Ben Rothwell vs. Junior Dos Santos headlines UFC Fight Night 86 in Croatia

The big men will headline the UFC’s debut event in Croatia, officials today announced.

Former heavyweight champion Junior dos Santos (17-4 MMA, 11-3 UFC) and surging contender Ben Rothwell (36-9 MMA, 6-3 UFC) are set for the five-round main event.

UFC Fight Night 86 takes place April 10 at Zagreb Arena in Zagreb, Croatia. It airs on FOX Sports 1 following early prelims on UFC Fight Pass.

Rothwell is No. 4 in the USA TODAY Sports/MMAjunkie MMA heavyweight rankings, and Dos Santos is No. 8.

Rothwell recently upset former champ Josh Barnett at UFC on FOX 18, where he picked up a “Performance of the Night” bonus and extended his winning streak to four bouts. Both of his recent wins – over Barnett and Matt Mitrione – have come via gogo choke. A bout prior, the 34-year-old knocked out former Strikeforce champion Alistair Overeem.

He now could be fighting for a title shot when he takes on Dos Santos, who won his first nine UFC fights, which included a brief title run. However, the 32-year-old Brazilian is just 2-3 since then, and in his most recent bout, he suffered a TKO loss to Overeem.

The latest UFC Fight Night 86 card now includes:

• Junior Dos Santos vs. Ben Rothwell
• Gabriel Gonzaga vs. Ruslan Magomedov
• Bojan Mihajlovic vs. Francis Ngannou
• Timothy Johnson vs. Marcin Tybura
• Jan Blachowicz vs. Igor Pokrajac
• Nicolas Dalby vs. Bartosz Fabinski
• Damir Hadzovic vs. Mairbek Taisumov
• Alessio Di Chirico vs. Bojan Velickovic

For more on UFC Fight Night 86, check out the MMA Rumors section of the site.