TUF 28 winner [autotag]Juan Espino[/autotag] is back.
Nearly 22 months since his last fight, Espino (9-1 MMA, 1-0 UFC) has been booked to compete against [autotag]Jeff Hughes[/autotag] at UFC 253. The event is scheduled for Sept. 26 and is expected to take place at Yas Island, Abu Dhabi.
Espino confirmed the booking Tuesday on Instagram after the fight appeared on ESPN’s online MMA schedule.
Espino, a 39-year-old Spanish heavyweight has not competed since November 2018. That night, he clinched the TUF 28 tournament victory, defeating Justin Frazier by first-round submission.
In November 2019, Espino revealed, in an interview with MMA Junkie, he had undergone multiple hand surgeries that kept him out of action.
Through three promotional appearances, Hughes (10-3 MMA, 0-2 UFC) has struggled to pick up his first UFC victory. After losing a March 2019 split decision to Maurice Greene in his UFC debut, Hughes fought to a no contest against Todd Duffee. The fight ended after Hughes poked Duffee in the eye.
In his most recent outing in October 2019, Hughes lost a unanimous decision to Raphael Pessoa.
The latest UFC 253 card now includes:
- Champ Israel Adesanya vs. Paulo Costa – for middleweight title
- Jan Blachowicz vs. Dominick Reyes – for vacant light heavyweight title
- Kai Kara-France vs. Brandon Royval
- Ketlen Vieria vs. Marion Reneau
- Hakeem Dawodu vs. Zubaira Tukhugov
- Brad Riddell vs. Alex da Silva
- Jake Matthews vs. Diego Sanchez
- Nate Landwehr vs. Shane Young
- Aleksa Camur vs. William Knight
- Juan Espino vs. Jeff Hughes
- Heili Alateng vs. Casey Kenney
- David Dvorak vs. Jordan Espinosa
- Mirsad Bektic vs. Eduardo Garagorri
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