After making quick work of Aaron Wilkinson in his UFC debut on Saturday, Cody McKenzie won't waste any time getting back in the cage. The cast member of Season 12 of "The Ultimate Fighter" will step in to face Yves Edwards at the UFC's Fight for the Troops event at Fort Hood, Texas, on Jan. 22. He'll take the place of Melvin Guillard, who now moves up to fight Evan Dunham after Kenny Florian was forced to withdraw with an injury. The McKenzie news was first reported by MMA Junkie, and MMA Fighting has confirmed the lightweight's participation in the fight with sources close to his camp.
McKenzie (12-0, 1-0 UFC) was famous for his uncanny propensity for guillotine choke finishes when he signed on for the UFC's reality competition. And his two wins on the show both came by way of his signature move, which he has a variation of known as the "McKenzietine."
Though he lost to Nam Phan in the quarterfinals, he was given a fight against Wilkinson on the TUF 12 Finale on Saturday in Las Vegas. And for the 10th straight time in a sanctioned bout, he won by guillotine, stopping his TUF 12 castmate just 2:03 into the first round.
"It's my move – I work it a lot in practice," McKenzie said after his win Saturday. "I get it a lot in practice and when it's there, I go for it. But I get it so often that I didn't work on it a lot for this fight specifically. I worked a lot on my boxing and my kickboxing and I was prepared for a stand-up war. But I saw an opportunity to go for it tonight and I did."
In Edwards (39-16-1, 7-4 UFC), McKenzie gets by far his stiffest and most experienced opponent yet. Edwards has fought for the UFC, Strikeforce, Bellator, the now-defunct EliteXC and Bodog Fight, and Pride, as well as a host of smaller promotions around the world.
Edwards returned to the UFC in September after more than four years away from the promotion and beat John Gunderson by unanimous decision at Fight Night 22. The Bahamas-born lightweight and American Top Team fighter coined the term "thug-jitsu" to describe his fighting style.
The UFC's Fight Night 23, its second Fight for the Troops card, will air live on Spike at 9 p.m. Eastern on Jan. 22. The UFC and Spike again partner with the Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund for the event, which will raise funds for U.S. armed forces members who have brain injuries. The first Fight for the Troops card, which took place in Fayetteville, N.C., in December 2008, raised more than $4 million.
Also on the card are a pair of heavyweight bouts between Matt Mitrione-Tim Hague and Pat Barry-Joey Beltran; a featherweight bout between former WEC fighters Mark Hominick and George Roop; a lightweight bout between Cole Miller and Matt Wiman; and Mike Swick returns for the first time in nearly a year to take on David Mitchell.
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