After being tied to a bout with Elizeu Zaleski, it looks like Neil Magny will face off with a different Brazilian in New York.
Usually when the UFC announces a bout, that’s what’s going to happen (barring injury). But things were a little weird last week when the promotion put it out there that Neil Magny was going to meet Elizeu Zaleski in the co-main event of UFC Rochester on May 18th. Zaleski immediately denied that he was booked in that fight. And Michael Chiesa said he was told he was fighting Magny in June.
Well, none of that is happening now. According to MMA Insider Farrah Hannoun on Twitter, Magny is actually close to fighting Vicente Luque in Rochester:
EXCLUSIVE: Neil Magny vs. Vicente Luque in the works for #UFCRochester, New York (May 18th) #UFC #MMA #UFCFightNight151 pic.twitter.com/foJxVYhTQT
— Farah Hannoun (@Farah_Hannoun) April 3, 2019
Magny (21-7, 14-6 UFC) is coming off a knockout loss to Santiago Ponzinibbio in November. He had won two in a row going into that bout. Magny is currently ranked as the number 13 contender in the UFC’s welterweight division.
Luque (15-6-1, 8-2 UFC) is currently on a four-fight winning streak, and has finished them all inside the distance. He most recently stopped Bryan Barberena in a great fight in February, a victory that got him into the rankings at 15.
UFC Rochester goes down May 18th in the Blue Cross Arena, and will be headlined by a welterweight bout between Rafael dos Anjos and Kevin Lee.