Takeya Mizugaki Faces Francisco Rivera at UFC on Versus 3 March 3

Takeya Mizugaki at WEC 40

With the UFC headed back to Versus on March 3 more fights are starting to be added to the card. The latest addition is a bantamweight offering with Japanese fighter Takeya Mizugaki getting back the cage taking on Francisco Rivera.

The match-up was confirmed to MMAWeekly.com by sources close to the fight, with bout agreements having been issued for the March 3 contest.

Mizugaki (13-5-2) makes his UFC debut coming off a loss to Urijah Faber in his last fight under the WEC banner. While his record has been up and down while with the WEC, Mizugaki is a fighter that has always brought action to his fights and he’ll hope to transfer his special brand of excitement to the UFC Octagon.

Dropping down to 135lbs to meet Mizugaki in March will be Francisco Rivera (5-1) who will try to erase the memory of his first WEC fight when he makes his UFC debut.

Stepping up on short notice, Rivera faced Erik Koch in November and fell prey to a nasty head kick knockout. Prior to that fight, Rivera had been undefeated and will try to get back on the winning track in March facing a very tough opponent in Mizugaki.

It’s likely the fight between Mizugaki and Rivera will end up on the undercard for the show, although the UFC has yet to officially announce any fights for the card beyond the main event between Diego Sanchez and Martin Kampmann, and a middleweight bout between Mark Munoz and C.B. Dollaway.