Three fights were made official Monday for the UFC 150 fight card, scheduled for August 11 in Denver at the Pepsi Center. Squaring off at middleweight will be Jared Hamman and Michael Kuiper, with two other bouts added to the card at featherweight. One of these will pit former The Ultimate Fighter runner-up Dennis Bermudez against Tom Hayden, while the other will see the featherweight debut of Nik "The Carny" Lentz, as he takes on Eiji Mitsuoka.
For Lentz, who will enter the Octagon on a three-fight winless streak - two losses and a "no contest - the fight with Mitsuoka could be his last chance to hang on to a spot in the UFC. Lentz has earned Fight of the Night bonuses in two of his last three bouts, but he hasn't won since last March, and when he does win, the former University of Minnesota wrestler isn't exactly known as an exciting fighter. Some fighters can survive a three-fight losing streak, but Lentz hasn't done much to become one of them, and with an opponent who's 0-1 in the UFC after dropping his debut to Takanori Gomi in February, it's probably "win or go home" time for "The Carny."
By the same token, Hamman is on fairly thin ice in the UFC. He did win his first fight after dropping to middleweight, defeating C.B. Dollaway last summer in Milwaukee, but he was decimated by Costa Philippou at UFC 140, and has a 2-3 record overall in the UFC. The middleweight division is a tough one, and Hamman may well be cannon fodder for Kuiper, who came to the UFC with an 11-0 record in Europe and will be looking to get on track after losing his UFC debut to Rafael Natal in February. He's probably not in as much danger as Lentz, but it's definitely a very telling fight for his future in the Octagon.
