The first fight set in April for the Ultimate Fighting Championship should be a
great one.
On Friday,
MMA Fighting broke the story that Rob Font (19-6)
will be battling it out against Adrian
Yanez (16-3) in the bantamweight division. The two will tangle
on a currently unannounced
UFC event on April 8, one that has rumored to be the date of
UFC 287. There is no location on the books, although some speculate
it may be held in New York. Both
fighters confirmed the pairing on their respective
Instagram accounts later on Friday.
It is unclear whether their match will serve as the main attraction
if it instead a UFC Fight Night affair and not a pay-per-view card.
Font is coming off three straight headlining appearances in 2021
and 2022, although he has dropped his last two. While UFC Fight
Night 188 ended with him getting his hand raised against Cody
Garbrandt, both Jose Aldo and
Marlon
Vera topped him on the scorecards in subsequent efforts. On the
outside looking in of the
top 10 in his division, Font initially earned a spot there with
four straight victories over Sergio
Pettis, Ricky
Simon, Marlon
Moraes and the aforementioned Garbrandt.
Yanez, who has won nine straight including five inside the Octagon,
made a case for a top-ranked adversary in June when he blew through
Tony
Kelley in under four minutes. The Texan initially claimed a
spot on the roster by decimating Brady Huang
in 39 seconds in the 2020 season of Dana White’s Contender Series, and he has not
looked back. Four knockouts in five UFC jaunts, including stoppages
of Randy Costa
and Gustavo
Lopez as well, have springboarded him into 135-pound
contention.