Following a controversial split decision loss to Leonard “Bad Boy” Garcia at the TUF 12 Finale in December, Nam Phan will get his shot at redemption on March 26, in a rematch at UFC Fight Night 24 in Seattle.
The featherweight bout was first reported by MMA Weekly on Monday.
In their first meeting, on Dec. 4, the judges scored it 29-28 Garcia, 30-27 Phan, and 29-28 Garcia. We here at ProMMAnaow.com (www.prommanow.com), as well as many other MMA news sites, scored the first fight for Phan, giving him two of the three rounds.
Phan (16-8) said after the fight he was “shocked” at the decision and thought he had won rounds two and three without question. And although Garcia (15-6-1) was awarded the victory, he said he would be glad to give Phan an immediate rematch.
Phan was a member of Team Koscheck on season 12 of The Ultimate Fighter. After defeating Cody McKenzie via second round TKO in the quarterfinals, he advanced to the semi-final round where he lost to Michael Johnson via split decision.
Both fighters will no doubt be glad to end their string of split decisions, Phan with two-in-a-row and Garcia with three. Prior to transferring to the UFC with the WEC merger, Garcia lost a split decision to Mark Hominick at WEC 51, and won a split decision over Chan Sung Jung “The Korean Zombie” in a very memorable back-and-forth battle at WEC 48.
Other notable bouts expected to take place at UFC Fight Night 24 include Tito Ortiz vs. Antonio Rogerio Nogueira and Dan Hardy vs. Anthony Johnson.
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