Jake Matthews’ move back to welterweight is now official with the 23-year-old reportedly verbally agreeing to face Bojan Velickovic at UFC Fight Night 121.
The Herald Sun announced the match-up which was later shared by the promotion.
The event takes place on November 19 at the Qudos Bank Arena in Sydney and will be headlined by a heavyweight bout between Fabricio Werdum and Marcin Tybura.
Matthews (11-3 MMA, 4-3 UFC) has been out of action since losing to Andrew Holbrook back in November, as he underwent multiple surgeries to correct his hip that kept him out of the gym for 16-weeks. Having started his career originally in the welterweight division, Matthews made his debut in the UFC aged 19 and since then has developed, making the cut down to 70kg harder. A move to welterweight was the only answer.
Meeting him across the cage will be American based Bojan “Serbian Steel” Velickovic (15-5-1 MMA, 2-2-1 UFC). The 28-year-old started his career in his native Serbia before relocating and basing himself out of the Elevation Fight Team, where he trains alongside the likes of Neil Magny, T.J. Dillashaw and Matt Brown. A mixture of results in the Octagon means he comes into the fight under pressure having won just once in his last four outings. Velickovic competed last month, losing out to Darren Till via unanimous decision.
Fight Card:
- Fabricio Werdum vs. Marcin Tybura
- Joanne Calderwood vs. Bec Rawlings
- Rashad Coulter vs. Tai Tuivasa
- Alex Volkanovski vs. Humberto Bandenay
- Belal Muhammad vs. Tim Means
- Ryan Benoit vs. Ashkan Mokhtarian
- Alex Chambers vs. Nadia Kassem
- Daniel Kelly vs. Elias Theodorou
- Jenel Lausa vs. Eric Shelton
- Jake Matthews vs. Bojan Velickovic
