On Monday evening, the Ultimate Fighting Championship added a bantamweight bout to its upcoming UFC 132: Cruz vs. Faber event between former WEC champ Brian Bowles (9-1) and Takeya Mizugaki (14-5-2).
“Brian Bowles looks to regain the bantamweight championship title, but first he’ll have to take on hard-hitting perennial top-10 contender Takeya Mizugaki at UFC 132,” said UFC President Dana White.
Officials hinted that a win for Bowles could put him back at the top for a title shot against the winner of the UFC 132 headliner, a title bout between champ Dominick Cruz and Urijah Faber.
UFC 132: Cruz vs. Faber will take place on July 2 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Bowles made his UFC debut last month at UFC on Versus 3 with a win after choking opponent Damacio Page into unconsciousness at the Louisville event. That submission earned the former WEC champ the “Submission of the Night” bonus. Bowles sat for just over a year after losing the title to Cruz at WEC 47 via TKO (doctor stoppage). Bowles broke his hand in that fight, and wasn’t ready to return until November at WEC 52, but suffered an injury to his foot forcing him out of that fight.
Mizugaki debuted on the same Versus card last month, earning a split decision win over Reuben Duran putting the Japanese fighters record at 2-1 in his last three. His last WEC appearance, a headling bout against Faber at WEC 52, saw him choked out by the “California Kid” in the first round. The other win was a unanimous decision victory over Rani Yahya at WEC 48 one year ago in April 2010.