Featherweights Grispi, Roop to Meet at ‘TUF 13’ Finale

---

Josh Grispi and George Roop are likely to square off in a featherweight contest on June 4 as part of “The Ultimate Fighter 13” Finale.

Both men have accepted the proposed matchup and bout agreements are expected to be finalized shortly, Sherdog.com has confirmed with a source close to the bout. News of the fight was first reported by the Boston Herald’s Inside the Octagon blog.

Set to take place at the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas, “The Ultimate Fighter 13” Finale will also host the final of the reality show’s upcoming welterweight tournament, as well as an important lightweight showdown between World Extreme Cagefighting champion Anthony Pettis and surging veteran Clay Guida. Neither the event nor the matchups have been made official by the promotion.

Grispi, 22, was viewed as the UFC’s top 145-pound contender just a few short months ago. However, after a title bout with featherweight king Jose Aldo at UFC 125 was scratched due to an Aldo vertebrae injury, “The Fluke” instead met Dustin Poirier at the Jan. 1 event. The lesser-known Poirier upset the apple cart with a lopsided unanimous decision win, snapping the Massachusetts native’s 10-fight win streak. During his WEC stint, Grispi notched wins over Jens Pulver, Micah Miller, L.C. Davis and current No. 1 contender Mark Hominick.

Roop will also seek to bounce back from a loss. After raising his stock considerably with a vicious head kick knockout of “Korean Zombie” Chan Sung Jung in September, the rangy Arizonan was dealt a first-round TKO loss by onetime training partner Hominick at UFC “Fight for the Troops 2” on Jan. 22. A cast member on the eighth season of “The Ultimate Fighter,” Roop now holds an overall UFC mark of 1-3, having lost to George Sotiropoulos and Shane Nelson and defeated David Kaplan in his previous run as a lightweight.