Marlon Vera vs. Mario Bautista Booked For UFC Fight Night 257

A bantamweight fight between Marlon Vera and Mario Bautista has been announced for UFC Fight 257 in Des Moines, Iowa on May 3rd.

The 32-year-old Vera is coming off back-to-back defeats last year, starting with a unanimous decision loss to Sean O’Malley in their title clash at UFC 299.

Vera then went on to fight former flyweight champion Deiveson Figueiredo, but again lost out via unanimous decision, which has left him dropping down the rankings to No.7.

Vera still remains an important figure in the division though, having beaten the likes O’Malley, Pedro Munhoz, Dominick Cruz, Frankie Edgar and Rob Font in the past.

Meanwhile, the 31-year-old Bautista doesn’t have Vera’s star power in the division, but he is on an impressive seven-fight winning streak that’s culminated in decision wins over Ricky Simon and Jose Aldo in the past year, which has led to him rising up to No.10 in the rankings.

Vera vs. Buatista joins a UFC Fight Night 257 card that will be headlined by another bantamweight bout between Deiveson Figueiredo and Cory Sandhagen, while the likes of Santiago Ponzinibbio vs. Daniel Rodriguez, Miesha Tate vs. Yana Santos and Marina Rodriguez vs. Gillian Robertson can also be found on the line-up so far.