Matt Brown’s current six-fight UFC win streak finally yielded him a slot in the UFC welterweight Top 10 rankings, and now it’s landed him a Top 10 opponent as well.
According to UFC president Dana White, Brown will next face the last Strikeforce welterweight champion Tarec Saffiedine in a planned bout for later this year. White confirmed the news to Fox Sports on Thursday.
On Wednesday night, White said that the UFC had a matchup ready for Brown, but contracts were not in place at the time to make an announcement.
It appears that statement is still true. Despite the news that Brown will face Saffiedine, the fight’s status depends on his health. The UFC is targeting a December date for the welterweight matchup.
White stated that the plan is for Brown to draw Saffiedine next, but the former Strikeforce champion has to be cleared medically before the fight can be official. If Saffiedine is healthy enough to return to action by year’s end, he will face off with Brown.
Saffiedine burst into the Top 10 of the welterweight rankings earlier this year when he dismantled Nate Marquardt with a brutal series of leg kicks over the course of five rounds to win the Strikeforce title in the promotion’s final show.
Following the win, he was asked to step in as a replacement at UFC 158 after Rory MacDonald suffered a neck injury. He would have faced former interim champion Carlos Condit.
At the time, Saffiedine was dealing with some nagging injuries and was unable to take the fight. He was then matched up with fellow former Strikeforce fighter Robbie Lawler for UFC on Fox 8 in July, but again an injury forced him to pull out.
Now the Belgian-born welterweight currently riding a four-fight win streak will get the chance to debut in the UFC against a fighter on one of the best runs in the sport.
Brown has been nothing short of unstoppable lately, winning six fights in a row with five of them coming by knockout or TKO. Now he’ll face a Top 10 fighter and a former Strikeforce champion as he continues to charge toward the top of the division.
Damon Martin is a Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report.
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