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Cung Le fights June 22

Highly ranked lightweights Gray Maynard and Clay Guida will headline the Ultimate Fighting Championship's return to Atlantic City.

Guida-Maynard has been slated as the main event a June 22 event in Atlantic City, the promotion announced Sunday. UFC also unveiled a middleweight tilt between Rich Franklin and Cung Le as part of a July 7 event in Las Vegas.


CAPTIONBy Jeff Chiu, AP
The June show will be UFC's third live show on FX and its first show in New Jersey's casino enclave since June 2005.

Matching up Guida and Maynard fits UFC's philosophy of pairing fighters on similar paths. Maynard and Guida are coming off losses to the men who fought for the 155-pound title last month, Frankie Edgar and Ben Henderson.

If the June 22 main event turns out to be an exciting bout or a dominant win, the victor likely would be close to getting back into contention for the lightweight belt. The USA TODAY/SB Nation consensus rankings have Maynard and Guida at Nos. 3 and 7 among lightweights.

Although both men have wrestling background and have often used takedowns to win, they're very different fighters. Guida maintains a frentic pace in the stand-up game, constantly bobbing and willing to engage in brawls. Maynard, a much more accomplished wrestler than Guida, fights more deliberately by throwing fewer but harder-hitting punches, or looking for openings to drive forward for powerful takedowns.

Franklin and Le also need victories. Each has lost two of his last three bouts.

A former champion of UFC's middleweight division, Franklin will be fighting at 185 pounds for the first time since January 2009. He's also coming back from a lengthy layoff after undergoing shoulder surgery; his last bout took place February 2011, when he lost a decision to Forrest Griffin.

Le was a middleweight titleholder in Strikeforce. He made his UFC debut in November, losing via knockout to Wanderlei Silva.

Neither Franklin nor Le likely will contend for another title in the near future, but their fight has the potential for a crowd-pleasing affair. Franklin has solid boxing skills by MMA standards, while Le brings a broad arsenal of fast kicks from his roots in the Chinese kickboxing style known as sanshou.