Drakkar Klose will fight for the first time in over two years soon, meeting Brandon Jenkins at UFC’s April 16th card. News of the lightweight matchup was confirmed Saturday by Mike Heck of MMA Fighting.
The matchup joins a show that doesn’t have a confirmed location at the moment. It is the first fight to be booked for that date.
Klose’s return was originally scheduled to happen against UFC newcomer Nikolas Motta. However, the promotion reportedly changed plans and gave Motta a new opponent for his debut.
Klose has been out of the cage since early 2020. This has in-part been due to numerous bookings falling through. He was notably scheduled to meet veteran Jeremy Stephens on a card in 2021, but an injury before the fight forced him off the card. In controversial fashion, the injury was suspected to be from a shove that Stephens gave Kattar during their face-off a day before.
Klose’s last fight was a stoppage loss to Beneil Dariush in early 2020. He had a strong three-fight winning streak before then.
Jenkins lost his UFC debut in September against Rongzhu. This came just a month after he scored a highlight reel flying knee knockout against former UFC fighter Jacob Kilburn on a PFL card.