On Wednesday, September 16, 2009, the UFC returns to the state of Oklahoma. The Sooner State hosted the UFC 4 event, which concluded with an epic battle that saw Royce Gracie submit the much larger Dan Severn to win the tournament. Now after nearly 15 years, the long wait is over for the local MMA fans, as the UFC is set to make their return to the state with UFC Fight Night 19. The event will take place at the Cox Convention Center in the state capital of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

The main event of the evening will feature a lightweight bout between TUF 5 champion Nate Diaz, as he looks to get back to his winning ways against TUF 2 standout Melvin Guillard. After winning his first five bouts inside the Octagon, including the first four via submission, Diaz has dropped a pair of competitive decisions to Clay Guida and Joe Stevenson this year. Even though, he was on the short end of those two decisions, he still earned "Fight of the Night" honors on both occasions. He has won this honor in his last three fights and looks to continue that streak with a victory against the heavy-handed Guillard. Guillard has more than twice the number of fights as Diaz and is currently riding a 3-fight win streak with two of those wins coming inside the Octagon. After an impressive stint on TUF 2, Guillard holds an overall record of 5-3 in the UFC. While both of these men possess similar confident attitudes heading into all of their fights, the similarities end there. Diaz is a product of Cesar Gracie in northern California, who prefers to submit his opponents using his long limbs and highly aggressive jiu-jitsu skills. Whereas, Guillard is your standard "sprawl and brawl" type fighter who is always looking for a flashy KO win.

The co-headliner on the card is also in the lightweight division between Diaz' fellow TUF 5 cast mate Gray Maynard and former division poster boy Roger Huerta. Since losing to Diaz on TUF 5, which did not count towards his professional record, Maynard has gone on to steamroll his next five UFC opponents following a no contest on the TUF 5 Finale. Meanwhile, Huerta stormed into our collective consciousness, since making his UFC debut in September 2006. The UFC promoted him heavily to the Latino fan base, as Huerta went on to defeat his first six UFC opponents. However, his first five opponents were UFC newcomers and after facing a stiff test against Clay Guida in December 2007, he suffered his first loss inside the Octagon to Kenny Florian in August 2008. After the loss, Huerta announced that he would not be signing an extension with the UFC, instead opting to pursue a career in acting and modeling. This rightfully annoyed UFC management and Huerta ended up sitting on the shelf for over a year. He will now face the former Michigan State wrestling star Maynard in the final fight on his current UFC contract.

Also on the main card is a welterweight clash between former WEC welterweight champion Carlos Condit and UFC newcomer Jake Ellenberger. The New Mexico native Condit was the welterweight champion of the UFC's sister promotion the WEC, before Zuffa decided to merge the WEC light-heavweight, middleweight, and welterweight divisions into the UFC earlier this year. In his UFC debut in April, Condit dropped an ultra-competitive Split Decision to Martin Kampmann. He will now face Ellenberger, who hails from Nebraska and will be making his UFC debut on short notice, after Chris Lytle was injured. He is a highly-touted welterweight prospect having fought in the IFL, BodogFight, M-1, and Bellator.

The final bout on the main card that is guaranteed to be aired on television is a middleweight bout between two former cast members of The Ultimate Fighter, as Nate Quarry takes on Tim Credeur. The Oregon native, Quarry was a member of the first season of TUF. He is 6-2 inside the Octagon and is noted for his heavy hands and strong wrestling base. He will be facing Credeur, who hails from Louisiana. The Cajun fighter has long been respected in grappling circles for his impressive black belt jiu-jitsu skills, before he became a cast member of the seventh season of TUF. He is currently 3-0 in the UFC with his strength definitely being on the mat, where his well-armed submission arsenal is dangerous from any position.

The preliminary card features seven additional bouts. These bouts are not scheduled to air live on television. Selected bouts will be added, only with time permitting. The UFC Fight Night 19 event will air at 8 p.m. PST on Spike and will lead-in to the premiere of The Ultimate Fighter 10 - Heavyweights, which is also scheduled to be televised on Spike at 10 p.m. PST directly after the fights.


Main Card:

-Nate Diaz vs. Melvin Guillard (Lightweight Bout)

-Gray Maynard vs. Roger Huerta (Lightweight Bout)

-Carlos Condit vs. Jake Ellenberger (Welterweight Bout)

-Tim Credeur vs. Nate Quarry (Middleweight Bout)


Preliminary Card:

-Steve Cantwell vs. Brian Stann (Light-Heavyweight Bout)

-Chris Wilson vs. Mike Pyle (Welterweight Bout)

-C.B. Dollaway vs. Jay Silva (Middleweight Bout)

-Sam Stout vs. Phillipe Nover (Lightweight Bout)

-Jeremy Stephens vs. Justin Buchholz (Lightweight Bout)

-Brock Larson vs. Mike Pierce (Welterweight Bout)

-Steve Steinbeiss vs. Ryan Jensen (Middleweight Bout)