A pair of ranked UFC lightweights will collide in May.
ESPN was first to report that No. 15 ranked Gregor Gillespie will finally return to action against No. 12 Diego Ferreira. Gillespie was scheduled to return last month at UFC Vegas 22, but opponent Brad Riddell was removed from the card due to COVID-19 protocols.
Gillespie (13-1) hasn’t been in action since he was violently knocked unconscious by Kevin Lee at UFC 244 in his home state of New York. That was in November of 2019 and marked his first professional defeat. Before his loss, “The Gift” had rattled off six UFC wins and was riding a five-fight finish streak. It will be more than 450 days since he has competed, by far the longest he has ever gone in his professional career.
Ferreira (17-3) had his six-fight win streak snapped in February at UFC Fight Night: Overeem vs. Volkov against Beneil Dariush. He would lose a split decision. Ferreira only fought once in 2020, and that was against former lightweight champion Anthony Pettis, whom he would submit in the second round of their UFC 246 bout.
As of now, the fight will take place at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. With this last addition, the UFC on ESPN: Sandhagen vs. Dillashaw lineup on May 8 now looks like:
- Cory Sandhagen vs. T.J. Dillashaw
- Donald Cerrone vs. Diego Sanchez
- Neil Magny vs. Geoff Neal
- Gregor Gillespie vs. Diego Ferreira
- Angela Hill vs. Amanda Ribas
- Zarrukh Adashev vs. Ryan Benoit
- Maurice Greene vs. Marcos Rogerio de Lima
- Christian Aguilera vs. Carlston Harris
- Francisco Figueredo vs. JP Buys
- Tafon Nchukwi vs. Jun Yong Park
- Damir Hadzovic vs. Nikolas Motta
- Philipe Lins vs. Ben Rothwell
