Brown-Nunes Scheduled for UFC 125

Mike Thomas Brown: Dave Mandel | Sherdog.com

A featherweight clash between former World Extreme Cagefighting champion Mike Thomas Brown and Brazilian Diego Nunes is expected to go down at UFC 125 on New Year’s Day from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.

Bout agreements were reported to be in place by MMAjunkie.com on Wednesday morning.

Once a dominant champion, Brown has looked mortal in the last year, going just 2-2. The first loss in that stretch also cost Brown the WEC featherweight title, as he was knocked out by Jose Aldo in the second round of their championship bout. The Aldo knockout marked the first loss for the American Top Team Product in nearly four years. Following the defeat, Brown battled back to conquer an overmatched Anthony Morrison at WEC 46, submitting the Philadelphian by rear-naked choke in round one.

Brown, 35, would then go on to split his next two contests. After suffering a stunning knockout upset at the hands of Manny Gamburyan at WEC 48, the Brazilian jiu-jitsu brown belt rebounded to TKO Cole Province at WEC 51 in September.

Nunes is perfect in his MMA career save for a unanimous decision defeat to L.C. Davis at WEC 44 a year ago. The Brazilian jiu-jitsu purple belt trains out of Nova Uniao with Aldo and is coming off back-to-back wins in the WEC cage.

Prior to making his WEC debut, Nunes fought exclusively in Brazil. Nunes’ first fight in the States came at WEC 37, as he earned a unanimous decision over Province. Decision-inducing performances have been plentiful for Nunes as of late; all of his fights in the WEC have gone the distance. Before stepping into the blue cage, however, Nunes had finished every opponent he had faced.

WEC 125 will be headlined by a lightweight title clash between Frankie Edgar and the only man to ever beat him in Gray Maynard. The pair first met at UFC Fight Night in April of 2008, with Maynard earning a unanimous decision over the future champion. Aldo will also make a New Year’s Day appearance, as he defends his newly christened UFC featherweight title against Josh Grispi.