Vaughan Lee vs. Sergio Pettis in the works for UFC 167

While UFC execs have yet to officially announce the signing of top prospect Sergio Pettis (9-0 MMA, 0-0 UFC), it appears they are already planning his octagon debut.

A bantamweight contest between the 20-year-old brother of UFC lightweight champ Anthony Pettis and British fighter Vaughan Lee (13-9-1 MMA, 2-3 UFC) is in the works for November’s UFC 167 event. Brazilian outlet Globo first reported the plans, and MMAjunkie.com subsequently confirmed with sources close to the fighters that while bout agreements have yet to be signed, verbal agreements are in place.

Featuring a welterweight title fight between longtime champ Georges St-Pierre and top contender Johny Hendricks, UFC 167 takes place Nov. 16 at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, and the main card airs on pay-per-view following prelims on FOX Sports 1 and Facebook.

Just this past weekend, “The Phenom” Pettis submitted James Porter in the first round of a North American Fighting Championship event in his home city of Milwaukee. The Duke Roufus-trained fighter in June stayed unbeaten with a first-round TKO of Dillard Pegg to win Resurrection Fighting Alliance’s flyweight title.

Meanwhile, Lee has appeared five time for the UFC, alternating losses and wins in each subsequent outing. Most recently, Lee suffered a first-round submission loss to Raphael Assuncao at June’s “UFC on FUEL TV 10: Nogueira vs. Werdum 2? event. While Lee has also fallen short against top contenders T.J. Dillashaw and Chris Cariaso, he does boast UFC victories over Motonobu Tezuka and MMA legend Norifumi “Kid” Yamamoto.

With the addition to the card, the UFC 167 lineup now includes:

• Champ Georges St-Pierre vs. Johny Hendricks – for welterweight title
• Rashad Evans vs. Chael Sonnen
• Frank Mir vs. Alistair Overeem
• Robbie Lawler vs. Rory MacDonald
• Josh Koscheck vs. Tyron Woodley
• Donald Cerrone vs. Evan Dunham
• Brian Ebersole vs. Rick Story
• Edwin Figueroa vs. Erik Perez
• Ed Herman vs. Rafael Natal
• Ali Bagautinov vs. Tim Elliott
• Vaughan Lee vs. Sergio Pettis*

* – Not officially announced

For more on UFC 167, stay tuned to the UFC Rumors section of the site.

(Pictured: Tim Elliott)