Returning welterweight Bartosz Fabinski will meet newcomer Shavkat Rakhmonov at UFC London later this year.
Poland’s Bartosz Fabinski is headed back to the octagon. On Tuesday, Fabinski himself confirmed that he’d be facing octagon newcomer Shavkat Rakhmonov at UFC London this coming March. For Fabinski, it will be his first UFC appearance since 2018.
I’m officially back 👊 pic.twitter.com/hkO8KslTXZ
— Bartosz Fabiński (@BartoszFabinski) January 28, 2020
Reports regarding a fight between the pair had been making the rounds online for several days.
Fabinski (14-3) last competed at UFC Argentina in November 2018, losing via submission to Michel Prazeres. That marked the first loss of his UFC tenure, as the Polish fighter had compiled three straight wins inside the octagon, over Garreth McLellan, Hector Urbina, and Emil Weber Meek.
Consistency has been a concern for ‘The Butcher’ as he has fought just four times dating back to April 2015.
The other half of this welterweight bout will feature the UFC’s first fighter from Kazakhstan. Shavkat Rakhmonov (12-0) joins the UFC with a perfect record, having captured and defended the M-1 welterweight championship last year. Beginning his professional career in 2014 with that very same promotion, Rakhmonov has fought decent competition on his way up, never competing against an opponent with a losing record at the time he faced them.
UFC London (UFC Fight Night 171) takes place March 21, 2020 at the O2 Arena in London, England. The card is headlined by a welterweight clash featuring ex-champ Tyron Woodley and contender Leon Edwards.
The card now includes the following match-ups:
Tyron Woodley vs. Leon Edwards
Darren Stewart vs. Marvin Vettori
Paul Craig vs. Ryan Spann
Gabriel Benítez vs. Lerone Murphy
Tom Aspinall vs. Raphael Pessoa Nunes
John Phillips vs. Dusko Todorovic
Molly McCann vs. Ashlee Evans-Smith
Nicolas Dalby vs. Danny Roberts
Marc Diakiese vs. Jai Herbert
Mike Grundy vs. Makwan Amirkhani
Jack Shore vs. Geraldo de Freitas
Kevin Holland vs. Jack Marshman
Shavkat Rakhmonov vs. Bartosz Fabiński
