Jeff Hougland in for Mike Easton, Meets Yves Jabouin at UFC on Fuel 3

Yves Jabouin

Bantamweights meet on May 15 in Virginia

With Mike Easton out with an injury, Yves Jabouin will now face Jeff Hougland at UFC on Fuel TV: Poirier vs. Korean Zombie.

UFC officials recently announced the opponent shakeup, which sees Hougland switched from a fight against Renan Barao at UFC 148 in July to this new bantamweight bout with Jabouin. Barao instead will face Ivan Menjivar.

Hougland (10-4, 1-0 UFC) has a 10-fight winning streak, made all the more impressive considering his MMA career started just 1-4. Hougland made his UFC debut at UFC 132 last July with a unanimous decision win over Donny Walker. He was expected to make his follow-up against Easton at UFC on Versus 6 in October, but an injury forced him off the show. Hougland is a Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt with seven of his 10 career wins by submission.

Jabouin (17-7, 2-1 UFC) has back-to-back split decision wins over Ian Loveland at UFC 134 and Walel Watson at UFC 140. He lost his UFC debut last April by flying triangle against Pablo Garza at UFC 129, a first-round move that netted Garza a $129,000 Submission of the Night bonus. Before signing with the UFC, the Haitian-born fighter, who trains at Tristar Gym in Montreal, went 1-2 in the WEC.

UFC on Fuel TV 3 will be the promotion’s return to Fairfax, Va. The card will take place May 15 at the Patriot Center and will be the UFC’s second visit to that venue, which is located just outside Washington, D.C. UFC Fight Night 20 also took place there in January 2010. The card will be headlined by a featherweight contenders bout between Dustin Poirier and “The Korean Zombie,” Chan Sung Jung.