T.J. Dillashaw meets Takeya Mizugaki at UFC 173 in Las Vegas
A pair of bantamweight sluggers have been added to the UFC’s Memorial Day weekend show.
T.J. Dillashaw (9-2 MMA, 5-2 UFC) and Takeya Mizugaki (19-7-2 MMA, 6-2 UFC) have agreed to meet at UFC 173 this May in Las Vegas. UFC officials announced the new fight booking on Wednesday afternoon.
Dillashaw is ranked No. 9, while Mizugaki is No. 13 in the latest USA TODAY Sports/MMAjunkie MMA bantamweight rankings.
UFC 173 takes place May 24 at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. The card, which is headlined by a middleweight title bout between champ Chris Weidman and challenger Vitor Belfort, has a main card on pay-per-view following prelims on FOX Sports 1 and UFC Fight Pass.
Dillashaw got back on the winning track in January when he took a unanimous decision from Mike Easton at UFC Fight Night 35 in Georgia. This past October, the “TUF 14″ runner-up had a four-fight winning streak snapped when Raphael Assuncao beat him in a controversial split decision at UFC Fight Night 29 in Brazil.
After he was stopped by John Dodson in the “TUF 14″ bantamweight final, Dillashaw, a Team Alpha Male product, picked up wins over Walel Watson, Vaughan Lee, Issei Tamura and Hugo Viana – the latter three coming by stoppage.
Mizugaki, who is nearly five years removed from his U.S. debut, when he challenged then-champ Miguel Torres for the WEC bantamweight title, has won four straight fights, all by decision. He had an up-and-down first four fights in his UFC career after moving over from the WEC prior to his current surge.
He took a split decision from Reuben Duran in his UFC debut, then lost to Brian Bowles. At UFC 135, he knocked out Cole Escovedo before being outpointed by Chris Cariaso at UFC 144 in his native Japan. But since then, he has four wins in four countries. He beat Jeff Hougland in Macau, Bryan Caraway in Japan, Erik Perez in Indianapolis in the States and Nam Phan in Australia.
With the addition, the latest UFC 173 card now includes:
Chris Weidman vs. Vitor Belfort
James Krause vs. Jamie Varner
T.J. Dillashaw vs. Takeya Mizugaki
Chris Holdsworth vs. Kyung Ho Kang
Doo Ho Choi vs. Sam Sicilia
