Yancy Medeiros vs. Erick Silva official for UFC 212 in Rio de Janeiro

A recently reported welterweight fight now has become official for the UFC’s return to Brazil in June.

Yancy Medeiros (13-4 MMA, 4-4 UFC) will take on Brazil’s Erick Silva (19-7 MMA, 7-6 UFC) at UFC 212. UFC officials today made a formal announcement of the booking following a report last week from Hawaii’s KHON-TV.

UFC 212, which is headlined by a welterweight unification title fight between Jose Aldo and Max Holloway, also from Hawaii, 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.

Silva got back on track this past September with a “Fight of the Night”-winning third-round submission of Luan Chagas at UFC Fight Night 95 in Brazil. That snapped a two-fight skid that saw him drop a split decision to Neil Magny in 2015 and a knockout setback against Nordine Taleb at UFC 196 a year ago.

The 32-year-old has been a highly touted fighter for essentially his entire UFC tenure – but one who hasn’t been able to put together a streak longer than two wins. He alternated wins and losses for his first nine fights in the promotion before back-to-back submissions of Mike Rhodes and Josh Koscheck. But then he had the two-fight skid after that.

Yancy Medeiros

Medeiros has alternated wins and losses his past five fights, but got back in the win column this past September with a second-round rear-naked choke win over Sean Spencer that got him a $50,000 “Performance of the Night” bonus. It was his second straight extra check – his decision loss to Francisco Trinaldo in Brazil at UFC 198 10 months ago was a “Fight of the Night” winner.

Despite his up-and-down recent stretch, the 29-year-old has won four of his past six, and three of those victories have come by choke – all bonus winners.

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

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