A middleweight fight has been added to the UFC’s April pay-per-view.
Brendan Allen and Karl Roberson will square off at UFC 261, which takes place April 24 at a location and venue to be announced.
Two people with knowledge of the matchup recently informed MMA Junkie of the booking but asked to remain anonymous because the promotion has yet to make an official announcement.
Allen (15-4 MMA, 3-1 UFC) entered his most recent fight, on November 14, on a seven-fight winning streak. However, Sean Strickland put Allen’s string of success to a screeching halt when he finished Allen with punches in Round 2.
Roberson (9-3 MMA, 4-3 UFC) had a two-fight winning streak snapped when he was submitted by Marvin Vettori at UFC on ESPN 10 in June. For that fight, Roberson missed weight by 4.5 pounds – the second miss in as many weigh-ins. He was then scheduled to fight Dalcha Lungiambula at UFC 256 in December but later withdrew due to a positive COVID-19 test.
With the addition, the UFC 261 lineup now includes:
Rose Namajunas vs. Zhang Weili – for UFC women’s strawweight title
Valentina Shevchenko vs. Jessica Andrade – for UFC women’s flyweight title
Uriah Hall vs. Chris Weidman
Jimmy Crute vs. Anthony Smith
Danaa Batgerel vs. Kevin Natividad
Brendan Allen vs. Karl Roberson