A veteran of the UFC’s bantamweight wars will take on one of the division’s fastest rising up-and-comers at UFC 238.
Jimmie Rivera will square off with Petr Yan on the June 8 card at United Center in Chicago. MMA Junkie confirmed with a person close to the situation following a Thursday ESPN report.
Rivera (22-3 MMA, 6-2 UFC) is looking to break out of a tough stretch in which he has dropped two out of his past three fights. The New Jersey native’s most recent bout was a unanimous-decision loss to Aljamain Sterling in Phoenix on Feb. 17.
Russia’s Yan (12-1 MMA, 4-0 UFC), meanwhile, is looking for what would be his fifth victory in less than a year since joining the UFC. Yan is coming off a unanimous-decision victory over John Dodson at UFC Prague, which also marked his seventh consecutive win overall.
UFC 238 will be headlined with a pair of title fights, as flyweight titleholder Henry Cejudo squares off with Marlon Moraes for the vacant bantamweight belt, and Valentina Shevchenko defends her flyweight championship against Jessica Eye.
The UFC 238 lineup now includes:
Henry Cejudo vs. Marlon Moraes – for vacant bantamweight title Champ Valentina Shevchenko vs. Jessica Eye – for women’s flyweight title Nina Ansaroff vs. Tatiana Suarez Katlyn Chookagian vs. Joanne Calderwood Blagoy Ivanov vs. Tai Tuivasa Calvin Kattar vs. Ricardo Lamas Jimmie Rivera vs. Petr Yan
