The UFC’s next card on big FOX is filling up pretty quickly.
A pair of important lightweight fights have been added to the event — Rustam Khabilov vs. Danny Castillo and Ramsey Nijem vs. Erik Koch, MMAFighting.com confirmed Wednesday with UFC officials. FOX Sports was the first to break the news of both bouts.
Khabilov (17-3) has lost two straight, but the first came against former UFC lightweight champion Benson Henderson last June. The Dagestan native fell by split decision to Adriano Martins in February. Khabilov, 28, owns significant wins over the likes of Jorge Masvidal and Yancy Medeiros.
Castillo (17-8) is another fighter, like Khabilov, who has had a ton of success in his career, but is coming off a pair of losses. Paul Felder knocked out Castillo with a spinning back fist at UFC 182 in January and he fell to Tony Ferguson at UFC 177 in August. The 35-year-old Team Alpha Male product has beaten the likes of Dustin Poirier, Ricardo Lamas and Tim Means.
Nijem (9-5) fell in his last fight to Diego Ferreira at UFC 177 in August, but won two in a row before that, including a TKO of ranked lightweight Beneil Dariush last year. Erik Koch (14-4) has lost three of his last four fights and is looking to get back on track. The 26-year-old owns knockout wins over Raphael Assuncao and Francisco Rivera.
UFC on FOX 16 is headlined by a bantamweight title fight between champion T.J. Dillashaw and Renan Barao. The co-main event pits former lightweight champion Anthony Pettis against Myles Jury and a women’s bantamweight title eliminator between Miesha Tate and Jessica Eye has also been booked.