Cub Swanson isn’t going anywhere, and in his next test after re-signing with the UFC, he’ll take on a former champion once again.
Swanson (25-8 MMA, 10-4 UFC) is set to meet Frankie Edgar (22-6-1 MMA, 16-6-1 UFC) at UFC Fight Night 128 next month in Edgar’s home state of New Jersey, a person with knowledge of the situation told MMAjunkie. The person spoke on the condition of anonymity because the UFC has yet to announce the booking. Bout agreements for the matchup were sent to the fighters today.
The news first was reported by ESPN.com.
UFC Fight Night 128 will take place April 21 at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City. The event will air on FS1 following early prelims on UFC Fight Pass.
Swanson and Edgar first met in the UFC Fight Night 57 main event in Austin, Texas, more than three years ago. In that fight, Edgar won with a neck crank submission with just four seconds left in the five-round featherweight matchup.
In the fight right after that, Swanson was submitted by current 145-pound champion Max Holloway for a second straight setback – the only time he’s had back-to-back losses in his career. After that, Swanson went on a four-fight run with unanimous decision wins over Hacran Dias, Tatsuya Kawajiri, Dooho Choi and Artem Lobov.
But in December in the UFC Fight Night 123 main event, he suffered a submission loss to upcoming title challenger Brian Ortega. Despite the setback, it was Swanson’s third straight “Fight of the Night” performance. It also was the last fight on his deal, but a booking against Edgar means Swanson will be staying put in the UFC after a brief flirtation with free agency.
Edgar is coming off a stoppage loss to Ortega, as well. In the UFC 222 co-main event earlier this month, Ortega knocked him out with 16 seconds left in the first round. It was the first knockout loss of Edgar’s lengthy career and first time he has been stopped, period.
Prior to that loss, the former lightweight champ had back-to-back wins over Jeremy Stephens at UFC 205 and Yair Rodriguez at UFC 211 to get back on track after a UFC 200 loss to Jose Aldo for the interim featherweight title.
With the addition, the latest UFC Fight Night 128 card includes:
- Edson Barboza vs. Kevin Lee
- Corey Anderson vs. Patrick Cummins
- David Branch vs. Thiago “Marreta” Santos
- Alex Garcia vs. Ryan LaFlare
- Brett Johns vs. Aljamain Sterling
- Dan Hooker vs. Jim Miller
- Magomed Bibulatov vs. Ulka Sasaki
- Siyar Bahadurzada vs. Luan Chagas
- Tony Martin vs. Keita Nakamura
- Merab Dvalishvili vs. Augusto Mendes
- Aspen Ladd vs. Leslie Smith
- Uriah Hall vs. opponent TBA
- Chase Sherman vs. Justin Willis
- Frankie Edgar vs. Cub Swanson
For more on UFC Fight Night 128, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.