UFC Fight Night Cincinnati Adds Nik Lentz vs. Manny Gamburyan

The UFC’s May 10 return to Cincinnati, tentatively slated to be UFC Fight Night 42, showed up on the map this week by adding three fights to its new lineup.

While the bouts were deemed a bit underwhelming on paper, the UFC has taken a step in the right direction towards making their first trip to Ohio in nearly seven years a success.

The promotion recently announced that No. 8-ranked featherweight contender Nik “The Carny” Lentz will take on Manny “The Anvil” Gamburyan. The fight has been verbally agreed to according to the UFC News Twitter account:

#UFCFightNight in Cincinnati adds featherweights @NikLentz and @MannyGamburyan to the card. Both fighters have verbally agreed to the bout.

— UFC News (@UFCNews) February 20, 2014

Lentz saw his substantial momentum dissipate when he dropped a decision to current No. 1-ranked challenger Chad Mendes at last December’s UFC on FOX 9. Reportedly dealing with illness, Mendes didn’t look his usually aggressive self that night, but he was still able to outpoint Lentz and take him down several times. “Carny” will go back to the drawing board against an opponent of much lower caliber.

Gamburyan has long been a UFC competitor, but his career has been marked by bouts of inconsistency. “Anvil” was last seen losing a decision to No. 7-ranked Dennis Siver back at UFC 168 in late December. A training partner of UFC women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey, Gamburyan badly needs a win to maintain anything close to relevancy in a stacked featherweight division.

He’ll have his hands full against a tough test in Lentz. With both fighters largely known for their grappling prowess, this fight should present a closely contested bout that could turn into a crowd-boring chess match.

That’s not exactly the best way to end the long streak of decisions currently plaguing UFC events, but anything could happen. Is the FUC on the right track for Fight Night Cincinnati, or is the card already destined for low ratings?