A promising featherweight scrap has been added to UFC Vegas 98 this October.
That fight will see Jonathan Pearce (14-6) take on Pat Sabatini (18-5), in a match-up that finds both men looking for a return to the win column. The event takes place October 12, 2024 at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas, NV.
MMA Junkie was first to report news of the booking, with both fighters confirming the match-up on social media.
Pearce has lost back-to-back bouts against Joanderson Brito and David Onama, a slump that has halted a five-fight win streak “JSP” compiled between 2020 and 2022. A product of Dana White’s Contender Series from the 2019 season, Pearce is 5-3 overall under the UFC banner.
Sabatini, a two-time Cage Fury FC featherweight champ, went straight to the UFC in 2021, immediately going on a four-fight win streak for the promotion. He then ran into Damon Jackson, who finished Sabatini via TKO, and is 1-2 in his last three fights, with the second loss coming most recently, opposite Diego Lopes.
Given Lopes is red-hot at the moment, that particular loss doesn’t hurt Sabatini too badly in the grand scheme of things.
The UFC recently announced a number of fights for UFC Vegas 98, which will be headlined by flyweights Brandon Royval and Tatsuro Taira. The card currently breaks down as follows:
- Brandon Royval vs. Tatsuro Taira
- Abdul Razak Alhassan vs. Josh Fremd
- Clayton Carpenter vs. Lucas Rocha
- Chris Barnett vs. Waldo Cortes-Acosta
- Polyana Viana vs. Cory McKenna
- C.J. Vergara vs. Ramazonbek Temirov
- Grant Dawson vs. Rafa García
- Themba Gorimbo vs. Niko Price
- Chidi Njokuani vs. Jared Gooden
- Park Jun-yong vs. Brad Tavares
- Pat Sabatini vs. Jonathan Pearce
