Darren Stewart vs. Maki Pitolo targeted for UFC event on Aug. 8

A middleweight bout between Darren Stewart and Maki Pitolo is in the works for August.

The UFC is putting together a matchup between Stewart (11-5 MMA, 4-4 UFC) and Pitolo (13-5 MMA, 1-1 UFC) that would land on the Aug. 8 event, which takes place at UFC Apex in Las Vegas.

Two people with knowledge of the situation recently informed MMA Junkie of the booking but asked to remain anonymous as the promotion has yet to make an official announcement.

Stewart last competed at Cage Warriors 113 in March, losing a unanimous decision to Bartosz Fabinski. The fight was supposed to happen at the UFC card in London in March, but the UFC shifted it to Cage Warriors after the COVID-19 pandemic caused the date in England to be canceled.

Pitolo picked up his first UFC win in May at UFC 250, defeating Charles Byrd by second-round TKO. Prior to that fight, Pitolo lost his promotional debut to Callan Potter by unanimous decision.

With the addition, the Aug. 8 lineup includes:

• Derrick Lewis vs. Aleksei Oleinik
• Omari Akhmedov vs. Chris Weidman
• Yana Kunitskaya vs. Ketlen Vieira
• Andrew Sanchez vs. Wellington Turman
• Peter Barrett vs. Steve Garcia
• Nasrat Haqparast vs. Alex Munoz
• Tim Means vs. Laureano Staropoli
• Alex Caceres vs. Giga Chikadze
• Justin Jaynes vs. Gavin Tucker
• Maki Pitolo vs. Darren Stewart