Tyson Pedro will return to action early next year at UFC Auckland.
The light heavyweight is scheduled to face Brazilian Vinicius Moriera on the February 23 Fight Night card, per a UFC announcement on Thursday.
It will be Pedro’s first fight in over a year due to knee surgery to repair his anterior cruciate ligament which was torn in his last bout. He’ll look to rebound from two straight losses in 2018 in which he was finished by Mauricio “Shogun” Rua and Ovince Saint Preux. Now 3-3 in his UFC career, Pedro (7-3) possesses wins over Khalil Rountree Jr., Paul Craig and Saparbek Safarov.
Moreira (9-4) has had a rough stint in the UFC thus far, suffering three consecutive losses by stoppage in 2019 after appearing on Dana White’s Contender Series where he submitted John Allan via triangle choke.
UFC Auckland will take place at Spark Arena on Sunday, February 23. Other bouts currently scheduled for the event include Dan Hooker vs. Paul Felder, Jake Matthews vs. Emil Meek and Ben Sosoli vs. Marcos Rogerio de Lima.