The UFC today announced three news fights for this coming summer, including a welterweight bout between contenders Tarec Saffiedine and Robbie Lawler, which will take place at UFC on FOX 8, which is set for July 27 at KeyArena in Seattle, WA. As well, a lightweight bout between Bobby Green and Danny Castillo was booked for UFC on FOX 8, and the UFC also added a heavyweight fight between Dave Herman and Shane Del Rosario to UFC 162, which takes place July 6 at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, NV. Saffiedine and Lawler are both in the top 15 of the welterweight division at the moment. Saffiedine will be making his UFC debut in this bout after winning the Strikeforce welterweight title in his last fight against Nate Marquardt at the Strikeforce finale. As for Lawler, he will be looking to follow up his TKO victory over Josh Koscheck at UFC 157 with another victory over a top-ranked contender in the form of Saffiedine. With a welterweight bout between Rory MacDonald and Jake Ellenberger also booked for UFC on FOX 8, it’s possible the UFC is having some sort of mini-tournament that will decide the next title contender to UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre after Johny Hendricks gets his shot, so look for the winner of Saffiedine vs. Lawler to be right up there in the title picture. This should be an extremely competitive matchup between two of the best 170 pounders in the world, and the line could honestly open as a Pick ’em, with the slight lean going to Saffiedine, the Strikeforce welterweight champ. As for the bout between Green and Castillo, it should be a very exciting grappling matchup between two of the more underrated lightweights in the division. Green defeated Jacob Volkmann in his UFC back at UFC 156 in a performance that Dana White labeled as an example what he’s looking for from fighters in his organization, as Green battled back from losing the early goings of the fight to submit Volkmann. As for Castillo, he has a 5-2 record in the UFC and is coming off of a dominant victory over Paul Sass at UFC on FUEL TV 7, but he needs to defeat Green if he’s going to string together the momentum needed to shoot himself up the ladder. This is another very competitive fight, but Green will likely be favored by a slight margin after his incredible performance in the Volkmann fight, perhaps around the -150 mark. And the final fight announced today was a heavyweight bout between Herman and Del Rosario that likely serves as a “loser gets cut match.” Herman was recently allowed back into the UFC after completing his suspension for testing positive for marijuana, while Del Rosario hasn’t fought since a KO loss to Pat Barry at the TUF 17 Finale. With Herman having lost three-straight fights in the UFC and Del Rosario having lost both of his fights in the Octagon, this is really a fight that can go either way and it’s a fight that should be pretty even as far as the betting odds go, although Del Rosario will probably be favored slightly because he looked good early against Barry and in his UFC debut against Stipe Miocic before he gassed out in both fights, while Herman has been blown out in three-straight fights: losses to Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, Roy Nelson, and Stefan Struve. Look for Del Rosario to open around -135, with the comeback on Herman being around +105. All of these fights should be very exciting, and hopefully the UFC’s string of injury-free events continues in 2013 so the fans get to see the best matchups possible.
