George Roop vs. Francisco Rivera joins stacked UFC 166 lineup

One of the year’s deepest cards has another solid addition as bantamweight George Roop (14-9-1 MMA, 4-5 UFC) meets Francisco Rivera (9-2 MMA, 2-1 UFC) at UFC 166.

UFC officials recently announced the bout.

UFC 166 takes place Oct. 19 at Houston’s Toyota Center. The main card airs on pay-per-view following prelims on FOX Sports 1 and Facebook.

Roop vs. Rivera is expected to be part of the Facebook stream.

Roop, who has a flair for the dramatic, scored his latest upset in May, when he stopped former WEC champion Brian Bowles with a second-round TKO. It marked Roop’s second consecutive win following a split-decision defeat to Hatsu Hioki and a TKO loss to Cub Swanson. With past wins over the likes of Chan Sung Jung and Josh Grispi, Roop now looks for the first three-fight UFC winning streak of his career.

He meets a fellow WEC vet in Rivera, who looks for his fifth straight win overall (though it’d be six if not for a failed drug test due to an over-the-counter stimulant in 2012). Most recently, Rivera rebounded from that no-contest with Roland Delorme with a TKO win over Edwin Figueroa at UFC 156.

The latest UFC 166 card now includes:

• Champ Cain Velasquez vs. Junior dos Santos – for heavyweight title
• Daniel Cormier vs. Roy Nelson
• Gilbert Melendez vs. Diego Sanchez
• Gabriel Gonzaga vs. Shawn Jordan
• Hector Lombard vs. Nate Marquardt
• Tim Boetsch vs. Luke Rockhold
• K.J. Noons vs. George Sotiropoulos
• Tony Ferguson vs. Mike Rio
• Adlan Amagov vs. T.J. Waldburger
• George Roop vs. Francisco Rivera

For the latest on UFC 166, stay tuned to the UFC Rumors section of the site.

(Pictured: George Roop)