It looks as if the winner of UFC 152’s flyweight championship bout will have a credible title challenger after all.
When Demetrious Johnson and Joseph Benavidez battle for the inaugural flyweight championship, the UFC looked to be in major need of an elite fighter to challenge the new title-holder.
In the past week, the UFC has made bulking up the flyweight division a priority. Last week, the Zuffa boys have announced the signing of former Shooto flyweight champion Jussier da Silva. This afternoon, Ulysses Gomez has been announced as the newest member of the UFC roster.
Gomez was the inaugural Tachi Palace Fights flyweight champion, and bulked up to bantamweight to win the TPF bantamweight championship last December.
“Useless” fights out of team Cobra Kai, an academy that he helped to found with Marc Laimon back in 2004. It was announced this afternoon that Gomez will step in at UFC on Fox on August 4th to fight John Moraga.
Ironically, Moraga was originally announced as an opponent for Da Silva at the event, but Da Silva was forced out of the bout due to an injury. Moraga himself is riding a four-fight winning streak, and is the Cage Rage bantamweight champion.
These signings are great news for the UFC flyweight division, which has been hurting for top-level talent. Da Silva and Gomez are two of the best in the world and will make welcome addition to the lineup.
If the UFC is as determined to sign the world’s best flyweights as they seem, then we should be hearing about negotiations with Darrell Montague and Sean Santella in the near future.
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