Thiago Santos and Glover Teixeira have been booked for a third time.
After two previous scratches, the UFC is working on pairing the two former light heavyweight title challengers to fight – this time, for Nov. 7 in Las Vegas.
Multiple people with knowledge of the situation confirmed the targeted booking to MMA Junkie on Thursday, but asked to remain anonymous as the promotion has yet to make an official announcement. ESPN was first to report the news.
Santos (21-7 MMA, 13-6 UFC) and Teixeira (31-7 MMA, 14-5 UFC) were originally slated to meet at UFC on ESPN+ 35 on Sept. 12. Teixeira tested positive for COVID-19 leading up to the contest, though, which led to a postponement until October.
The matchup was slated again for Oct. 3 on “Fight Island” in Abu Dhabi, but just weeks prior it was revealed the fight had been canceled one more, this time because Santos tested positive for coronavirus.
Santos hasn’t fought since a July 2019 loss to Jon Jones in a bout for the 205-pound title. He was the first in UFC history to take a scorecard from “Bones,” in the split-decision loss but required double knee surgery afterward and has yet to make his return.
Teixeira, meanwhile, is riding a strong wave of four consecutive wins. He beat Anthony Smith at UFC on ESPN+ 29 in May to enter back into the title conversation after losing his first chance to Jones in 2013.
With the addition, the Nov. 7 lineup includes:
- Thiago Santos vs. Glover Teixeira
- Brendan Allen vs. Ian Heinisch
- Claudia Gadelha vs. Xiaonan Yan
- Drew Dober vs. Diego Ferreira
- Andrei Arlovski vs. Tanner Boser
- Vanessa Melo vs. Sarah Moras
- Kyle Daukaus vs. Dustin Stoltzfus
- Trevin Giles vs. Bevon Lewis
- Ramix Brahimaj vs. Max Griffin
- Felipe Colares vs. Gustavo Lopez
