This summer’s UFC return to New Orleans has its second fight.
Brendan Allen is set to take on former middleweight title challenger Marvin Vettori at UFC 318 (pay-per-view, ESPN, ESPN+) on July 19 at Smoothie King Center. MMA Junkie confirmed the matchup with a person with knowledge of the booking following an initial report from MMA Mania.
Allen and Vettori were scheduled to fight 13 months ago, but Vettori had to pull out of the fight. This time, they’ll try to tee it up in “The Big Easy.” The card is former interim lightweight champion Dustin Poirier’s retirement event in front of his home-state fans in a BMF trilogy bout against ex-featherweight champ Max Holloway.
Allen (24-7 MMA, 12-4 UFC) is mired in the first slump of his career. He’s working off back-to-back decision setbacks to Nassourdine Imavov and Anthony Hernandez, the latter of which came in February. Prior to that, he was on a seven-fight winning streak that included five rear-naked choke finishes and three post-fight bonuses.
Vettori (19-7-1 MMA, 9-6-1 UFC) is on a two-fight skid of his own. It’s been nearly four years since he challenged then-champion Israel Adesanya for the 185-pound title at UFC 263, but dropped a decision. He was up and down after that with wins over Paulo Costa and Roman Dolidze, but losses to ex-champ Robert Whittaker and ex-title challenger Jared Cannonier.
After nearly two years away recovering from injury, Vettori returned in March and dropped a decision to Dolidze in a rematch, giving him the first skid of his pro career, as well.
