A middleweight bout has been verbally agreed to for the upcoming UFC 143 event in February, as Brazilian Rafael ‘Sapo’ Natal (13-3-1) is set to welcome undefeated Dutch newcomer Michael Kuiper (11-0) to the promotion.
“Undefeated Judo specialist Michael Kuiper has verbally agreed to make his UFC debut at UFC 143 against Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu champion Rafael ‘Sapo’ Natal,” UFC president Dana White announced today.
UFC 143 is expected to take place on February 4th at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, Nevada. The headliner for the show will be a welterweight title fight between UFC champ Georges St-Pierre and former Strikeforce champ, Nick Diaz.
Natal is 1-1-1 in his three appearances in the Octagon, having earned his first UFC victory last August at UFC 133 in Philadelphia. ‘Sapo’ earned a unanimous decision over Paul Bradley at the event. Previous to that, Natal fought Canadian Jesse Bongfeldt to a Majority Draw at UFC 124, and lost a decision to Rich Attonito at UFC Fight Night 22 in September 2010 as part of his UFC debut.
Kuiper hales from the Netherlands and holds a black belt in Judo and a purple belt in BJJ. He is undefeated in 11 pro-bouts, having competed exclusively in Europe. Ten of his eleven victories have all come by finishes, with his two most recent wins coming in 2011 by (T)KO.
Despite Kuiper’s strong record, fighting opponents outside of Europe is a lot different so I don’t see this going well for the Dutch fighter.