The UFC’s April pay-per-view card, UFC 287 on April 8th, just got a massive boost in the form of the event’s top two fights.
A middleweight title rematch between Alex Pereira and Israel Adesanya will headline UFC 287, with Gilbert Burns vs. Jorge Masvidal in the co-main event. UFC President Dana White announced the bookings during a live stream on Friday.
Pereira will defend the title against Adesanya after pulling off a come-from-behind TKO win at UFC 281. He’s 3-0 against Adesanya in their combat sports careers in MMA and kickboxing.
Up until the loss to Pereira, Adesanya was on track to possibly challenging Anderson Silva’s middleweight title defense record. It was his first loss at middleweight in his MMA career, with his only other defeat coming against Jan Blachowicz at UFC 259.
Masvidal returns after his loss to Colby Covington last year at UFC 272. A timetable for his Octagon return was uncertain amidst his ongoing legal troubles.
Masvidal is desperately trying to get back in the win column after three straight losses. Meanwhile, Burns is looking to keep up his winning ways after defeating Neil Magny at UFC 283.
MMA Twitter Reacts To Latest UFC 287 News
Here’s what MMA Twitter had to say about the latest UFC 287 bookings.
Adesanya/Pereira and Burns/Masvidal weren’t the only bouts announced by White for UFC 287. Kevin Holland will also return to face Santiago Ponzinibbio on the main card.
In addition, Rob Font faces surging bantamweight Adrian Yanez and Kelvin Gastelum takes on Chris Curtis.
UFC 287 will be the third pay-per-view card that the promotion will host in four weeks from March 4th to April 8th.
The venue and location for UFC 287 have yet to be announced.