Alloway vs Laflare & Pearson vs Couture added to UFC on Fuel TV 9

Gold Coast based fighter Ben Alloway (13-3) will face the undefeated Ryan Laflare (7-0) on the UFC on Fuel TV 9 card in Stockholm, Sweden on April 6.

The fight was confirmed by UFC officials on Saturday night.

After being eliminated from The Ultimate Fighter: TUF Smashes (Australia vs UK) reality show, Alloway secured another fight in the UFC when he secured a knockout of the night performance against fellow Australian Manuel Rodriguez on UFC on FX 6 in front of his home crowd. In the bout, Alloway landed a perfectly timed front-kick to knock out his fellow TUF Smashes contestant in the opening round.

 

His opponent for the fight will be 29 year-old American Ryan Laflare who was originally scheduled to face Josh Burkman on the World Series of Fighting 2 card before this bout was announced. Since making his debut in 2008, Laflare has won all seven of his fights in the New Jersey, USA based promotion Ring of Combat. All seven wins have also come either via a submission or TKO stoppage.

TUF Smashes coach Ross Pearson (14-6) will also return on the card, when he comes up against Strikeforce import Ryan Couture (6-1). 

Pearson is coming off a third-round TKO win over opposing TUF Smashes coach George Sotiropoulos back in December in what was his return to the lightweight division. His opponent will be Ryan Couture who is the son of former UFC champion Randy Couture. Ryan Couture is making a name for himself and is coming off a split points decision win earlier this against K.J Noons.

Also announced was a heavyweight clash between Matt Mitrione and Philip De Fries.

The event will be held at the Ericsson Globe Arena and will be headlined by local favourite Alexander Gustafsson who will be looking at making his case for a title shot at light-heavyweight when he faces Gegard Mousasi. The event sold out in a matter of hours for the second consecutive year in Sweden.