A light heavyweight bout has been booked for UFC 196 on March 5th in Las Vegas as Ilir Latifi will meet Gian Villate in a bout that is likely to take place on the televised preliminary card.
The fight booking was announced by the UFC on early Friday morning.
UFC 196 will come from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas on March 5 and will be headlined by a title fight as Rafael dos Anjos defends the lightweight title against current featherweight champion Conor McGregor.
Latifi (11-4, 1NC) has won back to back fights and has won four of his six fights in the UFC. His most recent win came at UFC Fight Night 81 as he defeated Sean O’Connell by TKO in 30 seconds. Villante (14-6) also enters this event following a stoppage victory as he defeated Anthony Perosh by knockout at UFC 193. He has won three of his last four fights and his last two victories have come by TKO/KO.
The current UFC 196: Dos Anjos vs. McGregor fight card is below.
Rafael dos Anjos (24-7) vs. Conor McGregor (19-2)
Holly Holm (10-0) vs. Miesha Tate (17-5)
Corey Anderson (8-1) vs. Tom Lawlor (9-5, 1NC)
Erick Silva (18-6, 1NC) vs. Nordine Taleb (10-3)
Chas Skelly (15-1) vs. Darren Elkins (19-5)
Diego Sanchez (25-8) vs. Jim Miller (25-7, 1NC)
Vitor Miranda (11-4) vs. Marcelo Guimaraes (9-1-1)
Amanda Nunes (11-4) vs. Valentina Shevchenko (12-1)
Ilir Latifi (11-4, 1NC) vs. Gian Villante (14-6)