Three fights are reportedly targeted for April’s UFC on FOX 19 with the fights being Tony Ferguson vs. Khabib Nurmagomedov, Rashad Evans vs. Mauricio “Shogun” Rua and Beneil Dariush vs. Michael Chiesa.
The fight bookings have been reported over the past 24 hours by MMA Fighting and Combate.
Ferguson (20-3) had been scheduled to take on Michael Johnson at UFC 197 in March, but Johnson pulled out of the fight due to undisclosed reasons and now Ferguson will fight one month later. He will enter this fight with seven straight victories and his most recent win came in December against Edson Barboza. Nurmagomedov (22-0) was scheduled to fight Ferguson in December, but he had to pull out of that fight due to an injury. This will be his first fight in two years and the last time he stepped into the UFC cage, he defeated current UFC lightweight champion Rafael dos Anjos by unanimous decision.
Evans (19-4, 1NC) returned to the UFC last year after being away for nearly two years and lost a decision against Ryan Bader. The victory snapped a two fight winning streak and he is 2-3 in his last five fights. Rua (23-10) snapped a two fight losing streak in August when he defeated Antonio Rogerio Nogueira at UFC 190. It was his first win in nearly two years and he is 2-4 in his last six fights.
Dariush (12-1) is currently on a five fight winning streak and is coming off a split decision win in August against Michael Johnson. During his recent winning streak, two of the five wins have come by submission and he is 6-1 in the UFC. Chiesa (13-2) has won back to back fights and is 4-1 in his last five. His most recent win came in December as he submitted Jim Miller by rear-naked choke.
UFC on FOX 19 is slated to take place on April 16 and the venue for the fight card has not been announced at this time.