Gian Villante will return to the octagon for the first time in over a year, as he takes on Ben Rothwell at UFC 249.
Mark La Monica of Newsday Sports first reported the news, though the UFC is yet to make an official announcement. The fight will be Villante’s move back to heavyweight after spending all of his UFC career fighting at light heavyweight.
Rothwell (37-12) got back in the win column at UFC Washington last December when he stopped Stefan Struve in the first round. “Big Ben” suffered three consecutive decisions losses before that, two of which to former champions Andrei Arlovski and Junior Dos Santos.