A pivotal lightweight clash is in the works for UFC
256, as Tony
Ferguson and Charles
Oliveira are expected to square off on Dec. 12.
UFC president Dana White informed
ESPN that the bout is nearly finalized. UFC 256 takes place at
the UFC Apex in Las Vegas and is headlined by a bantamweight
championship tilt pitting Petr Yan
against Aljamain
Sterling.
Prior to the announcement of this bout, Ferguson campaigned for a
showdown with Michael
Chandler at UFC 256 before the ex-Bellator champ revealed that
he was not available for the fight. “El Cucuy” is coming off a
fifth-round technical knockout loss to Justin
Gaethje in an interim 155-pound title tilt at UFC 249. Prior to
that, Ferguson had won 12 consecutive Octagon appearances, besting
the likes of Edson
Barboza, Rafael dos
Anjos, Kevin Lee,
Anthony
Pettis and Donald
Cerrone in the process.
The UFC’s all-time submission leader, Oliveira enters the matchup
with Ferguson on a seven-fight winning streak in which he has
finished all of his victims inside the distance. Most recently, the
31-year-old Brazilian tapped out Kevin Lee with
a guillotine choke in the third round of their bout at UFC Fight
Night 170 on March 14.