Rising middleweights will square off in October.
Roman Dolidze(10-1 MMA, 4-1 UFC) will take on Phil Hawes (12-3 MMA, 4-1 UFC) at a UFC Fight Night event Oct. 29 expected to take place at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas.
Two people with knowledge of the matchup confirmed the booking to MMA Junkie, but asked to remain anonymous because the promotion has yet to make an official announcement. Setanta Sport was first to report the news.
Dolidze is 2-1 since dropping down to 185 pounds. After losing to Trevin Giles in March 2021, the Georgian fighter scored back-to-back wins over Laureano Staropoli and, most recently, a Performance of the Night knockout of Kyle Daukaus in June.
Winner of eight of his past nine, Hawes rebounded from an upset loss to Chris Curtis at UFC 268 in November 2021 with a battering of Deron Winn for a second-round TKO at UFC on ESPN 37 in June.
With the addition, the latest lineup for the UFC’s Oct. 29 card now includes:
- Edson Barboza vs. Ilia Topuria
- Andrei Arlovski vs. Marcos Rogerio de Lima
- Steve Garcia vs. Chase Hooper
- Dustin Jacoby vs. Khalil Rountree
- Joseph Holmes vs. Junyong Park
- Waldo Cortes-Acosta vs. Jared Vanderaa
- Roman Dolidze vs. Phil Hawes
