Maia

Riki Fukuda to Face Costa Philippou at UFC 148

By FCF Staff

Demian Maia will face a stiff test in the decorated grappler’s welterweight debut, as today the UFC announced that the former middleweight will take on the resilient Dong Hyun Kim at the promotion’s July 7^th event.

The bout will be part of UFC 148, which will be hosted by the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Maia (15-4) elected to make the drop to 170 pounds after the former contender lost by unanimous decision to middleweight prospect Chris Weidman in January. The 34 year-old vet has gone 4-1 since he lost by UD to reigning middleweight champ Anderson Silva in April, 2010.

Kim (15-1) is coming off an impressive rebound effort, following a KO loss to Carlos Condit last July, as the Judoka worked his way to unanimous decision win over Sean Pierson in December.

The UFC has also announced that former Deep champion Riki Fukuda will also take on middleweight Costa Philippou at the July 7^th show.

Fukuda (18-5) scored a UD win over Steve Cantwell in his last outing on February 26^th, while in Philippou’s last bout, he earned a unanimous decision win over Court McGee on March 3^rd.

UFC 148 will be headlined by a bantamweight bout between Dominick Cruz and Urijah Faber.

Other bouts confirmed for the card include Rich Franklin vs. Cung Le, Forrest Griffin vs. Tito Ortiz and Tim Boetsch vs. Michael Bisping.