The lineup for the UFC 263
pay-per-view card is now official.
The promotion announced the five-bout lineup during the UFC 261
broadcast on Saturday night, formally confirming that two title
bouts — Israel
Adesanya vs. Marvin
Vettori at middleweight and Deiveson
Figueiredo vs. Brandon
Moreno at flyweight — will occupy the top of the bill. A
previously reported matchup pitting Demian Maia
against Belal
Muhammad was also announced.
Two other bouts were also made official for the main card: Paul Craig
vs Jamahal
Hill at light heavyweight and Drew Dober
vs. Brad
Riddell at lightweight. UFC 263 takes place on June 12 but does
not currently have a location or venue.
Craig vs. Hill was initially slated for the co-main event of UFC on
ESPN 21, but was scrapped after Hill tested positive for COVID-19.
Craig is unbeaten in his last four Octagon appearances and is
coming off a second-round stoppage of Mauricio Rua
at UFC 255. All six of the Scot’s UFC victories have come inside
the distance.
A contract winner on Season 3 of Dana White’s Contender Series,
Hill is unbeaten in nine professional appearances thus far. Most
recently, the 29-year-old scored a second-round technical knockout
of Ovince St.
Preux at UFC on ESPN 19 on Dec. 5.
Dober entered UFC 259 with victories in six of his previous seven
Octagon appearances, but he was completely overwhelmed in losing to
Islam
Makhachev via third-round submission on March 6. Prior to that,
Dober had earned successive KO/TKO wins over Alexander
Hernandez, Nasrat
Haqparast and Marco Polo
Reyes.
Riddell, meanwhile, has kicked off his promotional tenure with
three consecutive victories to run his professional record to 9-1
overall. In his last outing, the 29-year-old City Kickboxing
representative outpointed Alex
da Silva Coelho at UFC 253.