Following Ashkan Mokhtarian’s withdrawal from the UFC Adelaide card, team Roufusport member Elias Garcia has stepped up on just one week’s notice to face New Zealand’s Kai Kara-France.
The matchup, which was first reported by FloCombat, will take place on the preliminary card of UFC Fight Night 142, taking place at the Adelaide Entertainment Centre on Sunday December 2.
A cousin of former UFC lightweight champion, Anthony Pettis, Garcia (6-1) earned himself a UFC contract after knocking out Adam Antolin in season three of ‘Dana White: Looking for a Fight’ series. The 26 year-old made his UFC debut at UFC Fight Night 133 in July, where he fell to Mark De La Rosa by submission in the second round.
Kara-France, 25, appeared on The Ultimate Fighter 24 where he scored a cracking 30-second knock-out in his opening bout before being eliminated in the quarter finals. A loss in Japanese promotion Rizin has been followed up with five consecutive victories.
Fight Card:
- Junior Dos Santos vs. Tai Tuivasa
- Mark Hunt vs. Justin Willis
- Tyson Pedro vs. Mauricio Rua
- Jake Matthews vs. Tony Martin
- Paul Craig vs. Jim Crute
- Suman Mokhtarian vs. Sodiq Yusuff
- Alexey Kunchenko vs. Yushin Okami
- Ben Nguyen vs. Wilson Reis
- Mizuto Hirota vs. Christos Giagos
- Kai Kara-France vs. Elias Garcia
- Keita Nakamura vs. Salim Touahri
- Alex Gorgees vs. Damir Ismagulov
Alex Gorgees gets UFC call up; set to face Damir Ismagulov at UFC Adelaide
