UFC gives Amir Sadollah his chance to fight in front of his home crowd.
Recently, Amir Sadollah told MMA Madness radio on how he would love the opportunity to fight in front of his hometown fans in Virginia.
“It would be definitely something cool to fight in Virginia,” Sadollah told MMA Madness’ Hector Castro.
Wish granted.
Sadollah (2-1) will fight at Ultimate Fight Night 20 on Jan. 11 in the Patriot Center in Fairfax, Va, sources close to the event have confirmed with MMA Madness.
The Newark Examiner reported that Sadollah’s opponent will be Brad Blackburn (15-9-1), and was also confirmed by MMA Madness.
Sadollah was born in Richmond, Va. and the bout will give him a chance to showcase his skills to his home state fans.
“I walk around. I go to 7-11 and wait for someone to recognize me. Nobody does and I get my feelings hurt,” Sadollah joked. ”[But honestly,] the two places I get recognized is Vegas and my hometown, Richmond.”
Sadollah was the winner of the seventh season of “The Ultimate Fighter,” despite never having fought a pro bout prior to joining the show. He reeled off a pair of submission victories against CB Dolloway in both the semifinals and finals to earn the contract.
He had a bit of bad luck suffering a pair of long standing injuries that kept him to the sidelines for more than a year. He returned at UFC 101, where he was finished relatively quickly by Johny Hendricks in a bout that some saw as a quick stoppage.
He came back at UFC 106, where he dissected Phil Baroni with a Muay Thai clinic to earn a unanimous decision victory.
Blackburn is coming off of a victory over Edgar Garcia at The Ultimate Fighter 9 Finale, but Blackburn injured his shoulder and has been out since. This will be Blackburn’s fourth fight in the UFC (3-0).
