Jorge Lopez, a Muay Thai and MMA trainer at Wanderlei Silva‘s Wand Fight Team in Las Vegas, will make his UFC debut on the undercard of UFC Fight Night 25 on Sept. 17 in New Orleans.
“Wandsports gonna have his first fighter In the UFC!” Silva tweeted Friday morning. “Jorge Lopez received the contract yesterday and is now a UFC fighter. My future champion.”
Standing across the cage from Lopez in the welterweight’s UFC debut will be The Ultimate Fighter 13 contestant Justin Edwards.
At only 22 years of age, Lopez already holds a professional MMA record of 11-1. Fighting primarily in California, Utah and Las Vegas, he has compiled wins over Brett Cooper, Waachiim Spiritwolf and David Marshall.
Edwards (6-1), out of Team Jorge Gurgel in Cincinnati, lost a split decision to Clay Harvison in his UFC debut last June at the TUF 13 Finale. On the show, Edwards was knocked out by an upkick in the opening round by eventual season winner Tony Ferguson.
UFC Fight Night 25, also titled “Battle at the Bayou,” is headlined by Jake Shields vs. Jake Ellenberger in a welterweight bout. The other televised bouts on the Spike TV card will be Court McGee vs. Dongi Yang, Jonathan Brookins vs. Erik Koch and Alan Belcher vs. Jason MacDonald.