Report: Paulo Borrachinha meets Oluwale Bamgbose at UFC 212 in Rio de Janeiro

The UFC’s return to Rio de Janeiro in June continues to build with the addition of a middleweight bout.

According to a report from Brazilian news outlet Combate, Brazil’s Paulo Borrachinha (9-0 MMA, 1-0 UFC) will take on Oluwale Bamgbose (6-2 MMA, 1-2 UFC) at UFC 212. UFC officials have not yet formally announced the booking.

UFC 212, which is headlined by a featherweight title unification fight between Jose Aldo and Max Holloway, takes place June 3 at Jeunesse Arena in Rio de Janeiro. The card will air on pay-per-view following prelims on FS1 and UFC Fight Pass.

Borrachinha had a sensational UFC debut earlier this month at UFC Fight Night 106 in Brazil when he took out Garreth McLellan with a TKO in just 77 seconds. The victory in front of his home-country fans kept him perfect at 9-0 overall – and all nine of those wins have come by stoppage, including eight knockouts.

Oluwale Bamgbose

Bamgbose gets a new booking after a disappointing culmination to his preparation for a bout at UFC Fight Night 108 just 10 days ago. He was set to fight Tom Breese in London, but on the day of the event, Breese was removed from the fight after being deemed unfit to compete. The fight would have been Bamgbose’s first in nearly a year, but as it stands now it will be nearly 14 months since his most recent fight when he gets in the cage in Rio.

His promotional debut was a short-notice TKO loss to Uriah Hall at UFC Fight Night 74 in Nashville in August 2015. But he rebounded with a head kick knockout of Daniel Sarafian in just 60 seconds at UFC Fight Night 83 in Pittsburgh in February 2016. This past April, though, he dropped a decision to Cezar Ferreira at UFC on FOX 19 in Florida, continuing his up-and-down run in the promotion.

With the addition, the UFC 212 card currently includes:

• Champ Jose Aldo vs. interim champ Max Holloway – featherweight title unification bout
• Claudia Gadelha vs. Karolina Kowalkiewicz
• Antonio Carlos Junior vs. Eric Spicely
• Johnny Eduardo vs. Matthew Lopez
• Marco Beltran vs. Deiveson Alcantara
• Kelvin Gastelum vs. Anderson Silva
• Yancy Medeiros vs. Erick Silva
• Oluwale Bamgbose vs. Paulo Borrachinha

For more on UFC 212, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.