A welterweight matchup is the latest addition to UFC 251.
[autotag]Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos[/autotag] will take on [autotag]Muslim Salikhov[/autotag] on July 11 at Yas Island in Abu Dhabi – also known as “Fight Island.”
Two people with knowledge of the situation informed MMA Junkie of the booking Tuesday but asked to remain anonymous since the promotion has yet to make an official announcement. Combate was first to report the news.
After having his seven-fight winning streak snapped against Li Jingliang last August, Zaleski (22-6 MMA, 8-2 UFC) rebounded with a unanimous decision win over Alexey Kunchenko in March.
Since dropping his UFC debut, Salikhov (16-2 MMA, 3-1 UFC) has won his last three in a row, two by knockout. He is coming off a unanimous decision win over Laureano Staropoli last October in Singapore.
With the addition, the UFC 251 lineup includes:
- Champ Kamaru Usman vs. Gilbert Burns – for welterweight title
- Champ Alexander Volkanovski vs. Max Holloway – for featherweight title
- Jose Aldo vs. Petr Yan – for vacant bantamweight title
- Amanda Ribas vs. Paige VanZant
- Shamil Abdurakhimov vs. Ciryl Gane
- Volkan Oezdemir vs. Jiri Prochazka
- Raulian Paiva vs. Zhalgas Zhumagulov
- Makwan Amirkhani vs. Danny Henry
- Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos vs. Muslim Salikhov
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