Matt Brown to Fight Tarec Saffiedine at UFC 207

Hot on the heels of the reported bout between Brandon Thatch and Sabah Homasi, UFC 207 is set to be infused with a pivotal welterweight showdown between Matt Brown and Tarec Saffiedine.

Ultimate Fighting Championship officials have not formally announced the matchup, which was first reported by MMAFighting.com.

Brown, one of the most beloved brawlers on the entire UFC roster, has made a career of walking through hell and scoring highlight reel knockouts. But “The Immortal” has dropped two in a row and four of his last five fights overall and is in desperate need of a victory. After dropping back-to-back duels to eventual welterweight champ Robbie Lawler and then to former titlist Johny Hendricks, the Elevation Fight Team rep knocked out Tim Means. But successive losses to Demian Maia and, most recently at UFC 201, to Jake Ellenberger have put Brown in the sort of must-hole he hasn’t found himself in since he lost three straight in 2010.

Saffiedine, meanwhile, is also coming off a loss; “Sponge” had dropped two of his last three. At UFC Fight Night 88 in May, Saffiedine lost a unanimous decision to Rick Story. Before that, he edged Ellenberger via unanimous nod, which was a rebound win after being knocked out by Rory MacDonald.

UFC 207 will go down on Dec. 30 at the new T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas and will be headlined by the women’s bantamweight championship between reigning 135-pound queen Amanda Nunes and former champ Ronda Rousey. The card’s initial prelims will be streamed live on UFC Fight Pass, followed by the rest of the preliminary card on Fox Sports 1. And per the norm, the meaty main card will be available live on pay-per-view.