Thursday evening, officials with the UFC announced the addition of two more featherweight bouts for the promotions second Brazilian event in less than a year. Squaring off will be Yuri ‘Marajó’ Alcantara (26-3), who debuted as a featherweight in the UFC in his last bout, and Japanese fighter Michihiro Omigawa (13-10-1). While UFC softmore Felipe ‘Sertanejo’ Arantes (13-4) is set to face newcomer, Canadian fighter Antonio Carvalho (13-4)
UFC President Dana White announced two verbally agreed to bouts for the highly anticipated card: a clash between Yuri Alcantara and Michihiro Omigawa, and a battle pitting Felipe Arantes against debuting Antonio Carvalho.
UFC 142 is expected to take place on January 14, 2012 at the HSBC Arena in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The event headliner will feature a featherweight title defense by champ Jose Aldo, who is set to face challenger, Chad Mendes.
Alcantara debuted at 145 lbs, fighting for the first time in the UFC last August. He went through two opponents, Mackens Semerzier and Antonio Carvalho, before finally meeting Felipe Arantes at the Rio event. ‘Marajó’ won the bout by decision, extending his win streak to twelve straight victories.
Omigawa earned his first victory in the Octagon, having gone 1-4 overall in two stints with the top promotion. The Japanese fighter earned a unanimous decision over Jason Young at UFC 138 earlier this month in England, ending a two fight losing streak. Omigawa had been on a five fight win streak when he re-joined the UFC in February, but would lose decisions to Chad Mendes at UFC 126 and then Darren Elkins at UFC 131.
‘Sertanejo’ Arantes took the bout with Alcantara on short notice last August, the loss ended a nine fight unbeaten streak which saw the Brazilian fighter go 7-0-2. His winning record includes 6 victories by (T)KO, 4 by submission, and 3 by decision.
Carvalho was forced out of his fight with Alcantara due to a training injury, and now appears set to make his UFC debut at the Brazilian event. The Canadian fighter has won three straight last appearing at a Score Fighting Series event in his native Ontario, Canada last June. Carvalho has also competed under the Shooto banner, the Maximum Fighting Championship, Warrior 1 MMA, as well as other various local organizations.