The UFC 316
lineup continues to grow, as a couple more bouts were made official
for the June 7 event.
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The Las Vegas-based promotion announced on Tuesday that Marlon Vera
vs. Mario
Bautista will square off at bantamweight, while Johnny
Walker will face Azamat
Murzakanov on the upcoming card. UFC 316 takes place at the
Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey, and is headlined by a
bantamweight championship rematch between Merab
Dvalishvili and Sean O’Malley. Vera vs. Bautista was originally
scheduled for UFC Des Moines on May 3, but it is unclear why the
booking was moved.
Vera has lost three of his last four Octagon appearances. Most
recently, he dropped a unanimous verdict against Deiveson
Figueiredo at UFC on ABC 7 this past August. Prior to that, he
fell to Sean O’Malley via unanimous decision in a 135-pound title
bout at UFC 299.
Bautista, meanwhile, will take a seven-bout promotional winning
streak into the match with Vera. He is coming off a split-decision
triumph over former featherweight king Jose Aldo at
UFC 307 last October.
Walker was supposed to face Bogdan
Guskov at UFC 311 before withdrawing from the event due to
injury. The Brazilian is winless in his last three outings dating
back to October 2023. Most recently, he suffered a first-round KO
loss to Volkan
Oezdemir at UFC on ABC 6.
Murzakanov is undefeated in 14 professional outings but was
recently suspended for six months due to an anti-doping violation.
In his last Octagon appearance, he knocked out Alonzo
Menifield in the second stanza at UFC on ABC 7.