Travis Browne will get a second crack at Fabricio Werdum.
MMAjunkie today confirmed with two people familiar with the agreement that Browne and Werdum have verbally committed to meet at UFC 203. Those people spoke on the condition of anonymity because they are not publicly authorized to discuss such matters.
The move was necessitated by an injury to Ben Rothwell, who was originally expected to face Werdum. Bout agreements for the new contest are expected to be finalized shortly.
Werdum is currently ranked No. 2 in the latest USA TODAY Sports/MMAjunkie MMA heavyweight rankings, while Browne checks in at No. 9.
Featuring a heavyweight title fight between current champ Stipe Miocic and top contender Alistair Overeem, UFC 203 takes place Sept. 10 at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland.
Werdum (20-6-1 MMA, 8-3 UFC) and Browne (18-4-1 MMA, 9-4-1 UFC) first met in the main event of UFC on FOX 11 in April 2014. Werdum won the fight by unanimous decision.
“Vai Cavalo” would go on to defeat Mark Hunt later that year to claim the UFC’s interim heavyweight title before downing Cain Velasquez in June 2015 to capture the undisputed belt.
Meanwhile, Browne has alternated wins and losses since that result, scoring knockout wins over Brendan Schaub and Matt Mitrione but also suffering knockout losses to Andre Arlovski and, at July’s UFC 200, Velasquez.
The UFC 203 lineup now includes:
Stipe Miocic vs. Alistair Overeem
Travis Browne vs. Fabricio Werdum
Nik Lentz vs. Mairbek Taisumov
Damir Hadzovic vs. Yukawa Kazuya
Mickey Gall vs. CM Punk
Bethe Correia vs. Jessica Eye
Urijah Faber vs. Jimmie Rivera
Jessica Andrade vs. Joanne Calderwood
Ray Borg vs. Ian McCall
Caio Magalhaes vs. Brad Tavares
Drew Dober vs. Jason Gonzalez
