Tom ‘Kong’ Watson has been handed a fight in Brazil as reward for his brilliant knockout win against Stanislav Nedkov.
The Southampton Mixed martial Arts middleweight king produced a stunning second round stoppage of Nedkov when the pair met at Wembley Arena, landing him a $150,000 bonus as he scooped the knockout and fight of the night awards.
Now he is being sent to Rio de Janeiro for his next outing – and it’s a tough one.
Watson faces hometown fighter Thales Leites, who is returning to UFC after four years.
Leites left UFC in 2009 after defeats to Anderson Silva, for the middleweight title, and Alessio Sakara.
Since being outside the UFC he has picked up six wins from seven fights and is a jiu-jitsu specialist.
The 30-year-old Watson, from Swanmore, goes into the contest with a record of 16 wins from 21 fights while Leites has 20 victories from 24 contests and can count on home support too.
The card, UFC 163, takes place on August 3 at the HSBC Arena and is headlined by Jose Also defending his featherweight title against Anthony Pettis.
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