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More fights you say? Why yes indeed we have two more fights announced during this little break between UFC events, and they're both scheduled for The Ultimate Fighter 16 finale as part of a busy December. The featherweight fight is between Dustin Poirier and Jonathan Brookins, while Jared Papazian drops to flyweight to face Tim Elliott. MMA Junkie has the news:
A featherweight matchup of Jonathan Brookins (13-5 MMA, 2-2 UFC) vs. Dustin Poirier (12-2 MMA, 4-1 UFC) and a flyweight contest of Tim Elliott (8-3-1 MMA, 0-1 UFC) vs. Jared Papazian (14-8 MMA, 0-2 UFC) are the latest two additions to The Ultimate Fighter 16 Finale.
UFC officials recently announced the new matchups.
Brookins won the TUF 12 finale over Michael Johnson, then dropped down to featherweight where he was defeated by Erik Koch. He rebounded by sending Vagner Rocha into unconsciousness and out of the UFC, but was submitted for the first time in his career back in June against Charles Oliveira. Poirier was also a lightweight who dropped to featherweight and went on a four-fight tear that included wins over Josh Grispi, Jason Young, and Pablo Garza. He last fought in May against Chan Sung Jung, losing to the Korean Zombie in an incredible thriller via 4th round submission.
Elliott made it to the UFC just two fights removed from KOing Jens Pulver with a vicious knee. He was a short-notice replacement for Darren Uyenoyama against John Dodson, and he dropped a unanimous decision and took a hard thumb to the eye in the process. Papazian is fortunate to still be in the UFC after losing a majority decision to Mike Easton and following that up with a one-sided submission loss against Dustin Pague. In all likelihood his drop to flyweight is his last chance to stick around.
Interestingly enough this is the 7th fight booked for the TUF Finale that does not involve anyone from the show's current season. Add the main event of Shane Carwin vs. Roy Nelson and it looks like there won't be too many TUF 16 guys competing on the season finale.
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