Next month's UFC 253 card headlined by Israel Adesanya and Paulo Costa has received a bit of Aussie flavour, with welterweight Jake Matthews added to the card.
The Victorian will take on Diego Sanchez after it was announced on Wednesday morning (AEST).
𝙏𝙃𝙀 𝙉𝙄𝙂𝙃𝙏𝙈𝘼𝙍𝙀 vs. 𝙏𝙃𝙀 𝘾𝙀𝙇𝙏𝙄𝘾 𝙆𝙄𝘿!
— UFC_AUSNZ (@UFC_AUSNZ) August 18, 2020
🇦🇺 @JakeMatthewsUFC heads to #UFC253 to take on the legend that is @DiegoSanchezUFC! pic.twitter.com/NVBZQcryuo
The 25-year old has won five of his past six fights, with his only loss in that run coming to Anthony Rocco Martin in 2018.
MORE: Cormier farewells UFC | Crute taking new mindset into next fight
Matthews (16-4) will face one of his toughest challenges to date in the experienced Sanchez (30-12) in late September.
The Aussie's clash isn't the only one that has been added to the card by UFC today, with two other fights also added.
Brad Riddell will face Alex da Silva, while Nate Landwehr will meet Shane Young.
It's a New Zealand takeover at #UFC253! @bradquakeriddel, @kaikarafrance, and @ShaneYoungMMA are all returning 🇳🇿 pic.twitter.com/KwCoJcmiX1
— UFC_AUSNZ (@UFC_AUSNZ) August 18, 2020
While Adesanya and Costa will headline the card for the middleweight strap, there is potentially going to be another title fight at the event.
After news broke yesterday that Jon Jones would vacate the light heavyweight title, the Jan Blachowicz vs. Dominick Reyes fight will now be for the title.
The full card for UFC 253 is below.
-
Israel Adesanya vs. Paulo Costa – UFC middleweight title
-
Jan Blachowicz vs. Dominick Reyes
-
Donald Cerrone vs. Niko Price
-
Kai Kara-France vs. Brandon Royval
-
Claudia Gadelha vs. Xiaonan Yan
-
Hakeem Dawodu vs. Zubaira Tukhugov
-
Shamil Abdurakhimov vs. Ciryl Gane
-
Heili Alateng vs. Casey Kenney
-
David Dvorak vs. Jordan Espinosa
-
Jake Matthews vs. Diego Sanchez
-
Brad Riddell vs. Alex da Silva
-
Nate Landwehr vs. Shane Young
