The Big Lead

UFC on FUEL 7: A Title Fight in England on Free TV

By Stephen Douglas

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Today the UFC will be at Wembley for UFC on FUEL TV 7: Barão vs. McDonald. Coverage starts at 12:15pm Eastern on Facebook and then moves to FUEL at 3pm. The interim bantamweight title will be on the line between Renan Barão and Michael McDonald. Its nice that there is a title fight on free TV, but the fact that this one is on FUEL proves that not all titles are created equal. You’ll never see the heavyweight championship on a channel that most Americans don’t know exist.

This card is pretty awesome though. Barão is defending his belt for the first time while he waits for Dominick Cruz to come back and fight for the first time since October 2011. He’ll take on Michael McDonald, a 22-year old who has finished 13 of his 16 opponents. Cub Swanson has knocked out three straight opponents. Dustin Poirier has submitted 3 of his last 4 opponents.

Before that you get three up-and-coming guys with impressive records – Jimi Manuwa, Gunnar Nelson and Ryan Jimmo – taking on tough, more experienced veterans – Cyrille Diabate, Jorge Santiago, James Te Huna. The main card kicks off with Matthew Riddle taking on an English fighter in England. Riddle did not have a pleasant experience in England when he fought there in 2009.

This is a solid card. Especially when you consider it is taking place on a Saturday afternoon.

MAIN CARD – 3pm
Renan Barão (29-1, 1nc, 4-0 UFC) vs. Michael McDonald (15-1, 4-0 UFC)
Dustin Poirier (13-2, 5-1 UFC) vs. Cub Swanson (18-5, 3-1 UFC)
Cyrille Diabate (19-8-1, 4-2 UFC) vs. Jimi Manuwa (12-0, 1-0 UFC)
Gunnar Nelson (10-0-1, 1-0 UFC) vs. Jorge Santiago (25-10, 0-2 UFC)
Ryan Jimmo (17-1, 1-0 UFC) vs. James Te Huna (15-5, 4-1 UFC)
Che Mills (15-5, 1nc, 2-1 UFC) vs. Matthew Riddle (7-3, 1nc UFC)

FACEBOOK PRELIMS – 12:15pm
Terry Etim vs. Renee Forte
Danny Castillo vs. Paul Sass
Josh Grispi vs. Andy Ogle
Stanislav Nedkov vs. Tom Watson
Vaughan Lee vs. Motonobu Tezuka
Ulysses Gomez vs. Phil Harris

Previously: Carly Baker is the First European UFC Octagon Girl