The UFC confirmed a handful of new matchups slated for UFC 322 later this year.
Bo Nickal will attempt to bounce back from his first loss when he meets Rodolfo Vieira in a middleweight contest.
Nickal, 29, is a touted wrestler who was finished by Reinier de Ridder in May. Prior to that, Nickal had won seven consecutive bouts to begin his mixed martial arts career.
Vieira, 35, is a Brazilian jiu-jitsu world champion who has won three of his past four and is coming off a unanimous-decision win over Tresean Gore in early August.
Fellow middleweights Roman Kopylov and Gregory Rodrigues were also added to the Nov. 15 event at Madison Square Garden in New York.
Kopylov is the No. 15-ranked contender at 185 pounds and is coming off a decision loss to Paulo Costa at UFC 318, while the unranked Rodrigues is looking to build off a knockout win over Jack Hermansson at UFC 317. Kopylov is 6-4 in the UFC; Rodrigues is 8-3 and looking to break back into the rankings.
In other middleweight action, unbeaten rising middleweight prospect Baisangur Susurkaev, who’s already 1-0 in the UFC since winning on Dana White’s Contender Series in August, is set to compete on the card. The 10-0 fighter from Chechnya, Russia will face Eric McConico, a 35-year-old American coming off his first UFC win. McConico beat Cody Brundage via split decision in a short-notice matchup at an August Fight Night.
Also, a rematch between top-10 women’s flyweight contenders Erin Blanchfield and Tracy Cortez has been added to the lineup.
Cortez won a split decision over Blanchfield at a 2019 Invicta FC. It was Blanchfield’s fourth pro bout and Cortez’s sixth. Since then, both women have joined the UFC and steadily climbed the rankings.
Blanchfield is currently ranked No. 4 at 125 pounds and nearing a title shot. The 26-year-old is 7-1 in the UFC and holds wins over past UFC champions Rose Namajunas and Jessica Andrade. Blanchfield was scheduled to face Maycee Barber in late May in a Fight Night main event, but the bout was cancelled minutes before they were set to walk to the cage when a medical emergency prevented Barber from competing.
Cortez is ranked No. 8 in the weight class. The 31-year-old from Arizona is coming off a UFC 317 win over Viviane Araujo and is one year removed from a notable win over Jasmine Jasudavicius.
UFC 322 will mark the organization’s ninth trip to Madison Square Garden since 2016. It is scheduled to be headlined by a championship doubleheader.
The organization previously announced Jack Della Maddalena will defend the welterweight title against former longtime lightweight champion Islam Makhachev, and women’s flyweight champion Valentina Shevchenko will defend her belt against strawweight champion Zhang Weili in the co-main event. A featured bout between former welterweight champion Leon Edwards and Carlos Prates was also announced.
