The UFC will make an appearance on free television for the second Friday in a row with UFC on FX 3. The main card is scheduled to begin at 9:00 p.m. (ET) with four bouts that follow eight preliminary card fights that start at 5:00 p.m. Six of those eight will be televised on FUEL TV and the first two streamed live on Facebook.com from the BankAtlantic Center in Sunrise, Florida.
The main event pits a pair of top flyweight contenders in a rematch of a previous semifinal bout, with one of them advancing to the first-ever UFC flyweight title fight against Joseph Benevidez. Demetrious “Mighty Mouse” Johnson (14-2-1) and Ian “Uncle Creepy” McCall (11-2-1) fought to a draw when they last met in Sydney, Australia at UFC on FX.
Johnson originally thought he earned a victory in the first meeting, but a scoring error resulted in a majority draw. The 25-year-old is a 145 favorite this time around according to the Don Best odds screen, and he lost to UFC champion Dominick Cruz for the bantamweight title last October 1. Johnson owns a 2-1-1 record in the UFC, including a key victory against Miguel Torres at UFC 130.
McCall is two years older and a +125 underdog despite going 4-0-1 in his last five fights, including a 3-0 mark in the Tachi Palace Fights promotion where he won the flyweight championship against Darrell Montague. He previously went 1-2 in the WEC at bantamweight, also losing to Cruz before he was the WEC champ.
The three other fights on the main card include two welterweight matchups, Erick Silva (13-2-1) goes against Charlie Brenneman (15-3), Mike Pyle (22-8-1) will face Josh Neer (33-10-1) plus Scott Jorgensen (13-5) and Eddie Wineland (18-8-1) square off in a bantamweight clash.
Silva is a 175 favorite over Brenneman (+155) and looks to be an up-and-coming mixed martial artist. He suffered a disqualification loss in his UFC debut against Carlo Prater on January 14 at UFC 142 for illegal punches to the back of the head. Brenneman made headlines when he upset Rick Story as a fill-in for Nate Marquardt a year ago at UFC Live: Congo vs. Barry, and he has split two bouts since then.
Pyle (-185) and Neer (+165) are two veterans who could be fighting for their jobs with their best days likely behind them. Neer has surprisingly won his last six bouts, but only two of them have come in the UFC. Pyle is 4-1 in his past five with the lone loss coming against Rory MacDonald last August at UFC 133.
Jorgensen (-240) and Wineland (+200) are both former WEC fighters who are trying to make a successful transition to the UFC. Wineland is 0-2 in the UFC with the losses coming to UFC bantamweight title contender Urijah Faber and Benavidez before he moved down to flyweight. Jorgensen is 2-1 in the UFC and coming off a unanimous decision loss to Renan Barao at UFC 143 in February.
Barao’s win earned him a shot at the interim bantamweight title against Faber at the upcoming UFC 148 on July 7 since Cruz had to pull out of the fight with a knee injury. Jorgensen hopes to work himself back into the championship mix with a victory against Wineland, who will be looking to notch his first UFC win.