Raoni Barcelos vs. Trevin Jones set for Dec. 18 UFC event

An exciting bantamweight matchup has been added to the UFC’s final event of the year.

Multiple people with knowledge of the promotion’s plans confirmed to MMA Fighting that Raoni Barcelos and Trevin Jones will meet at the UFC’s event on Dec. 18, which will take place at the APEX. MMA Junkie was first to report the booking.

Barcelos will look to get back on track after suffering the first loss of his UFC tenure, which snapped a nine-fight overall win streak, when he dropped a majority decision to Timur Valiev at UFC Vegas 30 in June. The former RFA champ owns five octagon victories, including stoppage wins over Kurt Holobaugh, Chris Gutierrez, and Carlos Huachin, along with decision wins over Khalid Taha and Said Nurmagomedov.

Jones will also look to bounce back from his first promotional defeat, a third-round submission loss to Saidyokub Kakhramonov in August at UFC Vegas 34. Prior to that, “5 Star” stopped Mario Bautista with strikes at UFC 259 and Valiev in his octagon debut before a positive marijuana test caused the latter outcome to be overturned to a no contest by the Nevada Athletic Commission.

The UFC’s Dec. 18 event will be headlined by a heavyweight bout between former title challenger Derrick Lewis and the surging Chris Daukaus.

MMA Fighting’s Guilherme Cruz also contributed to this story.