Edmen Shahbazyan looks to make it four straight victories in the octagon, and will do so close to his home gym.
Multiple people with knowledge of the promotion’s plans confirmed to MMA Fighting that the UFC
is close to finalizing a middleweight matchup between Shahbazyan and Jun Yong Park for UFC Vegas 114. The event takes place April 4 at the Meta APEX in Las Vegas.
Shehbazyan was poised to have a rapid rise up the middleweight rankings after earning a contract on Dana White’s Contender Series, and after winning his first four fights — including three straight first-round knockouts — it looked it would happen. However, Shahbazyan experienced some growing pains against higher-ranked competition losing five of his next seven bouts, with four stoppage losses to Derek Brunson, Nassourdine Imavov, Anthony Hernandez and Gerald Meerschaert. The 28-year-old bounced back into a good run with consecutive wins over Dylan Budka, Andre Petroski and Andre Muniz.
Park is another step up in the competition ladder as he makes his 14th octagon appearance. “The Iron Turtle” looks to get back on track after dropping a decision to Ikram Aliskerov at UFC 321 this past October, which snapped a two-fight win streak.
