Ricardo Almeida Debuts at 170 Versus Matt Brown at UFC 111

Ricardo Almeida will be the hometown favorite for his first stab at welterweight versus Matt Brown in New Jersey at UFC 111.

The veteran Almeida, who is 3-1 in the UFC as a middleweight after a 4-year vacation from the sport, runs a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu school in Trenton, NJ.  Almeida dropped a decision to Patrick Cote in his second fight back at UFC 86, but secured wins over Rob Yundt, Matt Horwich, and most recently, Kendall Grove.

 Matt "The Immortal" Brown is the former TUF contestant who continues to prove he's a lot better than everyone thought he was after being submitted by Amir Sadollah.  Brown is 11-7 overall, but a sturdy 4-1 on the big stage, with all of his wins being rather dominant and exciting finishes. 

He just spoiled square-one for TUF winner James Wilks by TKO'ing the UK fighter in the final round of an entertaining affair at UFC 105.  Brown also previously pounded out Matt Arroyo and Pete Sell, and submitted Ryan Thomas.  His lone loss was a razor-thin split decision to Dong Hyun Kim that still earned him the respect of many fans despite taking home the "L".

Also expected for UFC 111 in Newark, New Jersey on March 27th:

Dan Hardy x GSP (UFC welterweight championship)

Shane Carwin x Frank Mir (UFC interim heavyweight championship)

Jon Fitch x Thiago Alves

Paul Daley x Josh Koscheck

Marcus Davis x Phil Baroni