With two weeks left to go before UFC on FX 1 takes place, King of the Cage bantamweight champion Jared ‘The Jackhammer’ Papazian (14-6) has signed with the UFC and will step in as a replacement for an injured Ken Stone at the Nashville event.
Papazian has been campaigning to compete as a flyweight Tweeting messages to UFC matchmaker Sean Shelby for a shot in the new UFC division. It looks as if he got his wish but instead of fighting at 125 lbs, he’ll instead fight at bantamweight against Mike ‘The Hulk’ Easton (11-1) at the FX event.
News that Papazian was stepping in to face Easton was first posted by MMAWeekly.com who learned of the news on Thursday.
UFC on FX: Guillard vs. Miller (aka UFC on FX 1) is scheduled to take place on January 20, 2012 at the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tennessee. The UFC has yet to confirm the Easton vs. Papazian bout, which should take place on the preliminary card.
Papazian has won three in a row and is 8-1 in his last nine matches. The KOTC champ was last in action this past September where he defeated Marvin Garcia via unanimous decision in a title bantamweight defense. ‘The Jackhammer’ has earned five wins by (T)KO, one by submission and eight by decision in his career.
Easton has won six straight including his UFC debut last October when he stopped opponent Byron Bloodworth via second round TKO at the Washington, D.C. event. The win was his first in nearly two years after an extended hiatus from the sport of mma. ‘The Hulk’ hadn’t fought since October 2009 where he defended the UWC bantamweight title by earning a split decision against Chase Beebe.