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Marquardt vs. Palhares official as UFC Fight Night 22 headliner, Maia off card | MMAjunkie.com

As expected a middleweight bout between Nate Marquardt (29-9-2 MMA, 8-3 UFC) and Rousimar Palhares (11-2 MMA, 4-1 UFC) originally slated for UFC 118's main card now serves as the new UFC Fight Night 22 headliner.

MMAjunkie.com (UFC blog for UFC news, UFC rumors, fighter interviews and event previews/recaps | MMAjunkie.com) first reported the new main event on Monday, and the UFC recently made it official.

As part of the change, original main-event fighter Demian Maia (12-2 MMA, 6-2 UFC) – who lost opponent Alan Belcher (16-6 MMA, 7-4 UFC) due to a detached retina – has been removed from the card.

UFC Fight Night 22, which precedes the debut of "The Ultimate Fighter 12," takes place Sept. 15 (two-and-a-half weeks after UFC 118). The Frank Erwin Center in Austin, Texas, hosts the Spike TV-televised event.

Maia, a former middleweight title challenger, and Belcher, who recently underwent surgery for his ailment, will be shifted to later cards.

Marquardt looks to rebound from a unanimous-decision loss to now-top contender Chael Sonnen, which came at UFC 109 in February. The loss, which propelled Sonnen to his title shot, snapped Marquardt's three-fight win streak (against Martin Kampmann, Wilso Gouveia and Maia – all of which came via knockout) and delivered a setback in his quest for a second title shot against current champ Anderson Silva.

The Team Jackson fighter now meets Palhares, who looks for his fourth consecutive victory in the UFC. During his recent streak, the Brazilian Top Team fighter earned a decision victory over Jeremy Horn and heel-hook submission wins over Lucio Linhares and Tomasz Drwal. He's now won nine of his past 10 fights, and eight of the victories have come via stoppage.

The official UFC Fight Night 22 card now includes:

MAIN CARD
Nate Marquardt vs. Rousimar Palhares
Mac Danzig vs. Matt Wiman
Jim Miller vs. Gleison Tibau
Cole Miller vs. Ross Pearson

PRELIMINARY CARD
Efrain Escudero vs. John Gunderson
Nick Catone vs. Tomsz Drwal
Rich Attonito vs. Rafael Natal
Jared Hamman vs. Kyle Kingsbury
David Mitchell vs. Anthony Waldburger