UFC 256 Update: ‘Jacare’ Souza, Marvin Vettori to Clash on Dec. 12

Ronaldo Souza will lock horns with Marvin Vettori in a middleweight matchup at UFC 256.

Vettori’s trainer, Emanuele Lochner, announced the news on the The Scramble MMA Show, and the bout was also confirmed by UFC broadcast partner ESPN. Vettori was initially expected to face Omari Akhmedov at UFC 256, but that bout did not come to fruition.

UFC 256 takes place on Dec. 12 and features a women’s featherweight title tilt between Amanda Nunes and Megan Anderson. A location for the event has not been announced.

Souza was supposed to square off against Uriah Hall at UFC 249 on May, but a positive COVID-19 test forced “Jacare” to withdraw from the card. The 40-year-old Brazilian is coming off a brief foray to light heavyweight, where he dropped a split decision to current 205-pound champ Jan Blachowicz at UFC Fight Night 164.

Vettori, meanwhile, has won three consecutive Octagon appearances since dropping a split verdict to reigning middleweight king Israel Adesanya at UFC on Fox 29. Most recenty, “The Italian Dream” submitted Karl Roberson in the opening stanza at UFC on ESPN 10 on June 13.