Former Sengoku Featherweight Champion Hatsu Hioki has signed with the UFC and is set to debut against George Roop at UFC 137, UFC announced earlier this week.
UFC 137 takes place on October 29th in Las Vegas. Details on whether the bout will be on the prelims or the main card has yet to be confirmed.
Only having lost once in his last fourteen fights, Hatsu Hioko (24-4-2) was believed to be one of the few remaining true talents left for the UFC to sign from Japan. Though this is his first scrap under the UFC banner, that doesn’t mean he hasn’t fought UFC talent before. Hioki defeated former UFC Featherweight Title contender Mark Hominick in 2007 by way of unanimous decision. Hioki later went on to win the Shooto Lightweight Title and Sengoku Featherweight Title.
(Out of fellow Japanese fighters Takanori Gomi, Yoshihiro Akiyama, Michihiro Omigawa and KID Yamamoto, all of whom were supposed to match high expectations in the UFC, only Yoshihiro Akiyama has won his UFC debut. Their combined UFC record is 2 wins and 9 losses.)
George Roop’s (12-7-1) current UFC run hasn’t been an easy one. He was re-introduced to the UFC after the WEC merger and got dominated by Mark Hominick. Roop proved he belongs in the top promotion after he defeated Josh Grispi in the third round by TKO (body shots) at the Ultimate Fighter 13 Finale.
A victory for Roop will put him right back into the top-tier of UFC featherweights. A successful debut for Hioki will not only be a huge milestone for himself, but for Japanese MMA as a whole. Expect these two men to leave it all in the octagon.
