Lauzon-Johnson, Alves-Brown now official for UFC on FOX Sports 1 debut in Boston

A pair of previously reported fights for the UFC’s return to Boston later this summer now are official.

Welterweights Thiago Alves (19-9 MMA, 11-6 UFC) and Matt Brown (17-11 MMA, 10-5 UFC) will meet, as will lightweights Joe Lauzon (22-8 MMA, 9-5 UFC) and Michael Johnson (12-8 MMA, 4-4 UFC) at the first event on UFC on FOX Sports 1.

The UFC late Monday made the two bouts official for the card, which takes place at TD Bank Garden in Boston on Aug. 17. The main card will air on FOX Sports 1, which debuts that same day.

Lauzon is coming off a unanimous decision loss to Jim Miller at UFC 155 this past December in Las Vegas. Before that, he picked up a double bonus for “Submission of the Night” and “Fight of the Night” for his third-round tapout of Jamie Varner at UFC on FOX 4 this past August. Lauzon has won nine bonus awards in his past nine fights.

Johnson will be trying to get back in the win column after a submission loss this past month in Sweden to Reza Madadi. At UFC 155 in December, he dropped a unanimous decision to Myles Jury, which snapped a three-fight win streak for the “TUF 12? runner-up.

Alves will return for the first time since a March 2012 loss to Martin Kampmann in Australia. Alves was expected to return at UFC 149 in July 2012, but pulled out with an injury. He then elected to take the time to rehab several nagging ailments with the hope of a stronger return. He had a seven-fight win streak that got him a shot at welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre at UFC 100, a fight he lost by unanimous decision. But since then, he’s just 2-4.

Brown has won five straight and six of his past seven to become one of the hottest fighters in the 170-pound division. At UFC on FOX 7 this past month, he picked up a “Fight of the Night” bonus by stopping Jordan Mein with a second-round TKO. At UFC on FOX 5, he knocked out Mike Swick in the second round. In his five-fight run, he has four knockout or TKO stoppages.

For the latest on UFC on FOX Sports 1 1, stay tuned to the UFC Rumors section of the site.

(Pictured: Matt Brown)