Alessio Sakara

By Tom Taylor

Despite a rocky few years as a UFC middleweight, Italian striker Alessio Sakara (15-10) has announced that he has signed a new five-fight deal with the world’s premier MMA organization. Sakara made this announcement in Italian on his official Facebook page. The statement read as follows.

Siamo orgogliosi di annunciare che il nostro Legionario ha firmato un contratto per altri 5 incontri con la piu’ grande organizzazione di Mixed Martial Art al mondo UFC, la sfida piu’ grande sara’ quella con il peso riconfermato nel roster dei middle-weight. This translates roughly to:

We are proud to announce that our Legionnaire has signed a contract for another five fights with the UFC, the world’s largest MMA organization. It will be a big challenge. Alessio is a reconfirmed member of the UFC middleweight division’s roster.

The news of the Italian’s continued employment by the UFC follows a disqualification loss he received after landing several illegal strikes to the back Patrick Cote’s head during their encounter at UFC 154. The bout began with Cote staggering Sakara, but things took an abrupt turn after several Sakara elbows grounded Cote. It was at this point that the Italian rained down multiple strikes to the back of his opponent’s head. The loss generated some controversy, but Sakara’s attempt to appeal the verdict was denied. It is expected that Sakara and Cote will meet again at a future event in the hopes of producing a more concrete result. Despite his three-fight stump, Sakara is notorious for his willingness to slug it out with his opponents, which is perhaps the reason for his renewed contract. He currently holds a record of 6-7-1 as a UFC middleweight.