Background
A previously announced lightweight bout between Thiago Tavares and Melvin Guillard was called off due to an elbow injury suffered by Tavares. Gleison Tibau would step in as Tavares' replacement.
Eric Schafer was originally scheduled to face Tomasz Drwal at this event, but he injured his rib and was replaced by Mike Ciesnolevicz.
A matchup between Anthony Johnson and Matt Brown was scrapped due to a knee injury suffered by Johnson. A replacement was set to be named, however, due to nagging injuries Brown did not fight on the card.
This was the first time in the organization's history, the UFC handed out three Fight of the Night bonuses. Another first for the UFC came in the form of Kim Winslow, the first female referee to officiate a fight in the organization.
This fight card is also noted for two controversial decisions in bouts pitting Brad Blackburn against Edgar Garcia and Melvin Guillard against Gleison Tibau. Both Blackburn and Guillard received split-decision victories from the judges in bouts that are considered questionable. The decisions cost Garcia his perfect record and snapped a two-fight win streak for Tibau.
This was the first UFC event to feature five Ultimate Fighter winners on the complete card, including season 9 champions Ross Pearson & James Wilks, and previous season champions Diego Sanchez, Joe Stevenson, and Nate Diaz. Only UFC 114 the following year has had the same number of TUF winners since.
Read more about this topic: The Ultimate Fighter: United States Vs. United Kingdom Finale
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