UFC made an official announcement of the card for Jan. 4 at Marina Bay Sands in Singapore! Take a wild guess who is headlining the card?!
Strikeforce welterweight champion Tarec Saffiedine(14-3 win-loss record) will be finally make his UFC debut against hard-hitting fan favourite Ellenberger (29-7). He was expected to make his first appearance for the promotion at UFC on FOX 8 against Robbie Lawler, but he was forced out with an injury. The fight will be his first since winning Strikeforce’s final welterweight title with a unanimous decision win over Marquardt at that promotion’s January finale. The Belgian/Lebanese, who trains at California’s Team Quest, will bring a four-fight winning streak into the bout.
Ellenberger will try to get back on track after a unanimous decision loss in July to fellow contender Rory MacDonald at UFC on FOX 8 in Seattle. That setback snapped a two-fight winning streak for “The Juggernaut,” which came with a win over Jay Hieron and a “Knockout of the Night” win over former Strikeforce champ Nate Marquardt.
That’s just the start of a work in progress as the organization has promised to announce the rest of the international fight card “in the coming weeks.”
Be sure to keep it locked on ArabsMMA.com for the latest “Ellenberger vs. Saffiedine” news and notes!
Mmajunkie.com on Ellenberger-Saffiedine:
The UFC late Tuesday made an official announcement of the card for Jan. 4 at Marina Bay Sands in Singapore. Tickets for the event go on sale Thursday. Broadcast plans have not yet been announced.
In the welterweight main event, first reported by MMAjunkie.com in October, Jake Ellenberger (29-7 MMA, 8-3 UFC) meets former Strikeforce champ Tarec Saffiedine (14-3 MMA, 0-0 UFC), who will make his UFC debut. Two other previously reported fights also now are official, as Tatsuya Kawajiri (32-7-2 MMA, 0-0 UFC) will make his promotional debut against Hacran Dias (21-2-1 MMA, 1-1 UFC) in a featherweight, and Katsunori Kikuno (21-5-2 MMA, 0-0 UFC) faces Quinn Mulhern (18-3 MMA, 0-1 UFC) at lightweight.
Added to the bill is a welterweight fight between Kiichi Kunimoto (15-5-2 MMA, 0-0 UFC) and Hyun Gyu Lim (12-3-1 MMA, 2-0 UFC) and bantamweights Kyung Ho Kang (11-7 MMA, 0-1 UFC) vs. Shunichi Shimizu (28-8-10 MMA, 0-0 UFC).
Kunimoto, from Japan, will make his UFC debut on a four-fight winning streak that includes a July submission over UFC veteran Edward Faaloloto. The 32-year-old Pancrase veteran has been professional since 2006 and has 10 stoppages in his 15 career wins.
Lim, from Korea, will try to stay unbeaten in the UFC and stretch his seven-fight winning streak. He debuted with the company in March in Japan with a knockout win over Marcelo Guimaraes. And he followed that up in August with a first-round knockout of Pascal Krauss at UFC 164.
Kang will be looking for his first UFC win. He debuted in March with a no-contest against Alex Caceres when Caceres tested positive for marijuana, overturning his win. In August at UFC 164, he lost a unanimous decision to hometown fan favorite Chico Camus in Milwaukee.
The Japanese Shimizu will make his UFC debut on the strength of a five-fight winning streak and seven wins in his past eight fights. The 28-year-old has 19 submission wins in his 28 career victories. But remarkably, he also has 10 draws.
With the additions, the latest UFC in Singapore card includes:
- Jake Ellenberger vs. Tarec Saffiedine
- Hacran Dias vs. Tatsuya Kawajiri
- Kiichi Kunimoto vs. Hyun Gyu Lim
- Kyung Ho Kang vs. Shunichi Shimizu
- Katsunori Kikuno vs. Quinn Mulhern
