UFC lightweight fighter Kurt “Batman” Pellegrino (15-5) announced that he’d be facing Gleison Tibau (21-7) via his Twitter page on Wednesday.
The bout between the two had surfaced in rumors and now Pellegrino has confirmed that the fight will take place on March 19th at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey.
With the UFC pulling the event in Abu Dhabi, it’s still unclear whether or not this event will be designated UFC 129 or take the canceled UFC 128 tag.
Pellegrino had a four fight win streak stopped by George Sotiropoulos last July at UFC 116, losing a unanimous decision to the Greek-Australian fighter. So far, “Batman” is sporting a 7-4 record with the UFC promotion. Victories from the four fight streak include wins over Fabricio Camoes at UFC 111, Josh Neer at UFC 101, Rob Emerson at UFC Fight Night: Lauzon vs. Stephens, and Thiago Tavares at UFC 88.
Tibau is also coming off a loss after winning two straight. He lost a unanimous decision to Jim Miller at UFC Fight Night: Marquardt vs. Palhares in September. Before that he earned wins over Caol Uno at UFC Fight Night: Florian vs. Gomi in March, and Josh Neer at UFC 104 in October of 2009. His UFC record stands at 7-5 since his promotional debut against Nick Diaz at UFC 65 in 2006.
It’s likely that both fighters will be battling it out for their jobs with the UFC as each is coming off a loss and the influx of WEC lightweights will keep competition high.