Levi Rodrigues Jr. is set to make his first walk to the UFC octagon when he meets Felipe Franco in a three-round light heavyweight bout at UFC Oklahoma City.
The matchup takes place at the Paycom Center, with Rodrigues Jr. entering the promotion undefeated in professional MMA, with five finishes and one no-contest on his record. He has previously competed at light heavyweight and heavyweight in MMA, and at middleweight in muay Thai and kickboxing.
Rodrigues Jr. earned a UFC deal after a first-round knockout win over Freddy Vidal on Dana White’s Contender Series, a result later overturned to a no-contest when he failed a drug test for a metabolite of nandrolone. Despite the failure and subsequent suspension, he was still signed by the UFC. Reflecting on finally reaching the promotion, Rodrigues Jr. said, "Ever since I was 12 years old, my dream was to make it to the UFC. Today I have the opportunity to be in the UFC. In my very first interview, I said, in the name of the Lord Jesus, that if God gave me the opportunity, I will win the 205, 185, and heavyweight titles."
Rodrigues Jr. added that fans can expect an aggressive approach on fight night: "You can be sure that every one of my fights is going to be a war. No matter who the opponent is, who gets knocked out or who gets submitted, I’ll be there to put on a great show and entertain the fans."
Franco, a teammate of Jailton Almeida, returns to the 205-pound division after dropping a short-notice decision to heavyweight Mario Pinto in his UFC debut in March.
