Riki Fukuda Set To Welcome Tom DeBlass To The Middleweight Division At UFC Macau

Another day, another UFC fight announcement, this one being an addition to their first venture into China at UFC on Fuel TV 6 in Macau. A middleweight bout between Riki Fukuda and Tom DeBlass was confirmed today to The Score. Here's what they had to say:

Tom Deblass, who made his UFC debut this past April in the light heavyweight division, will drop down to middleweight and in his 185-pound debut he'll fight tough veteran Riki Fukuda at UFC on FUEL TV 6: Le vs. Franklin, which takes place on Nov. 10 at Cotai Arena in Macau, China.

Sources close to the fight confirmed to theScore.com that verbal agreements are in place for the bout, which is expected to air on the Facebook portion of the card.

DeBlass, a brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt under Ricardo Almeida, has transitioned into MMA after his great success in competitive jiu-jitsu. He reeled off an impressive seven wins in a row in Ring of Combat, a promotion where he competed and won the titles in both heavyweight and light heavyweight. Unfortunately, in DeBlass' UFC debut in April, he lost a majority decision to fight veteran Cyrille Diabate in a fight he took on short notice. After the first loss of his career, DeBlass will be looking to get back to his winning ways as soon as possible.

An eight year veteran of the sport, Riki Fukuda is a very accomplished fighter. He has competed in numerous promotions, compiling a 17-4 record prior to his time in the UFC. Unfortunately for him, his run in the UFC has been slightly less impressive, as he now stands at 1-2 with the promotion. In his UFC debut, he fought TUF alum Nick Ring, but lost a controversial unanimous decision. Since that bout, he has defeated Steve Cantwell, a former champion in the WEC, and lost to Constantinos Philippou, a surging middleweight boxer. His last outing with Philippou was a disappointing loss for Fukuda, and he'd like to get back into the win column after this next fight in Macau.

UFC on Fuel TV 6 takes place at the Cotai Arena in Macau, China on November 10th. It is set to be headlined by a middleweight bout between Rich Franklin and Cung Le.

SB Nation coverage of UFC on Fuel TV 6