A bout between two of the top up-and-coming lightweights in the UFC was added to this summer’s UFC 176 event. The UFC yesterday announced Bobby Green will take on Abel Trujillo in a battle of emerging 155lbers at UFC 176, which takes place August 2 at Staples Center in Los Angeles, California. The bout is expected to be a part of the evening’s main card. It is a rebooking from a proposed UFC 169 bout earlier this year, but Green was forced to pull out with an injury. Green was supposed to return at UFC 172 to fight Jim Miller, but again was forced to pull out with an injury. Trujillo, meanwhile, was set to fight Myles Jury at UFC Fight Night 44 later this month, but an injury to Jury led to the cancellation of the fight and now that Green is healthy again the promotion decided to set up the fight with Trujillo once again. And it’s a good one, as both Green and Trujillo are two of the most exciting prospects right now at 155lbs in the UFC. Green is so far 3-0 in the Octagon with a submission win over Jacob Volkmann, a TKO victory over James Krause and a decision nod over Pat Healy. He has shown excellent boxing in the UFC and with his great cardio he is a ton for anyone at 155lbs to handle. As for Trujillo, he’s so far 3-1, 1 NC in the UFC with wins over Roger Bowling, Jamie Varner and Marcus Levesseur, and with his only loss coming to top contender Khabib Nurmagomedov. In the fight with Varner, which took place at UFC 169, Trujillo won “Fight of the Night” and “Knockout of the Night” for his war against the former WEC champ, one that Trujillo won via second-round knockout. It was by far the best he’s looked in the cage so far, and coming off that win he has a ton of momentum as he tries to take out Green and move up the lightweight ladder. As for the betting odds, they have not been released yet but when they are I expect them to be tight, and it wouldn’t shock me if both Green and Trujillo opened at -120 each in a true Pick ’em fight. This is a really tough fight to call and while both fighters are on the rise, someone has to lose and I don’t know who. I’ll lean towards Green ever-so-slightly because I believe he has better wrestling and better technique on the feet, but Trujillo has massive power and can knock anyone out in his weight class. This is going to be a great fight and it makes UFC 176 that much stronger on paper.
