Jessica Aguilar vs. Cortney Casey slated for UFC 211

Former World Series of Fighting strawweight champion Jessica Aguilar will return from a near two-year layoff to take on Cortney Casey on May 13 at UFC 211. The UFC announced the match-up Tuesday.

Aguilar (19-5), a veteran long considered to be one of the best strawweights in the world, returns to action for the first time since suffering a unanimous decision loss against Claudia Gadelha in her UFC debut in Aug. 2015. Aguilar was previously set to fight Juliana Lima at UFC 197, however a torn ACL sustained in March 2016 kept Aguilar sidelined for the year.

Prior to her UFC run, the 34-year-old Aguilar racked up a 10-fight win streak from 2010-14 highlighted by victories over former UFC champion Carla Esparza and women’s MMA legend Megumi Fujii (x2). Aguilar also holds the distinction of being the only women’s champion in WSOF history, a title she defended twice before leaving for UFC. Despite her lengthy layoff, she is currently the No. 13 ranked straweight on the UFC’s media-generated rankings.

She’ll now look to get back on track against Casey (6-4), a 29-year-old strawweight who has won two of her five UFC appearances. Casey debuted in the Octagon in 2015 with back-to-back losses at the hands of Joanne Calderwood and Seo Hee Ham, but then rebounded to win consecutive contests against Cristina Stanciu and Randa Markos. Nicknamed “Cast Iron,” Casey dropped a decision to Gadelha in her most recent outing last November.

UFC 211 takes place at the American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas. An updated UFC 211 fight card can be seen below.

• Stipe Miocic vs. Junior dos Santos
• Joanna Jedrzejczyk vs. Jessica Andrade
• Demian Maia vs. Jorge Masvidal
• Frankie Edgar vs. Yair Rodriguez
• Henry Cejudo vs. Sergio Pettis
• Eddie Alvarez vs. Dustin Poirier
• David Branch vs. Krzysztof Jotko
• James Vick vs. Marco Polo Reyes
• Jessica Aguilar vs. Cortney Casey
• Jason Knight vs. Chas Skelly
• Enrique Barzola vs. Gabriel Benitez
• Jarjis Danho vs. Dmitry Poberezhets