Bethe Correia-Marion Reneau, Paulo Costa-Alex Nicholson Join UFC Fight Night 106 in Fortaleza

Jordan BreenJan 17, 2017

The Ultimate Fighting Championship's next trip to Brazil has a new pair of fights.

Tuesday, the promotion announced that March 11's UFC Fight Night 106 bill from the Northeast Olympic Training Center in Fortaleza would now feature a bantamweight bout between former UFC title challenger Bethe Correia and Marion Reneau, as well as a middleweight contest between undefeated Paulo Henrique Costa and Alex Nicholson.

The 33-year-old Correia was clobbered by Ronda Rousey in just 34 seconds in her August 2015 title fight at UFC 190, then returned eight months later, only to lose a split decision to Raquel Pennington. She broke her two-fight skid with a split decision of her own last September, topping Jessica Eye at UFC 203.

Reneau, 39, got back on the winning track herself in November after two consecutive losses, pounding out Milana Dudieva. “The Bruiser” had previously lost a pair of decisions to Ashlee Evans-Smith and former UFC women's bantamweight champ Holly Holm.

Costa, a contestant on “The Ultimate Fighter: Brazil 3,” won Jungle Fight's middleweight title, knocking out Eduardo Ramon in May, then successfully defending his strap with another first-round KO over Adrian Balby in September to move his pro record to 8-0.

Florida's Nicholson dropped to 185 pounds last July, knocking out Devin Clark before dropping his next outing to Sam Alvey via unanimous decision on the Tony Ferguson-Rafael dos Anjos undercard in November.

UFC Fight Night 106, headlined by a middleweight bout between Kelvin Gastelum and Vitor Belfort, is the promotion's second event in the city of Fortaleza. In June 2013, Fabricio Werdum tapped out Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira via second-round armbar inside Fortaleza's Paulo Sarasate Gymnasium.