Italian prospect Ivan Serati signs with the UFC

Italian light heavyweight prospect Ivan Serati has signed with the UFC, according to the promotion’s official website.

The story was originally broken by MMAjunkie.com.

“It has always been my dream to fight for the best promotion in the world and now it has become a reality,” Serati is quoted as saying by the UFC. “I feel very excited to bring my skills to the UFC. This means everything to me and everything to my country.”

Serati, 10-2, is 35 and a native of Milan, Italy. Much like fellow countryman and current UFC middleweight Alessio Sakara, Serati has a background in boxing. He only decided to leave boxing for MMA just two years ago and debuted in May of 2006 at an event called the “New Generation Tournament” in Italy. Facing Alfredo Achilli, Serati was victorious by way of TKO at 0:26 of round 1.

Following his debut, Serati spent most of his time competing on the regional UK circuit and proceeded to reel off five consecutive wins before suffering his first career defeat against former UFC light heavyweight champion Vitor Belfort during Cage Rage 21 in April of 2007. Facing the more experienced Belfort, Serati was TKO’d at 3:37 of round 1.

Following the loss to Belfort, he went 1-1 in his next two fights before beginning a four fight win streak that would ultimately earn him a spot in the UFC’s light heavyweight division.

A debut date and opponent have yet to be determined.

Sam Caplan is the President of Combat Sports Media, LLC, the parent company of FiveOuncesOfPain.com. CSM is a B-2-B outsource solution in the MMA industry and provides PR, web management, and other consulting services to MMA companies. Clients of CSM include the Combat Sports Championships and Showtime.
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