A banger of a featherweight fight has been penciled in for the UFC’s September 17 event.
Andre Fili (21-9, 1NC) will face Lando Vannata (12-6-2) at the Fight Night show, in a match-up first reported by MMA Junkie. Fili later confirmed the booking on his Instagram story.
Both fighters will be looking to return to the win column in the bout. For Fili, he’ll be seeking out his first win since June of 2020, which he claimed a split decision victory against Charles Jourdain.
Since that time, “Touchy” Fili has fallen to Bryce Mitchell and Joanderson Brito. A bout with Daniel Pineda, meanwhile, resulted in a No Contest after an accidental eye poke left Pineda unable to continue.
Vannata, for his part, has struggled to find consistency since arriving in the UFC in 2016. He’s never won back-to-back fights, but likewise has never lost back-to-back fights. At 3-3 in his last six bouts, he’s coming off a loss to Jourdain, who happens to be the last man Fili beat.
“Groovy” Lando also has a pair of draws during his time with the promotion.
The UFC’s September 17, 2022 card does not yet have a venue, location, or broadcast plan officially announced. While no main event has been reported, a number of fights originally scheduled for September 10 were pushed back a week. Joining Andre Fili vs. Lando Vannata on the card are:
- Louis Cosce vs. Trevin Giles
- Trey Ogden vs. Daniel Zellhuber
- Nikolas Motta vs. Cameron VanCamp
