UFC light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira will defend his crown against Khalil Rountree at UFC 307, it has been confirmed.
The event, which takes place in Salt Lake City, Utah on October 5th, will also feature a women’s bantamweight title bout between champion Raquel Pennington and top contender Julianna Pena.
UFC president Dana White confirmed the matchups via a social media post on Friday.
Pereira will come into his third defence of the organisation’s 205-pound title on the back of a late June knockout defeat of former champion Jiri Prochazka (his second in the span of around eight months), as well as a dominant first-round KO of another former champion Jamahal Hill at April’s UFC 300 event.
Pereira vs Rountree! #UFC307 from the @deltacenter, Utah on October 5th!@StateofSport pic.twitter.com/EJJcjJgUMf
— danawhite (@danawhite) August 16, 2024
Prior to that, he made his debut in the UFC’s light heavyweight fold with a split decision win over (you’ve guessed it) ANOTHER former champion, Jan Blachowicz.
Rountree, by comparison, enters his first UFC title fight after piecing together five straight wins in the 205-pound division — with four of those coming inside the distance and three earning Performance of the Night honours. Rountree was scheduled to fight first Jamahal Hill at UFC 303 in June but was forced to withdraw from the fight due to injury.
Pennington, meanwhile, will fight for the first time since she won the vancant women’s 135-pound belt in a contest against Mayra Bueno Silva in January and will take on Pena who hasn’t competed since she lost the same belt to Amanda Nunes two years ago.
Several further bouts had already been confirmed for the UFC 307 card, including a featherweight bout between Movsar Evloev and Aljamain Sterling.
