Diaz and Stevenson to Clash on TUF9 Finale Card on June 20

By Thomas Gerbasi

For only the fourth time in UFC history, two winners of The Ultimate Fighter reality series will meet as combatants in the Octagon when season two’s Joe Stevenson clashes with season five’s Nate Diaz in what promises to be a memorable battle on The Ultimate Fighter: US vs UK season finale card at The Pearl at The Palms in Las Vegas, Nevada on Saturday, June 20.

Tickets for this event, which features a lightweight bout between Diego Sanchez and Clay Guida, as well as the final matches of TUF9, are on sale now and may be purchased at the Palms box office at (702) 944-3200, any Ticketmaster location at 702-474-4000 or www.ticketmaster.com. To charge by phone with a major credit card, call Ticketmaster at 800-745-3000. The card will air live on Spike TV.

A former lightweight title challenger who is fresh from a close decision loss to Sanchez in the main event of UFC 95 in February, Stevenson (34-10) is eager to get back into the Octagon and back on the winning track against Diaz. The pride of Stockton, California, the 23-year old Diaz (10-3) was on the short end of a close decision himself in January when he dropped a split decision to Guida, but with five previous UFC wins under his belt, it would be foolish to count Diaz out of any fight.

Diaz-Stevenson joins Rashad Evans-Forrest Griffin, Evans-Michael Bisping, and Sanchez-Stevenson, as matches pitting previous TUF winners against each other.