Two fighters potentially with their backs to the wall have been paired up for an upcoming UFC card in February.
The UFC announced Wednesday that a bantamweight bout between Alexis Davis (20-11) and Julija Stoliarenko (9-5-1) has been added to the Feb. 5 card, which takes place at UFC APEX in Las Vegas. A trio of previously reported bouts between Hakeem Dawodu and Mike Trizano, Chidi Njokuani and Marc-Andre Barriault, and Malcolm Gordon and Denys Bondar were also made official.
Davis, a one-time UFC title challenger, is mired in 1-4 slump. She most recently lost a unanimous decision to Pannie Kianzad at UFC 263. The 37-year-old Canadian’s lone win in her past five appearances was a unanimous decision nod over Sabina Mazo in February.
Stoliarenko, 28, has struggled to make an impact since returning to the UFC in August of last year. After winning a vacant Invicta FC bantamweight title, Stoliarenko dropped back-to-back fights to Yana Kunitskaya and Julia Avila. Her first booking with Avila was even more unfortunate as their March meeting was postponed when Stoliarenko fainted on the scale during official weigh-ins. Avila would later defeat Stoliarenko by submission the following June.
The Feb. 5 UFC event is scheduled to be headlined by a middleweight bout between Jack Hermansson and Sean Strickland.