Featherweights Diego Lopes and Jean Silva have agreed to meet in the five-round main event at the upcoming Noche UFC card in San Antonio on Sept. 13.
UFC CEO Dana White announced the news on Tuesday night.
The fight pits a former title challenger against one of the fastest rising stars in the division with Lopes looking to bounce back from a loss to Alexander Volkanovski while Silva attempts to remain undefeated in the UFC after five straight wins in the octagon.
Prior to his setback in the featherweight title fight, Lopes had rattled off five wins in a row including victories over Brian Ortega, Dan Ige and Sodiq Yusuff. While he came up short in his bid to become champion Lopes remains one of the top ranked 145-pound fighters in the world.
As for Silva, the 28-year-old member of the Fighting Nerds team has taken the division by storm with blistering performances ever since joining the UFC roster. Most recently, Silva took out Bryce Mitchell in dominant fashion with a nasty ninja choke at UFC 314 in April.
Overall, Silva is 5-0 in the UFC with all five wins coming by way of knockout or submission.
He’ll attempt to keep that streak alive when he faces Lopes in September with the chance to potentially earn a title shot with a win.
The latest installment of Noche UFC goes down in San Antonio with more fights expected to be added to the card in the coming weeks.
