Britain’s Leon Edwards will face Brazilian welterweight Carlos Prates at UFC 322 in New York on 15 November, on a card featuring two title fights.
Former champion Edwards, 34, is looking to end a two-fight losing streak after beingdominated by Sean Bradyduring his last outing in March.
Edwards is fourth in the UFC welterweight rankings, with Prates ninth after the 32-year-old knocked out Geoff Neal at UFC 319 earlier this month.
The main event includes Jack Della Maddalena defending his welterweight title against Islam Makhachev, with Valentina Shevchenko putting her flyweight belt on the line against Zhang Weili in the co-main.
Russia’s Makhachev, 33, vacated his lightweight belt in June and he will aim to become the 11th two-weight champion in UFC history on his debut at welterweight.
Australia’s Maddalena, 28, is making the first defence of his belt after defeating Belal Muhammad at UFC 315 in May.
Shevchenko is first in the women’s pound-for-pound rankings with Weili second, making it one of the biggest women’s match-ups in UFC history.
UFC president Dana White announced Weili would be vacating her strawweight title to move up for the contest between the fighters widely regarded as two of the best women’s mixed martial artists of all time.
Weili, 36, is a two-time strawweight champion and has won 10 of her 12 fights in the UFC, while Shevchenko holds multiple records at flyweight.
The 37-year-old is a two-time flyweight title holder with her eight defences being the most in the division’s history.
As a result of Weili vacating her title, Brazilian Virna Jandiroba will face American-Brazilian Mackenzie Dern for the UFC belt on 25 October.
The strawweight title fight will be the co-main event at UFC 321, with Briton and heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall headlining against Ciryl Gane.
