UFC Fight Night 97 lineup set with Alvey vs. Nicholson in featured prelim spot

The lineup is set for the UFC’s second trip to the Philippines for UFC Fight Night 97 in October.

The event takes place Oct. 15 at SM Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay, Manila, Philippines. The entire event will stream on UFC Fight Pass. It’s the UFC’s first event in the Philippines since UFC Fight Night 66 in May 2015.

The lineup features 10 bouts, with four serving as the main card.

In the headliner, former champion and UFC Hall of Famer B.J. Penn (16-10-2 MMA, 12-9-2 UFC) returns to the octagon for the first time since a July 2014 loss to Frankie Edgar prompted him to announce his retirement. Penn faces Ricardo Lamas (16-5 MMA, 7-3 UFC) in a featherweight bout. Lamas, a former title challenger, is ranked No. 6 in the USA TODAY Sports/MMAjunkie MMA featherweight rankings.

Heavyweights clash in the co-main event when No. 11 ranked Derrick Lewis (16-4 MMA, 7-2 UFC) takes on Marcin Tybura (14-2 MMA, 1-1 UFC). Lewis is riding a four-fight winning streak, most recently picking up a win over Roy Nelson in a long requested fight. After a 12-0 start to his career, Tybura has bounced between wins and losses in his five most recent bouts.

Rounding out the main card is Yao Zhikui (2-3 MMA, 1-2 UFC) vs. Jenel Lausa (6-2 MMA, 0-0 UFC) at flyweight and a featherweight bout between Cole Miller (21-10 MMA, 10-8 UFC) and Mizuto Hirota (17-7-2 MMA, 0-1-2 UFC).

The featured prelim bout features Sam Alvey (28-8 MMA, 5-3 UFC) fighting for the fourth time in four months when he squares off with Alex Nicholson (7-2 MMA, 1-1 UFC). Alvey is riding a two-fight winning streak after a disappointing loss to Elias Theodorou at UFC Fight Night 89. Nicholson rebounded from a neck crank submission loss to Misha Cirkunov in his UFC debut with a first-round knockout of Devin Clark at UFC Fight Night 91.

MAIN CARD (UFC Fight Pass, 10 a.m. ET)

• Ricardo Lamas vs. B.J. Penn
• Derrick Lewis vs. Marcin Tybura
• Janel Lausa vs. Yao Zhikui
• Mizuto Hirota vs. Cole Miller

PRELIMINARY CARD (6:45 a.m. ET)

For more on UFC Fight Night 97, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.