JOSEPH DUFFY (16-2) HAS got a date for his long-awaited return to action in the UFC.
The Donegal native, who hasn’t fought since he submitted Mitch Clarke in just 25 seconds back in July, has agreed to a lightweight clash with Reza Madadi at UFC Fight Night 108 at the O2 Arena in London on Saturday, 18 March, 2017.
The news, which was first reported by MMAnytt.se this morning, was later confirmed to The42 by sources close to the situation.
Duffy’s meeting with Madadi will be his final fight on a five-fight contract which he signed in January 2015. Aside from a decision loss to Dustin Poirier, all of Duffy’s UFC outings have ended with stoppage victories in the first round.
On Monday, Duffy reiterated to The42 that he’s prepared to leave the UFC as he has yet to come to an agreement with the organisation regarding a new contract. Duffy said:
Before they [the UFC] used to say you’ll be rewarded if you put on exciting fights. I think I’ve done that but it’s becoming less about the fights and more about the drama and the showmanship and everything else. I’m not that type of person, I’m probably never going to be, so I have to set my stall out early. Otherwise I’m kind of wasting my time.
Ariel Helwani of MMAFighting.com reported 48 hours later that the UFC have agreed to allow Duffy to fight out the one remaining bout on his contract before assessing his options elsewhere as a free agent.
Duffy will aim to sign off on his current deal with another emphatic win at the expense of Madadi, whose most recent bout ended in victory via third-round TKO against Yan Cabral in Rotterdam last May.
The Iranian-born 38-year-old, who’s based in Sweden, is 3-2 in the UFC. His most notable win came in April 2013 when he defeated Michael Johnson via unanimous decision.
Madadi was released by the UFC later that year after he was convicted of burglary, for which he spent 14 months in prison. The veteran returned last year for UFC Fight Night 76 in Dublin, where he dropped a unanimous-decision loss to Norman Parke.
