Ivan Serati’s UFC debut to come vs. Tomasz Drwal at UFC 93

The UFC debut for light heavyweight newcomer Ivan Serati had been rumored to be taking place at UFC 93 on January 17 but a new published report not only confirms his involvement with the event, but reveals that his opponent will be veteran Tomasz Drwal.

The news is courtesy of a report by our friends at MMAjunkie.com.

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.

Drwal, a native of Poland, made his his UFC debut at UFC 75 in London last September, where he lost to Thiago Silva via second round TKO. He has not fought since losing to Silva but boasts a 14-2 lifetime MMA record.

UFC 93 is scheduled from to emanate from the O2 Arena in Dublin, Ireland and will be headlined by a light heavyweight matchup featuring Rich Franklin and Dan Henderson. Additional matchups includes Mauricio “Shogun” Rua vs. Mark Coleman, Denis Kang vs. Alan Belcher, Andre Gusmao vs. Antonio Mendes, Rousimar Palhares vs. Jeremy Horn, and Marcus Davis vs. Chris Lytle.