Two rising Ultimate Fighting Championship flyweights with an eye on the top five will throw down in December.
The news broke on Thursday from MMA Junkie that Matt Schnell (16-6, 1 NC) will come to blows with Matheus Nicolau (18-2-1) at the UFCFight Night event on Dec. 3. This fight card does not currently have a destination on the books, nor a designation. Schnell confirmed the existence of his upcoming bout on his Instagram on Thursday morning. Other than Schnell-Nicolau, the only match booked on the lineup is a flyweight contest between Amanda Ribas and Tracy Cortez.
Schnell put an end to a two-fight winless stretch with an all-action thriller against Su Mudaerji in July. In a comeback for the ages, Schnell survived a knockdown and several bad spots to hurt Mudaerji and ultimately submit him with a triangle choke. The two claimed “Fight of the Night” for their scrap, and this put Schnell back on track and in the hunt for contention. “Danger” has only gone the distance in 25% of his wins, and his three triangle chokes in the UFC put him alone for the second-most all-time, trailing only Paul Craig’s four.
Brazil’s Nicolau surges into this contest on a five-fight win streak, including three inside the Octagon by decision. His 2021 debut came against a dangerous Manel Kape, and he escaped with a contentious split decision. Subsequent three-round victories over Tim Elliott and David Dvorak placed the 29-year-old from Belo Horizonte among the top 10 at flyweight. The finish rate for Nicolau is quite lower than his opponent, with exactly 50% of his career victories ending inside the distance.
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