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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief
An exciting featherweight bout between WEC veterans Cub Swanson and Eric Koch is on its way to the UFC on Versus 3 card in Louisville, Ky. on March 3, according to a report from MMAJunkie.com.
Both fighters will be making their UFC debuts after finishing their WEC stints at WEC 52 in Las Vegas last November.
Swanson alternated wins and losses throughout his WEC career, earning a 5-3 mark overall in the organization. He picked up three victories from 2008-2010 that earned him "Fight of the Night" honors on the respective events, but an eight second loss to now Champ Jose Aldo and a decision loss to Chad Mendes were sandwiched in between those victories.
Koch, another one of Duke Roufus' proteges entering the UFC in 2011, will look to build upon consecutive first round victories to finish out his WEC career. The 22-year-old sports an 11-1 record, with the sole loss being a decision to Chad Mendes. At WEC 52, he picked up a first round knockout over Francisco Rivera to end his time with that organization on a high note.
UFC on Versus 3 airs live on March 3 from the KFC Yum! Center in Louisville, headlined by a welterweight bout between Diego Sanchez and Martin Kampmann.
Penick's Analysis: This is a really, really exciting fight that may fall victim to the circumstances of the merger between the UFC and WEC. This fight most certainly would have been a main card fight on Versus for the WEC, but is looking to be relegated to the preliminary card of this event at this moment. It's an unfortunate by-product of the merger, because a lot of these fights and fighters are not getting the exposure that perhaps they should because of a number of factors. I think it will get better as the year goes on, but a lot of fighters will still be fighting off of TV when they otherwise would have gotten TV time with the WEC still around. That said, the winner of this fight likely gets a boost to television the next time out, depending on their performance, and this is a big fight for both guys against a talented and dangerous opponent.
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Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
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