Rescheduled Michael Chiesa vs. Anthony Pettis bout lands on UFC 226

If things had gone according to the original plan, Michael Chiesa would have collided with former UFC lightweight champ Anthony Pettis at UFC 223. Regrettably, this plan was foiled when Chiesa sustained several facial lacerations when Conor McGregor infamously threw a dolly through the window of the shuttle bus carrying fighters out of the Barclays Center.

The good news is that this fight has been rescheduled. Pettis and Chiesa are now set to meet at UFC 226 this July 7 in Las Vegas, Nevada.

This news was first reported by Ariel Helwani of MMA Fighting.

Chiesa will enter this contest having not fought since he experienced a controversial submission loss to Kevin Lee in June of 2017. This tough loss was preceded by three-straight wins: a submission of Beneil Dariush, a submission of Jim Miller, and a decision defeat of Mitch Clarke. Chiesa is 14-3 in sum.

Pettis, meanwhile, is a tough 2-5 in his last seven bouts. After losing the lightweight title to Rafael Dos Anjos, he experienced a pair of decision losses to Eddie Alvarez and Edson Barboza. He then rebounded with a featherweight win over Charles Oliveira, but subsequently returned to the loss column in a failed interim title fight with Max Holloway. Pettis then returned to his former haunts in the lightweight division, where he defeated Jim Miller by decision, and lost to Dustin Poirier by TKO. He’s 20-7 overall.

UFC 226 will be topped by a heavyweight title super fight between divisional king Stipe Miocic, and beefed up light heavyweight champ Daniel Cormier. The card will be co-headlined by a featherweight title fight between champ Max Holloway and surging contender Brian Ortega.

UFC 226 will also feature a heavyweight tilt between Francis Ngannou and Derrick Lewis, a bantamweight bout between Rob Font and Raphael Assuncao, a welterweight bout between Mike Perry and Yancy Medeiros, a light heavyweight bout between Gokhan Saki and Khalil Rountree, and a middleweight bout between Uriah Hall and Paulo Costa. To call this card, which now also includes the rescheduled Anthony Pettis vs. Michael Chiesa bout, “stacked” would be a gross understatement.

This article first appeared on BJPenn.com on 5/1/2018.