A rare women’s featherweight match-up is on tap for UFC Paris this September.
Zarah Fairn dos Santos (6-4) is set to welcome newly signed Ailin Perez (7-1) at the Fight Night event in Paris, France on September 3, 2022. News of the booking was first reported by MMA Fighting.
Fairn subsequently confirmed the match-up on social media. An image attached to the post specified that the bout will take place in the featherweight division.
The French-born fighter Fairn will be competing for the first time since February of 2020 when she steps into the cage at home. She last competed at UFC Norfolk in February 2020, losing via TKO to the now-retired Felicia Spencer. That defeat marked her second straight, following a loss to Megan Anderson the previous year.
Fairn twice had fights booked in 2021, but after badly missing weight for a bout with Josiane Nunes in April that year, she was forced to withdraw. A fight with Joselyne Edwards also fell through in August 2021.
Perez’s signing with the promotion was just recently announced by her management firm, All In Sports Management. She’s won two straight, capturing the SFH Bantamweight Championship last month. The 27-year old from Argentina has previously competed as a featherweight; her only loss came via DQ last November, due to use of illegal knees.
UFC Paris is set to take place at the Accor Arena in Paris, France on September 3. The event is expected to be headlined by ranked heavyweights Ciryl Gane and Tai Tuivasa, while a key middleweight match-up featuring Marvin Vettori against former middleweight champ Robert Whittaker has also been announced.
The following bouts have been reported for the UFC Paris card thus far:
- Ciryl Gane vs. Tai Tuivasa
- Katlyn Chookagian vs. Manon Fiorot
- Makhmud Muradov vs. Abusupiyan Magomedov
- Robert Whittaker vs. Marvin Vettori
- Zarah Fairn Dos Santos vs. Ailin Perez
