UFC books Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos vs. Mounir Lazzez for April 16 event

A welterweight matchup between elite strikers will take place in April.

Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos(23-7 MMA, 9-3 UFC) faces Mounir Lazzez (10-2 MMA, 1-1 UFC) at a UFC Fight Night event on April 16 that doesn’t yet have a publicly known venue or location.

Two people with knowledge of the matchup confirmed the booking to MMA Junkie after an initial report by MMA Fighting. The people requested anonymity since UFC officials has yet to make an announcement.

Winner of nine of his past 11, dos Santos is coming off a lopsided win over newcomer Benoit Saint Denis at UFC 267 in October. The win didn’t come without a bit of controversy, though, as the Brazilian put a beatdown on Saint Denis, but referee Vyacheslav Kiselev refused to stop the fight, which left the commentary team irate.

Meanwhile, Lazzez has split his first two UFC appearances. After a big upset win over Abdul Razak Alhassan in his promotional debut in July 2020, the Tunisian fighter was stopped by Warlley Alves at UFC on ESPN 20 in January 2021. Lazzez was scheduled to face Niklas Stolze in July, but visa issues forced him out of the bout.

With the addition, the April 16 event includes:

• Vicente Luque vs. Belal Muhammad
• Uriah Hall vs. Andre Muniz
• Brandon Jenkins vs. Drakkar Klose
• Miguel Baeza vs. Dhiego Lima
• Chris Barnett vs. Martin Buday
• Pannie Kianzad vs. Lina Lansberg
• Mounir Lazzez vs. Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos