The Las Vegas-based promotion confirmed the middleweight pairing on Tuesday, as well as a light heavyweight duel pitting Corey Anderson against Patrick Cummins. UFC Fight Night takes place at Boardwalk Hall, with the evening’s main card airing on Fox Sports 1.
Santos is coming off a second-round TKO of Anthony Smith at UFC Fight Night 125 on Feb. 3, his fourth consecutive KO/TKO finish in the promotion. The Brazilian known as “Marreta” also is tied with Anderson Silva for the most KO/TKO finishes in the history of the middleweight division.
A former two-division champion in World Series of Fighting, Branch saw an 11-bout winning streak come to an end at UFC Fight Night 116, when he suffered a second-round TKO loss to Luke Rockhold. Branch began his second Octagon stint with a split decision win over Krzysztof Jotko at UFC 211.
Anderson has lost three of his last four promotional appearances, including a knockout loss to Ovince St. Preux in his last outing at UFC 217. Cummins, meanwhile, enters the matchup on the strength of back-to-back wins over Gian Villante and Jan Blachowicz.