The UFC is once again pairing up heavyweights Tanner Boser and Rodrigo Nascimento against one another, as multiple people with knowledge of the situation told MMA Fighting that the matchup is in the works for the Sept. 17 UFC event.
Contracts have yet to be issues but both fighters have verbally agreed to the fight, MMA Fighting has learned. The UFC have yet to officially announce a location for the event.
Boser and Nascimento were originally set to meet back in April but “Ze Colmeia” withdrew due to an injury. Alexandr Romanov stepped in as a replacement before “The Bulldozer” pulled out days before the event with an injury.
Boser (20-8-1) last fought 12 months ago, knocking out Ovince St. Preux to snap a two-fight losing skid to Andrei Arlovski and Ilir Latifi. Two of Boser’s four UFC wins came against Brazilian opponents, TKO finishes over Philipe Lins and Raphael Pessoa.
Nascimento (8-1, 1 no-contest) finished Alan Baudot in his most recent fight in July 2021 but had the victory overturned to a no contest after testing positive for ritalinic acid, a metabolite of the banned stimulant methylphenidate. Nascimento told Combate earlier this year he was given a retroactive therapeutic use exemption (TUE) and is still hoping to get his win back.
Mike Heck contributed to this report.