Author: Ariel Helwani

An intriguing light-heavyweight fight could soon be added to the UFC’s return to Brazil in November.

According to sources with knowledge of the situation, the UFC is targeting Glover Teixeira vs. Patrick Cummins on Nov. 7 in São Paulo. Both fighters are on board with the idea, however, the fight is not official just yet. Should it get finalized, expect the promotion to announce it in the coming days.

Teixeira (23-4) snapped a two-fight losing streaking earlier this month when he submitted Ovince Saint Preux via rear-naked choke in the third round of their main event fight, while Cummins (8-2) was also victorious this month, as he defeated Rafael Cavalcante via third-round TKO at UFC 190 in Rio de Janeiro.

UFC Fight Night 77, headlined by Vitor Belfort vs. Dan Henderson 3, will air live on FOX Sports 1 in the United States from the Ginásio do Ibirapuera.

Jason High has found a new home.

The MMA veteran has signed a new contract with World Series of Fighting, Ali Abdel-Aziz, WSOF executive vice president, confirmed with MMAFighting.com on Tuesday. High is expected to make his promotional debut in November, though no opponent has been signed just yet.

High (18-5) has not fought since his June 2014 loss to Rafael dos Anjos. Following the fight, he pushed referee Kevin Mulhall in the cage because he was upset with Mulhall’s decision to stop the fight in the second round. Three days later, he was cut by the UFC, and a week later he was suspended for one year by the New Mexico State Athletic Commission and fined 10 percent of his purse.

“I’m excited, man,” High said on a recent edition of The MMA Hour when asked about his suspension coming to an end. “You know, it’s been hard to sit on the sidelines, especially when I’m healthy. I came off of a big rest from being not healthy with my appendix and everything. Then to get sat out for a year after that, it was really heartbreaking, man. It was really hard to sit out and watch. But you know, I’ve been getting through it, and I’m ready to get back to work this year.”

The 33-year-old High will compete as a lightweight in WSOF. He enters the promotion holding signature wins over Andre Galvao, Hayato Sakurai and and Jordan Mein, to name a few.

Mike Ricci is headed to World Series of Fighting.

The former TUF 16 finalist has signed a new contract with the promotion, WSOF executive vice president Ali Abdel-Aziz confirmed with MMAFighting.com. His debut fight, which is expected to be contested at lightweight, has yet to be finalized.

Ricci is 2-0 since his release from the UFC in Sept. 2013, however, he has not fought since Aug. 2014. He failed to make weight prior to a Titan FC lightweight title fight in October, which was ultimately canceled after Yoshiyuki Yoshida decided against fighting Ricci at a catchweight, and then pulled out of another title fight against Pat Healy last month due to injury.

Interestingly enough, Ricci leaves Titan, whose COO Lex McMahon is also his manager.

“In this instance, Titan and Mike Ricci have agreed that it is in the mutual interest of the parties to move in a different direction,” McMahon told MMAFighting.com. “Titan fully supports Mike Ricci and wishes him nothing but success in his future endeavors.”

The 10-4 Montreal-native went 1-2 in the UFC before leaving the company following a loss to Myles Jury at UFC 165. Since then, he has defeated fellow UFC veterans Jorge Gurgel and George Sotiropoulos.

The MMA Hour is back in your life. Below is a rundown of Monday’s show:

1:00 p.m. ET — UFC middleweight champion Chris Weidman will talk about fighting Luke Rockhold at UFC 194 and Anderson Silva’s NAC hearing last week.

1:25 p.m. — Roger Huerta will look ahead to his ONE Championship fight against Koji Ando on Sept. 1.

1:45 p.m. — Bellator lightweight champion Will Brooks will discuss his title fight against Marcin Held on Nov. 6.

2:05 p.m. — Donald Cerrone will talk about his lightweight title fight against Rafael dos Anjos at UFC on FOX 17 on Dec. 19.

2:25 p.m. — Jeff Novitzky, the UFC’s VP of athlete health and performance, will discuss the organization’s new anti-doping efforts.

2:45 p.m. — Cathal Pendred will talk about…

On this week’s episode of “The MMA Beat,” the panel will discuss Anderson Silva’s punishment, the heavyweight title picture, McGregor vs. Aldo and much more.

Raphael Assuncao underwent successful surgery on his right ankle Thursday in Atlanta. If all goes well with his recovery, he hopes to return to action by December.

Doctors inserted eight screws into his ankle. Below are pictures of the procedure, courtesy of his manager Daniel Rubenstein. (Warning: the photos are graphic.)

Coincidentally, Assuncao had surgery at the same time and hospital as his twin brother Freddy, also an MMA fighter, who recently suffered a torn ACL.

Assuncao injured the same ankle back in December but was told he did not need surgery. However, he was recently forced to go back in a boot after he was informed he rushed back to training too soon and the ankle didn’t properly heal. After several weeks in a boot, he was then informed by doctors that he would require surgery after all.

The Brazilian, who has won his last seven fights in a row but has not fought since Oct. 2014, could have been next in line for a title shot after Dominick Cruz suffered another torn ACL late last year. He now hopes to return to action by the end of 2015, if all goes well following this week’s surgery.

Assuncao holds the distinction of being one of two men to hold a win over current 135-pound champion T.J. Dillashaw, who he defeated via split decision in Oct. 2013.