The proverbial wheat will be separated from the chaff when flyweights Jussier Formiga and Wilson Reis hook up at UFC Fight Night 67.
The two Brazilians face each other at the May 30 event, which goes down in Goiania, Brazil. The news was first reported by Brazilian site Combate and later confirmed by Guilherme Cruz of MMAFighting.com.
Formiga (17-3) has had an up-and-down experience during his five-fight UFC tenure. After a rocky start that saw him lose by knockout to John Dodson, Formiga has righted the ship and now won two consecutive bouts: The first was a submission win over Scott Jorgensen last March, and the second was a decision victory over Zach Makovsky last August.
The 29-year-old jiu-jitsu ace was expected to face John Moraga in December but pulled out of that matchup with a knee injury. As this will be his first fight in nine months, it will be interesting to see whether ring rust enters the equation for Formiga.
Reis (19-5) has not been overly active recently, either. He also comes in riding a two-fight win streak, including an August defeat of Joby Sanchez and an October defeat of Jorgensen.
Also a grappling ace, Reis is 3-1 in his UFC career and 2-0 since dropping down to the 125-pound division. He has nine wins by submission as a pro.
Because of their respective prowesses as ground fighters, this one could end in a stalemate, or it could end with a slick submission. The larger, more powerful Reis would probably have a strength edge against Formiga in any phase as well as a technical advantage (slight though it may be) in the likely short exchanges on the feet.
The winner of the fight will be in prime position to enter the top echelon of contenders in the thin UFC flyweight division.
UFC Fight Night 67 is set to be headlined by welterweights Carlos Condit and Thiago Alves. The original Combate report also revealed that welterweights T.J. Waldburger and Wendell Oliveira are scheduled to compete on the Goiania card.
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