two split decision wins since then.
The VanZant-Curran fight was originally scheduled for the Oct. 4 event in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, but VanZant has been unable to train recently due to a lingering injury. The 20-year-old's debut will now come a month and a half later instead.
The Nov. 22 event is the UFC's first trip back to Austin since Sept. of 2010. The card will air live on Fox Sports 1.
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Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
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