A welterweight bout between Thiago Alves and Gunnar Nelson is the first official addition to September’s UFC on ESPN+ 18 lineup.
UFC officials today announced the matchup between Alves (23-14 MMA, 15-11 UFC) and Nelson (17-4-1 MMA, 8-4 UFC).
UFC on ESPN+ 18 takes place Sept. 28 at Royal Arena in Copenhagen, Denmark. The entire card is expected to stream on ESPN+.
After hoping to close out his storied MMA career in his native Brazil, Alves, 35, will go international at least one more time when fights in the seventh different country of his UFC tenure. The former 170-pound title challenger plans a transition into coaching and police work, but first he still has business to complete in the octagon.
Alves is 1-3 in his past four fights dating back to February 2018 and is coming off a unanimous decision loss to Laureano Staropoli at UFC 237 in May.
The Brazilian will look to get back on track against the Icelandic grappling standout Nelson, who is coming off a tough loss of his own. “Gunni” was outworked to a split decision by Leon Edwards at UFC on ESPN+ 6 in March in an outcome that saw him fall to 4-4 in his past eight fights.
For more on UFC on ESPN+ 18, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.
