A pair of top ten UFC flyweights will collide in August.
ESPN Deportes was first to report that No. 4 ranked flyweight Alex Perez will fight No. 9 Matt Schnell on August 28 at a yet-to-be-announced UFC event. They were originally scheduled to fight at UFC 262 back in May, but Perez withdrew from the fight. Both fighters confirmed the booking on social media after Askar Askarov dropped out of a bout with Perez.
Perez (24-6) will be looking to bounce back from his recent flyweight title loss. He fought champion Deiveson Figueiredo at UFC 255 in November. Perez was defeated in less than two minutes when Figueiredo caught him in a guillotine choke. Before his title fight loss, he had been on a three-fight winning streak, with two of those coming in 2020 — finishing both Jordan Espinosa and Jussier Formiga in the first round.
Schnell (15-5) dropped his last fight against Rogério Bontorin at UFC 262, losing a unanimous decision. Before his most recent loss, he halted a red hot Tyson Nam on ‘Fight Island’ in January. “Danger” defeated Nam via a split decision. The victory came after Schnell’s rather solid win streak was snapped by Alexandre Pantoja back in 2019. Schnell lost his first two UFC fights after competing on The Ultimate Fighter, but then he rattled off four straight wins. A win over Perez could get Schnell back in title contention.
No location, venue, or broadcast details have yet to be announced by the promotion for UFC’s August 28 event.
The August 28 fight card now includes the following reported bouts:
- Edson Barboza vs. Giga Chikadze
- Kevin Lee vs. Sean Brady
- Gerald Meerschaert vs. Makhmud Muradov
- Ketlen Vieira vs. Sara McMann
- Kevin Croom vs. Marcelo Rojo
- Pat Sabatini vs. Jamall Emmers
- Joselyne Edwards vs. Zarah Fairn Dos Santos
- Mario Bautista vs. Guido Cannetti
- Dustin Jacoby vs. Darren Stewart
- Tracy Cortez vs. JJ Aldrich
- Alessio Di Chirico vs. Aliaskhab Khizriev
- Alex Perez vs. Matt Schnell
