UFC 125 Fight Card Features Lightweight Championship

The Ultimate Fighting Championship next returns with live action and pay-per-view kicking off 2011 on Jan. 1 with UFC 125: Resolution.

UFC 125 is headlined by Frankie Edgar’s first lightweight title defense against a fighter other than the man he defeated to gain the title, B.J. Penn. His opponent, Gray Maynard, is still a rematch, however. Maynard is the only fighter ever to defeat Edgar, doing so by decision in April 2008 at UFC Fight Night 13.

Whoever holds the UFC lightweight championship following the Edgar vs. Maynard showdown already has his next opponent set. The winner will face final WEC lightweight champion Anthony Pettis some time later in 2011.

Jose Aldo, the first UFC featherweight champion and final WEC 145-pound division titleholder, was originally slated to make the first defense of his title against Josh Grispi at UFC 125, but had to withdraw due to injury. Grispi remains on the card to face fellow WEC holdover Dustin Poirier.

A middleweight bout between former Ultimate Fighter competitor Chris Leben and former WEC light heavyweight champion Brian Stann has been moved up the main card with the loss of the Aldo fight.

The main card is expected to open with an explosive bout between fan favorite Clay Guida and Japanese great Takanori Gomi, who once reigned atop the lightweight division.

UFC 125 Main Bouts (On Pay-Per-View):
-Frankie Edgar (13-1; #1 Lightweight)* vs. Gray Maynard (10-0; #4 Lightweight)*†
-Chris Leben (25-6) vs. Brian Stann (9-3)
-Thiago Silva (14-2; #9 Light Heavyweight)* vs. Brandon Vera (11-5)
-Nate Diaz (13-5) vs. Dong Hyun Kim (13-0-1)
-Clay Guida (27-11) vs. Takanori Gomi(32-6)

UFC 125 Preliminary Bouts (Non-Televised):
-Marcus Davis (17-7) vs. Jeremy Stephens (18-6)
-Josh Grispi (14-1; #4 Featherweight)* vs. Dustin Poirier (8-1)
-Phil Baroni (13-12) vs. Brad Tavares (6-0)
-Mike Brown (24-6) vs. Diego Nunes (15-1)
-Daniel Roberts (11-1) vs. Greg Soto (8-1)
-Antonio McKee (25-3-2) vs. Jacob Volkmann (11-2)

†For Edgar’s UFC Lightweight Championship
*Based on the MMAWeekly.com World MMA Rankings