A featherweight bout appears to be all but set for February’s upcoming UFC 144 event in Japan, as Hatsu Hioki (25-4-2) will return home to face Bart Palaszewski (36-14).
According to MMAWeekly.com, they are reporting that both fighters have made verbal agreements to meet at the upcoming Feb. 26 event which is expected to take place at the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan.
Hioki debuted with the UFC this past October at UFC 137, picking up a split decision win over George Roop at the Las Vegas event. The victory extended Hioki’s win streat to five and puts him at 13-1-1 over his past fifteen bouts. In that span, the Japanese fighter has fought for a number of promotions including Shooto, World Victory Road, and Montreal based TKO.
Palaszewski bounced back from a loss by stopping Tyson Griffin at the same UFC 137 event last month. Griffin came in overweight for the bout, 148 pounds, and was stopped cold by Palaszewski in the first round suffering a knockout loss. The victory was Palaszewski’s Octagon debut and erased a split decision loss in his last fight to Kamal Shalorus at WEC 53.