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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief
A featherweight fight between Clay Guida and Tatsuya Kawajiri is reportedly coming this April.
According to a report from Fight Sport Asia, the matchup is heading to the UFC Fight Night event in Abu Dhabi on April 11.
For Guida, it'd be his third fight in the featherweight division after splitting his first two 145 lb. appearances in 2013. In January, he edged a questionable split decision over Hatsu Hioki, and in August, he suffered his first career stoppage loss when he was taken out by Chad Mendes.
Kawajiri, a longtime staple of Japan's lightweight division, has been even better at featherweight, and made a successful UFC debut in January when he submitted Sean Soriano at UFC Fight Night 34 in Singapore.
The UFC Fight Night event on April 11 is expected to air on UFC Fight Pass, headlined by a five round heavyweight fight between Roy Nelson and Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira.
Penick's Analysis: This is an interesting fight at 145 lbs. It gives Kawajiri the top ten opponent he was looking for (by the UFC's rankings), while it gives Guida a legitimate opponent after a loss to one of the best in the division. Still, it would have been nice to see Kawajiri on a non-Fight Pass show; he's a potential challenger with a few wins, but needs more widespread exposure to the UFC's core audience.
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Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
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