UFC Newcomer Issei Tamura

On January 30th we heard news that Leonard Garcia was forced out of his scheduled UFC 144 bout with Tiequan Zhang due to injury.

It took nearly two weeks, but the UFC has finally found a replacement and he comes in the form of Issei Tamura. Tamura is a fighter they are pulling from the local Japanese circuit on short notice to fight infront of his hometown crowd for the first time in the UFC.

UFC 144 is set to go down on February 26 live from the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan. As of current date, the event is expected to be headlined by a lightweight title fight between champion Frankie Edgar and challenger Benson Henderson. The event marks the UFC’s first ever return to Japan since UFC 29 in 2000.

With eight fights to his credit and an overall MMA record of 6-2 Tamura will make his UFC debut on just over two weeks-notice. Oddly enough, the Japanese fighter has lost two of his last three outings including his most recent fight, yet the UFC still handpicked him as a late replacement for Garcia.

The majority of Zhangs fights come from his homeland of China. One of many WEC imports he is 1-1 since entering the UFC’s ranks. Prior to his defection to America he was undefeated but coming into this bout he is 1-2 in his last three outings.

Continue to next page for the “Editors Breakdown and prediction.”

Read More: UFC 144, Issei Tamura (News), Tiequan Zhang (News)

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