On Saturday, August 27 the UFC will return to Brazil for the first time since October 16, 1998. That event, “Ultimate Brazil” was headlined by a middleweight title bout between Frank Shamrock and John Lober, but it is perhaps best remembered for the 44 second beating Vitor Belfort gave to Wanderlei Silva.
The promotion will bring UFC 134 to the HSBC Arena in Rio next Saturday and the event, like the first UFC Brazil event, will be headlined by a middleweight title fight as Anderson Silva defends his title against Yushin Okami. The co-main event will feature Mauricio “Shogun” Rua facing Forrest Griffin. In all, 14 Brazilian fighters will be competing on the 12 fight card. Only one contest will be without a Brazilian fighter.
Appearing on the Spike TV preliminary card will be a lightweights Thiago Tavares and Spencer Fisher.
Tavares will come into the fight with a 15-4-1 record, going 5-4-1 in the UFC. His last fight was a second round KO loss to Shane Roller in March of this year. Fisher is 24-7 in his MMA career and 10-6 in the UFC. In his last four fights he has gone 1-3 with his sole win coming via unanimous decision over Curt Warburton at UFC 120.
Fighting in the deep lightweight division, the loser of this one could have his career on the line.