Cole Miller vs. Mizuto Hirota joins UFC on FOX 22 lineup

Next month’s UFC on FOX 22 lineup has its 13th matchup.

Veteran Cole Miller (21-10 MMA, 10-8 UFC) is slated to fight Mizuto Hirota (17-7-2 MMA, 0-2-1 UFC) in a featherweight matchup, officials recently announced.

UFC on FOX 22 takes place Dec. 17 at Golden 1 Center in Sacramento, Calif. The card airs on FOX following early prelims on UFC Fight Pass, though the bout order hasn’t been finalized.

Miller and Hirota were initially slated to fight at UFC Fight Night 97 before the October event’s eventual cancellation.

Miller, who first joined the UFC in 2007 after appearing on “The Ultimate Fighter 5,” makes his 20th career UFC appearance. Despite some successful runs and five total five-fight bonuses, the 32-year-old submission specialist is winless (two losses and a no-contest) in his past three bouts and hasn’t registered a win since submitting Sam Sicilia in January 2014.

Hirota, who’s currently in his second UFC stint, gets a fourth shot at a first UFC win. The 35-year-old Japanese fighter and former World Victory Road/Sengoku and DEEP champion went 0-2 in his first stint with decision losses to Rani Yahya and Rodrigo Damm. After a three-fight winning streak outside the organization, he returned to the UFC in 2015 and fought Teruto Ishihara to a draw in the “Road to UFC: Japan” reality-show tournament final.

The latest UFC on FOX 22 card now includes:

• Paige VanZant vs. Michelle Waterson
• Mickey Gall vs. Sage Northcutt
• Urijah Faber vs. Brad Pickett
• Alan Jouban vs. Mike Perry
• Paul Craig vs. Claudio Henrique da Silva
• Takeya Mizugaki vs. Eddie Wineland
• Bryan Barberena vs. Colby Covington
• Josh Emmett vs. Scott Holtzman
• James Moontasri vs. Alex Morono
• Hector Sandoval vs. Fredy Serrano
• Sultan Aliev vs. Bojan Velickovic
• Irene Aldana vs. Leslie Smith
• Mizuto Hirota vs. Cole Miller

For more on UFC on FOX 22, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.