A pair of bouts have been added to August’s first of two UFC pay-per-view events, which will be UFC 163.
Light heavyweights Vinny Magalhaes (10-6 1 NC, 1-3 UFC) and Anthony Perosh (13-7, 3-4 UFC) will square off while former UFC middleweight title challenger Thales Leites (20-4, 5-3 UFC) returns to the promotion to take on Tom ‘Kong’ Watson (16-5, 1-1 UFC) at the event. Magalhaes has confirmed his bout with Perosh while UFC officials have confirmed the booking of Leites vs. Watson.
Magalhaes and Perosh are both looking to bounce back from losses in their last Octagon appearances. Magalhaes took on Phil Davis at UFC 159 in April, losing by unanimous decision. Magalhaes made a successful return to the UFC in September 2012 when he submitted Igor Pokrajac at UFC 152. That win is Magalhaes’ only triumph in four UFC fights.
Perosh, meanwhile, looks to rebound from a seven-second knockout loss to Ryan Jimmo at UFC 149 in July 2012. Perosh had recorded three straight wins prior to the setback, scoring stoppage wins over Tom Blackledge, Cyrille Diabate and Nick Penner. A toe injury kept Perosh from competing in a scheduled bout against Joey Beltran in December, and his fight with Magalhaes will be his first fight in over a year.
Leities challenged UFC Middleweight Champion Anderson Silva for the title at UFC 97 in April 2009. Leites came up on the losing end after securing the title shot following five straight wins. Leites then dropped his subsequent fight to Alessio Sakara at UFC 101 in August 2009, which saw him released from the UFC. Following a 6-1 record following his UFC release, Leites recently resigned with the promotion and is set to return in August.
Watson has competed twice in the UFC, splitting the two fights. He dropped a decision to Brad Tavares in his UFC debut at UFC On FUEL TV 5 in September. He scored his first Octagon win in his next fight when he scored a second-round knockout win over Stanislav Nedkov at UFC On FUEL TV 7 in February. He earned “Knockout Of The Night” and “Fight Of The Night” bonus awards for the fight with Nedkov. Watson has scored nine of his 16 professional wins by knockout or submission.
UFC 163 takes place on August 3 from the HSBC Arena in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. UFC Featherweight Champion Jose Aldo defends the title against Anthony Pettis in the night’s main event. Demian Maia takes on Josh Koscheck at the event as well.
