A middleweight match-up has been announced for UFC 163 for the Brazil fight card. The former BAMMA middleweight champion Tom “Kong” Watson will welcome former title challenger Thales Leites back to the Octagon.
UFC officials made the announcement via Twitter.
Watson (16-5) has fought for numerous organizations, but claimed his stake for the United Kingdom promotion BAMMA. He won the middleweight championship at BAMMA 3 against Matt Horwich and defended it on three different occasions.
He made his long anticipated UFC debut in September 2012 where he lost a split decision to Brad Tavares in his home country of England. He then went on to win his sophomore match-up against Stanislav Nedkov at UFC on FUEL TV 7 also in England. That fight won him “Fight of the Night” as well as “Knockout of the Night.”
Leites (20-4) made his UFC debut at The Ultimate Fighter 4 Finale where he lost to Martin Kampmann. He then went on to win five straight fights and claim his stake as the number one contender in the middleweight division. Leites had the opportunity to fight champ Anderson Silva but wound up losing a unanimous decision. He then went on to lose his next fight against Alessio Sakara at UFC 101 and was cut from the organization.
For the next three years, Leites fought for numerous organizations including MFC, Bitetti Combat MMA, Powerhouse World Promotions, Superior Challenge and Amazon Forest Combat. He went 6-1 outside the Octagon which led him to being re-signed by the company.
No word as to where on the fight card the match-up will be placed.
UFC 163 takes place on August 3rd in Rio de Janiero, Brazil. The main event is a featherweight championship bout between Jose “Scarface” Aldo and Anthony “Showtime” Pettis, and will also feature Demian Maia taking on Josh Koscheck. Stay tuned to MMASucka for more on UFC 163, and other UFC cards!
