UFC
Alan Belcher vs. Yushin Okami II comes to UFC 155 this December
Sep 13, 2012 - 7:55:42 PM Alan Belcher vs. Yushin Okami II comes to UFC 155 this December

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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

UFC middleweight Alan Belcher made his debut in the organization in August of 2006, where he suffered a decision loss to Yushin Okami. Nearly six and a half years later, Belcher will get a chance to avenge that loss.

According to a report from MMAFighting.com, Belcher and Okami will square off for a second time on Dec. 29 at UFC 155.

Belcher was supposed to face Vitor Belfort next month at UFC 153, but Belfort was moved up to face Jon Jones next weekend at UFC 152, and Belcher himself was battling an injury that may have forced him out of the event anyway. Now, he'll get a couple of months to heal up, and he'll get to face an opponent who could become his biggest career win to date.

Okami will hope to pick up his second win against Belcher after halting a two-fight losing streak in August. He had been set to meet Rousimar Palhares at UFC 150, but wound up notching a win over Buddy Roberts when Palhares suffered an injury.

UFC 155 is expected to be headlined by a Heavyweight Championship rematch between Junior dos Santos and Cain Velasquez.

Penick's Analysis: This is a great middleweight fight at this stage. Belcher needed another name opponent to get himself into that next level in the middleweight division, and this fight affords him the opportunity to not only do that, but to avenge his first UFC loss as well. For Okami, a win over Belcher in 2012 will actually mean more than his win over Belcher six years ago, and is a big fight for him after a fairly tentative bout against Roberts. Good matchmaking on Joe Silva's part yet again.