Aleksandre Topuria will make his highly anticipated UFC debut in February.
Topuria (5-1 MMA, 0-0 UFC), the older brother of featherweight champion Ilia Topuria, has been targeted to meet Cody Haddon (8-1 MMA, 1-0 UFC) in a bantamweight bout Feb. 9 at UFC 312 from Qudos Bank Arena in Sydney, Australia.
Two people with knowledge of the matchup recently informed MMA Junkie of the booking but asked to remain anonymous as the promotion has yet to make an official announcement. The bout was first reported by social media account Australian MMA.
Topuria hasn’t competed since a first-round TKO win in May 2023. Although he started his professional career in 2015, the 28-year-old has competed just six times in nine years. Three of his five wins have come by finish.
Haddon, a Dana White’s Contender Series graduate, made good in his octagon debut when he defeated Dan Argueta by unanimous decision this past October at UFC Fight Night 244. The 26-year-old Aussie’s lone-career loss came to former UFC flyweight title challenger Steve Erceg.
The latest UFC 312 lineup now includes:
- Champ Dricus Du Plessis vs. Sean Strickland – for middleweight title
- Champ Zhang Weili vs. Tatiana Suarez – for women’s strawweight title
- Jimmy Crute vs. Marcin Prachnio
- Anshul Jubli vs. Quillan Salkilld
- Stewart Nicoll vs. Rei Tsuruya
- Viacheslav Borshchev vs. Tom Nolan
- Jack Jenkins vs. Gabriel Santos
- Justin Tafa vs. Tallison Teixeira
- Cody Haddon vs. Aleksandre Topuria
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 312.
