The
Ultimate Fighting Championship is jamming the first show in
April full of intriguing mid-tier matchups.
Fresh off his shocking upset of Malcolm
Wellmaker at UFC 322 this past November, Ethyn Ewing
(9-2) will be returning to action on April 4 at the Apex in Las
Vegas as part of
UFC Fight Night 272. He will be relocating to his standard
weight class of bantamweight, where he will be met by ex-flyweight
Rafael
Estevam (14-0) who is moving up to greet him. News was first
reported on Wednesday night by Ewing on his Instagram.
“The Professor Finesser” established himself as one to watch when
he outworked highly touted prospect Wellmaker in a short-notice
effort. Ahead of that pairing, Wellmaker closed as high as a -500
favorite, and Ewing put the screws to him across three tough,
thrilling rounds. In the process, Ewing handed “The Machine” his
first career defeat, halting several streaks for Wellmaker
including a four-fight stretch of knockout victories.
More Macapa
After working his way up to Dana White’s Contender Series by crushing
through the Shooto Brasil circuit, former flyweight Estevam picked
up a contract in 2022 by wrecking Joao Elias
in two rounds. While he has rattled off three decision wins in the
Octagon thus far, two of them came after he missed substantially
missed weight by a few pounds each time. This has prompted his
relocation to 135 pounds, a division he had competed at in the
past.
UFC Fight Night 272 currently has 11 bouts scheduled for its
billing, but no headliner is currently official. Likely serving
high on the main card include a strawweight clash pitting Virna
Jandiroba against Tabatha
Ricci, but it is not slated to be this event’s main attraction.
Other matches on the books include a middleweight melee as Edmen
Shahbazyan takes on Jun Yong
Park as well as a lightweight affair when Tofiq
Musayev fights Samuel
Sanches. Jandiroba and Ricci serve as the lone two athletes
currently set for the Fight Night that are ranked by the
promotion.