A pivotal light heavyweight meeting has been booked for the UFC’s first event of the ESPN era.
Glover Teixeira is set to fight Ion Cutelaba at UFC on ESPN+ on Jan. 19 in Brooklyn, New York, Newsday reported Friday.
Teixeira, a former title challenger at 205 pounds, is coming off a disappointing decision loss to Corey Anderson this past summer. Before that, he stopped rising light heavyweight Misha Cirkunov by first-round TKO at UFC on FOX 26 last December. The Brazilian has alternated wins and losses his last six fights dating back to 2016.
Cutelaba is riding a two-fight winning streak, with vicious, first-round stoppages of Gadzhimurad Antigulov and Luis Henrique da Silva at UFC on FOX 30 and UFC Fight Night 110, respectively. His last loss was to now-middleweight contender Jared Cannonier two years ago.
Newsday also reported a 205-pound bout between Alonzo Menifield and Vinicius Moreira has been added to the card.
UFC on ESPN+, which marks the promotion’s first show on ESPN, takes place at Barclays Center.