Welterweights Ramazan Emeev and David Zawada are set to face off.
The UFC announced Monday that Emeev (19-4) and Zawada (17-5) will fight at a Fight Night event on Jan. 16 with a location still to be made official.
Emeev has won four of five fights since joining the UFC in 2017, most recently rebounding from his first octagon loss with a unanimous decision win over Niklas Stolze on Fight Island in July. “Gorets” was also standout in Russia’s M-1 Global promotion and he is 16-2 in his previous 18 appearances, including a loss to Vyacheslav Vasilevsky that he avenged in a rematch.
Germany’s Zawada is coming off of his first UFC victory in three tries. He spoiled the UFC debut of Abubakar Nurmagomedov in November 2019, submitting the highly-touted signing in under two minutes to end a two-fight losing streak. The COVID-19 pandemic interfered with Zawada’s bookings in 2020, causing the cancellation of an April event in which Zawada was supposed to fight Anthony Rocco Martin, and then again in October when scheduled opponent Mounir Lazzez tested positive for the virus.
The Jan. 16 UFC Fight Night event is expected to be headlined by a featherweight bout between former UFC champion Max Holloway and top contender Calvin Kattar.