Takanori Gomi – Photo via UFC.com
Officials with the Ultimate Fighting Championship announced it’s headlining bout for it’s upcoming UFC on FUEL TV 8 event in Japan featuring a light heavyweight match between Brian Stann and former PRIDE champ Wanderlei Silva.
The promotion also announced six other bouts for the event including a lightweight bout between Takanori ‘The Fireball Kid’ Gomi (34-8, 1NC) vs. Diego ‘The Dream’ Sanchez (23-5), a welterweight tilt between ‘Stun Gun’ Dong Hyun Kim (16-2-1, 1NC) vs. Siyar ‘The Great’ Bahadurzada (21-4-1), a welterweight match featuring Riki ‘Killer Bee’ Fukuda (19-6) vs. Brad Tavares (9-1), while lightweights Cristiano Marcello (13-4) takes on Kazuki Tokudome (11-3), as well as bantamweight matches between Takeya Mizugaki (16-7-2) vs. Bryan ‘Kid Lightning’ Caraway (17-5) and Alex ‘Bruce Leeroy’ Caceres (8-5) vs. Kyung Ho ‘Typhoon’ Kang (11-6).
Gomi has won two in a row picking up a split decision over Mac Danzig at UFC on FUEL TV 6 and a second round TKO finish of Ejii Mitsuoka at UFC 144. Opponent Sanchez has won three straight “Fight of the Night” bonuses but lost his last fight by decision to Jake Ellenberger at UFC on FUEL TV 1 while picking up his last win at UFC on Versus 3 with a decision over Martin Kampmann.
Kim is 1-1 in his last two picking up a decision over Paulo Thiago in November at UFC on FUEL TV 6, while losing to Demian Maia at UFC 148 via TKO (injury). Bahadurzada has won seven straight including winning his Octagon debut this past April by stopping Thiago by knockout in 42-seconds.
Fukuda picked up a decision last month at UFC on FUEL TV 6 over Tom DeBlass while losing a decision to Costa Philippou at UFC 148. His other match in 2012 was a decision over Steve Cantwell at UFC 144. Opponent Tavares has earned two straight wins, defeating Tom Watson by split decision at UFC on FUEL TV 5. He also beat Dongi Yang at UFC on FUEL TV 3 by decision in May.
Marcello is 1-1 in the UFC beating Reza Madadi at UFC 153 last October by split decision. He dropped his debut at the TUF 15 Finale after a knockout loss by Sam Sicilia. Tokudome will make his UFC debut at the upcoming tv event and enters the UFC on a two fight win streak with a 6-1 record over his past seven. Tokudome’s last win came in August at a Pancrase 9 event with a decision win against Kengo Ura.
Mizugaki picked up a decision victory in Macau last month by defeating opponent Jeff Hougland by decision at UFC on FUEL TV 6. The win allowed him to bounce back from a decision loss to Chris Cariaso at UFC 144 last February. Opponent Caraway has picked up three straight wins debuting at the TUF 14 Finale with a submission win against Dustin Neace. His other Octagon win came in July of this year in Caraway’s bantamweight debut, defeating Mitch Gagnon by rear-naked choke submission at UFC 149.
Caceres has put two wins together for the first time in the UFC, earning a split decision over Motonobu Tezuka on November 10 at UFC on FUEL TV 6. His other win was a submission victory at UFC on FUEL TV 4 in July against Damacio Page. Kang is another new fighter to the UFC entering his Octagon debut on a three fight win streak having won the inaugural Road FC bantamweight title last June.