As confirmed by multiple sources, a welterweight bout between Gunnar Nelson and Alex ‘Cowboy’ Oliveira has been added to UFC 231 on December 8 at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto.
Gunnar Nelson (16-3-1) is coming off a 17-month layoff. His return to octagon was delayed due to injuries. Gunnar Nelson has not been seen inside the Octagon since his loss to Santiago Ponzinibbio at UFC Fight Night 113 in July 2017.
Alex ‘Cowboy’ Oliveira (19-5-1) last fought with Carlo Perdersoli Jr. at UFC Fight Night 137 on September 22, 2018 where Alex Oliveira won the fight with a 39 seconds TKO.
Fight booked🔥 December 8th is locked down against Alex “Cowboy” Oliveira on the @UFC 231 show in Toronto👊 I have been fighting fit for a while and have really just been waiting for an opponent to sign the dotted line. Thank you Alex for doing that and agreeing to the fight 👍 pic.twitter.com/fonc09rsoQ
— Gunnar Nelson (@GunniNelson) October 25, 2018
This return matchup is tough for Gunnar Nelson as Alex ‘Cowboy’ Oliveira has lost just once in his past eight fights.
With the addition of this welterweight fight, the current UFC 231 card looks like this:
-Max Holloway (c) vs. Brian Ortega (for UFC featherweight championship)
-Valentina Shevchenko vs. Joanna Jedrzejczyk -(for vacant women’s flyweight championship)
-Jimi Manuwa vs. Thiago Santos
-Claudia Gadelha vs. Nina Ansaroff
-Eryk Anders vs. Elias Theodorou
-Olivier Aubin-Mercier vs. Gilbert Burns
-Brad Katona vs. Matthew Lopez
-Chad Laprise vs. Dhiego Lima
-John Makdessi vs. Carlos Diego Ferreira
-Hakeem Dawodu vs. Kyle Bochniak
-Devin Clark vs. Aleksandar Rakic
-Katlyn Chookagian vs. Jessica Eye
-Renato Moicano vs. Mirsad Bektic
-Alex ‘Cowboy’ Oliveira vs. Gunnar Nelson