Tai Tuivasa is set to make his return to the octagon on “Fight Island.”
Tuivasa (9-3 MMA, 3-3 UFC) will face Stefan Struve (29-12 MMA, 13-10 UFC) in a heavyweight bout at UFC 254, which takes place on Oct. 24 at Yas Island in Abu Dhabi, UFC officials announced on Thursday.
After amassing a perfect 9-0 record with three UFC wins, Tuivasa has dropped his past three to Junior dos Santos, Blagoy Ivanov and, most recently, Sergey Spivak at UFC 243 in October.
Struve has also been struggling as of late, losing four of his past five fights. His lone win came in a “Performance of the Night” submission of Marcos Rogerio de Lima in February 2019.
With the addition, the UFC 254 lineup includes:
- Khabib Nurmagomedov vs. Justin Gaethje – for UFC lightweight title
- Jared Cannonier vs. Robert Whittaker
- Rafael dos Anjos vs. Islam Makhachev
- Walt Harris vs. Alexander Volkov
- Magomed Ankalaev vs. Ion Cutelaba
- Cynthia Calvillo vs. Lauren Murphy
- Umar Nurmagomedov vs. Sergey Morozov
- Sam Alvey vs. Da Un Jung
- Liana Jojua vs. Miranda Maverick
- Shavkat Rakhmonov vs. Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos
- Phil Hawes vs. Jacob Malkoun
- Stefan Struve vs. Tai Tuivasa
