Light heavyweights Modestas Bukauskas and Rodolfo Bellato have agreed to meet at the upcoming UFC Vegas 117 card on May 16 at the Meta APEX in Las Vegas.
Multiple people with knowledge of the promotion’s plans confirmed the news to MMA Fighting on Tuesday, with agreements in place for both fighters.
Following a four-fight winning streak that included a knockout over Paul Craig, Bukauskas saw his momentum come to a halt after he suffered a knockout loss to Nikita Krylov at UFC 324 in May.
Before that
setback, Bukauskas was on a 6-1 run since returning to the UFC following a one-year absence from the promotion, where he picked up a pair of wins in Cage Warriors. Now, Bukauskas attempts to get back on track when he fights in May.
As for Bellato, the Brazilian has endured one of the stranger starts to a UFC career with a ground-and-pound knockout win in his debut, followed by a draw in his next fight against Jimmy Crute. He then ended up in a no-contest in his own fight against Craig before finally picking up another win after knocking out Luke Fernandez at UFC 326 in March.
Bellato returns in May with hopes to build off that win while facing Bukauskas in a light heavyweight showdown.
The UFC Vegas 117 card is headlined by a featherweight showdown as perennial top 10 fighter Arnold Allen takes on Melquizael Costa, who comes into the fight off six straight wins, including back-to-back knockouts over Dan Ige and Morgan Charriere.
Guilherme Cruz contributed to this report
