SPORTS & RECREATION

After nearly three years, the Ultimate Fighting Championship will return to Nashville on January 20 at Bridgestone Arena. The UFC last hosted a show in Nashville in April 2009. Later that year, it made a stop in Memphis. Those two fight cards are the promotion's only trips to Tennessee.

The April 2009 show — UFC Fight Night 18 — drew more than 10,000 fans and a reported gate in excess of $600,000. At the time, the attendance was a UFC record for a non-pay-per-view show.

Headlining will be a pair of recent lightweight (155 pounds) contenders, Melvin Guillard and Jim Miller. Guillard (29-9-2, 1 NC), a New Orleans native, had a five-fight winning streak snapped last month in an upset loss to Joe Lauzon in Houston. Guillard got his UFC start on the company's popular reality series "The Ultimate Fighter," which in the spring will move from Spike to FX as part of the network deal with Fox.

Miller (20-3), of Whippany, N.J., had a seven-fight streak halted by Ben Henderson in August. Miller likely would have gotten a title shot with a win. Instead, Henderson pulled the upset, then went on to beat Clay Guida earlier this month and will fight champion Frankie Edgar for the title in February in Japan.

In its 18-year history, the UFC has held events in 30 states, plus the District of Columbia, and nine countries outside the U.S., including the United Arab Emirates, Brazil and Australia.