Opening its FOX tenure with a heavyweight title battle between Junior dos Santos and Cain Velasquez set the bar high, and UFC will not try to top it with its second live FOX show.
The MMA promotion confirmed that the next FOX event, scheduled for January 28, will be headlined by Rashad Evans vs. Phil Davis and Chael Sonnen vs. Mark Munoz.
While both are compelling matchups–one of them, Evans vs. Davis, was actually scheduled to headline a summer pay-per-view prior to injuries getting in the way–neither is for a title nor a conclusion to a particularly-heated grudge.
The bouts, rumored since early this week, have come under some criticism for their potential to ruin “money matchups.” At press time, Rashad Evans vs. Jon Jones and Chael Sonnen vs. Anderson Silva are viewed as two of UFC’s most bankable fights, and losses for Evans and Sonnen on this show would delay such matchups.
At the same time, they will establish contenders for the Light Heavyweight and Middleweight Championships on a mainstream scale, hopefully building extra interest in the title matches if and when they take place on pay-per-view.
