After seven-fight UFC run, Kyle Bochniak meets Bellator vet Jonathan Gary at CES MMA 61

Kyle Bochniak is on his way back to the promotion in which he started his MMA career.

Bochniak (8-5) is set to take on Jonathan Gary (13-11-2) in a featherweight fight at CES MMA 61, the promotion announced Friday.

CES MMA 61 takes place April 24 at Twin River Casino in Lincoln, R.I. The card streams on UFC Fight Pass. Flyweight champion Blaine Shutt puts his belt on the line against challenger Richie Santiago in the main event.

Bochniak fought his first six pro fights for CES MMA and won them all, including four by stoppage. That got him a call from the UFC for a fight he took on a nine-day turnaround against Charles Rosa at UFC Fight Night 81. He came out on the wrong end of a unanimous decision for his first loss.

Bochniak bounced back later in 2016 and took a split decision from Enrique Barzola. After an 11-month layoff, he dropped a decision to Jeremy Kennedy at UFC on FOX 25. He rebounded with a decision over Brandon Davis, but then went on a three-fight slide with decision losses to Zabit Magomedsharipov, Hakeem Dawodu and Sean Woodson. The latter came this past October after a 10-month layoff, and Bochniak found himself looking for fights outside the UFC.

Gary will be looking to snap his own three-fight skid. The Oklahoma-based fighter, who has four Bellator fights on his resume, will return to the promotion after a little more than two years. At CES MMA 49 in April 2018, he was submitted by UFC veteran Sean Soriano with a rear-naked choke in just 81 seconds. About a year later, he was stopped with a second-round TKO at EFC 11 for his third straight setback.