Gian Villante meets Tom Lawlor at UFC on FOX 16

Gian Villante said he wanted another fight booked as soon as possible following his recent victory over Corey Anderson. He got his wish and will face Tom Lawlor at UFC on FOX 16 in July.

Villante (13-5 MMA, 3-2 UFC) earned “Fight of the Night” honors for his third-round TKO of Anderson at UFC on FOX 15 earlier this month. His next bout will come against nine-fight octagon veteran Lawlor (8-5 MMA, 5-4 UFC) at the July 25th event at Chicago’s United Center. The main card airs on FOX following prelims on FOX Sports 1 and UFC Fight Pass.

The light heavyweight matchup was announced on FOX Sports 1’s “UFC Tonight.”

Lawlor has not competed since a second-round submission of Michael Kuiper at UFC on FUEL TV 9 in April 2013. His more than two-year layoff is the longest of his career. “Filthy” has alternated wins and losses over his past six UFC bouts and has not won consecutive fights since 2009.

Villante is primary training partner of UFC middleweight champion Chris Weidman. With Weidman preparing for a title defense against Vitor Belfort at UFC 187, Villante said he wanted to parlay his training sessions into a fight camp of his own.

“If I have to do it anyway, I may as well go get a fight,” Villante told MMAjunkie. “I’m in there helping Chris right now. I have to wrestle with him, do jiu-jitsu with him, spar with him, so if I’m doing all that right now, may as well get a fight and get going.”

The New Yorker will a bring a two-fight winning streak into the contest with Lawlor. He’s earned “Fight of the Night” in his past two bouts and said he’d like to continue that trend into his next fight.

“Every time I’m out there I like to try to put on the best show possible,” Villante said. “Every time, I don’t care if I’m getting hit as many times as I’m getting hit, which I’m starting to become a little bit famous for, getting hit too much, but as long as I’m putting on a show for the fans and it’s a good fight and entertaining, I think that’s all anyone cares about and all I care about.”

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