Report: Brian Kelleher vs. Ricky Simón rescheduling targeted for UFC event on January 16th.

A bantamweight matchup between, Brian ‘Boom’ Kelleher, and Ricky Simón is in the works for rescheduling at a UFC event on January 16th. – with a location or venue yet to be determined by the organization.

The always active, Kelleher looks to score his fifth fight of the calendar year, attempting to extend his winning run to two fights after an impressive guillotine win over short-notice replacement, Ray Rodriguez at UFC Vegas 9 in September. Simón was slated to meet Kelleher at that event until he was forced to withdraw after one of his cornermen had tested positive for COVID-19. 

Washington native, Simón also hopes to score his second straight success, following a close split decision win over one-time flyweight title challenger, Ray ‘The Tazmexican Devil’ Borg at UFC Fight Night Jacksonville in May. News of the reworked tie was first penned by MMA Fighting reporters, Steven Marrocco and Mike Heck.

Selden, New York native, Kelleher amassed an eye-catching 3-1 promotional résumé throughout the course of this year, garnering massive attention amongst his peers to boot. The 28-year-old bested Ode Osbourne with that patented guillotine in January at UFC 246, before stopping Hunter Azure with a massive knockout on the same stage as Simón’s win over Borg. 

Dropping a unanimous decision defeat to Cody ‘The Spartan’ Stamann at UFC 250 in June, the Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu brown returned to the win column with his above-noted submission stoppage of Rodriguez. 

Simón, a former LFA bantamweight titleholder brought an end to a two-fight skid which included a knockout loss to the then returning former WEC featherweight best, Urijah Faber and a unanimous judging loss to Rob Font – with a decision win of his own over Albuquerque native, Borg. 

A feature of Dana White’s Contender Series, Simón also holds victories over Merab Dvalishvili, Montel Jackson, and Rani Yahya under the UFC’s banner. 

Ross Markey

Senior writer for FightBook MMA. An aspiring mixed martial arts reporter based in Ireland. Producer of news articles, interviews, opinion features, and exclusive features such as, ‘The Fallout’, ‘The Breakdown, and, ‘This Week In MMA’.