UFC 168 Card Filling Fast with Poirier vs. Brandao, Leben vs. Hall, and Tibau vs. Johnson

The UFC 168: Weidman vs. Silva fight card continues to fill up with three new bouts announced by UFC officials on Thursday morning.

Featherweights Dustin Poirier and Diego Brandao will square off, Chris Leben and Uriah Hall meet in a middleweight bout, and Gleison Tibau will fight Michael Johnson at lightweight.

Poirier (14-3) enters the fight with Brandao having won a pivotal 145-pound bout against Erik Koch at UFC 164 last month. Brandao (18-8) is trying to keep his momentum building as well, having won his three most recent fights, including a victory over Daniel Pineda at UFC Fight Night 26 in August.

Leben and Hall could both be fighting for their very UFC survival. Leben (22-10) is a guy that UFC president Dana White has said he doesn’t even want to contemplate releasing, but Leben has lost three consecutive bouts and four of his last five. Hall (7-4), on the other hand, has received heavy criticism from White for not fulfilling the potential he displayed on season 17 of The Ultimate Fighter.

Tibau (28-9) has strung together back-to-back victories over John Cholish and Jamie Varner heading into UFC 168. Johnson (13-8), a runner-up on TUF 12, recently ended a two-fight skid with a three-round domination of Joe Lauzon at UFC Fight Night 26.

UFC 168 is the promotion’s year-end extravaganza. The card is headlined by a middleweight rematch between current champion Chris Weidman and challenger Anderson Silva with UFC women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey rematching fellow TUF coach Miesha Tate in the co-main event.

UFC 168 takes place on Dec. 28 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.