[autotag]Gian Villante[/autotag] is moving up.
The Long Island native will fight in his home state of New York when he takes on [autotag]Ben Rothwell[/autotag] at UFC 249.
MMA Junkie confirmed the booking with a person with knowledge of the situation following an initial report by Newsday on Monday.
Villante (17-11 MMA, 7-8 UFC) has alternated wins and losses over the span of his past four outings. After he defeated Francimar Barroso in January 2018, Villante dropped a split decision to Sam Alvey in June of the same year.
In October 2018, Villante earned a split-decision nod against Ed Herman. His most recent fight came in February, when Villante was finished by strikes in 94 seconds by Michal Oleksiejczuk.
As for Rothwell (37-12 MMA, 7-6 UFC), the Wisconsin-based big man is riding momentum from a controversial TKO victory at UFC on ESPN 7 in early December 2019. After striking Struve in the groin multiple times, Rothwell rallied to pick up a late second-round stoppage. The win snapped a three-fight losing streak.
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UFC 249 takes place April 18 at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y. The main card streams on pay-per-view following prelims likely on ESPN and ESPN+/UFC Fight Pass.
With the addition, the UFC 249 lineup now includes:
- Champ Khabib Nurmagomedov vs. Tony Ferguson – for lightweight title
- Jessica Andrade vs. Rose Namajunas
- Uriah Hall vs. Ronaldo Souza
- Ben Rothwell vs. Gian Villante
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