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Welterweights Alex Oliveira and Max Griffin are reportedly headed to Las Vegas on March 7.
A battle between two exciting welterweights has reportedly been added to the upcoming UFC 248 card, in March. Per MMA Junkie, Brazilian ‘Cowboy’ Alex Oliveira is set to take on striker Max Griffin at the Las Vegas event.
In urgent need of a win, Alex Oliveira (19-8-1-2 NC) lost his last three fights, dropping decisions to both Nicolas Dalby and Mike Perry, while being tapped out to Gunnar Nelson prior to both defeats. The 31-year-old’s last win happened in September 2018, when he bested Carlo Pedersoli Jr. via TKO.
Not in much better standing than his opponent, Max Griffin has lost three of his last four bouts, most recently dropping a unanimous decision to Alex Morono this past October. The loss did come after a majority decision victory over Zelim Imadaev, but the 34-year-old had lost two in a row prior to the win, with a split decision defeat to Thiago Alves and a unanimous one to Curtis Millender.
UFC 248 takes place at the T-Mobile Arena on Saturday, March 7th. The card’s co-main event is a strawweight title fight, between the champion, Weili Zhang, and former titleholder Joanna Jedrzejczyk. No main event has been named as of yet.
This news of Oliveira’s booking comes seven months after Oliveira was accused of assault by his ex-wife. Oliveira was reportedly wanted by police in Rio after claims that he punched his ex-wife and then, while intoxicated, sped away on a motorcycle with his five-month-old child. Oliveira’s manager Alex Davis called those initial reports “inaccurate” (per The Score).
Bloody Elbow has asked the UFC if they conducted any investigation related to these claims. A response was not provided at this time of writing.