UFC middleweight fighter Nick Ring made news this week when he foiled a robbery attempt in his hometown of Calgary, saving a Calgary couple from a group of teenage thugs.
That's gotten the former Ultimate Fighter cast member some well-deserved attention, and it could have an interesting effect on the UFC 149 fight card in Calgary next month.
The 33-year-old Ring is 12-1 in his MMA career, and 2-1 in the UFC after falling to Tim Boetsch at UFC 135. In a sense, just being in the UFC is something of a victory for the Canadian, who was supposed to get an opportunity in PRIDE after impressing at a tryout in Los Angeles in 2005, but was sidelined by knee injuries. After returning to MMA in 2009, Ring earned a spot on The Ultimate Fighter: Team Liddell vs. Team Ortiz, and was the first overall pick during team selection. However, after winning his preliminary round fight against Court McGee, Ring reinjured his knee during training, and was forced to have surgery.
He finally made his UFC debut last year at UFC 127, defeating Riki Fukuda in a closely contested bout, and followed that up with a victory over James Head at UFC 131 in Vancouver before suffering his first MMA loss against Boetsch in September. Now, he's scheduled to have a rematch with McGee of their controversial TUF prelim, and his performance this week might wind up influencing his place on the card.
The main card at UFC 149 lost a fight this week when Mauricio "Shogun" Rua was moved to the UFC on Fox 4 fight card for a main event against Brandon "The Truth" Vera. It was the right call for the UFC, as the Fox card definitely needed the star power of the former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion, but it does leave a vacancy on the main card at the Scotiabank Saddledome in Calgary. With Ring picking up recognition for his crime-fighting exploits - and the controversial first bout between "The Promise" and McGee - the rematch makes plenty of sense as a candidate to move up to the main card.
