The Ultimate Fighting Championship has announced that the promotion’s April 14 date at the Gila River Arena in Glendale, Ariz., will have two new bouts: a welterweight scrap between Abdul Razak Alhassan and Muslim Salikhov, as well as a bantamweight showdown between Matthew Lopez and Alejandro Perez.
AZCentral.com was first to report the two contests.
Alhassan, 32, lost his UFC debut to Omari Akhmedov in a competitive split decision last May but has rebounded with two consecutive, if unorthodox, victories, taking back-to-back stoppages wins of Sabah Homasi, first at UFC 218 last December and owing to the quasi-controversial nature of their first bout, a second knockout of Homasi at UFC 220 on Jan. 20. Both stoppages came within the first five minutes.
The 33-year-old Salikhov dropped his UFC debut to Alex Garcia last November, succumbing to a rear-naked choke. Previously, the “King of Kung Fu” used his flashy striking style to rip off 11 straight wins, including victories over UFC veterans Melvin Guillard and Ivan Jorge.
Lopez returns to action with a 2-2 mark in the Octagon, dropping his debut to Rani Yahya before earning victories over Mitch Gagnon and Johnny Eduardo. Most recently however, the Arizona native got slept by top-five bantamweight Raphael Assuncao in November.
Perez, 28, has lost just once once in his last eight bouts, as he was choked out by Patrick Williams at UFC 188. In 2017, “Turbo” earned tight decisions over both Andre Soukhamthath and Iuri Alcantara to up his record.