A light heavyweight bout between two of the UFC’s newer light heavyweight prospects has been finalized for the UFC’s fall return to England.
MMAjunkie.com reports that the UFC confirmed the news Monday following an initial report from Ariel Helwani of MMA Fighting.
Ryan Jimmo and Jimi Manuwa will face off at UFC Fight Night 30: Bisping vs. Munoz. The event takes place Oct. 26 at the Manchester Arena in Manchester, England.
The main event features a middleweight bout between the ultrapopular (in England, at least) Michael Bisping and Mark Munoz, and the card is expected to air on Fox Sports 2 (formerly known as Fuel TV). Preliminary card bouts are expected to stream live on Facebook.
Manuwa, a powerful striker born in Nigeria and raised in England, is 2-0 since signing for the UFC in 2012. He obliterated Kyle Kingsbury in his UFC debut at UFC on Fuel TV: Struve vs. Miocic. He then defeated Cyrille Diabate in his return to the Octagon when Diabate suffered a torn right calf muscle in the first round and was forced to quit.
Jimmo is a Canadian who made his name while fighting for Maximum Fighting Championship, Canada’s top independent martial arts organization. He signed with the UFC in 2012 and defeated Anthony Perosh in his debut before falling to James Te Huna in his second fight with the promotion. Jimmo rebounded at UFC 161 in June with a win over Igor Pokrajac.
Other bouts slated for UFC Fight Night 30: Bisping vs. Munoz are Ross Pearson vs. Melvin Guillard, Phil Harris vs. John Lineker and Paul Taylor vs. Anthony Njokuani.
Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com