Sean O’Malley draws Raulian Paiva at UFC 269

UFC 269 has added a bantamweight matchup between Sean O’Malley and Raulian Paiva.

Multiple people with knowledge of the promotions plans confirmed the matchup to MMA Fighting after an initial report from ESPN.com. UFC 269 takes place Dec. 11 at a location to be announced. The bout order for the pay-per-view event has not been finalized.

O’Malley also confirmed the matchup via his Instagram on Saturday.

O’Malley returns after notching his second straight octagon win with a brutal stoppage of Kris Moutinho at UFC 264. The win earned him his fourth $50,000 performance bonus in five appearances. So far, his only octagon setback came at the hands of Marlon Vera at UFC 252 in a bout where he injured his ankle before being stopped with strikes.

O’Malley recently expressed a preference for facing unranked opposition, reasoning his pay didn’t increase with the risk taken by facing higher-ranked fighters. From a promotional standpoint, Paiva doesn’t quite qualify as the No. 15-ranked fighter in the UFC rankings (though the Brazilian is unranked in the MMA Fighting Global Rankings). But he’s been impressive as of late with a three-fight winning streak capped by an upset of prospect Kyler Phillips at UFC Vegas 32.

Multiple title fights are expected to headline UFC 269 including a targeted bout between lightweight champion Charles Oliveira and Dustin Poirier as well as Amanda Nunes putting her bantamweight title up for grabs against Julianna Pena.