Kiwi Brad Riddell has announced he'll return to the Octagon to take on Jalin Turner in a lightweight showdown at UFC 276.
The 30-year-old will feature on the preliminary portion of the Las Vegas pay-per-view event, which takes place on July 3 (NZ time).
Riddell shares the card with two of his City Kickboxing teammates, as Israel Adesanya defends his middleweight title in the headline bout against Jared Cannonier and Alexander Volkanovski puts his featherweight belt on the line against Max Holloway in the co-main event.
'Quake' will be looking to get back into the win column, after his defeat to Rafael Fiziev in December snapped his four-fight undefeated streak to begin his tenure with the promotion.
He'll have his work cut out for him against rising American Turner, who's rolling with four straight finishes - most recently starching Australian Jamie Mullarkey with a second-round knockout technical knockout in March.
One of those victories came at the UFC Fight Night held at Auckland's Spark Arena back in February 2020, when he sent Aussie Joshua Culibao to the canvas in the second round.
The 6ft 3in Turner is also one of the tallest fighters at lightweight, and will carry a considerable height and reach advantage into his contest against the 5ft 8in Riddell.
Turner is yet to crack the division's official top 15, meaning the bout carries plenty of risk for the 14th-ranked Riddell.
Unsurprisingly, it was a risk the Christchurch native was more than willing to take, lamenting the lack of ranked fighters game enough to accept his challenge.
"It was not for a lack of trying," Riddell wrote in an Instagram post. "Ranked fighters need to step up.
"[Teammate Dan] Hooker [and] myself are fighters. We take risks."
City Kickboxing teammate Kai Kara-France will also be in action later that month, taking on Brandon Moreno in a rematch with the interim flyweight title on the line on July 31.
