The lineup for the UFC’s return to Florida continues to build with the addition of a potential barnburner at welterweight.
China’s Li Jingliang (16-5 MMA, 8-3 UFC) will take on Brazil’s Alex Oliveira (19-6-1 MMA, 9-4 UFC) at UFC on ESPN 3, the promotion today announced. The booking previously was reported by Combate.
Jingliang and Oliveira have seven post-fight bonus awards in their past 10 combined fights – four for Jingliang and three for “Cowboy” Oliveira.
UFC on ESPN 3 takes place April 27 at BB&T Center in Sunrise, Fla., a suburb of Fort Lauderdale. The card airs on ESPN following early prelims on ESPN+.
Jingliang has won six of his past seven fights and two straight. After bonus-winning victories over Frank Camacho and Zak Ottow in 2017, Jingliang had a four-fight streak snapped with a “Fight of the Night” decision loss to Jake Matthews on Matthews’ home turf in Australia 13 months ago. But he rebounded with a decision win over Daichi Abe and a bonus-winning body-kick knockout of David Zawada in front of his home fans in China this past November.
Oliveira will be looking to rebound folling a submission loss to Gunnar Nelson at UFC 231 in Toronto this past December. Prior to that, Oliveira had won six of his past seven, including five finishes. In April 2018, Oliveira submitted former interim champion Carlos Condit for his third straight bonus award. This past September, he stopped Carlo Pedersoli Jr. in just 39 seconds in Brazil.
With the addition, the latest UFC on ESPN 3 lineup now includes:
- Yoel Romero vs. Ronaldo Souza
- Ion Cutelaba vs. Glover Teixeira
- John Lineker vs. Cory Sandhagen
- Andrei Arlovski vs. Augusto Sakai
- Li Jingliang vs. Alex Oliveira
- Jason Gonzalez vs. Jim Miller
- Carla Esparza vs. Livinha Souza
- Dhiego Lima vs. Court McGee
- Jodie Esquibel vs. Jessica Penne
- Greg Hardy vs. Dmitrii Smoliakov
For more on UFC on ESPN 3, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.
