Danny 'Last Call' Castillo
Officials with the Ultimate Fighting Championship have confirmed several previously identified bouts as well as adding a few more for next years upcoming UFC on FUEL TV 7 event.
Newly announced bouts include a pair of lightweight bouts featuring Paul ‘Sassangle’ Sass (13-1) vs. Danny ‘Last Call’ Castillo (14-5) as well as Terry Etim (15-4) vs. Renne Forte (7-2), bantamweights Vaughan Lee (12-8) vs. Motonobu Tezuka (19-5-4) and a flyweight match between Phil ‘Billy’ Harris (21-10) vs. Ulysses ‘Useless’ Gomez (9-3).
Confirmed as the headliners for the London show will be an interim bantamweight title defense by champ Renan Barao who takes on Michael McDonald. Other rumored bouts include a welterweight tilt between Matt Riddle vs. Che Mills, and a featherweight bout featuring Andy Ogle vs. Josh Grispi.
UFC on FUEL TV: Barao vs. McDonald is expected to take place on February 16, 2013 at the Wembley Arena in London, England. Tickets for the event went on sale this week.
Sass saw his undefeated run end at thirteen this past September with a first round armbar submission loss to Matt Wiman at UFC on FUEL TV 5. The defeat put Sass’s record in the Octagon at 3-1 with two “Submission of the Night” bonuses under his belt.
Castillo was knocked out in his last fight, losing to Michael Johnson in the second round of their UFC on FX 5 bout last October. Castillo had won three straight previous with a decision victory against John Cholish at UFC on FOX 3.
Etim will have been out of action for thirteen months having suffered a devastating knockout loss to Edson Barboza at UFC 142 last January. His last win came in November 2011 at UFC 138 with a 17-second submission win over Edward Faaloloto.
Forte was a cast member of TUF: Brazil, losing his Octagon debut this past October via third round submission at UFC 153. His last win took place in May 2011 at an Amazon Fight 8 fight via third round TKO.
Lee is 1-2 in the UFC, suffering a first round submission loss to TJ Dillashaw at UFC on FUEL TV 4. His only win took place in February of this year in Japan, submitting Norifumi Yamamoto at UFC 144 to earn the “Submission of the NIght” bonus.
Tezuka debuted with the UFC this past November at the UFC Macau event, seeing his three fight win streak end after a split decision loss to Alex Caceres. Tezuka made his way to the UFC from the Japan based Pancrase promotion.
Harris, a long time veteran of the UK mma seen, debuted with the UFC this past October at the UFC on FX 5 show. At the Minnesota event, Harris faced Darren Uyenoyama, losing via second round submission. The loss ended a five fight win streak.
Gomez is another fighter who made his Octagon debut in his last fight, joining the UFC after winning the Tachi Palace Fights 135-lbs strap in December of last year. Gomez suffered a first round knockout loss at UFC on FOX 4 against John Moraga.