The UFC on FOX 12 card just got a little bit better. The upcoming fight card, which takes place July 26 at HP Pavilion in San Jose, California, yesterday received the addition of a three-round welterweight bout between UFC newcomer Andreas Stahl and TUF Brazil 2 vet Viscardi Andrade. The fight booking was first reported by Globo. This is a pretty decent fight between an undefeated Sweden prospect and a Brazilian who is 1-1 so far inside the UFC and it should be pretty fun when it goes down this summer. It’s basically a striker vs. grappler matchup, with Andrade looking to keep the fight on the feet to go for the knockout, while Stahl will look to take the fight to the mat with his wrestling and search for a submission. As far as a line goes, I’m sure it’s going to be pretty close but I could see a slight edge going in Stahl’s way after Andrade was defeated by Nico Musoke in his last fight, where he didn’t look good at all. With the addition of Stahl vs. Andrade, the UFC on FOX 12 card now looks as follows:
- Lightweight bout: Josh Thomson vs. Michael Johnson
- Light heavyweight bout: Anthony Johnson vs. Antonio Rogerio Nogueira
- Welterweight bout: Andreas Stahl vs. Viscardi Andrade
Obviously there are still quite a number of slots to fill for this card, and I expect in the coming weeks for most of those other fights the UFC is planning on to be revealed. Since the event takes place in San Jose, look for a number of fighters from American Kickboxing Academy to be featured on it. As well, if Cung Le is ready to return to the cage then I wouldn’t be surprised at all if the UFC was planning on having him make his return to the Octagon at this event, although I don’t really know who he’d be fighting at this point. As for the main event, the UFC still hasn’t announced it and based on a lack of available stars I honestly don’t know what they are thinking for the headliner, although Luke Rockhold of AKA would make for a good fit. I guess you could see an emerging star like Matt Brown headline the event against another top-ranked welterweight, or it’s possible the UFC elevates Thomson vs. Johnson into the headlining role. Or maybe Californian Urijah Faber headlines. But I definitely wouldn’t expect a title fight like the last batch of the FOX cards has had. Overall this should be a solid event like all FOX cards the UFC does, but with the number of UFC cards these days I don’t think any of them will ever be as stacked as say UFC on FOX 5 was a few years back.