Source: Welterweights Thiago, Mitchell Matched for UFC ‘Rio’

---

Welterweight submission specialists Paulo Thiago and David Mitchell have agreed to square off UFC 134 in Rio de Janeiro. Thiago informed Sherdog.com of the matchup on Monday evening.

“I’m signing my contract right now and I’m very happy,” said Thiago. “Fighting in Brazil again is like a dream. All my friends and family will be in Rio de Janeiro.”

Set to take place Aug. 27 at the 18,000-seat HSBC Arena, UFC “Rio” will be headlined by a middleweight title bout between champion Anderson Silva and challenger Yushin Okami. The rapidly growing card also features a host of Brazilian UFC talent, thus far including former light heavyweight champ Mauricio “Shogun” Rua, Thiago Tavares, Luiz Cane and others.

Thiago, 30, will look to rebound from the first back-to-back defeats of his career. Since bursting into the Octagon in February 2009 with an upset knockout of Josh Koscheck, the former Brazilian military police officer has gone 2-3. After choking out Mike Swick at the start of 2010, Thiago dropped consecutive unanimous decisions to Diego Sanchez and Martin Kampmann. The Constrictor Team member has not been finished in 16 career outings and has notched eight of his 13 wins via submission.

Mitchell comes off the first loss of his career, a unanimous decision in his September UFC debut against Anthony Waldburger. Prior to that, the 31-year-old Californian had run up 11 straight wins, including nine by way of submission. The former Tachi Palace Fights welterweight champion, Mitchell’s ledger includes wins over War Machine, Tim McKenzie and Bobby Green.