A matchup between up and coming women’s bantamweights is set for the UFC’s fall schedule.
Multiple people with knowledge of the promotion’s plans confirmed to MMA Fighting that Irina Alekseeva and Melissa Dixon will battle it out at the UFC’s event on Oct. 14 at a location and venue yet to be determined.
Alekseeva (5-1) will make her second octagon appearance after an impressive debut which saw “Russian Ronda” finish Stephanie Egger with a kneebar in just over two minutes at UFC Vegas 72 in April. Prior to making her UFC debut, the 33-year-old picked up a unanimous decision win over Stephanie Page at Bellator 269 in October 2021.
Dixon (5-0) will make her UFC debut after being signed outright by the promotion in June. The 31-year-old has competed for Golden Ticket Promotions, where she went 3-0, and then moved on to Ares FC where she was victorious in both of her appearances. In her most recent outing, Dixon stopped Darya Zheleznyakova via first-round TKO at Ares FC 9 this past November. She currently sits just outside the top-15 of the MMA Fighting Global Rankings.
Damon Martin contributed to this report.