Francisco Rivera Meets Alex Caceres At UFC Fight Night 68
A pivotal bantamweight scrap between no. 11-ranked Francisco Rivera and no. 15 Alex Caceres has been added to June 6’s already crowded UFC Fight Night 68 on FOX Sports 1 from the Smoothie King Center in New Orleans, Louisiana.
UFC officials confirmed the booking to FOX Sports earlier today. Both fighters will look to regain momentum lost during respective two-fight skids that both featured a submission loss to popular contender Urijah Faber.
“Cisco” lost his last bout to “The California Kid” in controversial fashion at UFC 181 last December, succumbing to a second round choke after it was apparent that he had been viciously poked in the eye. Rivera appealed the loss to no avail.
He also dropped his previous bout to tough contender Takeya Mizugaki at UFC 173, erasing a four-fight that saw him go 3-0(1) in the octagon, with the only blemish being his UFC 149 knockout win over Roland Delorme getting overturned to a no contest after Rivera tested positive for ephedra.
He’ll face an opponent at a similar spot in his career, as Caceres lost two bouts in 2014 after winning four out of his previous five, with the only blemish a no contest for his UFC on Fuel TV 8 win over Kyung Ho Kang after he failed the drug test for marijuana.
The former “Bruce Leeroy” from The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) was also submitted by Faber at UFC 175, and he followed it up with a decision defeat to Masanori Kanehara at last September’s UFC Fight Night 52 from Tokyo, Japan.
The similarities between Rivera and Caceres are almost eerie, and not one is more glaring than the painfully obvious fact that they both need a big win soon.
They’ll get that opportunity in New Orleans.
The card is headlined by the awaited return of light heavyweight Daniel Cormier, who returns to the octagon in his home state against streaking slugger Ryan Bader.
Louisiana native Dustin Poirier will also make a quick turnaround to face Yancy Medeiros in the second bout of his return to 155 pounds.
Here’s a full rundown of the current UFC Fight Night 68 lineup as it stands:
Ryan Bader vs. Daniel Cormier
Matt Mitrione vs. Ben Rothwell
Derrick Lewis vs. Shawn Jordan
Yancy Medeiros vs. Dustin Poirier
Tim Boetsch vs. Dan Henderson
Francisco Rivera vs. Alex Caceres
Justin Edwards vs. Joe Proctor
Ricardo Abreu vs. Daniel Sarafian
Anthony Birchak vs. Joe Soto
Omari Akhmedov vs. Brian Ebersole
Leonardo Morales vs. Jose Quinonez
