UFC veteran George Sotiropoulos books first fight in nearly 9 years

George Sotiropoulos is returning to the cage.

The 45-year-old Sotiropoulos is scheduled for his first fight in nearly nine years as he’ll face Josh Togo in a lightweight contest at Hex Fight Series 26 — which takes place May 26 at the Melbourne Pavilion in Australia — the promotion announced on Tuesday.

Sotiropoulos had 11-fights inside the UFC’s octagon between December 2007 and October 2013, and was a competitor on the sixth season of The Ultimate Fighter. Sotiropoulos was victorious in his first seven UFC bouts and was very close to a featherweight title shot before dropping a decision to Dennis Siver at UFC 127 in February 2011. The 21-fight pro went on to lose his next four fights — which includes his final three in the UFC, and a decision loss to Mike Ricci in August 2014 at Titan FC 29 before retiring from the sport.

Togo enters the bout on a three-fight win streak, and victorious in seven of eight. The Australian Top Team standout picked up a decision win over Tahir Abdullaev in his most recent outing to capture the UAE Warriors welterweight title in September 2022.