Souza vs. Lemos added to UFC 259

A clash between Brazilian strawweights will go down at UFC 259.

A women’s strawweight fight between Livinha Souza and Amanda Lemos has been scheduled for upcoming pay-per-view event UFC 259. Combate was the first outlet to report the fight.

Souza made her UFC debut in 2018 after several years of competing under the Invicta FC banner. She would meet Alex Chambers at UFC Fight Night: Santos vs. Anders, where she earned a first-round stoppage by way of guillotine choke. Souza returned to the Octagon a few months later to take on Sarah Frota in a catchweight fight at UFC Fight Night: Assuncao vs. Moraes 2. She was declared the victor by split decision after three rounds of fighting.

Souza suffered her first UFC loss to Brianna Van Buren in her next outing, at UFC Fight Night: de Randamie vs. Ladd, but recently rebounded with a unanimous decision victory over Ashley Yoder at UFC 252. She is currently the No. 15 ranked women’s strawweight in the UFC.

Lemos first appeared in the UFC in 2017 after she was given a short-notice fight against Leslie Smith. She was finished in the second round by technical knockout. It would be some time before Lemos stepped inside of the Octagon again as she was suspended for two years by the United States Anti-Doping Agency after testing positive for a banned substance taken out-of-competition.

Her suspension was completed in 2019 and she returned against Miranda Granger at UFC Fight Night: Korean Zombie vs. Edgar where she picked up her first UFC win with a first-round rear-naked choke. Lemos followed up with a unanimous decision win over Mizuki Inoue at UFC on ESPN: Munhoz vs. Edgar in Aug. 2020.

UFC 259 will be headlined by a championship triple-header that kicks off with Petr Yan defending his bantamweight championship, for the first time, against Aljamain Sterling. In the co-main event, women’s featherweight champion Amanda Nunes looks to earn her second straight title defense at 145 pounds versus Megan Anderson. The main event will have the 205-pound belt on the line in a champion vs. champion fight between light heavyweight champion Jan Blachowicz and middleweight champion Israel Adesanya.

The location and venue of the card has yet to be announced.