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UFC 256 will be the final pay-per-view of 2020 and a much-needed lightweight showdown between Tony Ferguson and Charles Oliveira has now been added to it. According to an initial report from ESPN's Brett Okamoto, El Cucuy will be returning to the Octagon on 3 weeks' notice.
Ferguson himself has been lobbying for a fight before the end of the year. And after failing to get himself booked in a fight against UFC's newest signee Michael Chandler, the former interim lightweight champion now face the very dangerous Oliveira.
Taking to Twitter and Instagram, Tony Ferguson acknowledged the confirmation of his fight with the following post:
Tony Ferguson vs. Charles Oliveira promises to be fireworks
UFC 256 will mark Tony Ferguson's return to the Octagon for the first time since his devastating loss to Justin Gaethje. At UFC 249, Ferguson failed to win the interim lightweight title for a second time and also lost his opportunity to face Khabib Nurmagomedov after his defeat to The Highlight.
The loss also marked the end of Tony Ferguson's 12-fight win streak. For his return to the Octagon though, Ferguson was briefly linked with a fight against Dustin Poirier at UFC 254. However, the deal was never finalized and the latter now finds himself booked in the UFC 257 main event against Conor McGregor.
On the other hand, Charles Oliveira will be aiming to extend his seven-fight win streak. All of Oliveira's wins have been via finishes and it is safe to say that he has been an underdog in the stacked lightweight division. In his last Octagon outing, Oliveira submitted Kevin Lee.
The updated UFC 256 line-up
With the addition of Tony Ferguson vs. Charles Oliveira, the UFC 256 line-up looks something like this:
- Petr Yan vs. Aljamain Sterling – UFC bantamweight championship
- Tony Ferguson vs. Charles Oliveira
- Dwight Grant vs. Li Jingliang
- Ronaldo Souza vs. Marvin Vettori
- Angela Hill vs. Tecia Torres
- Mackenzie Dern vs. Virna Jandiroba
- Omari Akhmedov vs. opponent TBA
- Serghei Spivac vs. Jared Vanderaa
- Dalcha Lungiambula vs. Karl Roberson
- Peter Barrett vs. Chase Hooper
- Billy Quarantillo vs. Gavin Tucker
- Andrea Lee vs. Gillian Robertson
- Junior dos Santos vs. Ciryl Gane
The pay-per-view is scheduled for December 12.
