UFC Macau Gets Short-Notice Bout as Fighter Bids for Second UFC Win in 2 Weeks

Following a tough start to his UFC career, one fighter is moving up a weight class for the chance to potentially score back-to-back wins within two weeks of each other.

The UFC returned home to Las Vegas last weekend for a fairly low-profile UFC Fight Night card that saw Arnold Allen stifle the rise of Melquizael Costa in a featherweight main event, and next Saturday the promotion returns to Macau following a rare break this week.

UFC Macau currently has 13 scheduled fights, and Marcel Dorff reports that Luis Gurule is stepping in on short notice to square off with Rei Tsuruya at Galaxy Arena after Jesus Aguilar was forced off of the card due to injury.

Luis Gurule Books Quick Turnaround After First UFC Victory

A veteran of 14 professional MMA fights, Gurule earned a UFC contract in 2024 when he took split decision over the Nick Piccininni in a battle between undefeated flyweights on Dana White Contender Series.

“Grim” was matched with Ode Osbourne for his promotional debut and suffered his first career loss when Osbourne stopped him with strikes in the second round. That result unfortunately kicked off a difficult run for Gurule, as he also dropped decisions to Jesus Aguilar and Alden Coria to fall to 0-3 since joining the UFC.

Alden Coria (red gloves) fights Luis Gurule (blue gloves) in a flyweight bout during UFC Fight Night at Toyota Center. | Troy Taormina-Imagn Images

Returning to action at UFC Vegas 117 last weekend, Gurule secured his first UFC victory by taking a unanimous decision over Daniel Barez in what turned out to be the Spaniard’s final UFC fight before the promotion released him this week.

Rei Tsuruya Last Fought Against UFC Champion Joshua Van

Gurule moves up to bantamweight at UFC Macau, where he’ll try to build on the momentum of that win over Barez when he takes on Japan’s Tsuruya.

Still just 23 years old, Tsuruya earned the call to compete on Road to UFC after winning the Pancrase flyweight title in 2022. That victory brought his professional record to 6-0, and he secured three wins on Road to UFC before he also took a unanimous decision over Carlos Hernandez in his formal promotional debut at UFC 303.

Joshua Van (red gloves) fights Rei Tsuruya (blue gloves) during UFC 313 at T-Mobile Arena. | Stephen R. Sylvanie-Imagn Images

Tsuruya suffered his first loss against current UFC Flyweight Champion Joshua Van in his last outing at UFC 313. After more than a year on the sidelines, he’ll now look to stifle Gurule’s bid to secure two wins in the span of two weeks when the pair meet at UFC Macau.

UFC Macau Fight Card

Main Event: Song Yadong vs. Deiveson Figueiredo

Co-Main Event: Mingyang Zhang vs. Alonzo Menifield

Sergei Pavlovich vs. Tallison Teixeira

Kai Asakura vs. Cameron Smotherman

Jake Matthews vs. Carlston Harris

Alex Perez vs. Sumudaerji

Luis Felipe Dias vs. Yi Sak Lee

Meng Ding vs. Jose Henrique

Aoriqileng vs. Cody Haddon

Rei Tsuruya vs. Luis Gurule

Angela Hill vs. Jingnan Xiong

Kangjie Zhu vs. Rodrigo Vera

Loma Looknoonmee vs. Jaqueline Amorim

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