Hacran Dias vs. Tatsuya Kawajiri set for January's UFC Fight Night in Singapore

A featherweight fight between Nova Uniao standout Hacran Dias and Japanese MMA legend Tatsuya Kawajiri is set for January’s UFC Fight Night event in Singapore.

The matchup was first reported by FightSportAsia.com. MMAjunkie.com has since confirmed with sources close to the fighters that verbal agreements are in place and contracts are expected to be finalized shortly. UFC officials have yet to announce the contest.

Featuring a welterweight headliner between perennial contender Jake Ellenberger and former Strikeforce champ Tarec Saffiedine, the UFC Fight Night event takes place Jan. 4 in Singapore. Neither a venue nor broadcast plans for the event have yet to be announced.

Kawajiri (32-7-2 MMA, 0-0 UFC) has fought outside of Asia just once – a 2011 Strikeforce loss to Gilbert Melendez for the now-defunct promotion’s lightweight title. That fight resulted in a first-round TKO loss in San Diego.

Since then, Kawajiri has won five straight fights for DREAM, as well as ONE FC, with four coming by stoppage. In 2011, after the loss to Melendez, he stopped Drew Fickett with punches and submitted Joachim Hansen and Kazuyuki Miyata.

Meanwhile, Dias (21-2-1 MMA, 1-1 UFC) is a 29-year-old Brazilian who trains alongside UFC featherweight champion Jose Aldo and interim bantamweight title holder Renan Barao. “Barnabe” made his UFC debut in June 2012 with a decision win over Yuri Alcantara. However, he recently suffered a decision loss to Nik Lentz in May, snapping a nine-fight win streak.

For more on UFC in Singapore, stay tuned to the UFC Rumors section of the site.

(Pictured: Hacran Dias)