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Kenny Florian connects in his win over Clay Guida at UFC 107 in Memphis in December. (Photo courtesy UFC)

By Matt Erickson
cagedin.mma@gmail.com

The Ultimate Fighting Championship today announced its Fight Night 21 event for March 31 in Charlotte, N.C., with a main event lightweight bout between Kenny Florian and recent UFC signee and Pride and Shooto legend Takanori Gomi.

The card will take place at Bojangles Coliseum, a more than 50-year-old arena that has played host to NWA and TNA wrestling events, is the home of the Carolina Speed of the American Indoor Football Association and has seen such legendary performers as Elvis Presley, the Rolling Stones, the Grateful Dead, Bob Dylan and Led Zeppelin grace its stages. UFC last visited North Carolina in Dec. 2008 for Fight Night 16, its “Fight for the Troops” card for military charity The Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund.

The main card of Fight Night 21 will be aired live on the Spike cable network and will precede the Season 11 debut of “The Ultimate Fighter,” which this season pits longtime rivals Chuck Liddell and Tito Ortiz against each other as coaches.

Tickets for Fight Night 21 go on sale to UFC Fight Club members at 9 a.m. Central on Thursday and to newsletter subscribers at 9 a.m. Friday. Tickets for the general public go on sale at 9 a.m. Saturday.

“The UFC has a great history with Charlotte, which hosted UFC 3 and UFC 5, and while the sport has changed immensely since then, one thing hasn’t changed and that’s the loyalty and enthusiasm of the fans here,” UFC president Dana White said in a release by the company. “We’re happy to be coming back here, and we brought one of the most highly anticipated lightweight fights to headline this event. UFC fans know Kenny Florian as a top contender who can do it all in the Octagon, and in Takanori Gomi he’s facing a guy who has dominated in Japan for years and is now looking to do the same thing in the UFC. This is going to be a fight to remember.”

Florian (12-4, 10-3 UFC) will be trying to build on his submission win over Chicago-area native and former Gilbert Grappling trainee Clay Guida at UFC 107 in December. At UFC 101 in August, he lost a lightweight title fight to champion B.J. Penn.

And Gomi (31-5) will be looking to make a quick mark in his UFC debut after years fighting for Shooto and Pride, where he was a lightweight champion, and most recently World Victory Road. At one point in Pride, Gomi put together a 10-fight winning streak. Of his five career losses, two came back-to-back to Joachim Hansen and Penn in 2003.

The co-main event will be between TUF 10 winner Roy Nelson (14-4, 1-0 UFC) and 6-foot-11 Dutch fighter Stefan Struve (19-3, 3-1 UFC). Nelson knocked out Brendan Schaub to win the TUF 10 trophy and his official UFC debut. Aside from being the heavyweight champion for the now-defunct IFL, Nelson is perhaps best known for his win over Kimbo Slice in their preliminary fight in TUF 10. Struve has put together three straight wins in the Octagon after dropping his debut to Junior dos Santos, including a close majority decision win over Paul Buentello at UFC 107 in Memphis.

Also rumored for Fight Night 21 are bouts between Nate Quarry and Jorge Rivera, plus Yushin Okami vs. Lucio Linhares, Cole Miller vs. Andre Winner, Ross Pearson vs. Dennis Siver and Gleison Tibau vs. Caol Uno, though none of those fights have been officially announced by the UFC.