One of Brazil's favorite sons has joined the card of UFC 142. According to reports from Tatame, welterweight veteran Paulo Thiago (14-3) has verbally agreed to meet Mike Pyle (21-8-1) at the UFC's return to Rio de Janeiro. Promotion officials have yet to confirm the bout.
Thiago, a member of Brazil's elite BOPE special forces team, recently rediscovered the win column with a unanimous decision victory over David Mitchell at UFC 134. The dominating performance snapped the 30-year-old's two-fight losing streak suffered against Diego Sanchez and Martin Kampmann.
Meanwhile, Pyle hopes to find similar success after faltering to rising prospect Rory McDonald at UFC 133. The TKO loss by "Quicksand" halted a three-fight win streak over the likes of Ricardo Almeida, John Hathaway, and Jesse Lennox.
UFC 142 is scheduled for January 14th in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil at the HSBC Arena. Brazilian champion Jose Aldo defends his belt against American challenger Chad Mendes in the night's main event.
UFC 142 fight card:
Featherweight Championship: Jose Aldo vs. Chad Mendes
Middleweight: Anthony Johnson vs. Vitor Belfort
Lightweight: Terry Etim vs. Edson Barboza
Welterweight: Paulo Thiago vs. Mike Pyle
Middleweight: Rousimar Palhares vs. Mike Massenzio
Lightweight: Thiago Tavares vs. Sam Stout
Welterweight: Siyar Bahadurzada vs. Erick Silva
Light Heavyweight: Stanislav Nedkov vs. Fabio Maldonado
Heavyweight: Edinaldo Oliveira vs. Rob Broughton
Featherweight: Antonio Carvalho vs. Felipe Arantes