By:  | March 17, 2023 9:26 am

A bantamweight fight between Danaa Batgerel and Brady Hiestand has been added to the UFC Fight Night 222 card. The two will face off at the Apex Centre on April 22nd.

Batgerel (12-4) is in urgent need of a win after back to back defeats. He is coming off a decision loss to Kyung Ho Kang at UFC 275 in Singapore.

Hiestand (6-2) reached the final of The Ultimate Fighter 28 last year. He narrowly missed out on winning the tournament after dropping a split decision to Ricky Turcios but was still handed a UFC contract.

Coming back

As previously announced Song Yadong will be back in action on April 22nd. The Chinese bantamweight has been matched with Ricky Simon at an event which doesn’t currently have a venue or a name.

Yadong (19-7-1) has had plenty of time for the injuries he suffered against Cory Sandhagen to heal. The fight at UFC Vegas 60 was stopped at the end of the fourth round with the Chinese bantamweight subsequently revealing he had broken his orbital.

Despite that defeat he remains in the top ten and is currently ranked #8. The Team Alpha Male representative saw his three fight winning streak snapped by Sandhagen.

Winning streak

Simon (20-3) comes into this contest on a five fight winning streak and has not lost since 2019. The 30 year old was one of the first fighters to be handed a UFC contract after impressing on Dana White’s Contender Series.

There is no venue confirmed for this event which will probably end up taking place at the Apex Centre in Las Vegas. The bantamweight bout between Yadong and Simon is one of five fights currently on the card.

Best of the rest

The event will be headlined by a heavyweight fight between Sergei Pavlovich (17-1) and Curtis Blaydes (17-3-0-1). The latter is ranked #3 while the former is #4.

Also on the card is a women’s featherweight fight. Matches in this division are few and far between but Karol Rosa (16-4) will be moving up in weight to take on Norma Dumont (8-2) in an all Brazilian bout.

In the strawweight division Iasmin Lucindo (13-5) has been matched with Melissa Martinez (7-1). The latter hails from Brazil while the former is representing Mexico.

UFC Fight Night 222, April 22nd, TBA
Sergei Pavlovich vs. Curtis Blaydes (Heavyweight)
Song Yadong vs. Ricky Simón (Bantamweight)
Karol Rosa vs. Norma Dumont (Featherweight)
Iasmin Lucindo vs. Melissa Martinez (Strawweight)
Bobby Green vs. Jared Gordon (Lightweight)
Francis Marshall vs. William Gomis (Featherweight)
Priscila Cachoeira vs. Karine Silva (Flyweight)
Brad Tavares vs. Bruno Silva (Middleweight)
Christos Giagos vs. Ricky Glenn (Lightweight)
Danaa Batgerel vs. Brady Hiestand (Bantamweight)
Carlos Candelario vs. Rafael Estevam (Flyweight)
Montel Jackson vs. Rani Yahya (Bantamweight)