The UFC’s first show of the new year has added middleweight action to its line-up.
Abdul Razak Alhassan (11-5) will face Contender Series winner Claudio Ribeiro (10-2) at the Fight Night event on January 14, 2022. News of the booking was first reported by Laerte Viana of Super Lutas.
Ribeiro subsequently confirmed the match-up on social media.
For Alhassan, the fight is an opportunity to return to the win column, after losing a split decision last time out. That setback, against Joaquin Buckley, dropped the 37-year old known as “Judo Thunder” to just 1-4 in his last five fights.
Alhassan’s lone victory in that span came against Alessio Di Chirico, care of a head kick KO that earned a well-deserved Performance of the Night bonus.
Claudio Ribeiro won his way into the UFC on the latest installment of Dana White’s Contender Series. Appearing as part of Week 4 of this year’s show, the Brazilian knocked out Iván Valenzuela in just twenty-five seconds, meaning a UFC contract was pretty much a given.
Ribeiro will make his UFC debut having won six straight.
UFC Vegas 67, the first event of the new year for the promotion, will take place in Las Vegas at the Apex on January 14, 2023. Middleweights Kelvin Gastelum and Nassourdine Imavov headline.
The following bouts have been reported for the card thus far:
- Kelvin Gastelum vs. Nassourdine Imavov
- Jeff Molina vs. Jimmy Flick
- Allan Nascimento vs. Carlos Hernandez
- Geoff Neal vs. Shavkat Rakhmonov
- Ketlen Vieira vs. Raquel Pennington
- Jarno Errens vs. David Onama
- Omar Morales vs. Mateusz Rębecki
- Daniel Argueta vs. Isaac Dulgarian
- Punahele Soriano vs. Roman Kopylov
- Dan Ige vs. Damon Jackson
- Umar Nurmagomedov vs. Raoni Barcelos
- Abdul Razak Alhassan vs. Claudio Ribeiro
