A battle of top five bantamweights may be headlining UFC Fight Night Utica according to MMA Fighting as #4 Jimmie Rivera could be in action against #5 Marlon Moraes.
Rivera (21-1-0) has already earned four wins under the UFC banner, with the most notable of the bunch coming over Urijah Faber at UFC 203. Rivera has suffered a single defeat as a professional MMA fighter and that came to Jason McLean at Ring Of Combat 22. Rivera also competed on the UFC Ultimate Fighter 14, losing to Dennis Bermudez in the opening round of the reality show.
Moraes (20-5-1) enters the fight on the strength of a two bout winning streak, with those victories coming over Aljamain Sterling and John Dodson. Moraes is also a former WSOF Bantamweight Champion, defeating Josh Rettinghouse at the WSOF 9 to win the gold. Moraes has already fought three times in the UFC and all of those bouts came against top fifteen ranked opposition.
UFC Fight Night Utica takes place on Friday, June 1 from the Adirondack Bank Center in Utica, New York with Jimmie Rivera and Marlon Moraes headlining. Fightful is providing live coverage of the event, while broadcast plans have yet to be announced.
