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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief
An exciting featherweight bout has been added to the UFC's Ultimate Fighter Finale on June 1, as the organization announced on Friday that Charles Oliveira will take on TUF 12 winner Jonathan Brookins on the card on FX.
Oliveira dropped to the featherweight division in January following a loss to Donald Cerrone last August, and he made an impression immediately. Taking on late replacement - and UFC newcomer - Eric Wisely, Oliveira pulled off the first-ever calf slicer submission in UFC history. The win was his first since September of 2010 after a summer win over Nik Lentz was overturned into a "no contest" due to an illegal knee.
Brookins, who won the lightweight tournament for the 12th season of the long-running reality series, lost his first bout back at featherweight when he dropped a decision to Erik Koch last September. However, he bounced back in highly impressive fashion in February, knocking out Vagner Rocha with viciously precise series of strikes on the ground.
Penick's Analysis: This is a fantastic featherweight fight. Both are young, exciting fighters; both each rebounded from losses their last time out, and both did so in highly impressive fashion. Oliveira's calf slicer is one of the single greatest things I've ever seen at a live MMA event, and Brookins stopping Rocha the way he did was fantastic as well. This is a great next fight for each to move themselves up the ladder at 145 lbs., and if the winner comes out with an impressive performance, it will get them into a very high profile fight their next time out.
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Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
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