Two of the UFC’s top middleweight fighters are set to do battle again, this time down under.
Former middleweight champion Luke Rockhold is set to take on Brazil’s Jacare Souza on November 27 inside Melbourne’s Rod laver Arena in a highly anticipated rematch with the winner most likely next in line for a title shot. Come fight night it would have been exactly one year since the last Melbourne card where Holly Holm stunned the world by knocking out Ronda Rousey to claim the women’s bantamweight title.
Rockhold (15-3) has not been in action since his KO loss to Michael Bisping back in June. The loss snapped a five-fight winning streak and cost him the UFC middleweight title. Now set to face a man he beat back in 2011 for the Strikeforce middleweight title, Rockhold will be looking to get back into title contention with another dominant performance. Since coming over to the UFC the 31-year old American has beaten some the promotions best 185-pound fighters including, Chris Weidman, Lyoto Machida, Michael Bisping, Tim Boetsch and Costas Philippou.
Souza (23-4-1) is looking to get his first UFC title shot with a win over the former champion. A dangerous ground fighter who has shown some improvements in his standup game, Souza has gone 6-1 since joining the UFC back in 2013 and has notable wins over Vitor Belfort, Chris Camozzi (2), Gegard Mousasi and Yushin Okami . Many feel that Souza should have had a shot at UFC glory a while back but now he has the chance to solidify that opportunity come November.
More fights for this Fight Night card are expected to be announced in the coming weeks.
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