Clay Guida
Gray Maynard vs. Clay Guida headlines summer event
The UFC returns to Atlantic City, N.J., in June for the first time since UFC 53, and it’ll do it at a brand-new property.
According to a report in the Press of Atlantic City, UFC on FX 4 will take place at the new Revel resort. Already announced as the main event for the card, which airs on FX on June 22, is a lightweight contenders bout between former title challenger Gray Maynard and Clay Guida.
After several construction delays due to reported financing issues, Revel is scheduled to open officially on May 25, just a month before the UFC would roll into the oceanside venue. But Revel is planning an eight-week “preview” opening starting in early April. The hotel tower, at 47 stories, is the tallest building in Atlantic City.
Revel’s entertainment venue will reportedly seat 5,800 people, which theoretically would make the June show the smallest facility for a UFC card in more than five years outside of shows at The Palms and Hard Rock in Las Vegas and last year’s Fight for the Troops 2 show in Fort Hood, Texas, which was attended nearly exclusively by enlisted military members.
UFC on FX: Maynard vs. Guida will be the UFC’s first show in Atlantic City since June 2005, when Andrei Arlovski won the interim heavyweight title against Justin Eilers at UFC 53. That event took place at Boardwalk Hall and had an attendance of 12,000. Also on that card, Rich Franklin beat Evan Tanner to become the UFC’s middleweight champ.
The event will be the UFC’s seventh in Atlantic City, a city known for hosting major boxing events. The first three took place at the Trump Taj Mahal, followed by three at the Boardwalk Hall.
Though no fights beyond the main event have been announced by the UFC for the card, the promotion has a large contingent of fighters from New Jersey and the surrounding tristate area. Just seven weeks prior, the UFC will hold another card in the Garden State with UFC on Fox 3: Diaz vs. Miller in East Rutherford on May 5. The promotion last visited New Jersey for UFC 128 last March.