UFC Canada announced last night via it’s Twitter feed that two bouts have been added to the UFC 149 Calgary card that takes place on July 21st from the Pengrowth Saddledome.
“Two more fights confirmed for Calgary #UFC149 – CDN Antonio Carvalho faces American George Roop and Thiago Alves against Yoshihiro Akiyama”
Posted on UFC Canada Twitter Feed: @UFC_CA
Canadian featherweight Antonio Carvalho has landed a spot on the card against American George Roop in a very big step-up fight for the Oshawa, Ontario native. Carvalho is 13-5 in his career and coming off a razor-thin loss to Felipe Arantes in his UFC debut at UFC 142 in January. He will look to use this opportunity to establish himself in the UFC.
The 12-9 Roop was in line for a shot at the title as recently as last year, but has fallen off a bit with two consecutive losses to Cub Swanson and Hatsu Hioki, two of the very best in his weight class.
The other fight announced is a very intriguing match up between two veteran UFC warriors with their backs against the chopping block wall. Brazilian welterweight Thiago Alves will battle Japanese star Yoshihiro Akiyama.
The once top-five welterweight Alves has lost four of his last six fights, including his last fight against Martin Kampmann, where he dominated for the entire fight before being submitted in the last minute. The naturally large fighter continues his commitment to cutting weight to compete in the welterweight division.
On the other hand, Akiyama will be fighting for only the second time in his career as a welterweight. The long-time 185-pound fighter lost his welterweight debut to Jake Shields in Japan in February. The Japanese star Judoka has lost four of five fights in the UFC and needs a win very badly to avoid being cut by the UFC.
The announcement of these fights brings the total to six announced fights on the card and the addition of Carvalho means that four Canadians are already booked for the Calgary show.
Announced Bouts (subject to change)
– Jose Aldo vs TBA (Featherweight Title Fight)
– Thiago Alves vs Yoshihiro Akiyama (welterweight)
– George Roop vs Antonio Carvalho* (featherweight)
– Nick Ring* vs Court McGee (middleweight)
– Bryan Carraway vs Mitch Gagnon* (bantamweight)
– Mitch Clarke* vs Anton Kuivanen (lightweight)
* Canadian fighter
Keep it locked in here for all Canadian card updates.
Dwight Wakabayashi is a Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report MMA, MMA Editor at CKSN.ca and guest blogger for Sportsnet.ca.
Catch him on Facebook and Twitter at wakafightermma.
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