Former Bellator
MMA bantamweight champion Patrick Mix
has a date and a dance partner for his
Ultimate Fighting Championship debut.
The Las Vegas-based promotion announced on Saturday that Mix will
square off against Mario
Bautista in a main card bout at UFC 316
on June 7. UFC 316 takes place at the Prudential Center in Newark,
New Jersey, and is headlined by a 135-pound championship rematch
between Merab
Dvalishvili and Sean O’Malley. In the co-main event Julianna
Pena will defend the women’s bantamweight crown against
Kayla
Harrison.
Mix was granted his
Professional Fighters League release earlier this week and was
in attendance at UFC Vegas 106 at the UFC Apex on Saturday night.
“Patchy” last appeared at Bellator Champions Series Paris in May
2024, when he took a split-decision win over Magomed
Magomedov in a rematch. The former King of
the Cage title holder went 9-1 in Bellator — with his lone loss
coming at the hands of Juan
Archuleta. He owns notable victories against the likes of
Magomedov (twice), Sergio
Pettis, Raufeon
Stots, Kyoji
Horiguchi and James
Gallagher.
Bautista will take a seven-bout UFC winning streak into the matchup
with Mix. Most recently, the 31-year-old
MMA Lab product took a grinding split-decision triumph over
Jose
Aldo at UFC 307 this past October.