UFC 199 adds middlweights Kevin Casey vs. Elvis Mutapcic
Hawthorne’s Kevin Casey (black trunks) will take on Elvis Mutapcic at UFC 199, which will be held June 4 at the Forum in Inglewood. (Hans Gutknecht/LA Daily News, File)
By
Brian Martin
, LA Daily News
POSTED: 03/16/16, 11:45 AM PDT
|
UPDATED: 26 SECS AGO
UFC 199 already has a strong California presence with two championship fights.
And now it’s getting a local vibe in a battle of kings.
Hawthorne’s Kevin “King” Casey will take on Elvis “The King” Mutapcic in a middleweight clash on June 4 at The Forum in Inglewood.
The
two main bouts feature three fighters from the Golden State
. The main event is a rematch between middleweight champion Luke Rockhold from Santa Cruz against former champion Chris Weidman of New York. In the co-main event, bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz, who fights out of Chula Vista, will face rival Urijah Faber of Sacramento for the third time.
Casey (9-4, 2 no contests), 34, is looking to get on track after an unsteady UFC career. The Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt competed on Season 17 of “The Ultimate Fighter” in 2013 and let go by the UFC, after which he went 3-0 in the Resurrection Fighting Alliance and won the RFA’s inaugural middleweight title.
The Black House fighter re-signed with the UFC in 2014 and has since gone 1-1 with two no contests:
• July 5, 2014: Had his knockout victory over Bubba Bush overturned as a no contest after Casey tested positive for drostanolone, an anabolic steroid. He was suspended a year.
• July 15, 2015: Defeated Ildemar Alcantara via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27).
• Dec. 10, 2015: Fight vs. Antonio Carlos Junior ruled a no contest after Casey was poked in both eyes in the opening 11 seconds and was rendered unable to continue.
• Jan. 30, 2016: Lost to Rafael Natal via third-round TKO.
Mutapcic, (15-4), 29, fights out of Des Moines, Iowa, by way of Bosnia. He has fought for World Series of Fighting and Midwest Cage Championship.
In his UFC debut, Mutapcic dropped a unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28) to Francimar Barroso on Jan. 17.
Other fights scheduled for UFC 199 involve feature ranked lightweights:
•
No. 10 Dustin Poirier vs. No. 12 Bobby Green
.
•
No. 13 Evan Dunham vs. “The Ultimate Fighter Brazil: Season 2” winner Leonardo Santos
.
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