[autotag]Thomas Almeida[/autotag] is back.
Almeida (21-3 MMA, 5-3 UFC) will return after an almost three-year long layoff when he faces [autotag]Alejandro Perez[/autotag] (21-8-1 MMA, 7-3-1 UFC) at the UFC’s Oct. 10 event, which is expected to take place at Yas Island in Abu Dhabi and will either air on ESPN or stream on ESPN+, though nothing has been officially announced.
MMA Junkie verified the booking with multiple people close to the situation following an initial report from Milenio.com.
Almeida hasn’t fought since his second-round stoppage loss to Rob Font in January 2018. He has since been sidelined due to an eye injury that required surgery and was finally cleared for full-contact training in December 2019.
The formerly unbeaten prospect has lost three of his past four, but has earned a bonus in all five of his UFC wins. He was briefly linked to a bout with Cory Sandhagen in January 2019, then slated to face Marlon Vera at UFC 235, but was forced out of both matchups.
After notching six straight wins, “The Ultimate Fighter: Latin America” winner Perez has dropped two straight for the first time in his career, suffering losses to Cody Stamann and most recently Song Yadong in July 2019.
With the addition, the current Oct. 10 lineup includes:
- Marlon Moraes vs. Cory Sandhagen
- Edson Barboza vs. Sodiq Yusuff
- Markus Perez vs. Rodolfo Vieira
- Seungwoo Choi vs. Youssef Zalal
- Ben Rothwell vs. Marcin Tybura
- Thomas Almeida vs. Alejandro Perez
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