Canadian flyweight Malcolm (X) Gordon will face England’s Jake (White Kong) Hadley on March 18 at UFC 286 in London.
The mixed martial arts card is being held at the O2 Arena.
Gordon (14-6-0) is coming off a submission loss to unbeaten English 125-pounder Muhammed Mokaev at UFC 280 in October in Abu Dhabi.
The 32-year-old Gordon, a native of Calgary who now calls Toronto home, is 2-3-0 in the UFC. He beat Ukraine’s Denys (Psycho) Bondar and Brazil’s Francisco (Sniper) Figueiredo prior to running into Mokaev.
He lost his first two UFC outings, beaten by Sweden’s Amir (The Prince) Albazi and China’s Su (Tibetan Eagle) Mudaerji.
Hadley (9-1-0) is 1-1-0 in the UFC, submitting American Carlos (The Cannon) Candelario last time out in November. The 26-year-old, a former Cage Warriors champion, won his UFC contract with a victory on Dana White’s Contender Series in October 2021.
In Bellator news, Canadian (Gentleman) Josh Hill (21-5-0) will face American Cass Bell (6-2-0) on March 10 at Bellator 292 in San Jose.
The 36-year-old from Hamilton lost a decision to Brazil’s Marcos Breno last time out at Bellator 284 in August, dropping his Bellator record to 3-2-0.
Bell won a split decision over Jarred (Psycho) Scoggins in December, snapping a two-fight losing streak. Hill knocked out Scoggins in December 2021.
The card at the SAP Center marks the start of the US$1-million Bellator Lightweight Grand Prix with newly crowned lightweight title-holder Usman Nurmagomedov of Russia facing former UFC lightweight champion Benson (Smooth) Henderson in the main event.
Azerbaijan’s Tofiq Musayev (20-4) faces Russia’s Alexander (Peresvet) Shabliy in another Grand Prix matchup.
