Paulo Costa, Jared Cannonier to Headline UFC Card on Aug. 21

Paulo Costa and Jared Cannonier will headline a UFC event on Aug. 21.

ESPN was first to report the middleweight booking, which is expected to be finalized soon. The location for the card has yet to be determined.

Costa hasn’t competed since suffering a second-round TKO loss to Israel Adesanya in a middleweight championship bout at UFC 253 last September. “Borrachinha” was slated to face Robert Whittaker on April 17 but was forced to pull out of the bout due to illness. The 30-year-old Brazilian was victorious in his first 13 pro outings before falling to Adesanya.

Cannonier was tabbed as a title contender in waiting following a trio of TKO victories against David Branch, Anderson Silva and Jack Hermansson. That momentum was derailed, however, in a decision defeat to Whittaker at UFC 254 in October.