Featherweight Hatsu Hioki To Debut At UFC 137 Versus George Roop

Highly ranked world featherweight Hatsu ‘Shooto no Ko’ Hioki (24-4-2) will make his Ultimate Fighting Championship debut this October when he takes on George Roop (12-7-1) at UFC 137.
The bout was made official on Saturday by the UFC who announced the match at UFC.com.
“Highly regarded featherweight phenom Hatsu Hioki lands in the Octagon on October 29th to begin his quest for the title. Welcoming him to UFC and looking to take out another top contender will be the always dangerous George Roop. Both fighters have verbally agreed to the UFC 137 bout.”
UFC 137 has not been officially announced but is expected to take place on Oct. 29 at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, Nevada. The headliner for the event is expected to be a welterweight title match between UFC champ Georges St-Pierre and former Strikeforce champ Nick Diaz.
Hioki is regarded as high as #2 among the Worlds featherweight fighters and is the former Sengoku Raiden Championship featherweight title holder.
The Japanese fighter has won four straight, and is 12-1-1 in his last fourteen bouts since November 2007. His last fight was in April at a Shooto event in Tokyo, where he submitted opponent Donald Sanchez with a second round triangle choke. He’s won 12 times by submission, 4 by knockout, and 8 by decision over his career.
Roop is making his second run with the UFC, having gone 1-2 as a lightweight before being released. He dropped to featherweight and joined the WEC, amassing a 1-1-1 record earning “Knockout of the Night” and “Fight of the Night” bonuses.
He returned to the UFC last January, losing to Mark Hominick at Fight for the Troop 2 in January by TKO. Roop then went on to defeat Josh Grispi by third round TKO at the TUF 13 Finale last month.