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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief
A bout between two Xtreme Couture fighters is on its way to UFC 115 in June, as MMAWeekly.com reports that Tyson Griffin and Evan Dunham will meet in a lightweight bout in the UFC's first trip to Vancouver.
Both fighters trained at the Las Vegas based gym for their most recent bouts, but the report states that Dunham will head elsewhere to train for this fight.
Griffin hasn't fought since last September, where he picked up perhaps the most impressive victory of his career in a first round knockout over Hermes Franca. He was set to return in January against Jim Miller, but for the first time in his career had to pull out of the fight due to injury.
Dunham moved his undefeated record to 10-0 in January with an extremely impressive armbar submission over Ultimate Fighter season eight winner Efrain Escudero, a win that earned him "Submission of the Night" honors. He's won all three of his Octagon appearances, defeating Per Eklund and Marcus Aurelio before the Escudero fight.
UFC 115 will be the fourth UFC event to take place in Canada, and the first in Vancouver after three trips to Montreal. It is expected to play host to the third matchup between Chuck Liddell and Tito Ortiz, who will fight following the eleventh season of the Ultimate Fighter where they will coach teams against one another.
Penick's Analysis: Tyson Griffin always puts on a show, and that's evidenced by five "Fight of the Night" awards in the UFC. His two career losses have been by decision, in "Fight of the Night" winners, to former UFC Lightweight Champion Sean Sherk and to B.J. Penn's next challenger Frankie Edgar three years ago. His killer instinct and ability to finish has been questioned many times and it has dogged him a bit in the lead up to previous fights, but he seemed to get over that hump against Franca. This is a huge fight for him, as a victory over a very capable Dunham will put him just a fight or two away from perhaps getting his first Title shot in the UFC. Penn has gone through many challengers, so if Griffin can win this fight and one or two against other top contenders or fighters that have already had a shot at Penn, he may very well get to that pinnacle in this division. For Dunham, this is a huge opportunity to defeat a fighter that has only been beaten by Championship caliber fighters. Already with an undefeated record and coming off of the hugely impressive submission victory over Escudero, Dunham is opening more eyes to him, and if he can pull this one off it will open many, many doors to him in the UFC and it will allow him to get even bigger fights. This is a great matchup and should be an extremely exciting fight for the Vancouver fans.
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Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
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