Siyar Bahadurzada (20-4-1 MMA, 0-0 UFC) is apparently UFC bound.
As MMAjunkie.com (
www.mmajunkie.com) reported this past week, Bahadurzada said he had been offered a deal with the world's top MMA promotion, and he hinted he was likely to accept it.
Today, the reigning Shooto light-heavyweight champion and current 170-pounder took to Twitter to announce a deal has been completed.
"I signed with the UFC!" he tweeted. "I'm very excited to be a part of the UFC and test my skills with the crème de la crème of MMA.
"I wanna thank the UFC and Dana White for this opportunity. I will shake up the [welterweight] division!Also special thanks to my team Golden Glory!"
A debut date and first opponent were not disclosed.
The Team Golden Glory fighter and Afghanistan native currently can be seen as one of Jason "Mayhem" Miller's assistant coaches on "The Ultimate Fighter 14." The confident fighter recently joined MMAjunkie.com Radio and made a bold prediction.
"I don't promise a lot of things to people or whoever, but the one thing I promise the fight fans here in the U.S. is that I will knock so many people out that you will never forget my name," the 27-year-old Bahadurzada recently said.
Bahadurzada's current six-fight win streak includes knockouts of notables John Alessio and Derrick Noble, among others. Most recently, he won Ultimate Glory's multi-event welterweight grand prix.
In his past 16 fights, his only losses have come to middleweight notables Kazuo Misaki and Jorge Santiago under the World Victory Road/Sengoku banner.
Bahadurzada agreed to a deal with Strikeforce in early 2010, though a fight and finalized contract never materialized. He fell out of favor with the promotion when he took his complaints public.
After Zuffa LLC, the UFC's parent company, acquired Strikeforce, Bahadurzada saw it as a ray of hope.
"I'm glad that the new company took them over and are going to send them home with their office stools in a box in short time," Bahadurzada told MMAjunkie.com.
Source: Siyar Bahadurzada says he's signed with the UFC