Jenel Lausa’s UFC debut moved to November 27

MANILA, Philippines – Filipino fighter Jenel Lausa will have his first Octagon appearance on the undercard of the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s upcoming live event in Melbourne, Australia on November 27. 

Lausa was supposed to make his promotional debut at UFC Fight Night Manila 2 on October 15, but it was postponed after the world’s premier mixed martial arts (MMA) organization cancelled its second trip to the Philippines when the card lost its main event.

(READ: UFC rep denies drug testing led to Manila event’s cancellation) 

The 28-year-old native of Concepcion, Iloilo will still face the same opponent in his first UFC bout as he is set to square off with Chinese flyweight Yao Zhikui as part of UFC Fight Night 101, which is headlined by a 5-round middleweight rematch between former division kingpin Luke Rockhold and Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza. 

Lausa (6-2) is riding high on a 4-fight winning streak, which included a title-winning performance against compatriot Crisanto Pitpitunge in January of this year.

Despite the long odds, Lausa captured the vacant Pacific Xtreme Combat (PXC) flyweight championship by edging out Pitpitunge via split decision. 

With his razor-thin conquest of Pitpitunge, Lausa became the fourth homegrown talent from the Philippines to win a world title in the sport of MMA.

In the other corner, Yao (2-3) has only won once in his last 3 Octagon outings and is coming off a 44-second stoppage loss to Freddy Serrano in November 2015. 

The 25-year-old Chinese was originally pencilled to lock horns with Team Lakay representative and PXC alumnus Roldan Sangcha-an at UFC Fight Night Manila 2, but the latter failed to get a clearance from the United States Anti-Doping Agency.

Facing a Pinoy stalwart is not new to Yao as he owns a split decision win over Filipino-American standout Nolan Ticman in May 2015.

UFC Fight Night 101 takes place at the Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne, Australia. – Rappler.com