A pivotal welterweight showdown between Demian Maia and Jorge Masvidal has landed at UFC 211 in Dallas.
The bout had been rumored for UFC Fight Night 108 on April 22 in Nashville, but UFC officials on Tuesday confirmed the fight, as first reported by MMAJunkie.com, for UFC 211 on May 13 in Dallas.
Maia (24-6) is in the midst of a six-fight winning streak, having defeated the likes of Carlos Condit, Neil Magny, Matt Brown, and Gunnar Nelson. It’s an impressive run that has him sitting at the No. 3 slot in the UFC welterweight division.
Maia defeated Condit last August, and had been patiently awaiting a title shot. With Tyron Woodley putting the belt on the line against Stephen Thompson in November at UFC 205, and then being slated for a rematch this weekend at UFC 209, Maia has decided not to wait any longer, and will fight in Dallas.
Masvidal (32-11) hasn’t been on quite the streak that Maia has, but has won his last three bouts, and is coming off of an impressive TKO stoppage of Donald Cerrone in January. He is currently ranked No. 6 in the division.
Though his winning streak is only at three, Masvidal is 7-3 over his last 10 bouts, with all three losses coming by way of split decision.
The UFC 211 fight card is started to grow some teeth with the Maia vs. Masvidal bout joining a headlining bout that sees Stipe Miocic putting his heavyweight belt on the line against Junior dos Santos, and a co-main event that has strawweight champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk facing Jessica Andrade at the American Airlines Center.
