Flyweights are headed to San Diego.
Alex Perez returns to fight in his home state of California when he takes on Kai Kara-France at UFC San Diego, two persons with knowledge of the booking told MMA Junkie on Friday. They asked to remain anonymous since the promotion has yet to make an official announcement.
UFC San Diego takes place May 16 at Pechanga Arena. The card is expected to stream on ESPN+.
Perez (22-5 MMA, 4-1 UFC), who inked a new four-fight deal in addition to his bout agreement, has won back-to-back fights. After losing to Joseph Benavidez in November 2018, Perez returned and defeated Mark De La Rosa by unanimous decision. His most recent outing took place in January when he submitted Jordan Espinosa with an arm-triangle choke in the first round.
Kara-France (21-8 MMA, 4-1 UFC), a product of City Kickboxing in New Zealand, is fresh off a unanimous decision victory over Tyson Nam on Feb. 22. In his five-fight UFC tenure, Kara-France’s lone loss came to Brandon Moreno. He also holds wins over De La Rosa, Raulian Paiva and Elias Garcia.
With the addition, the latest UFC San Diego lineup includes:
- Daniel Hooker vs. Dustin Poirier
- Anthony Hernandez vs. Puna Soriano
- Luana Carolina vs. Ariane Lipski
- Cortney Casey vs. Lara Procopio
- Kai Kara-France vs. Alex Perez
