Tristan
Connelly will return for the first time in more than a year and
a half when he meets Pat
Sabatini at UFC
261.
MMAjunkie.com was first to report the featherweight booking.
UFC 261 takes place on April 24 at Vystar Veterans Memorial Arena
in Jacksonville, Fla., and is headlined by a welterweight
championship rematch between Kamaru
Usman and Jorge
Masvidal.
Connelly pulled off a significant upset in his Octagon debut, when
he outpointed Michel
Pereira in a welterweight bout at UFC Fight Night 158 in
September 2019. He has been sidelined since then after undergoing
neck surgery.
A featherweight title holder in Cage Fury Fighting Championships,
Sabatini enters the matchup with Connelly on a two-fight winning
streak. The 30-year-old Pennsylvanian is 13-3 as a pro, with 11 of
those triumphs coming inside the distance.