Bantamweight shakeup: Easton out, Hougland meets Jabouin and Menjivar fights Barao
An injury to Mike Easton (12-1 MMA, 2-0 UFC) has shuffled the bantamweight deck.
Now meeting Yves Jabouin (17-7 MMA, 2-1 UFC) at UFC on FUEL TV 3 is Jeff Hougland (10-4 MMA, 1-0 UFC), whose originally scheduled opponent, Renan Barao (28-1 MMA, 3-0 UFC), is now set to meet Ivan Menjivar (24-8 MMA, 3-0 UFC) in a possible No. 1 contender bout at UFC 148.
Sources close to the event today confirmed the news to MMAjunkie.com (
www.mmajunkie.com) following a tweet from reporter Joe Ferraro, host of Sportsnet's "UFC Central."
Reached today for comment, Easton declined to confirm he was out of the fight but admitted to dealing with injuries in training. His reps were unavailable for comment.
"I really want this fight, but it's no good going into a fight really, really banged up," he said. "It makes for not a good night."
"UFC on FUEL TV 3: Korean Zombie vs. Poirer" takes place May 15 at the Patriot Center in Fairfax, Va. Main-card fights air live on FUEL TV while preliminary-card fights stream on Facebook.
UFC 148 takes place July 7 at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. It's main card airs live on pay-per-view while preliminary-card fights air on FX.
Menjivar vs. Barao is welcome news for many fans puzzled at Barao's meeting with Hougland, a fighter with far less UFC experience.
As it stands, the Brazilian enjoys a three-fight win streak in the UFC and holds a record virtually unblemished since his professional debut in 2005. Barao most recently outpointed Scott Jorgensen at UFC 143, which built on another key win over Brad Pickett at UFC 138.
Menjivar perked up ears in his most recent performance with an impressive come-from-behind victory over John Albert at "UFC on FUEL TV: Sanchez vs. Ellenberger." After taking a flurry of punches early on, he turned the tables for a first-round submission victory, which brought his current win streak to three.
Hougland, meanwhile, hopes to build on a solid decision win over Donny Walker in his octagon debut at UFC 132. Unbeaten in his last nine outings, he has earned submissions in seven of his 10 wins.
After stumbling in his UFC debut, Jabouin has rebounded with consecutive wins against such fighters as Ian Loveland and Walel Watson.
