Ryan Bader vs. Rafael Cavalcante Is Official For UFC 174 In Canada

Ryan Bader and Rafael ‘Feijao’ Cavlacante have been matched for a UFC 174 showdown, and this one has fireworks written all over it. Winner of the eighth season of The Ultimate Fighter, ‘Darth’ was pegged early on in his career as potential title material. Losses to Jon Jones, Tito Ortiz, Lyoto Machida and UFC 172 title challenger Glover Teixeira have set him back, but he got back in the win column with a decision win over Anthony Perosh at Fight Night 33.

Bader will face the former Strikeforce light-heavyweight champion ‘Feijao’, who also got himself back on track recently after a few sketchy showings. Cavalcante failed a post-fight drug test after his last Strikeforce bout against Mike Kyle, and got knocked out in his UFC debut against heavy-hitting Thiago Silva in Brazil. Matched against Igor Pokrajac at Fight Night 32, ‘Fejaio’ scored an ugly first round finish.

So both guys are coming off of well needed wins, and will need to use the other as a stepping stone on their way back up the rankings. It pays to remember that Cavalcante has racked up 12 wins-all by way of striking. Check out how the UFC 174 card from Vancouver, BC, Canada is shaping up so far:

Flyweight championship Demetrious Johnson vs. Ali Bagautinov

Rory MacDonald vs. Tyron Woodley

Ryan Bader vs. Rafael Cavalcante

Mike Easton vs. Yves Jabouin    

Kiichi Kunimoto vs. Daniel Sarafian

Roland Delorme vs. Michinori Tanaka

Kajan Johnson vs. Tae Hyun Bang