The Ultimate Fighting Championship will plant its flag in a South American country other than Brazil for the first time on May 19 when it visits Santiago, Chile.
The Las Vegas-based promotion announced the first five bouts for the UFC Fight Night card on Monday: Alexa Grasso vs. Tatiana Suarez at strawweight; Vicente Luque vs. Chad Laprise at welterweight; Diego Riva vs. Guido Cannetti at bantamweight; Poliana Botelho vs. Syuri Kondo at strawweight and Andrea Lee vs. Veronica Macedo at flyweight.
The event takes place at the Movistar Arena and will be televised on Fox Sports 1 following early prelims on UFC Fight Pass. A headliner has not yet been revealed.
Grasso, the highly touted prospect from Mexico, has won two of her three Octagon appearances, including a split verdict against Rando Markos in her most recent outing at UFC Fight Night 114. Suarez, meanwhile, owns a 5-0 mark that includes wins over Viviane Pereira and Amanda Bobby Cooper in the Octagon.
Luque has won five of his last six promotional outings and is coming off a second-round submission of Niko Price at UFC Fight Night 119. A veteran of “The Ultimate Fighter: Nations,” Laprise has won three straight UFC bouts – all by technical knockout.
Argentina’s Cannetti will be making his second appearance of 2018 after losing to Kyung Ho Kang via first-round submission at UFC Fight Night 124 on Jan. 14. Rivas was victories in his first two UFC bouts but suffered the first loss of his pro career at UFC Fight Night 114, dropping a unanimous verdict against Jose Alberto Quinonez.
Botelho had a successful first Octagon foray, taking a unanimous verdict against Pearl Gonzalez at UFC 216. Kondo improved to 6-0 in her promotional debut, as she captured a split decision over Chanmi Jeon at UFC Fight Night 117.
Lee, the former Legacy Fighting Alliance flyweight queen, will enter her UFC debut with an 8-2 mark that also includes a six-bout stint with Invicta FC. Macedo, who hails from Venezuela, suffered a third-round TKO loss to Ashlee Evans-Smith in her first promotional appearance at UFC Fight Night 93.