Ryan Couture, the son of UFC Hall of Famer Randy Couture, vs. Ross Pearson, Matt Mitrione vs. Phil De Fries and Ryan LaFlare vs. Ben Alloway will all take place on the April 6 card, which will be held at the Ericsson Globe Arena in Stockholm, Sweden. The UFC announced the fights via its UK Twitter account.
Couture’s Octagon debut will be a historic one, as it will mark the first time in UFC history that the son of a former UFC fighter competes for the promotion. The 30-year-old enters the UFC with a 6-1 record and a winner in his last four fights. Meanwhile, Pearson (14-6) enjoyed a successful return to the lightweight division when he stopped his rival George Sotiropoulos in December.
Mitrione (5-2) vs. De Fries (9-2) was originally scheduled for UFC 155, but the fight was scrapped after Mitrione agreed to replace Shane Carwin against Roy Nelson at The Ultimate Fighter 16 Finale earlier in the month. Both fighters are coming off losses.
Finally, it was announced earlier this week that LaFlare (7-0) was going to fight on the World Series of Fighting 2 card in April, but the undefeated native of Long Island, N.Y., had a Strikeforce contract before the promotion folded and will be brought over to the UFC after all. He’ll meet Alloway (13-3), who was a cast member on TUF: The Smashes and has won his last six fights in a row.
UFC on FUEL TV 9 will be headlined by Alexander Gustafsson vs. Gegard Mousasi.