Rising welterweight Belal Muhammad has been matched with veteran Demian Maia for UFC’s June 12th pay-per-view event, per reports. The fight will take place at UFC 263, as first reported by Brett Okamoto of ESPN.
The fight joins a slowly growing lineup that does not have a confirmed location at the moment.
Muhammad is getting the booking after his first UFC main event fight had an unfortunate ending in March. Fighting for what could have been up to five rounds long against Leon Edwards, Muhammad was taken out of the fight in the second round due to an unintentional eye poke. The outcome of the fight gave both competitors a no contest on their records.
Muhammad had a four-fight win streak prior to the no contest, picking up wins over names like Dhiego Lima and Lyman Good in recent appearances.
Maia will be competing for the first time after over a year outside of the cage. His last bout was a loss, as he fought to a unanimous decision against Gilbert Burns in March of 2020. The loss snapped a series of wins that Maia put together in recent years, including a main event submission win against Ben Askren.
Maia’s upcoming fight will be the last on his current UFC contract, per Guilherme Cruz of MMA Fighting.
UFC Flyweight Champion Deiveson Figueiredo is currently scheduled to rematch Brandon Moreno in the main event of UFC 263. Here is the lineup for the PPV card currently.
Bout 6: Deiveson Figueiredo (20-1-1) vs. Brandon Moreno (18-5-2) (UFC Flyweight Championship)
Bout 5: Fares Ziam (11-3) vs. Luigi Vendramini (9-1) (Lightweight)
Bout 4: Hakeem Dawodu (12-1-1) vs. Movsar Evloev (14-0) (Featherweight)
Bout 3: Karol Rosa (14-3) vs. Sijara Eubanks (6-6) (Bantamweight)
Bout 2: Lauren Murphy (14-4) vs. Joanne Calderwood (15-5) (Flyweight)
Bout 1: Demian Maia (28-10) vs. Belal Muhammad (18-3) (Welterweight)
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