With UFC 176 having been scrapped due to an injury to featherweight champion Jose Aldo, the process of distributing the rest of the fight card is underway. And the co-main event fighters from that card are now headed to Connecticut, according to UFC president Dana White.
White tweeted out that middleweight contenders Gegard Mousasi and Ronaldo Souza are headed for UFC Fight Night 50 at Foxwoods Resort Casino on September 5. And right now that fight could be slotted one of two ways.
“I don’t know yet,” White told MMA Fighting. “It will [either] be the main or the co-main.”
The fight will be a rematch of a 2008 encounter at DREAM 6 in Japan. In that first fight, Mousasi scored a memorable knockout victory by landing a perfectly timed upkick from his back. The second fight is expected to have title implications. “Jacare” is currently ranked No. 4 on the UFC’s media-driven rankings, behind Lyoto Machida and Vitor Belfort. With Machida having lost to 185-pound champion Chris Weidman at UFC 175, and Belfort still in the process of getting licensed in the state of Nevada, “Jacare” could be next in line with a win.
Same goes for Mousasi, who is coming off an impressive victory over Mark Munoz at UFC Fight Night 41 in Berlin, Germany. He is currently ranked No. 7.
As UFC Fight Night 50 takes shape, Mousasi-Souza will join previously booked match-ups between lightweights Joe Lauzon and Michael Chiesa, as well as featherweights Sean Soriano versus Andre Fili.