UFC 132 Fight Card: Full Preview and Breakdown of the Stacked Card

We have been spoiled with three UFC events in June but on the Fourth of July weekend, the UFC is pulling out all the stops and giving us the first truly stacked card of the summer.

Bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz will defend his UFC belt for the first time when he takes on the only man to ever defeat him, MMA superstar Urijah Faber.

That fight is worth a PPV by itself but the whole card is stacked with superstars and especially compelling matchups.

I am not just talking about the main card either. Every fight is awesome, all the way down to the first preliminary bout.

If you will not be able to see many fireworks on the Fourth of July, do not worry—UFC 132 on July 2nd is going to have all the fireworks you could possibly handle. 

Anthony Njokuani vs. Andre Winner

Anthony Njokuani made his UFC debut against fellow striker Edson Barboza.

Njokuani would lose a close decision, but the three-round war earned "fight of the night" and was one of the best fights that we have seen all year.

Because of his awesome performance, Njokuani is deservedly getting another chance. This time it is against fellow striker Andre Winner.

Both men are exciting strikers and they both may very well be fighting for their chance to stay on the UFC roster.

Fireworks are expected.

Brad Tavares vs. Aaron Simpson

This will be a war between two talented athletes vying for a position close to the top echelon of the middleweight food chain.

Tavares is an exciting young prospect who knocked Phil Baroni out in the first round of his last fight.

He looks massive at middleweight and could be a future contender.

His opponent, Aaron Simpson, is an absolutely tenacious fighter and proven competitor. He has only been stopped once in his career (a debatable stoppage as far as I'm concerned).

Tavares will look to land the bigger shots with the older but more athletic Simpson will look to push the pace and mix in his esteemed wrestling.

Brian Bowles vs. Takeya Mizugaki

Two of the best bantamweight fighters in the world.

Mizugaki has been tested against some of the biggest names in the bantamweight division and Brian Bowles is the former champion and No. 1 bantamweight in the world who has only one loss in his career.

A victory for Bowles lines him up to be one of the next challengers for the bantamweight championship, but Mizugaki is a pushover for nobody and has just as much to gain with a victory over Bowles.

They are already two of the most marketable bantamweights in the UFC and it is kind of crazy that they are not even one of the top two fights for the preliminaries.

George Sotiropoulos vs. Rafael Dos Anjos

Soriropoulos was riding an incredible seven-fight win streak in the UFC before getting out-pointed by Dennis Siver in February.

G-Sot will be looking to rebound against fellow grappler, Rafael Dos Anjos.

Dos Anjos is a ground expert, just like Sotiropoulos, so this has all the makings to be an epic battle to see who the most dangerous groundfighter in the lightweight division is.

Melvin Guillard vs. Shane Roller

In his last fight, Melvin Guillard won via a brutal first-round TKO in the main event for UFC: Fight for the Troops 2—and he does not even make the main card for UFC 132!

His opponent is heavy-handed wrestler, Shane Roller.

As heavy-handed as Roller is, however, Guillard is the more powerful striker as he might be the heaviest hitter in the whole division.

Guillard is favored, but he will have to be on point the whole time if he is going to beat a savvy fighter like Roller.

Main Card: Dennis Siver vs. Matt Wiman

Dennis Siver is riding a three-fight winning streak with his last fight being a big upset victory over George Sotiropoulos.

Wiman is riding a three-fight winning streak of his own with his last victory being a shut out over dangerous fighter Cole Miller.

Both fighters love to go for the knockout and we are sure to see some fireworks when Wiman and Siver begin exchanging blows for the right to the upper echelon of the stacked lightweight division.

Main Card: Carlos Condit vs. Dong Hyun Kim

This fight very well could determine the next challenger to the welterweight championship title, currently held by pound-for-pound great, Georges St-Pierre.

Undefeated Kim is one of the best Judo fighters in all of MMA and has used a tenacious attack to defeat such names as Nate Diaz and Amir Sadollah.

Condit is one of the most exciting fighters in the sport, using his long limbs to constantly attack, whether standing up striking or going for submissions on the ground.

Expect the winner to call out the champion. 

Main Card: Tito Ortiz vs. Ryan Bader

Former champion Tito Ortiz is a legend in the sport and one of the greatest fighters in the history of the light heavyweight division.

Although it seems a number of top fighters have passed him by, Ortiz still has a lot of fight left in him and thinks he can show a thing or two to these younger guys.

Cue up Ryan Bader.

Bader is like a younger and more powerful version of Ortiz.

Many people may be happy to write off Ortiz but Bader better not take him lightly or Ortiz might give him a thorough re-education on what cage fighting is all about.

Co-Main Event: Wanderlei Silva vs. Chris Leben

Fight fans have been salivating over this potential matchup for a couple of years now.

Wanderlei Silva and Chris Leben may very well be the most fan-friendly, aggressive brawler/sluggers in the history of the sport.

The fight has implications for an eventual title shot, but make no mistake: This matchup is for the fans.

Whose chin will hold up the best when these two start throwing some of the heaviest leather to be found in the middleweight division?

Bantamweight Championship: Dominick Cruz vs. Urijah Faber

In March of 2007, Urijah Faber defended his world featherweight title by submitting Dominick Cruz with a first-round guillotine.

Cruz would go on to take control of the bantamweight division as their current world champion.

Faber would eventually lose his featherweight title and drop down to bantamweight as well.

Now the score must be settled.

Cruz has only lost to Faber and the closest he has come to losing besides that has been to Faber's teammate—Joseph Benavidez.

This is a championship rivalry not to be missed.