Thiago Tavares and Edson Barboza will compete in their home country of Brazil when they face Sam Stout and Terry Etim, respectively, at UFC 142 on Jan. 14 at the HSBC Arena in Rio de Janeiro.
The UFC revealed the lightweight matchups on Tuesday via Twitter.
In 2011, Tavares (16-4-1) was brutally knocked out by Shane Roller in March and bounced back with a TKO over Spencer Fisher at UFC 134 in August. Canadian striker Stout (17-6-1) is on a two-fight win streak and was supposed to face Dennis Siver last month at UFC 137 but bowed out due to injury.
Much talked about for his devastating leg kicks, Barboza (9-0) has won all three of his UFC fights with his last two named Fight of the Nights. In August, he beat Ross Pearson in a split decision. Etim out of England is coming off a spectacular win this past Saturday at UFC 138 where he submitted Eddie Faaloloto with a guillotine choke in 17 seconds. UFC 142 will be Etim’s tenth UFC fight and his ninth outside of the U.S.
In the co-main events for the UFC 142 card, Jose Aldo will put his featherweight belt on the line against Chad Mendes and Vitor Belfort will meet Anthony Johnson in a middleweight showdown.