Yves Jabouin vs. Walel Watson Slated for UFC 140

Dynamic bantamweight strikers looking to built on recent victories

A potentially explosive bantamweight battle has been added to the UFC 140 line-up.

Fresh off a first round finish in his UFC debut, Walel “The Gazelle” Watson will return to the Octagon in December to face Canadian Yves “Tiger” Jabouin in Toronto. UFC officials announced the match-up on Friday.

Watson made his debut earlier this month at UFC on Versus 6. The long and lean 27-year-old stopped Joseph Sandoval just 77 seconds into the opening bout of the evening, catching him with a head kick before finishing him with strikes on the ground. All nine of Watson’s victories to date have come inside the distance, six ending in the first round.

Unlike his UFC debut, Watson won’t be facing a fellow Octagon neophyte this time around.

Jabouin will be making his third appearance in the Octagon, his second in Toronto this year, and second in the bantamweight division. He also stepped into the smaller WEC cage three times before the organization was absorbed by the UFC at the start of the year.

After dropping his UFC debut to Pablo Garza at UFC 129 in April, Jabouin made the move down to the 135-pound weight class for his last bout. Facing Ian Loveland at UFC 134, the Haitian-born TriStar trainee collected a split decision win over “The Barn Owl” in Rio.

Both Watson and Jabouin are predominantly strikers; the former favoring a Muay Thai approach, while the latter comes from a kickboxing background. The pairing could produce fireworks very early in the frosty winter night.

UFC 140 takes place December 10 at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

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