Yves Jabouin drops to bantamweight, meets Ian Loveland at UFC 134 in Brazil

By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

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Following a loss to Pablo Garza in his UFC debut in April, Yves Jabouin is dropping to the bantamweight division, and will meet Ian Loveland at UFC 134 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil this August.

The UFC announced the contest on Saturday, and it is the 11th fight announced for the UFC's return event to Brazil.

Jabouin will likely be fighting for his spot on the UFC's roster in this bout. The 10-year MMA veteran has appeared four times in the WEC and UFC, but only has one win in either organization thus far, and has been stopped twice in those four fights.

Loveland made a successful debut in the organization in December, defeating Tyler Toner by decision. However, the 27-year-old then dropped a decision to Joseph Benavidez in his last bout at UFC 128 in March.

UFC 134 is the UFC's first event in Brazil since 1998, and is headlined by the UFC Middleweight Championship bout between Anderson Silva and Yushin Okami.

Penick's Analysis: This is a good preliminary card level bantamweight fight, and I think it could be a good move for Jabouin. He's immensely fast, and has some good striking and power to go along with that speed, and that could translate well at 135 lbs. That said, Loveland is a solid competitor who won't make it an easy debut for him in the division. This is a good fight for the fans in Brazil.

Source: http://www.mmatorch.com/artman2/publish/UFC_2/article_9617.shtml

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