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Urijah Faber takes a kick from UFC bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz during their title fight earlier this month. Eric Jamison/AP/Press Association Images
Octagon

Un-caged: UFC announces UK show in November

Plus there’s plenty of local action for Dublin fight fans to get their teeth into in Tallaght tonight.

THE NEWS THIS week that the UFC is coming back to the UK has reignited excitement among local MMA enthusiasts.

UFC 138 is due to take place at the LG Arena in Birmingham on 5 November 2011 and already some top end fighters have been signed up to take part.

The event preliminary boasts Chris Leben and Mark Munoz as its main event in the first five-round non-title fight in the history of the UFC.

Other bouts that have been provisionally pencilled in for the event include Thiago Alves vs. Papy Abedi and Brad Pickett vs. Renan Barao although there are likely to be changes to the card as we are a long way from the actual date.

A number of other English fighters such as Mark Scanlon, Jason Young and Paul Taylor will also be on show as the UFC continues its policy of putting fighters local to the event on the card.

There is no doubt an Irish contingent who will cross the water to Birmingham as it might be their only chance to attend an UFC event in person this year.

With no sign of an Irish UFC show on the cards for the foreseeable future at least, this is the perfect opportunity to see some of the top level fighters in action.

Can’t wait until November? Catch Cage Contender 10 this weekend

Just because the UFC have no immediate plans to visit these shores doesn’t mean that local fans have to do without.

One of Ireland’s premier MMA organizations, Cage Contenders, has an event taking place in National Basketball Arena, Tallaght, on Saturday with some of Ireland’s top fighters on show.

Owen Roddy takes on Benjamin Davis in the main event with the CC featherweight title on the line. Chris Fields takes on John Redmond in the second title event of the evening, this time in the middleweight division. BJJ specialist Sebastian Torres takes on Phillip Mulpeter while Rich Gorey faces off against Kieran Davern in an exciting card full of local fighters.

The event is a chance to see some of the best fighters that Ireland has to offer and a large crowd is due to attend as Ireland has a thriving and well supported MMA scene. For the fighters it is a chance to showcase their skills and maybe get noticed as the event is due to air on Setanta Sports as well as Sky Sports.

Back over at the UFC, there is a lot of movement in the bantamweight division as a number of fighters are looking to take on current champ Dominick Cruz.

Urijah Faber had his request for an immediate re-match turned down but the blow was softened with the promise of another title shot if he overcomes Brian Bowles at UFC 139 in November.

Dominick Cruz will have to defend his title before that bout as it was also announced this week that he will face Demetrious Johnson at UFC on Versus 6 in October.

Finally, we are only a week away from this:

READ – Chisora-Fury a worthy appetiser on a thrilling fight night >