By Romeo Cabras Jr.

UFC on Fuel TV 2 from Sweden brings the Octagon debut of welterweight Siyar Bahadurzada. Welcoming him to the UFC is none other than Paulo Thiago. This bout is on the main card, headlined by Thiago Silva vs Alexander Gustafsson, airs on Fuel TV tomorrow, April 14th, 3pm ET.

A former member of the Golden Glory team (having parted ways earlier this year) and a Shooto light-heavyweight world champion (2008, 2009, 2010), Siyar “The Great” Bahadurzada vacated his Shooto title to fight in the UFC. A native of Afghanistan, relocated to the Netherlands at age 15, where he trained under Martijn de Jong at the Tatsujin dojo. He is on a 6-fight streak with 5 TKO stoppages. He credits his character, fighting sense, and ability to the war torn and dangerous environment in which he grew up.

The man standing in his way is Paulo Thiago. After shocking the world in his octagon debut by knocking out the ever-game Josh Koscheck in the 1st round at UFC 95 and received knockout of the night honors, Thiago immediately competed with the UFC’s top welterweights. The BOPE member, (Brazilian police’s elite Special-ops battalion) holds a 4-3 record with every loss coming by decisions from the division’s front runners (John Fitch, Martin Kampmann, Diego Sanchez). Fresh off a win over David Mitchell at UFC 134 last august, the slick BJJ black belt will look to shut down the welcome party and take a step closer to the welterweight crown.

Could Siyar “The Great” Bahadurzada have the same results of Paulo Thiago’s debut?

comments