“The Young Punisher” might not be as young anymore, but he wants to
show he still has plenty of punishment left to give.
Brazil’s Pedro
Munhoz (20-8, 2 NC) will be returning to the Octagon on March 9
at UFC
299 against Kyler
Phillips (11-2) in a significant bantamweight matchup. This is
just the second fight reported for this event, one that does not
officially have a location or venue on the books. The fight card
will be headlined by a 135-pound championship rematch between
Sean
O’Malley and Marlon Vera.
News of this Munhoz-Phillips tilt broke courtesy of Phillips’
management team of Iridium
Sports.
Munhoz has struggled the last few years, with just two wins since
2020 over Jimmie
Rivera and Chris
Gutierrez. In that three-year stretch, he has lost decisions to
Frankie
Edgar, Jose Aldo,
Dominick
Cruz and Marlon Vera
in a veritable murderer’s row of bantamweight opposition. Before
this rough patch, Munhoz registered victories over the likes of
Cody
Garbrandt, Rob Font and
Bryan
Caraway as he became a tenured member of the top 15 in his
weight class. He still has not lost by stoppage, with all eight
defeats by way of decision.
In the same span of time during Munhoz’ relative downslide,
Phillips has engaged in his entire UFC run. “The Matrix” first
showed up in February 2020, snagging a decision over Gabriel
Silva. The Arizonan went on to win four of his next five, with
a contentious majority decision loss against Raulian
Paiva his lone blemish. Phillips has appeared in the Octagon
just once in 2022 and only one time in 2023 as well, winning both
matchups against Marcelo
Rojo and Raoni
Barcelos, respectively.