Travis Browne vs. Matt Mitrione Confirmed For UFC Fight Night 81

Rebounding heavyweights Matt Mitrione and Travis Browne have been waiting a while to get their next fights booked in, and are now finally confirmed to face off on January 17, 2016 in Boston. ‘Hapa’ hasn’t seen any action since his rivetting TKO loss against Andrei Arlovski at UFC 187, and ‘Meathead’ has been decommissioned since getting choked out by Ben Rothwell this pat June in New Orleans.

Mitrione had been tirelessly campaigning for a fight over social media, but the heavyweight division has been so tied up that it seemed his calls for action would go unanswered. Browne’s situation was far more serious, as he was under investigation by the UFC for allegations of domestic violence by his wife. Rumours of the big Hawaiian slugger dating Ronda Rousey caused a bit of a stir too, but now he’s back in action against Mitrione.

They’ll meet on the UFC Fight Night 81 card, headlined by the return of Dominick Cruz as he takes on bantamweight boss TJ Dillashaw. Also confirmed for the event is Ed ‘Short Fuse’ Herman and Tim ‘The Barbarian’ Boetsch, who will collide in a middleweight bout. With the addition of these two fights, here is how the UFC Fight Night 81 card is stacking up so far:

Main event

(C) TJ Dillashaw vs. Dominick Cruz for bantamweight title

Co-main event

Anthony Pettis vs. Eddie Alvarez

Travis Browne vs. Matt Mitrione

Tim Boetsch vs. Ed Herman