Ronaldo
Souza will lock horns with Marvin
Vettori in a middleweight matchup at UFC 256.
Vettori’s trainer, Emanuele Lochner, announced the news on the The
Scramble MMA Show, and the bout was also confirmed by UFC broadcast
partner
ESPN. Vettori was
initially expected to face Omari
Akhmedov at UFC 256, but that bout did not come to
fruition.
UFC 256 takes place on Dec. 12 and features a women’s featherweight
title tilt between Amanda
Nunes and Megan
Anderson. A location for the event has not been announced.
Souza was supposed to square off against Uriah Hall at
UFC 249 on May, but a positive COVID-19 test forced “Jacare” to
withdraw from the card. The 40-year-old Brazilian is coming off a
brief foray to light heavyweight, where he dropped a split decision
to current 205-pound champ Jan
Blachowicz at UFC Fight Night 164.
Vettori, meanwhile, has won three consecutive Octagon appearances
since dropping a split verdict to reigning middleweight king
Israel
Adesanya at UFC on Fox 29. Most recenty, “The Italian Dream”
submitted Karl
Roberson in the opening stanza at UFC on ESPN 10 on June
13.
