January’s UFC Fight Night 34 fight card will be an historic one, as it will be the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s first venture into South East Asian territory. The promotion has been longing for an opportunity to take its events global since its inception, and now, more than two decades later, a country that’s pretty much still in its infancy for MMA, is set to welcome an organization that has evolved exponentially.
UFC Fight Night 34 (or UFC: Singapore) takes place January 4 at the Marina Bay Sands in Singapore. The headlining bout of the line-up features two premier Welterweights in Jake Ellenberger, and former Strikeforce champ, Tarec Saffiediene. The likes of Tatsuya Kawajiri, Hacran Dias and a host of new South Korean and Japanese talents are set to showcase their skills for the first time in the Lion city as well.
And now, a new Bantamweight tilt joins the mix, with the UFC continuing its substantial recruiting spree of Asian fighters in the region.
Singapore’s very own Royston Wee (2-0) and reigning URCC champ David Galera (5-0) have inked a deal to make their promotional debuts against one another on January 4. Officials today confirmed this first ever UFC South-East Asian contest.
Wee (pictured) is 2-0 in his professional MMA career and hails from Impact MMA, a local gym that has to date produced ONE FC alums Juan Wen Jie and Bruce Loh. The 27-year-old tried out for The Ultimate Fighter: China this past fall and was selected, but opted to compete on the January 4 fight card instead of fighting in the reality MMA series. Despite his absence in the pro MMA circuit for two years or so, Wee remains as one of Singapore’s top talents, with a well-established all round MMA facet.
Galera, meanwhile, is the first Filipino national to be snapped by the promotion. Training out of Team Lakay, alongside the likes of Eduard Folayang, Honorio Banario and Geje Eustaquio among many others, the Filipino fighter will without a doubt be looking to emulate the footsteps of fellow countryman, Mark Munoz. He claimed the URCC Bantamweight title in his last outing, and has finished all of his five victories by either TKO or submission.
With that, here’s the updated UFC: Singapore agenda:
- Jake Ellenberger vs. Tarec Saffiedine
- Hacran Dias vs. Tatsuya Kawajiri
- Kiichi Kunimoto vs. Hyun Gyu Lim
- Kyung Ho Kang vs. Shunichi Shimizu
- Katsunori Kikuno vs. Quinn Mulhern
- Will Chope vs. Max Holloway
- Dustin Kimura vs. Jon delos Reyes
- David Galera vs. Royston Wee
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