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Brazilian bantamweight Leandro Issa is now officially on the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) roster but two of his Evolve MMA teammates won't be joining him with Shinya Aoki and Eddie Ng both deciding to continue competing in the ONE FC cage rather than the Octagon.
Surprised?
Issa (11-3) went 3-1 for ONE FC with his sole loss coming in a 2012 title fight against Soo Chul Kim. His Evolve MMA team mates Aoki (34-6) and Ng (7-1) will not be joining him on the ZUFFA roster with head coach Heath Sims saying both were happy with their ONE FC contracts.
"I want the Evolve MMA fighters to compete for the biggest promotions in the world like ONE FC, UFC and Bellator and I'm happy to see Brodinho joining Rafael Dos Anjos on the UFC roster. It's also an honor to have the UFC interested in Eddie and Shinya, but both of them wanted to stay with ONE FC."
Apparently Issa only had one fight left on his ONE FC contract but was handed his release papers by Victor Cui who did not want to stand between the Brazilian and his UFC dream. There is no word yet on when "Brodinho" will be making his Octagon debut but one fight expected to be confirmed tomorrow sees Dave Galera face Royston Wee in a battle of undefeated bantamweights.
Galera (5-0) is the URCC 139-pound champion and a Fil Am fighter who is based at Team Lakay in Baguio. He will be taking on Wee (2-0), a Singaporean who hasn't fought since 2011, at UFC Fight Night 34 which is set for Marina Bay Sands on January 4, 2014.
Two more fights reportedly in the works for UFC Fight Night 34 in Singapore see more fighters making their promotional debuts with Jon Delos Reyes (7-1) facing fellow PXC veteran Dustin Kimura ( 10-1) and Tae Bang Hyun (16-7 ) taking on Mairbek Taisumov (19-4).
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