Georgian Ultimate Fighting Championship prospect
Guram
Kutateladze is not interested in easy fights.
Fresh off recent announced pairings of Terrance
McKinney vs. Ismael
Bonfim and Jailton
Almeida vs. Shamil
Abdurakhimov for UFC 283
in January, a new lightweight scrap has been added to its
ever-growing lineup. Per Canal
Encarada on Tuesday, and later confirmed by Kutateladze’s
(12-3) opponent Thiago
Moises (16-6) on his Instagram page, the
two will square off on Jan. 21. With 10 bouts currently on its
billing, every single match contains one Brazilian competitor.
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Kutateladze saw an impressive nine-fight win streak, which included
a victorious debut against then-unbeaten Mateusz
Gamrot, come to an end in June. In a thrilling contest that
could have gone either way, Kutateladze fell short by split
decision to Damir
Ismagulov at UFC on ESPN 37. “Georgian Viking” made his way to
the organization off of several impressive performances – including
three first-round knockouts – in the Superior Challenge and
Brave Combat Federation promotions from 2018 to
2019.
Brazil’s Moises rebounded from two tough stoppage losses to
Joel
Alvarez and current champ Islam
Makhachev by tapping out Christos
Giagos in June. That victory lifted Moises’ UFC win percentage
above .500, as he had previously suffered losses to Beneil
Dariush and Damir
Ismagulov as well. Prior to the defeat to Makhachev, the
Dana White’s Contender Series Brazil signee had
rattled off three straight wins over Michael
Johnson, Bobby Green
and Alexander
Hernandez to place himself among the top-ranked fighters at 155
pounds.
UFC 283 will go down at the Jeunesse Arena in Rio de Janeiro on
Jan. 21, and there is currently no headliner on the books. One
championship fight sits on the marquee but not as the main event,
with the tetralogy flyweight battle between Deiveson
Figueiredo and Brandon
Moreno for the strap. Other fights likely to receive high
billing – the bout order is not currently set – include a light
heavyweight rumble pitting Paul Craig
against Johnny
Walker, a flyweight contest between Jessica
Andrade and Lauren
Murphy and a 205-pound affair as Mauricio Rua
takes on Ihor
Potieria.