Two more local fighters added to Rio Rancho card
Dodson, Vannata are booked for UFC Fight Night on Feb. 15 at Santa Ana Star Center
Four more fights, two involving Albuquerque fighters, have been added to the Feb. 15 UFC card at the Santa Ana Star Center.
Those matches, announced by the UFC on Thursday, are:
■Albuquerque bantamweight
■John Dodson (20-11) vs. Englishman Nathaniel Wood (16-3).
■Albuquerque lightweight
Lando Vannata (10-4) vs. Yancy Medeiros (15-6) of Makaha, Hawaii.
■Veteran lightweight Jim
Miller (31-13) of Sparta, New Jersey, vs. Scott Holtzman (13-3) of Knoxville, Tennessee.
■Bantamweight Casey Kenney
(13-1) vs. Merab Dvalishvili (9-4) of Tbilisi in the nation of Georgia.
As of now, nine fights have been booked for the Rio Rancho card, six of which involve New Mexico-based fighters. Announced earlier were fights featuring Albuquerque bantamweight Ray Borg, Albuquerque lightweight Diego Sanchez, Albuquerque bantamweight Nicco Montaño and light heavyweight Devin Clark, a South Dakotan who trains in Albuquerque at Jackson-Wink.
The main event features light heavyweights Corey Anderson (13-4) of Rockton, Illinois, against Poland’s Jan Blachowicz (25-8). It’s a rematch of a September 2015 fight won by Anderson via unanimous decision. The payoff for the winner could be a shot at the UFC light heavyweight title currently held by Albuquerque resident Jon Jones.
Tickets for the card go on sale Friday.
Dodson, who twice fought for the UFC flyweight title, moved up to bantamweight (135 pounds) after his second title-match loss to then-flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson. Dodson is 3-4 at bantamweight since moving up, his most recent fight a loss by unanimous decision in February to rising contender Petr Yan.
In Wood, Dodson is facing an up-and-comer who’s 3-0 in UFC competition.
Vannata will be seeking to bounce back from a loss by unanimous decision to England’s Mac Diakiese on Sept. 28. Medeiros has lost his last two fights, including a defeat by first-round TKO to Edgewood resident Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone last February.
UPCOMING: Atomweight Jayme Hinshaw (4-3), who trains in Albuquerque at FIT-NHB, is scheduled to face Kanna Asakura (15-4) on Bellator MMA card in Saitama, Japan, on Dec. 28. All seven of Hinshaw’s previous seven fights have been on King of the Cage cards. She’s listed as the KOTC atomweight (105-pound) champion.
CATCHING UP: Featherweight Daniel Argueta, an Illinois fighter who trains in Albuquerque at Jackson-Wink, improved to 4-0 as a professional with a victory over Roger Severson by first-round submission (rear naked choke) on a Dec. 13 Combate Americas card in Stockton, California.