Antonio Carlos Junior vs. Elias Theodorou added to UFC Sao Paulo

Antonio Carlos Junior was supposed to be fighting next week at UFC 227, but the Brazilian will instead get a home fight in late September.

MMA Fighting’s Guilherme Cruz confirmed a report from Combate that the middleweight contender will take on Canadian Elias Theodorou at UFC Sao Paulo on September 22nd. The night’s main card airs live on FS1.

Carlos Junior (10-2, 1 NC) is on a five-fight winning streak, most recently dominating and submitting Tim Boetsch at UFC on FOX 29 in Arizona. “Shoeface” was set to fight Derek Brunson at the aforementioned UFC 227 in Los Angeles, but was removed from the show after Brunson withdrew due to injury.

Theodorou (15-2) has won his last two, getting decisions over Trevor Smith and Dan Kelly (the only man to beat Carlos Junior in the UFC). While Carlos Junior won TUF Brazil 3, Theodorou is the TUF Nations middleweight winner, so this is a rare meet-up between two international TUF champions.

Current rankings have Carlos Junior at #11 and Theodorou at #14.

UFC Sao Paulo does not have an announced headliner yet, although Alex Oliveira vs. Neil Magny, Thales Leites vs. Hector Lombard, and Antonio Rogerio Nogueira vs. Sam Alvey are among the matchups expected for the event.