Former bantamweight champion Renan Barao looks set to fight Phillipe Nover in a featherweight match-up at UFC Fight Night 95 in Brazil on September 24th.
That’s the word according to a report from Brazilian site UOL, though the bout hasn’t officially been confirmed by the UFC at this stage.
Considering that he went nine years undefeated, ‘The Baron’ Barao has hit choppy waters in his career of the past couple of years, beginning with losing his bantamweight title to TJ Dillashaw in May of 2014.
While he bounced back from that with a win over Mitch Gagnon, he’s since lost against to Dillashaw by TKO for a second time, and then made an unsuccessful debut at featherweight, losing to Jeremy Stephens by unanimous decision.
With that in mind it seems that the UFC are pulling back a little on the level of opposition for his next fight, with Nover having an overall 1-4 record in the Octagon to date, split over two separate stints in the promotion.
Barao Vs Nover is expected to feature as the co-main event of UFC Fight Night 95, which reportedly will be headlined by the return of Cris ‘Cyborg’ Justino against the newcomer Lina Lansberg in a 140lb catchweight fight.
