With the likes of Merab Dvalishvili, Umar Nurmagomedov and Sean O’Malley leading the UFC’s Bantamweight division, Mario Bautista and Vinicius Oliveira will hope to close the gap when they do battle at UFC Vegas 113 at the Meta Apex in Nevada on Sunday.
Main card set to commence at 3am (CAT, GMT+2).
Bautista, who has a 16-3 record in MMA, will head into his next bout on the back of a unanimous decision defeat against Nurmagomedov at UFC321 in October last year.
His defeat against Nurmagomedov ended an eight-fight winning streak in the UFC, a run that included notable victories over Patchy Mix, Jose Aldo and Ricky Simon.
Known for his grappling game, the 32-year-old is currently ranked at ninth position in the UFC’s Bantamweight division, while Oliveira will hope to crack the top 10 with a victory from 11th place.
Oliveira (23-3), boasts a six-fight winning streak at the moment and last featured in a unanimous decision win over Kyler Phillips at UFC318 in July 2025.
Along with his rise in the UFC, Oliveria also landed a unanimous decision victory against Nurmagomedov in a ‘Fight of the Night’ performance at UFC Fight Night: Adesanya v Imavov in February last year.
Speaking ahead of the fight, Bautista believes that he has the ability to ‘drown’ Oliveira, given his opponent’s explosive style of fighting.
“I think this fight is going to be up-and-down everywhere,” Bautista said.
“He’s going to come out hot, and I’m going to have to be very mindful of that. He throws from the hip, he’s trying to knock your head off.
“I don’t think he has a great gas tank, so I think in the later rounds, we will look for the finish and drown him in the later rounds.”
UFC FIGHT NIGHT MAIN CARD:
Mario Bautista vs Vinicius Oliveira (Main event - Bantamweight)
Amir Albazi vs Kyoji Horiguchi (Co-main – Flyweight)
Jailton Almeida vs Rizvan Kuniev (Heavyweight)
Michal Oleksiejczuk vs Mar-Andre Barriault (Middleweight)
Jean Matsumoto vs Farid Basharat (Bantamweight)
Dustin Jacoby vs Julius Walker (Light Heavyweight)