With TJ Dillashaw Headed For Main Event, Francisco Rivera Steps In To Face Takeya Mizugaki At UFC 173
When knee injuries to UFC middleweight champion Chris Weidman caused No. 5-ranked bantamweight challenger TJ Dillashaw to be moved into the UFC 173 main event slot opposite dominant champion Renan Barao, his original opponent Takeya Mizugaki was left without one of his own.
That situation has been remedied today, as Mizugaki has drawn Francisco Rivera for the rapidly growing Memorial Day card.
It promises to be a closely-contested affair, as both fighters have some serious momentum behind them.
On a four-fight win streak, Mizugaki was last seen defeating Nam Phan at UFC Fight Night 33 last December in Brisbane. His previous three wins were over solid if not spectacular competition in Erik Perez, Bryan Caraway, and Jeff Hougland.
Not to be outdone, Rivera most recently blasted George Roop with a second round TKO back at UFC Fight Night 31 in November 2013. Prior to that, he finished Edwin Figueroa with another TKO at UFC 156. If not for a positive test for a banned substance following his UFC 149 knockout win over Roland Delorme; the United Mixed Martials Arts product would be on a six-fight win streak with five finishes in that span.
Overall it’s good news for the talent-starved UFC bantamweight division, which is beginning to run short on legitimate challengers for surging titleholder Barao.
Long-injured former champ Dominick Cruz is supposedly returning sometime this year, but we’ll have to believe that when we see it. And Raphael Assuncao, who had to turn down the UFC 173 main event with injured ribs, is waiting patiently for the next shot at the belt.
But if Barao gets past all of those roadblocks, the winner of this fight could potentially face off with the “Baron” at some point down the road.
Not that they’d have much of a chance at beating him, but anything can happen.
Photo Credit: Joshua Lindsey for USA TODAY Sports
