A battle of featherweights in dire need of a win has been scheduled for UFC 155 in Las Vegas on December 29.

The UFC announced that former WEC Featherweight Title Contender Leonard Garcia will meet Ultimate Fighter season 12 contestant Cody McKenzie on the undercard of their year end event.

McKenzie is 2-3 inside the Octagon, but has lost three of his last four bouts including a 31 second thrashing at the hands of Chad Mendes at UFC 148 in July. Many fans and pundits felt as though the fight was a mismatch from the beginning and Mendes proved them all correct earning a TKO victory after landing a well placed right hand to McKenzie’s liver, rendering Alaska native helpless.

Garcia is a fan favorite who always does his best to entertain the masses, but it’s because of his reckless style that he finds himself in dire straits. The Team Jackson fighter has technically lost three straight fights, but if you ask anyone they will tell you his win over Nam Phan was one of the worst decisions in the history of MMA. Garcia needs a win here or he will more than likely be looking for employment elsewhere come December 30th.

UFC 155 will be headlined by a rematch for the UFC Heavyweight Championship as Junior Dos Santos will look to defend his title against the man he won it from last November, Cain Velasquez. The co-main event will either be Forrest Griffin vs. Phil Davis or a possible middleweight title eliminator between undefeated Chris Weidman and Tim Boetsch.

Middleweights Yushin Okami and Alan Belcher will do battle once again, Okami defeated Belcher in the latter’s UFC debut in 2006. Lightweights Gray Maynard and Joe Lauzon will square off with the winner inching one step closer towards the top of the division.

Chris Leben will make his return after serving a one year suspension and face Karlos Vemola, Matt Mitrione will fight Phil De Fries, bantamweights Eddie Wineland and Brad Pickett will throw down in what is sure to bean exciting fight. Lightweight Michael Johnson will look to win his fourth straight fight against Myles Jury.

Erik Koch returns from an injury that forced him out of his title fight with featherweight champion Jose Aldo as he takes on Ricardo Lamas. There’s a good chance that the winner could face the winner of Aldo-Frankie Edgar scheduled for UFC 156 in February. Lamas has won three straight including an upset victory over Hatsu Hioki in June.

In a match-up of bantamweights, 22-year-old Erik Perez, will look to start his UFC career with three straight wins against Byron Bloodworth. The 29-year-old Bloodworth lost his UFC debut via second round TKO against Mike Easton back in October of last year on the UFC Live: Cruz vs. Johnson card.

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