Mac Danzig vs. Efrain Escudero Booked for UFC 145 in Montreal

Efrain Escudero

TUF winners set to fight in March

The UFC’s March return to Montreal continues to take shape, and now a fight between a pair of “Ultimate Fighter” winners has been added to the card.

TUF 6 winner Mac Danzig will fight TUF 8 winner Efrain Escudero in a lightweight bout March 24 at UFC 145 at the Bell Centre. The UFC announced the bout Thursday.

Danzig (20-9-1, 4-5 UFC) started his UFC career 2-0, including the TUF 6 welterweight crown against Tommy Speer. He followed that with a submission win over Mark Bocek at UFC 83 in Montreal. But he then hit a rough patch with losses to Clay Guida, Josh Neer and Jim Miller. He saved his job in the UFC with a win over Justin Buchholz, but then suffered the fate of a referee error when Yves Lavigne waived off his fight against Matt Wiman at UFC 115 even though he wasn’t out. Danzig had to take a loss on his record, but rebounded with a Knockout of the Night win over Joe Stevenson at UFC 124, also in Montreal, then dropped a Fight of the Night decision to Wiman in their rematch in October.

Escudero (18-4, 3-3 UFC) returned to the UFC at UFC 141 lat month, but lost a unanimous decision to Jacob Volkmann. Escudero took the fight on less than a month’s notice, subbing in for an injured T.J. Grant. He was cut from the promotion after going 3-2 in his first stint with wins over Philippe Nover, Cole Miller and Dan Lauzon, but submission losses to Evan Dunham and Charles Oliveira. After going 5-1 outside the promotion, he got the call to come back.

UFC 145 will be the promotion’s first trip to Montreal since UFC 124 in December 2010. The UFC skipped Montreal in 2011 and instead visited Toronto twice, plus Vancouver. Montreal is home to the UFC’s top three attendance marks for arena shows, all at the Bell Centre. Including Danzig-Escudero, which is likely to be part of the preliminary card, six fights have been announced for the pay-per-view, including a heavyweight tilt between Brendan Schaub and Ben Rothwell.